The real estate business is rife with superstitions, and now more than ever brokers are flocking to the rainstick during the drought.
When I first came to work in real estate, I was given a desk and a proverb from a senior broker. The desk was old and missing a few handles on its drawers, but the proverb was a real genuine key to real estate success. “Don’t ever, and I mean ever, under any circumstances, calculate the commission before the deal is done,” the senior broker said. I remember laughing, but no one else laughed. In fact, the entire office stopped what they were doing and stared me down into an embarrassed silence.
It took a while for me to learn. A few “done” deals disappeared mysteriously into a black hole, but eventually I learned that being superstitious is better than being broke. This is accepted dogma in the world of brokers. Rarely will an agent walk under a ladder in an apartment being renovated. Maybe you’ve seen a broker run off from their clients at full speed when a stray black cat has walked by. Sounds crazy, but it happens. And that’s during a boom.
Well, desperate times call for desperate measures. At my office, we have recently become superstitious in our fervent desire for new business. Where there used to be a donation jar for the less fortunate, we now have a jar for lucky pennies. We’re an Israeli company, so each morning before the day officially begins we wrap a wine glass in a towel and step on it. Then we shout “hopa!” and start working (though we did that before the recession, too). And don’t come by our office on Thursday evenings after a full moon, because you might find us dancing around a fire sparked from apartment-listing flyers.
While superstitious behavior in the office has become extreme, the breaking of taboos can produce more horrendous results than ever before. I heard of one broker who calculated a commission before the deal was final. A week later he was seen hiking through the Rocky Mountains in nothing but a pair of Huggies Pull-Ups while yelping about chopping down a cherry tree. Sad story.
In all seriousness, though, whether it be superstitions or just better business ethics, there has been a marked change in the way brokers are doing business. Brokers need each other’s help more, and relations between brokers are in general friendlier, sometimes a little too friendly. Like the time I was led by a fellow broker to an apartment through a trail of rose petals. That was sweet and incredibly creepy. My client, understandably, ran like hell.
Also, while clients still despise us, they have sympathy for our plight. There’s nothing like being petted gently on the head by a complete stranger. As you cry into their now tear-soaked shoulder they softly say, “We do appreciate that you’re trying.” Then my client, understandably, runs like hell.
This new way of doing business is how things should be. This is the way markets can correct themselves. Perhaps when people struggle together, they are more willing to come out of the fray together.
Podnos is a broker at Ben & Company.