Richard Steinberg, senior managing director, and Renee Bross Steinberg, managing director, Warburg Realty, married for 34 years.
As told to Lauren Elkies
Richard:
We are one of the first husband-and-wife teams. I was a doctor originally. In 1985 I decided to go into real estate.
We work together on each client but, I guess, our focus of duties for that client is different.
Renee does a lot of the initial showings. I like to think of myself as the closer.
Renee is much more detail-oriented than me. Renee has more patience than I do, and I have a greater sense of negotiation.
The beauty of a team with a family member is that no one has a better vested interest in your success than a family member.
We have a daughter, Sarah Fiszel [licensed salesperson at Warburg] who’s 28, and she is also in the business with us. We are really husband and wife and daughter.
The biggest challenge for Renee and me is to maintain the boundaries between our business life and our personal life.
We try very hard not to bring business to the dinner table.
We consciously check ourselves. When we get home after a hard day of work or if we are at our weekend house, if one of us starts talking about business, one of us will say, “stop.”
We try to go away for three- or four-day vacations two times a month.
We are very sensitive to the fact that we need to do things apart. We do try to go out with our friends separately.
We actually both love golf, so we play golf together. Renee loves to spin, and I don’t. I like to ski. We try to do activities alone.
Monday nights I usually go to the movies alone.
Renee likes serious movies. I like very light-hearted and superficial movies. Our movie tastes are completely opposite, so quite often we go to movies alone.
Getting along in business is no harder than getting along in a marriage. It’s just being constantly aware of each other’s feelings.
Renee:
I was very happy with my career teaching first grade at the Collegiate School [on the Upper West Side], but then I watched what Richard was doing and I thought, “I should do this.”
So, I started in real estate in 1990.
Richard will pretty much handle the pricier and the high-end clients.
I’m pretty much happy to work with anyone at any price as long as there is a referral. At this point in my life, I don’t want to work with someone I don’t know.
I love to show property when it’s our exclusive.
Richard is definitely the closer, 100 percent.
I could even be working with my own client and he has nothing to do with it, but I always ask him what he thinks, always when it comes to the financials. I just want him to tell me, “yes, they can afford it.”
If there’s a conflict over a deal, we give each other space and do not talk about it. We never argue in the office. And if we’re angry with each other, we ignore each other and wait until we get in the car or are walking.
Sheila Lokitz, senior vice president, and Elliott Lokitz, vice president, the Corcoran Group, married for over 40 years.
As told to Lauren Elkies
Elliott:
You’ve got to really like each other to spend this much time together and respect each other’s talents and strengths.
Mostly we divide up the clients.
We were in the garment business before. I was kind of the leader there. In this business, she was here first, so she’s the leader. That’s why she’s the senior vice president, and I’m the vice president.
She’s been doing it for 14 or 15 years. I’ve been doing it for about eight.
I think she’s more marketing-savvy and I’m more business-oriented.
We know when something’s bothering the other one, and we don’t let it go unsaid or not dealt with. We sit next to each other, so we just talk about whatever’s going on.
We eat lunch together only because we eat lunch at our desks.
Most of the time she’s working on her customers and I’m working on mine. And then, in addition, what’s sprinkled in between, is conversations about trips and family, things like that.
We eat dinner together every night, we go to the theater together, and we go to the movies together.
We don’t take separate vacations, but we do have some separate interests. I go to a lot of business lectures that she doesn’t attend with me. I do my exercise outdoors; she does hers indoors in the building.
Some couples who work together talk about creating a line or a barrier when they get home; that’s not us.
We’re lucky. It just happens that it’s two people who found each other 40 years ago and still like each other and like being around each other.
Sheila:
It’s a normal relationship I think you would have with any business partner.
We may work with our own clients, but there are times there are crossovers.
If we’re going after an exclusive, we will most likely both go, because we want them to know there is a team here and they will always be taken care of.
When it comes to my clients I like to get a second eye when it comes to the financials.
He may come to me and ask me questions about certain buildings, certain apartments. My background is in marketing so he likes to discuss that with me.
Even though we work together, when he’s out showing, we have breaks from each other. We’re not tied at the hip.