In the white-hot competitive New York City real estate market, any edge helps. An in with the mayor’s office, a fluency in different languages, the ability to read Alan Greenspan’s mind all can give Broker B a leg up over Broker A in the race for ever more bountiful commissions.
So can looks, of course. But only a few market observers, such as the outspoken New York real estate blog Curbed.com, will actually say so out loud.
Curbed recently held its inaugural Broker Boys & Babes Contest to find the best-looking New York City brokers. Stefani Pac of Dwelling Quest and Devlin Elliott of Fenwick-Keats won the women’s and men’s categories, respectively.
Elliott bested Brad Kroenig of the Corcoran Group, the next-closest nominee, by a mere 19 votes. But Pac walked away with the women’s competition, winning 55.5 percent to 25.1 percent over her closest competitor, Ivana Tagliamonte of Halstead Property.
The contest drew hundreds of votes and allowed participants to vote in both categories. More than 100 nominations were taken at the Web site over several days, and dozens poured in, many of them in praise of youngish-looking Manhattan brokers on the rising bends of their career arcs. Some were obvious PR campaigns touting a particular broker, some were quiet emails of admiration from genuine fans: “He HAS to be the winner,” read one e-mail supporting Elliott, “just LOOK at the picture…”
Elliott, a broker for about one year and an actor and writer in Los Angeles before relocating to New York, laughed off his victory a few days after the contest ended. He said he hadn’t gotten any clients from his win but he was out of town when the results rolled in anyway.
“It’s always nice when people say you’re attractive,” he told The Real Deal. “I don’t see it. But it’s nice when other people say so.”
Pac , a former model as well as marketing executive fluent in three languages, has been a broker for a year and a half. She, too, shrugged off her victory, telling The Real Deal she had received congratulations from colleagues at Dwelling Quest and also a few complimentary emails from would-be clients. But more than anything, she said, the contest served as great publicity.
“The contest didn’t really mean that much,” she said, “But, just to have me out there, it’s a great thing.”