Grace Brown has been a broker in Palm Beach since 1995 and is now a broker associate at the Corcoran Group in Palm Beach. Brown, who has lived in Palm Beach for two decades and formerly headed Ralph Lauren’s sales and marketing for Florida, talked to The Real Deal about the art of the Palm Beach-New York transaction, how Corcoran helps facilitate these kinds of deals and how to handle New York buyers.
What goes into a New York-Palm Beach transaction?
I do turn on the volume of communication that I believe is expected from people in New York. I like working with New York buyers because they’re plugged in with all the latest technology — they expect you to be on your BlackBerry. If I get a message at nine at night, New Yorkers are expecting a response back right then — other clients not on city time are a little more laid back.
Do you change your marketing for New Yorkers?
Sometimes I do. I like to use a service called VHT, which has professional photographers with the ability to do video tours. We have photos on the website of all the listings, and they like to view the photos ahead of time.
How do deals for New York buyers in Florida work at Corcoran?
Corcoran uses the Florida real estate contract — they give clients a comfort level so they’re not going to get any surprises at the end of the day. We do get New York referrals, and we also just get [New Yorkers] that call us off the website. Someone might be looking for an apartment one day [on the Corcoran site] and switch and look at South Florida. Especially if it’s a freezing cold day [in New York].
How do you gain the New York client base?
I’ve been selling real estate in Palm Beach for the last 15 years. I’ve built up some strong referral-based business from happy New York clients. The Corcoran website is an amazing source of clients, and I start a dialogue with them over the internet to get a feeling of the market. We love New Yorkers — they have great energy and excitement, and let’s hope they all come down in 2011.