Q & A: Going for brokerage

From the May issue: If location, location, location is the core clich of real estate success, the second is at least equally sound: Watch the bottom line. The Real Deal spoke to chief executives of Manhattan’s top residential firms about running a brokerage in today’s market. Agents constantly push for better commission splits, and technology, space and advertising overhead costs continue to mount. Keeping operating costs down and revenue up is a tough proposition for any business, but it’s especially hard in the competitive Manhattan real estate market. “It has never been overly profitable; it’s a razor-thin business,” says Neil Binder, principal and co-founder of Bellmarc. more By Melissa Dehncke-McGill