Does Your Real Estate Agent Need to Be a Shark?

By Lisa Fitzig

When seeking a real estate agent or other professional services provider who may have to negotiate on your behalf, one automatic impulse may be to find the “toughest” person you can. “I know just the guy,” a well-meaning friend might say. “He’s a real shark.” 

With my background on Wall Street and in finance, I know that world (and those guys and gals) intimately and can swim in it competitively. And especially in negotiations, of course you want someone strong and capable on your side, who gets you what you need and makes sure you don’t get taken advantage of.  

But sometimes “toughness” is exactly the opposite of what’s called for. Dealing effectively in the competitive Manhattan real estate market requires a much broader and subtler skill set, which also includes patience, intuition and emotional intelligence, the ability to understand what people need (sometimes the opposite of what they are saying) and the creativity to help them get there. 

Far more important than being a terminator is to be an influencer—of both the other agent and the agent’s client. Sometimes a managing agent is involved as well. You have to know where you are in the deal, and to have different strategies and approaches for each of them at different times and cycles in the buying/selling process. 

Mere toughness can also be a kind of deafness, or at least lend a rigidity to deal proceedings that isn’t ultimately helpful for either side. For example, when working with buyers who need to get board approval, I’ve occasionally had selling agents take a generically firm position on a client’s finances, which were admittedly, as they say when describing social media status, “complicated.” But real life is complicated and I have guided such clients past hard “no’s” not by shouting more loudly, but by bringing my financial acumen, negotiation skills and professionalism to the table.

While something about pure toughness may seem emotionally appealing or comforting—when dealing with the stressful situations that can arise in real estate—it is but one tool, and arguably the bluntest, in my toolbox. So, when it comes to picking the most effective realtor or other services professional, does one really want and need a “shark?” In my view, there are other fish in the sea. 

Lisa Fitzig is a former Wall Street Managing Director and currently a NYC Residential Real Estate Associate Broker at Corcoran. She can be reached at [email protected].