FOR BROKERS: Companies to Watch
BY ROBERT FREEDMAN
Living Structures
www.livingstructures.com
Big country moves
Bringing an urban mind-set to a rural market
With its picturesque dairy farms, Greene County in the Northern Catskills has long been a secret retreat for second-home buyers from New York City with big dreams and a limited budget. And now that the area’s secret is getting out, Hal and Claudia Zucker believe their experience selling real estate to New Yorkers will position their small brokerage to capitalize on the influx of city folk to this still rural area.
“We’re trying to bring a range of services—instant access to associates, online resources—that you don’t always find in rural areas,” says Claudia Zucker, broker-owner of Living Structures in Cairo, N.Y., about two hours outside of midtown Manhattan.
The Zuckers cut their teeth on New York City real estate in the 1980s—Claudia as a sales associate and Hal as a developer specializing in loft conversions. They opened their own brokerage in Albany in the early 1990s, and in early 2004 shifted their main office to Cairo. With eight sales associates, the company sells throughout Greene County.
The company is on track to close $15 million in sales this year, in a market with a median home price of about $110,000, says Claudia. That volume includes some small commercial sales. In 2003 the company closed about $12 million.
“New Yorkers have discovered that Greene County prices can’t be beat, and they’re really driving the market. Plus they expect to work with brokers who offer the same level of service they receive in the city,” says Claudia.
At Living Structures, associates wear pagers; all calls on their listings go directly to them, not to the broker; and, in one of the company’s signature services, associates are required to return all calls the same day, ideally within the hour.
In other ways, though, associates are given wide latitude. They’re encouraged to work from home, there’s no floor-time requirement, and part-time associates are welcomed.
In their training, associates are prepped to help big-city clients avoid the kind of surprises that come with buying in a rural area where, among other things, a quarter of the houses still use a septic system. “We’re not creating home inspectors,” says Hal. “We’re trying to make our clients’ lives easier. If the house was built in 1986, for example, we know the original roof is nearing the end of its life, and we know the hot-air heating system, even if it passed inspection, will need to be replaced soon.”
The company offers associates a graduating commission split, reviewed quarterly, starting at 50 percent and ending at 70 percent. In a twist from the typical compensation plan, in which the split reverts to the starting level every 12 months, associates maintain their ending split into the next year. The split is adjusted downward only after a drop in volume of 5 percent or more over the previous quarter.
To manage its growth and for investment, the company bought a parcel of land near Windham, another small Greene County village, on which it could build stand-alone office space if needed. “We want to see how we do where we are now,” says Claudia. “I’d love to have associates in different parts of the county. There’s so much going on here now because of the growth: theater, new restaurants.”
And that spells opportunity for a company that’s already poised to serve big-city buyers.
