If you’ve ever wondered where the pretty people in real estate hang out, it’s at Platinum Drive Realty in New York. Don’t believe me? Head on over to Platinum Realty’s “Our Team” page on their website and check it out for yourself. If you feel like you’ve landed on a modeling agency’s site, the feeling is mutual.
A Scarsdale native, this week’s Real Estate Pro of the Week, Linda Kermanshahchi, grew up surrounded by family members who were knee-deep in the real estate business. “My first job, while I was still in school, was working for my uncle, a real estate developer in New York City. I was in the thick of it. I watched him buy distressed properties and build them up to become enormously profitable investments.”
The “real estate” part didn’t stick until later on, but the investment part did, and Linda obtained a bachelor’s in economics from SUNY (State University of New York), Purchase College. After college, Wall Street beckoned, so Linda obtained her Series 7 and spent years as a licensed stockbroker with CIBC Oppenheimer and Guardian Life Insurance Company.
“There I learned how to sell and how to close a deal – very important talents that can be applied to many different industries. I took my profits and invested in real estate, so my success as a stockbroker pushed me into the real estate business.” Furthermore, Linda feels that her college education helped her “understand the basic laws of economics, supply and demand, the business cycle and much more. So much of what I learned back then I apply to the real estate business today,” she says.
Although Linda was – and still is – a real estate investor, and she feels a certain affinity for other investors, most of her clients are “New York City families relocating to our beautiful suburb [Westchester County area]. Being a lifelong resident I know the area inside and out,” she says. “It helps with getting listings, buyers and referrals.”
This local familiarity has led Linda to specialize in listing and selling homes in Westchester, Manhattan and Eastern Long Island. She figures that about 70 percent of her business comes to her via referral and 30 percent from her website. She uses Facebook and LinkedIn, as well as all the major real estate sites, including RealEstate.com.
Asked what she likes most about her real estate career, Linda says without hesitation that the allure for her is that “the real estate business lets you get out, meet people, tour amazing homes and negotiate deals. I think it beats sitting behind a computer eight hours a day. I’m a social person so I like meeting new people and chatting it up a bit.”
When not listing and selling homes, Linda enjoys spending time with her family, especially all that fishing they do in the summer. She also works out, runs and takes TRX classes to beat the stress.
Aside from the horrendously long hours Linda puts in each day, she feels the key to success as a real estate agent is tenacity. “The bottom line: This is not brain surgery. It’s a numbers game. If you are willing to work hard, anyone can make money in this business.”
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I own a 1974 Titan doublewide trailer,in todays market what is it worth?And would it be safe to up grade to a newer model?