Mastering the Art of Real Estate with Hyleri Katzenberg, New York, Connecticut and Florida Realtor

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Welcome to Master in the Art of Real Estate. I'm
your host, Debbie Demagio. We are here today with Hilary Katzenberg.
Hillary comes to us from Connecticut and Florida and she's
in Florida today. Welcome Hillary, Thank you, thanks for having me.
I'm so excited. We just really got to meet in

(01:04):
person or face to face on Zoom, I should say,
in the last ten days or so, and it's so
nice to have you again in person. And oh, I
just wanted to tell the audience you and I met
in a Mastermind group. We're in a group of like
minded real estate agents throughout the country and we're always
accepting new people to join us, and we all come

(01:24):
from different firms, but we're there to share information on
various ways we can help our clients and help serve
our clients and also educate each other and help us
all to elevate.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
So it's really great because, I mean, just.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
The other day when we're on the Mastermind, it's so
great everyone's sharing. We're all at different companies and we
all we all do the same thing a little differently,
and I just find it so refreshing that we're just
all there to help one another.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
It's so great. I think that the illusion, at least
from the outside looking in, is that we all compete
for business, and you know, it's you know, there is
some of that to some degree, but for the most part,
and especially with this group, which I've loved so much,
it's such a great collaboration and people forget you know,

(02:12):
we're really all friendly and you know, for the most
part help each other. We have to work together constantly,
and you know, we were for business to each other,
and we you know, have to have good working relationships
to get deals done. We find ourselves, you know, working
together on you know, opposite ends of the deal. But

(02:33):
you know, the best deals are done when two people
can really collaborate rather than compete.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Absolutely, one of my favorite quotes is we're colleagues, not competitors.
And a lot of people don't understand that. From the
outside realtor most realtors get it, but then there are
a handful of realtors that don't get it. I remember
when I was training some agents who were coming in
and they said, oh, so and so friended me on Facebook,
and so and so friended me on LinkedIn. I said,

(02:59):
by all means, you need to build your network within
your community. But it's interesting how people don't get that.
So our group gets it, and it's so great. So
I'm so glad to have met you on the West
Coast typically.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
And particularly you know, every deal presents different challenges, and
so you know, to hear how somebody else has sort
of straddled that challenge or present a scenario that you
know we may not have even you know, bought could
come up and really be able to sort of role
play and you know, or or hear how other people

(03:36):
have marketed things. It's really been, you know, such a
great brainstorming and think tank, and so great to be
able to meet agents because otherwise how would you and
I have met. I mean, you're in.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah, exactly West Coast. And so for the audience, whether
you're a realtor, you're you know, a viewer who is
not in real estate, we work on referral as well.
So if now I know Hillary, and I know she
works in Connecticut, and she'll tell us a little bit
more about her markets, but she also works in Florida.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Florida.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
Florida is a big state, so she'll tell us again
where she works in Florida. But now I have a
really great person I can refer my clients to and
know that they're going to be taken care of because
I know Hillary and I know how she works. So
that is so important because I always want to make
sure my clients, like you do, you want to make
sure they're well taken care of.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
I always say I am.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
A mother and I'll always be a mother, and I
treat my clients I give. I'm always, you know, treating
them like I am their mother too, no matter what age,
just to you know, I take that kind of care,
and I know you do too. So it just feels
good that we can refer to agents that are like
minded and passionate and kind and they really care. So

(04:48):
with that we are I'm at and well, I'll get
to it at the end of the bio. I just
read it and I was so shocked to learn and
let me it was the last sentence. So we're going
to introduce you right now.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
Formally.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
Hillary Katzenberg is a second generation realeder and UCLA graduate
who got her start by working for her mother's brokerage
at only eighteen years old. Hillary has called Connecticut home
since nineteen eighty seven and has some and as someone
who has worked and lived there for many more than
two decades, she is intimately familiar with the area, including Greenwich, Fairfield,

(05:23):
and Westport. Hillary often works with people looking to escape
the city's hustle and bustle in favor of relocating to
the suburbs. There's so much to love about Fairfield County,
from the beautiful coastline to the range of restaurants to
easy access to New York City. Having relocated herself, Hillary
profoundly understands the needs of newcomers. Meeting new people and

(05:45):
helping them achieve their real estate goals makes the job worthwhile.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
To Hillary.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
She's a hard working, honest, and caring professional who excels
at crafting innovative marketing strategies. When you hire Hillary, you're
hiring someone who will be an advocate for you, protecting
you from making potentially damaging decisions. If she senses something
that is amiss with a potential purchase or the resale value,
then Hillary will step in and tell you. She straightforward

(06:12):
and genuinely cares about building relationships more than monetary transactions.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
Beyond real estate.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
Hillary is dedicated to philanthropists, a dedicated philanthropist who has
met with the Pope and even been to the White House.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
During the Clinton administration.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
In conjunction with her volunteer work, she founded and became
the president of the Bell Foundation, an organization known for
granting aid to children with vascular deformities. Hillary is incredibly
proud of philanthropy and her business. She looks forward to
growing her team and helping clients accomplish their ultimate real
estate goals. Outside of her work, Hillary is a dedicated
family woman with a big family. She and her husband

(06:51):
together have eleven grandchildren. Okay that when I read that
this morning, I was I couldn't believe it.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
Eleven? How do you make that? We have to correct that.
It's actually nine, So that was a typo. But that's
still a lot with number ten on the way. So
it's a pretty big brute. Mark and I are. He's
my real estate partners. Well it's a lucky number seven.

(07:19):
It's four, so lucky number seven. We've come to this. Uh,
he had we had seven kids combined, seven marriages, so
lucky number seven. Yeah, I know. So he had five children.
I had two and then are combined. And then my

(07:41):
daughter married someone with two kids, so she has two
step children, so combined we have nine with number ten
on the way. And honestly, being parent is the best
part of my life. And I was a young mom,
so I get to, you know, be relatively healthy, you know,
medic to enjoy my grandchildren. And you know, that's very

(08:07):
one of the best parts of my life. I bet
it's so rewarding. That's amazing.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
Well, you look too young to have grandchildren, first of all,
but let alone nine of them or almost ten. Yeah, exactly, exactly, so, Hillary,
Many of our guests come to us from various careers.
Some people started in sales jobs. People were in fitness
One guy was a member of the SWAT team in

(08:33):
San Diego. They've come from fitness gurus and from all over. Well,
you start, you said you worked for your mom at eighteen.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
Was that your first.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
Career out of college or did you have other careers
before you really launched into your career in real estate?

Speaker 2 (08:49):
And tell us your journey to real estate. Well, I
started at eighteen, honestly out of believe it or not, laziness. Boy,
did I learn quickly how this is not the job
if you're if you're lazy. I was, you know, coming home.
I went to UCLA undergrad and I would come home summers,

(09:11):
and you know, I didn't want to be working in
a mall watching the clock. And so I thought, you
know what, I look at my mother's you know, real
estate firm. My mother was also an attorney, but she
had all these you know, she was a broker and
she had a firmed. She wrote a weekly newspaper column
for the Cleveland Press. She was a real real dynamo.

(09:32):
And I saw her agents that were working for her,
and they, you know, they didn't have to punch a clock.
They were you know, every day was different, and they
got to make their own schedule. And I thought, I
really just want to lay in the sun and enjoy
my time. And if I'm a real estate agent, I
don't have to go be indoors with the mall all
day every day. I can you know, get out there

(09:55):
and make my own schedule, and if it's a beautiful
sunny day, I can just tell people, you know, taking
out other clients. So that was my motivation. And I
was actually working at a at a clothing store in
the mall, and I thought I'd been there for like
hours and I was going to be ready to you know,
go home soon. And I looked at the clock and
it was like less than an hour and I thought,

(10:15):
oh my god, I can't I can't do this. I
can't do this. So I got my license. I quit.
I told them I had mono. But that hard day,
Mono was one of those things that like you're down.
And I went to school, state school, and I got
my license, and I thought I was kind of, you know,
hot shit because I got my license when a lot

(10:37):
of people were struggling and friends' parents were you know
taking the course, and so I thought I was pretty cool.
Little did I realize that at eighteen it was going
to be a real challenge. It's challenging anyway when you're
a new agent, but you know, to win the confidence
of people to you know, advocate for them and represent

(10:58):
them in the the acquisition or disposition of the biggest
asset that they own or will acquire, was you know,
not an easy task at eighteen, especially when I was
only home for you know, a few months out of
the year. So I really had to you know, think
outside the box. And that's when I got this hair

(11:20):
brain idea, and that's like, you know, necessity being the
mother of invention. And I there was this property that
was off a very busy beaten track and it was
you know, a home, but it was right off Chagrin
Boulevard in beech Wood, Wood Mare, and I went to town
hall and I knocked on their door with four forms

(11:43):
and I said, you know, will you give me a shot?
And they thought I had a lot of HUTSPA. So
they they said, my mom owned the company and you know,
going back to college, so if I don't sell it,
then you know, I will take a very short term listing.
So they thought it was cute. They agreed they let
me list it for you know, five weeks or however

(12:06):
long it was. Things were a little easier then, so
I had like four forms with me. Wow, they signed
these forms and I took them to town hall and
we got the property quickly rezoned commercial and I ended
up telling it to Jeanie garage door opener for over
ask very quickly before I went back to college. And

(12:29):
so amazing. The only way that I needed to do
something you know, really noteworthy. Yeah to you know, my
mother put a little blurb in the local in the
local paper, and then I was able to you know,
win the confidence that way of you know, my friend's
parents to list their homes or help them find homes.

(12:51):
And I paid my way through college and bought a
car with a whole going to be played on the back,
a little motor and acts with a vanity played on
the back with my name. Oh my gosh. That's what
started me. And that's kind of been a philosophy and
a mindset that I've stuck with, you know, my entire career.

(13:12):
I went back into this career as I was going
through a second divorce and I was living in Westport, Connecticut,
and I had two young children and at the time
I was working for a company as VP of New
Business Affairs in Manhattan. But I hated that I especially

(13:32):
becoming a single mom again, that I was so away
from my children and missing soccer games and things like that.
So you know, I thought about getting back into real estate,
which was super competitive, which you know it is everywhere,
and I thought I need an edge again, like I did,
you know, when I was in Cleveland working for my
mom's company. So going through divorce, I was on the

(13:56):
dating apps. And this was before Real Talk and Zillow,
and it was before before social media and being on
the dating apps, I quickly learned that people had everyone
going through divorce was buying or selling a home, and
I would meet him on dating, i'd list their home

(14:19):
and if I could straddle the fence the right way,
that this one guy in particular, sweetheart of a guy.
I met him on one of the dating apps, went
on a date with him, and you know, we didn't
click romantically, but I really we became friends. And I
sold him a house, I sold his extra house, I

(14:39):
sold his girlfriend's house. He referred me to a client
who bought a house from me in Connecticut. And that client,
that client, who I much later even sold their home,
introduced me to my husband.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
Who's okay, that is the best story. That is insane.
You were on that apps. Not only did you sell
multiple houses, then you met the husband today number I
can't remember.

Speaker 2 (15:08):
Three. Oh my god, what a great story.

Speaker 1 (15:13):
And so how do you were you Did you sell
any more people before you met your husband on the apps?

Speaker 2 (15:19):
Or was it did you? Yeah? In fact, I had
someone that was trying to and you know, you have
a moniker on those apps, so it's it's you know,
no one knew my name, but your moniker and your
picture and some of the moniker. You have to share
what your moniker was. Yummy mummy. Oh god, oh my god.

(15:43):
You got a lot of people calling you it was
the yummymummy. So I had, you know, I had a
really tongue in cheek kind of you know, bio on
there was you know, I'm totally perfect, you know, back
kind of thing, just really funny, and you know, I
made a lot of friends, and that was my sort

(16:07):
of way that, you know, because when you're single, you know,
most of your friends are married and parents, and it's
you know, I didn't want to be a fifth wheel.
And it was actually a great way to meet other women,
to be friends with and go out with, and you know,
really good networking. I used it as sort of a
social media or you know, it was it was a

(16:28):
great way to get into that niche and represent the
niche community in the first house I sold was my house,
and you know, that sort of paved the way for
and I was a member of the National Association of
Divorce Professionals, which is a group of professionals that cater
to the divorce industry. So I never knew that was

(16:50):
a thing. Well, yeah, to write that down local chapters,
so it's you know, attorneys, financial planners, therapists. I just
got too busy, so unfortunately I couldn't keep up with
my local membership. But it you know, as a member
for years and it's just a great networking referral group
in different markets. But you know, my parents were both attorneys.

(17:14):
My mother also had the brokerage, but she was also
an attorney. My sister is a matrimonial attorney. And you know,
I really unfortunately learned the hard way going through the process.
It's not a subject I ever wanted to be an
expert in, but but I began. It's a real niche.

(17:36):
There are a lot of you know, niches that really
feed our our growth. But you know, the divorce is
a big one, and you know, I was even at
the end. I think so much of what we do anyway, Debbie,
is like you know that game concentration where you you know,
you flip over a card and you have to remember

(17:56):
where the other one is and you know, Matt, Yeah,
so you know that's kind of when you're getting divorced.
It's it's the same kind of thing, and I did.
I applied that also to a lot of my clients
that were newly single, and I started being, you know,
a real matchmaker, not just a homes but you know,
you were portals to the communities that you know, we

(18:20):
are buying it. And so I was doing a lot
of fixing people up with each other. I was, you know,
helping people find jobs, you know, nanny care, that kind
of thing. And I started giving seminars and had to
date mate and relate really great.

Speaker 1 (18:37):
Yeah, so I'm surprised you didn't go into professional matchmaking.

Speaker 2 (18:43):
Well I never thought I could charge for that because
I thought that was just kind of one of those
pay it forward things you're supposed to do. I love
it so much. I had matchmakers calling me going, do
you have any girls for this guy?

Speaker 1 (18:56):
Do you have any you know? And so it's so funny.
You got to come to my friends on the West Coast.
I have a handful looking for people, so I'll have
them call you.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
Well, I'm happy to help if they're willing to do
a little traveling. But I'm always fixing people up. And
I'm you know, I love to help people find their
jobs and their you know, their daycare. And I really
do think if you would sort of define what we
do in a not shell, and if we do it right,
we are a portal to the community, especially nowadays with

(19:28):
the you know, migration, you know, what's going on in
California is so terrible, and I'm getting calls all the
time from you know now from agents there saying, you know,
I want to refer someone that is thinking about relocating
and you know, whose houses have either burned down or
renting because they can't find rental or you know, it's

(19:50):
just put such stress and demand on the market.

Speaker 1 (19:53):
It's horrible. It's absolutely horrible. Well, you clearly love what
you do. And yes, we are portals. I always say.
I mean, people who don't even know me will call
me if they said if they need something, a referral
or recommendation. They'll say, you don't know me, but I
know you know everything about you know, you're a really
good connector. So anytime someone calls me, I'm like, oh,
sure I have three of those people or you know,

(20:13):
but we are portals.

Speaker 2 (20:14):
I didn't think of it at work.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
I think of us as connectors, but we are complete
portals too, you know. I you know, if someone's couple
comes into town or family and maybe the wife wants
to get into charity work, you know, I can direct
them or if their children are One person was wanted
Irish dancing. I had never had that before and I
you know, found an Irish dancing for them. So we
are we really help people assimilate. Not only do we

(20:38):
help them, you know, facilitate whether they're moving in or
moving out and selling their houses, but we really help
them acclimate to the community so they can feel.

Speaker 2 (20:47):
Part of it and also you know, to advocate for
them if they you know, it's really important in our
job description that we are somebody that can earn and
the trust of our clients and we have to be trustworthy.
And when you were reading my bio, just to you know,
sort of elucidate on the fact that you know the

(21:10):
integrity and you know, shepherding your client into the right
purchase because they don't know the area and they don't
know what you know, is maybe not going to be
an easy resale. And it's really important to me to
be you know, a relationship agent rather than a transactional agent.

(21:32):
And you know, I've probably my husband would attest to
talked buyers out of more purchases than I've ever you know,
tried to talk them into it. It's either that or
it isn't. But you know, I do think people overlook things,
particularly one of our biggest feeder markets is Manhattan. You know,
we're an easy commute to Manhattan, and you know, people

(21:55):
are used to living on in It's busy and crowded
and noisy, and they're moving to the suburbs and they
don't see necessarily a home that's right off a busy road,
as you know, being a detriment they are, you know,
in their mind, I can walk to things whatever, right,
but you sale people don't look at it that way. So,

(22:16):
you know, pointing out the negatives not fun, but it's
it's one of the most important things I do.

Speaker 1 (22:23):
Absolutely, I've definitely told people this is not a house
or also you know, I've also said even if they've
really liked it, I'd say, I just need you to
know that this isn't going to be a great house
for resale. It's it's up to you, of course, but yes,
it's I mean, I just feel so personal to be
able to share that, like you with the busy road
New York. Yes, a busy road is fine when you're

(22:46):
in Florida. No, that's probably not the best location. Of course,
we can only facilitate what they want. But when I
was reading your bio just now, it definitely resonated. I'm
not yet. I'm not a transactional. People say what do
you make? How much do you make? Your eye don't know.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
I just keep helping more people.

Speaker 1 (23:03):
It's about helping and facilitating educating them. We're not selling
to them because we can absolutely not sell a house
to someone.

Speaker 2 (23:12):
They will walk.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
Into that house and they, oh, this is not the house,
or it doesn't feel right to them. It doesn't matter
what we think. We can help help them through inspections.
We can help them understand the house, the neighborhood. We
can share everything we know, but it's up to them.
They have to feel it before they're going It's not.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
Like selling a shirt where you can tell you know,
this looks beautiful with your eyes or you know exactly
what we have been going on.

Speaker 1 (23:38):
We've got to take a quick commercial break and we'll
be right back with Hillary Katzenberg. Welcome back to Mastering

(24:21):
the Art of Real Estate. I'm your host, Debbie Demagio.
We are here with Hillary Katzenberg.

Speaker 2 (24:26):
Hillary.

Speaker 1 (24:26):
Before we get more into more questions. You have such
a great personality. I mean, I think so many people
are going to be attracted to your honesty, your friendliness,
your ability to really navigate your communities. Tell us your
two areas of expertise, so people when they can call
on you when they're looking to buy or sell or

(24:46):
rent in your areas, and tell us a little bit
about the areas.

Speaker 2 (24:51):
So Fairfrith County, Connecticut is about an hour from Manhattan,
Greenwich being the closest on the New York border, all
the way up to you know, Fairfield and Trumbull and
beyond Bridgeport. I have a team of six. We're called
lux Latitudes of Compass, the tagline being let us help

(25:13):
you adjust your latitude and which means moving. So so
we you know, handle everything from in the entire state
up to say like New Haven area. The six members
of my team all have kind of you know, different
areas of expertise, but we work great together. And I

(25:36):
have a wonderful assistant that you know, because otherwise I
couldn't navigate two different markets and selling two markets. My husband,
I made him get his license during the pandemic. He's
a restaurant owner, and I said, and he was sort
of quasi retired, and I said, get off your ass.
And we were so crazy busy as most people were,

(25:57):
that I really needed all hands. On Fairfield County is
on the coast. It's a lot of you know, Manhattan
people that commute to Manhattan, not as much now that
people are going remote, so people are not a lot
of people that are moving further from the city or
not feeling that, you know, as tethered if you know,

(26:19):
they're working part time remote or so we're finding more
demand even you know, further up the line. But Manhattan's
been our biggest feed or market to our area, though
now we're finding a lot of transplants from other areas.
It really works well with my second market, which is

(26:40):
Palm Beach County, Florida, and that being because so many
people are buying second homes or retiring down here, or
you know, moving to their second home full time and
needing to upsize. So a lot of our market we
can sell their home in Connecticut and then find them
a house down in uh or condo down in Florida area.

(27:01):
So we have a condo in on Singer Island and
my husband knows Florida better than anyone. He owned a
huge chain of restaurants called two Jays for many years
that he founded and sold it back in two thousand,
but he had them all over the state, so he
knows the state really well. And you know, it's a

(27:24):
little bit of a juggle to be in two markets,
but thankfully I have a great team and in both
markets so that you know, when I'm not there, you know,
I've got people that are very hands on deck. And
it's been it's been sort of a good symbiotic relationship
in that we spend more time in Florida when it's

(27:46):
very cold up north, and you know, things kind of
die down over the holidays, and you know, we get
back up there for the spread market when the new season,
you know, and that's when things, you know, are kind
of going off season or so the markets and the
seasons work well with each.

Speaker 1 (28:03):
Other, especially because I'm in New York right now and
it's so cold. How could people live here when it
gets so cold? Of being from California.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
So tell me.

Speaker 1 (28:12):
Some of the things are a few things that you
love about real estate and some of the things you
don't like so much.

Speaker 2 (28:20):
Well, one of the things that I really don't like
was these recent bidding wars, because being on either side
of it is really frustrating and frustrating for your clients.
And you know, you can only bid as much as
your client is willing to go. And I never wanted
anyone to be house poor and to watch people and
then people worried about resale, like, who knows what the

(28:41):
market's going to do in a few years. It was
such an unprecedented you know, the pandemic is just it
was such a unique situation, and you know, I just
hated to see people spend so much more than what
a home was listed for pre pandemic and losing, you know,

(29:03):
a bidding more when their heart was set and not
being able to you know, that was really really hard.
And also being the listing agent where you get ten
bids and you've got to make nine phone calls, you know,
to the only one of those phone calls was a
good one. Nine I'm I'm sorry you didn't get it.
A lot of disappointment. So that's say one of the

(29:25):
worst parts of you know, our job. You know, I've
had some tricky clients and I'm at a point in
my career where I've been happy to sort of walk
away from someone that I didn't think I was a
good match. Or you know, if somebody thinks that they

(29:46):
know everything about the market and they're not right. I mean,
I've been doing this for a really really long time,
and you know, I'm going to say my piece, and
you know, it's up to them to make the decision
of what they want to do. But I'm not doing
my job right if I don't counsel them and advise them.

(30:07):
And you know, everybody gets those people that think they
know better than you do, and it's you know, really
hard or you know that you know, you just know
it's not you know, and then they're frustrated they didn't
get it and it's you know, not that you want
to do. And I told you though, but right anyway,

(30:28):
And I think that's those parts.

Speaker 1 (30:30):
Yeah, that's one of the things that I think we
learned because both of us have been doing this for
so long. That's one of the things if we were
to tell our younger self or tell someone who's just
starting out.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
When you're new, you kind of just want to do.
You just want a deal, you want you want your
first deal.

Speaker 1 (30:44):
So people try so hard that they'll do any they'll
try like random things, random deals, and work with people
that aren't.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
A right fit or out of their area.

Speaker 1 (30:54):
A one of our agents call me the other day
and he wanted to work a completely different.

Speaker 2 (30:59):
Area, and you don't.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
You don't even know your area yet, let alone you
know a place that's five hours away from you. But
that would be That would be a piece of advice
I would give anyone starting real estate is if if,
if it's not the right fit, it's not the right fit.
One of the things that I say when an agent

(31:22):
comes to me and says I didn't get the listing,
It's not maybe that you didn't have the experience or
you didn't give them the information. It's that people connect.
We're human, so we connect with people. If we if
we don't have a connection, it's not anything. It's just
that we don't. We don't all we can't be connected
with everyone. We're all different, we're all unique, And that
goes back to there's not a we're not really we

(31:43):
can't really be competitive because we're different human beings. We
have different backgrounds, in different styles, and different energy levels.
So it's to not take it personally would be one,
and then the other is if it's not right, like
you were saying, you have to know when to walk away.
It's only going to get worse.

Speaker 2 (32:02):
Absolutely, absolutely, And it's you know, often I see listings
that you know, we've canceled or mutually or for whatever reason,
and then the property goes back on the market and
the next st agent cancels it too. I just had
that with a recent very difficult client, and the property
got canceled again and was on the market for a

(32:23):
long time. And so glad that I kind of really
made the executive decision that, you know, we should just
walk away from this and cancel this listening. But you know,
you're right, in the beginning of our career, we're just
you know, a lot more people pleasers, and I think
that comes with youth and lack of experience. And you
get to a certain point where I know what I offer.

(32:47):
I you know, I know what my expertise is, and
you know, I'm confident enough with that, and there's enough
business to go around, you know. Fortunately, I hear that
a lot.

Speaker 1 (32:58):
I definitely hear that a lot, that there is enough
business to go around, and we want to work with
people that will as my husband says, appreciates my skill,
knowledge and experience, because after thirty five years of doing something,
we are experts. I'm not experts in a thousand different things,
but what I do know and I can say with conviction,
and I know you can too.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
I'm really good at what I do.

Speaker 1 (33:20):
I'm not bragging. I've just been doing it a long time.
So it's just part of my DNA. I can't help
it exactly.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
And people think, you know, well, i've bought a house
before or I you know, so they know, and it's it.
You just don't know from buying one house until you've
done creative deals. And I actually love when you ask me,
you know what do I love about this business? I
love doing creative deals, finding a way to get a

(33:49):
deal done where people don't see, you know, you know,
they're at an impasse. And I've had attorneys you know,
come to me and say, wow, you know, I didn't
ever think that deal would get done. That is really interesting, right.
I love to look at now. I've gotten into doing
virtual staging and it's a lot of fun. I love design,

(34:11):
and you know, gutted my own residence and you know,
redesigned it myself. And I love that aspect of it.
And I love that now with AI and you know,
all the virtual reality and that you know, we can
take a picture of a room and I can go
in and work it and virtually stage it and put

(34:31):
it with the listing. And I taught myself how to
do that this year.

Speaker 1 (34:34):
And myself, I've paid people to do that, but I
haven't done it myself too.

Speaker 2 (34:40):
I used to too, and I thought, I'm telling them what
to do and I'm doing all that. How hard could
this be? And I sort of taught up there what
what program are you using? Share? What program you're using?
It's called apply Design is the one that I prefer. Okay,
you know it's it's tricky because you've got to you know,
the white scale for the room. You've got to grow

(35:00):
or you know whatever, and you've got to move it
around in the room, and you've got to pick my quickly.
But it's a puzzle to me, and I love that.
It's like, you know, putting this puzzle together. And another
thing that I can offer my clients that most people
you know, and I and I don't charge for it.
It's part of my marketing, right, So it's just you know,

(35:21):
something that gives my my sellars a little bit of
an extra leg up. We did have a virtually stage
that was new construction. Did you do the whole house?
I did, But then I also a lot of work.
We also ended up having him actually stage it, so
we had different pictures because in that situation it was

(35:44):
you know, there was some odd rooms and things like
that that I really wanted people to actually walk into.
But what we did was with the virtual staging is
we blew up like posters and put it on like
an easel board, so that you actually walked into the
room and could see, you know. So there were some
rooms that weren't actually stage that we still kept our
our easels in and we got it told pretty quickly

(36:06):
that way, and it, you know, was would have been
quite challenging otherwise. So I love that I can add
that to my my repertoire. Our marketing is really on
a next level. So let's talk about that.

Speaker 1 (36:22):
Let's okay, you're going to list a house, and what
walk us through what you do to from listing the
house to presentation to marketing.

Speaker 2 (36:32):
So I have a conglomerate of suites that I use.
But one thing that I've really loved is being able
to syndicate it out to through different channels, to rob Report,
DuPont Registry, Wall Street Journal, Barons James addition, Mansion Global.

(36:59):
We market it to one hundred and four countries. I
think it's the current in their languages and currencies. So
it's kind of a kick for you know, our clients
to see, you know, they're they're listing in you know,
Japanese on you know, the Yank and markets. But so
we do. I mean, that's expensive marketing and we do

(37:21):
that with all of our million dollar plus listings, and
we have a great media kit that shows you know
that our reach like that, and you know, we've been
so impactful with that that you know, actually I had
someone contact me recently that had a development in Turks
and Caicos, and we're not licensed in Turks and Caicos,

(37:43):
but we were able to find a way to work
together as the marketing I'm just going to.

Speaker 1 (37:48):
Say, do you guys have I've done this in Italy?
Do you have a marketing agreement?

Speaker 2 (37:52):
We had a marketing agreement and we had a referral
arrangement to get paid and marketed resorts and villas in
North Cakos, so actually have a co list on one
there in the same sort of arrangement. That's Beachfront North Caicos.
And you know that came to us from our marketing.
I have a great person that I finally delegated my

(38:16):
social media to because it was taking so much time.
And you know, I was born in a day and
age where a mouse was something you you know, cage
and now it's already obsolete in this right.

Speaker 1 (38:31):
I know, when someone tries to use a mouse in
the computer, I'm like, why are you doing?

Speaker 2 (38:36):
I know, but I mean, you know, I didn't grow
up in internet day and age media. And my assistant
who's wonderful and she's licensed, she's an agent also and
can cover me when I'm gone, but she's a whiz
and she handles my social media for me and it
took a lot off my plate. But it's not easy

(38:56):
to do. As you know, a real estate agent that
is and successful, that knows you know how to do
everything and it's self sufficient, and you know, to delegate
is not easy for me.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
And it's very hard to delegate. Delegate. I'm a control freak.
It's it's very difficult. I like to use canvas, so
I won't give up the marketing part because I love
working with Canva. I will not do virtual staging that
just I mean, I will hire that out. I've used
it before and I love it because I had a
how Usually we stage all of our houses, but one

(39:29):
couple times we didn't because they were major fixers and
there was it wasn't worth it.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
But the virtual staging was great, so a lot of
I'm actually really enjoying it. There was a big learning
curve involved, but I'm really importing. It's one of my
favorite things to do, and I think that also really
helps us in what we do. To have that vision
and come in and see, you know, something as sort

(39:54):
of a blank canvas, if someone is you know, if
it's close, and you can make it work, and you know,
to be able to share that vision with your clients
and have them see it in a way that they
may not have been able to view it before. And
I do hate when somebody is so convinced that they
want to buy something because it's beautifully staged and it's

(40:17):
on a busy street at a buried oil tank or
whatever reason. And I'm constantly dissuading people from that, but
for the right properties. I love to be able to
kind of share my vision of what it could be.
Oh absolutely, so tell me.

Speaker 1 (40:31):
So we're we are in I'm in the north, I'm
in northern California near San Francisco. I'm outside of San
Francisco in the East Bay. We don't have a ton
of people who relocate. We have people who come from
San Francisco all the time. We're twenty minutes from San Francisco.
So for Connecticut and for I would imagine for Florida.
You maybe I don't know the area that you're in Florida,

(40:53):
but do you have people internationally international people coming to
live in your areas?

Speaker 2 (40:58):
Absolutely, especially in Florida. You know, Connecticut not as much.
I actually just listed a home in Wilton, Connecticut, and
the owners moved to Italy, so they you know, moved abroad.
But you know, yeah, we we constantly have people coming
to Florida from all over. Brazil and South America is

(41:20):
a big feeder to South America.

Speaker 1 (41:22):
I remember being in Florida a few times and everyone
was speaking Spanish.

Speaker 2 (41:26):
Yeah, so there's a big you know. But but also
really you know, Northeast and you know, Midwest is a
big feeder market too to Florida for obvious reasons. And
you know, it's a great tax haven in terms of.

Speaker 1 (41:41):
The fact that we're here for It's lucky to have
that because that definitely gives you so many more people
and everyone.

Speaker 2 (41:46):
You know, California. I talked a voute here because Connecticut
is uh, you know, my vote doesn't count as much
in Connecticut. It's always sort of you know, votes one way.
And this is in a swing state more recently, so
I thought my bat counted more, not so much of
a swing state anymore. But right, right, So we're gonna

(42:09):
go to a quick commercial break.

Speaker 1 (42:10):
We'll be right back with Hillary, and we have another
fifteen minutes with her.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
Thank you so much. We'll be right back.

Speaker 1 (42:57):
Welcome back to Mastering the Art of Real Estate. I'm
your host, Demaggio. We are here with Hillary. She's out
of she works two markets, she works Connecticut and she
will I guess, would you say southern Connecticut or how
I mean?

Speaker 2 (43:09):
It can't just be all of connectic Southern Connecticut. We
don't really handle Hartford. We'll refer that out which is
closer to Boston. So if you think of Connecticut. There's
the Boston side of Connecticut, and then there's the New
York City side of Connecticut where the sort of New
York City you know, suburbs.

Speaker 1 (43:29):
Okay, never thought of it that way before, but yeah,
so southern Connecticut.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
And then you're in the Palm Beach area.

Speaker 1 (43:36):
Is that where give us a visual between where you are.

Speaker 2 (43:41):
No, Miami where I particularly am is just north of
Palm Beach, and so Singer Island is We're kind of
in between like West Palm Palm Beach and Jupiter North
you know, Palm Beach Gardens nor you know, North Palm
Beach we're on. So we're you know, right in between

(44:03):
all those places in Palm Beach County. But Palm Beach
County extends to like you know, del Ray, Boyton Beach, Boca,
you know all those areas.

Speaker 1 (44:13):
Okay, perfect, So tell us how because you're so busy
and you also have children and grandchildren, So do you
use any apps? What keep and how do you stay organized?
I know you have a lot of helpers and stuff,
but how are you staying organized personally? And how do
you organize your day? And are there any apps or
tools that you rely on?

Speaker 2 (44:35):
My best tool, and I shouldn't refer as a tool
because it's a human. Is My is my assistant. She's
really wonderful and she's taken a lot Courtney off my plate,
and she's done such a great job that actually I
have other people calling me, you know, wanting to hire

(44:55):
her out, and you know, she's done some other stuff.
My son in law, who's in the who's in the
renovation business and building business, is just called me today
and said, can I please use Coordinator? You know, So
she's really terrific and she's really given me the opportunity
to be able to be into places at the same
time because I couldn't leave for an extended period of

(45:18):
time if she weren't licensed and couldn't cover me. But
you know, in terms of apps and tools, you know,
I Compasses technology has really helped me because they have
their own sort of Canva within and market owner, so
they've used that sort of technology, but it's within the
Compass suite of tools, so that's really helped. There was

(45:39):
a huge learning curve for me when I came over
to Compass because it's such a tech savvy company. But
you know, that's been really helpful. You know, I feel
like I use different apps for different things. And as
Compass has grown their technology and in how stuff, I've
been able to let go of like docusigned because now

(46:01):
we have you know, all within it's all within the
Compass platform to do E sign and stuff. But every
time there's new technology, it's always like, oh my god,
now I got to learn this, you know, I just
there's so many things. I think one time I tried.

Speaker 1 (46:20):
You know, someone will introduce you to something, so you
try it, and then you try it, and you try it,
and all of a sudden, You're like, I have so
many apps that I don't have time to even and
then you download it and then you forget about it.
So now I'm kind of going back. I don't need that.
I'm not setting your phone.

Speaker 2 (46:35):
So I had to like you know, read assess all
my apps and then figure out how to go actually
into you know, the Apple thing and cancel all these things.
Because you try it, you do the free trial, they
keep billing you. And I don't even know how many
hundreds or thousands of dollars I've spent. You know, it

(46:56):
takes me sick.

Speaker 1 (46:57):
I know so many well, just so one of the
things that I've learned from our masterminds, as well as
interviewing different agents like yourself. A lot of them really
rely on as simple to do list. You know, people
just if and I was telling my daughter that today
and oh, I have to do list, And you know,
I kind of for years have just flown by the

(47:19):
seat of my pants remembered everything. And so now just
listening to on this podcast, I love it because I'm
learning so much from everyone, and I think I'm busy,
and when I talk to agents like you, I'm like,
I am standing still. I got to keep up, but
everyone seems to have it to do list. And I've
also never used a CRM, which I'm just now after
thirty five years, going to try to start implementing one

(47:41):
with the help of a coaching service I'm working with.

Speaker 2 (47:44):
But do you use it to do list or do
you just call list? For sure? You know, that's what
I'm better at curating and telling my team members. My
team and I meet every Tuesday morning and one of
the night. One of the best parts of what I do,
honestly is also being able to be a mentor not

(48:05):
just to my client in you know, acquiring or disposing
of their their property, but also to my you know,
my team members who all came to me from different backgrounds.
And one of them was a client that I had
sold many homes too, and when she got licensed, I said,
well you got to come work with me. And another
one was you know, someone that owned a lot of

(48:27):
commercial property in the area and decided he wanted to
go into this. And someone else is a declutterer on
my team. She is a very cluttering business and you
know she's really been great in you know, that is key.
That is key every agent needs.

Speaker 1 (48:45):
I have that too, or decluttering or helping or packing,
helping people pack.

Speaker 2 (48:51):
Absolutely, so I mean every Tuesday, you know, I'm really
giving pep talks in these meetings and giving them different
ideas and things to do and what not to do.
And I think that's more than anything what not to do.
And you know, meeting agents in other markets for me
is a big to do list, you know, and really

(49:12):
understanding what they do because I do a lot of referring,
and you know, I get a lot of referrals, and
it's so important to me that I put you know,
my clients, if they trusted me to do it, I
have to put them in hands that I have, you know, curated,
and know you know is going to take care of
them just like I would. And that's why these kinds

(49:35):
of relationships are so important, and really getting to know
who you're handing your clients off to because it blows
back on you.

Speaker 1 (49:44):
There's so many agents out there. You just can't randomly
go to South Connecticut, who's the person because someone because
I know in my market, if you try to google
like top agent Piedmont, you'll get people who you we
don't even know, Like they're not even in our area,
they've never saw the house in our area. But because
they pay, they're at the top, and that is so frustrating.

(50:05):
But yeah, so developing the relationship is so important. I
wanted to Oh, I wanted to ask you. So, as
we know we as realtors, it's very hard for us
to delegate.

Speaker 2 (50:16):
And it's hard for us.

Speaker 1 (50:17):
We're such control freaks because we want to take care
of our clients the way we want to take care
of them. So I know it's very difficult, and I'm
sure it was for you until you found this person
that works with you and helps you. What what are
you having her do for you? What will give us, Like,
I don't know five to ten things that she could
do for you. I would love to know so I could.

(50:39):
My son is working with us now and I'd love
to be able to give him more to do.

Speaker 2 (50:44):
But Fun got his feet wet in the business during
the pandemic and worked for me. So it's not easy
managing the family. Particularly poor Andrew was, you know, living
because of the pandemic and everything else. And that was
and my assistant, and it wasn't like he could leave

(51:04):
work because he lived. And I'm a stepmom, so you know,
there was that was an interesting dynamic. But now he's
a very successful agent in Manhattan and gives me a
bit of credit for teaching him the ropes. But you know,

(51:24):
it's delegating to her, is kind of I started off
because I was doing all my own social media and
all that stuff, and little by little by little, giving
little pieces until I was really comfortable that she could
just sign in and you know, be on automatic pilot.
And people will say, to my, god, you know, I
loved what you posted today, and I'm like, oh, I

(51:45):
have to look what did I put you know with AI,
Like I have a beautiful red outfit that she always
puts me in for you know, Valentine's Day and my
kids are and I'm like, I don't own it. I
love that that same out that he's green on, you know, onay.

(52:07):
So oh that's over it. She she really mostly does
all my social media, but she also because she's licensed,
will show for me and you know, go out and
take pictures of something or or videos I have her
go to. I have her go to photo shoots, I
have her go to inspections things where you know, it

(52:31):
just takes a lot of time and you have to
sit there. It's really taken a lot off my plate.
And also my husband loves to do that kind of
thing and he doesn't write contracts or offers or anything
like that. It's just a mental block of his. So
you know, I do all of that and then you know,
kind of figure out certain marketing strategies, even though I like,

(52:53):
well hand it off to her, but even just to
give somebody all of your sign and information, you know,
that time to be able to trust somebody, And if
I didn't have her, it would be another big sort
of learning curve and you know earning trust situation to
have to you know, bring somebody else on board to

(53:14):
do that stuff. So she started as a summer intern
in college. For me, okay, I've given her more and more. Yeah.
Once once that.

Speaker 1 (53:23):
Once they start to work and it's slowly and then
you start to build the trust and they're and they're
doing it the way you like it. It's just it takes
a little time. So tell us, I bet you, what's
your morning routine?

Speaker 2 (53:36):
Like?

Speaker 1 (53:37):
Do you have a morning routine that you subscribe to you.
I've had everyone that all my guests have a morning routine.
One guy said, I don't get up till twelve o'clock.

Speaker 2 (53:46):
I am not. I don't love mornings. I'm not a
morning person. Not to say that I wake that I
sleep late, because it really depends on when what the
day is. But you know, most my days start early,
but I don't love that. And I in the morning,
before I get out of bed, I have three things

(54:07):
that I do just to sort of help me. My
husband brings me a cup of coffee, because I am
I can't have a conversation until I've had my cup
of coffee. And I don't want to leave my bed
before I have coffee. So I start with a really
nice cup of coffee, and I do my wordle and
I do I actually do wordle, and then I have

(54:27):
a wordle app. So I'll do the New York Times
Wordle and then I do a wordle app and I
play one game of Solitaire. That starts my day because
it gets my mind thinking, I've got my coffee and
me and then I can get out of bed. But
it's also just want me time to transition from being
asleep to all right, now, you know show time. Right,

(54:50):
that's all. That's my morning routine. Tuesdays, it's team meetings
and you know, I mean the business that there's no
day that's exactly like another. No, that's yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:00):
We do this, my husband always says. And we've been
working together for thirty five years. We do the same
thing differently every day. We never know what it's going
to be. But that's what makes it so exciting. I
can't really imagine doing anything else, and I think about
it a lot. But we get to meet people all
the time. We get to we're always interacting with people.
We're hearing people's stories, we're helping people.

Speaker 2 (55:22):
I mean, it's just you guys sort of have different
strengths or different aspects of the business that you both
focus on. Absolutely. So he likes contracts. I hate. I mean,
I used to do him.

Speaker 1 (55:36):
Before we really decided to partner, we were working, you know,
we worked in the business, but we did our own stuff.
And then when we partnered together. It really works because
I'm the marketing. I love the creative, I love the design.
I mean, I walk into a house, I don't see
what's in front of me, whether it's a mess or what.
I see the house painted white, I see the staging.

(55:57):
I don't even look at I don't even see their things,
you know. Yeah, and then he's very good. He's I mean,
I'm much more hyper. He's very calm. He's like he
likes to do the contracts. He's very like cross his
t's dots eyes. I love to be out there meeting
people and helping people. And I'm just constantly, you know,
I'm in the I'm on the East coast right now,

(56:19):
and I you know, now, i just have three more
hours of time because we're three hours ahead, so I'm
bothering everyone. And and then he's also really good. One
thing that you mentioned about being creative in deals, he's
super creative. He was in financing for a while, so
he really knows how to work the numbers and and

(56:40):
help people, help a buyer aniseller come together on price,
the way you structure the loan and maybe buy down points,
buy down the loan with points.

Speaker 2 (56:50):
So he's very creative though, especially in as markets get challenging.
It's it's so important and also, like you know, when
there was so many bidding wars during the pandemic and everything,
to really find out what was the seller, what's the
seller most interested in? You know, maybe that closing date's
going to make a whole big difference, or you know,

(57:10):
la being back. I you know, I had a lot
of situations where you know, the seller got to stay
there way beyond the closing for ahenomenal amount and that
really sweetened the pot. I did one deal, this is
before the pandemic. This was a while ago, where we
bid way over ask for a property that had been

(57:30):
on the market for a long time. And it was
because you could see a busy road from the property,
and so we went in several hundred thousand over asked.
But they wanted to build into their mortgage that they
were going to do a pool, a pool house, mature
trees to obscure that busy road, a great gate, an outdoor.

(57:55):
We put in all these extra things that we were
able to get the old because the property was just
vacant and they were having trouble selling it. We were
able to get them to agree and put it into
the deal, and my client could into the loan to
pay for these things rather than coming out of pocket
after the back And because the house was vacant, they

(58:17):
were able to actually move in and rent it while
these things rice. So you know, it's like the first
deal that I ever made where I could say, hey,
you know, this is not going to sell so easily,
and it hasn't as a you know, single family home
in this busy, busy area, but you know, getting it
rezoned commercial and you know, thinking outside the box and

(58:39):
looking at something from the outside in, you know. And
it's funny because the first attorney that was representing these
clients that I did thought, never, are we going to
get this deal done, and he was very negative about it,
to the point where I finally said, we're going to
have to switch attorneys and I went to someone who
I knew would be a lot more game for something

(59:01):
like that. And then the other attorney who's owns a
ton of properties in Westport and is a really busy attorney,
called me up and, you know, humbly said can you
just look me through how you got that done? Because
you know, basically I think that was really you know,
pretty cool with him because it was and I, you know,
I appreciated, but you know, I had a lot of

(59:23):
motivation in getting this start.

Speaker 1 (59:25):
Absolutely, no, it's and and just I know we have
to wrap it up because we're at the top of
the hour. But one of the things is just for
you and for me, is that you're you.

Speaker 2 (59:35):
You're very knowledgeable in your market. I am.

Speaker 1 (59:38):
And the only reason why I'm working on a deal
right now, the only reason why because the attorneys gave up.
The attorneys they didn't give up, but they said I
didn't want to interfere because the client's paying the attorney
to It was this title issue. And I said, well,
is it now time? Can I now go to the
mayor elect because I know her personally, And the attorney

(59:59):
finally said do it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:00):
I'm not. I don't.

Speaker 1 (01:00:01):
I I am out of out of cards. I have
no idea what to do. So I went to her
and she got things moved ahead. The next day we
had the letter and it's it's because of our relationships.
So you can be some kind of agent who's not
you know, hasn't.

Speaker 2 (01:00:20):
Been doing it that long.

Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
But if you work with someone like you and me,
who really knows the people and the players, we can
help push things through. And my client said, she's a
super big wig and she said, this would never have happened.
We would have not moved the needle if it hadn't
been for your connections. And that comes with you know, experience, and.

Speaker 2 (01:00:41):
It does and you can't there's no shortcuts to experience.
You got to live and learn from it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:47):
So so how can people get a hold of you?
They can always call me Debbie Demage to get you.
I will happy to refer you, but tell us how
the easiest way to get a hold of you.

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
Well, my phone number is two zero three A two
four six eight three nine five. You can go to
my website lux latitudes dot com. It's l u x
E Latitudes l A t I t U d e
s dot com all one word. My email address is
my first name, which is spelled unusually h y l

(01:01:18):
E E r I at Lux Latitudes dot com. And
you can find me at Hillary on my social media
on Instagram, uh Lux Latitude's team of Compass Connecticut on
Facebook and you know LinkedIn and so I'm I'm hard
to miss. If you google me find a lot.

Speaker 1 (01:01:41):
Just put in Hillary h y L E R. I
I think yes.

Speaker 2 (01:01:45):
Thank you so much, Hillary.

Speaker 1 (01:01:47):
I look forward to having you on again, and I
look forward to visiting you in Connecticut and Florida and
refraining my business.

Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
Thank you so much, Thank you for having me. Have
a great weekend. Thanks you too. Tune in each week
for another episode of Mastering the Art of Real Estate
with host Debbie Dematio.

Speaker 1 (01:02:11):
Here Friday's newne Eastern on the Bold Brave TV Network.

Speaker 2 (01:02:16):
Tune in to where real estate matters matter

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