Anyone heard of the Russell Condominium Group?

[MichaelCole]

I was reading through last weeks issue (possibly the previous week's issue) of Barrons with the cover story on super-luxe real estate and came across a paragraph that quotes the Manhattan based "Russell Condominium Group."

I have never heard of this group, so I googled them to discover that they aren't really their own group but more of a side show of sorts to Brown Harris Stevens. Anyway, they claim to have an exclusive condo list which they use to make some sort of presentation to help you pick a condo. That sounds all fine and dandy but every broker in Manhattan claims to have an exclusive list. So my first question to everyone is... has anyone used these guys?

I would typically avoid these guys since it just sounds a little odd, but upon further research I discovered that the founding member is Doug Russell and that he has sold half a billion dollars in real estate. That ain't too shabby.

I'm in the midst of looking for a new condo, but every time I go to a sales off they either have a couple of units left (which I typically call "the duds") or they are on their zillionth price increase. So if these guys actually have found some mystical way to save my time then I would love to hear it.

Any info would be appreciated :)

http://www.brownharrisstevens.com/rcg

[Front_Porch]

Real estate agents are paid a percentage of the volume in sales that they transact. On a $1,000,000 condo resale, the seller might offer a 5% commission to be split between the buying and selling firms. The agents themselves might see half of what goes into their firm. So on that million-dollar deal, the agent who brings you in is probably getting a $12,500 check.

The problem? If you want to make half a million bucks, it's tough to do 40 of those sales a year. So what experienced agents often do is to form a "team" so that they're spending time doing client relations and closing deals, and their "team members" actually show properties and do paperwork.

I don't know Russell, but it sounds like that's what Russell Condominium Group is, a team within Brown Harris Stevens that he heads.

BHS is certainly a reputable firm, one of the top ten in NYC. (I'm doing a rental deal with them now, and they're being great). What you want to ask Russell, when you talk to him, is whether BHS is the exclusive marketing agents for any buildings you like (as opposed to, say, you falling in love with a Corcoran-marketed building and then trying to hire a Corcoran broker) and how much experience his group has placing clients at your price range. What you care about is not expertise in and access to condos per se, but expertise in and access to the condos you want to buy.
Hope that helps

ali r.
{downtown broker}

[MichaelCole]

Thanks for getting back to me. I actually read your post when you responded and really appreciated what you had to say. I went ahead and called them and actually booked an appointment with them. After having it, I can truly say that they do really assist you when it comes to getting a condo. I also asked them if they represent any buildings themselves and they said no.

Initially I spoke with them over the phone and they couldn’t have been nicer. The only time I felt that I was dealing with ‘just another broker’ was in the beginning when he asked me for what I was looking for. However, after I gave him all the details he went and asked me about views, pets and a few other things that would help him determine which apartment was best for me. We scheduled an appointment for a few days later and I went in to their office which is the Brown Harris Stevens office on 60th and Madison.

Basically, this ‘customized presentation’ they are hyping is a powerpoint presentation with slides of buildings that they selected for me. They also spent the first 10 minutes or so educating me on the differences between new construction, conversions and resales. Being somewhat of a novice when it comes to this stuff it was interesting and slightly shocking when I discovered that you pay more in closing costs for new development that conversions and I know that I wouldn’t have learned that on my own.

All in all, they showed me 8 buildings in their presentation and of those 8 I had previously known about 2, saw 5 I liked and didn’t like 1 of them. Then they showed me some resales which were condo buildings that were already on the market (basically like looking at listings on real estate company websites) but they managed to jazz it up a bit by incorporating it into their presentation.

Of the three people in the group I met with Taylor and Matthew and Doug Popped his head in before we started to let me know I was in good hands. Turns out that Matthew is also Doug’s son and he was pretty amusing throughout the presentation. When I mentioned a bunch of buildings that I heard of recently Taylor not only knew every one I mentioned but also explained why he didn’t include them in the presentation based on what I was looking for. Also, when we were looking at the resales both Matthew and Taylor would bring up points about the floorplans and the pros and cons that each apartment had. They mentioned at the beginning of the presentation that one of their goals is to help their clients not only find an apartment, but find one that retains its value, and after we picked apart every listing I believe they know what they are talking about. (One example was a 1000 square foot apartment with a very long entry hall, they pointed out that that is essentially wasted space based on my needs and you really only get about 800 square feet when all is said and done. This is also something I never would have thought of.)

So after the presentation was over I didn’t technically get to see any apartments, but I did get a comprehensive overview of what new development buildings would work for me which was helpful. We made plans to go see the buildings that I liked the next day and I met with Taylor and Matt again as we visited sales offices, so it looks like you are right about Doug being the ‘man behind the scenes’ since the only time I saw him was when he popped his head into the presentation room. So after visiting a bunch of sales offices I did find two buildings I liked but I also wanted to see some of the resales they brought up so we saw those the next week.

In the end, it looks like I’m going to be buying at the Slate building assuming I can get my financing in order and these two guys really did assist me all the way through. The actual going out and seeing the buildings/apartments is the same as with any broker but the way I figured out which ones I wanted to see was much more interesting and enlightening.

If any of my friends were looking for a condo I would probably send them to these guys since the whole experience is pretty unique.

[Front_Porch]

I'm glad you liked them. I've always had good experiences with Brown Harris, though don't assume that "getting educated on the difference between new construction and resales" is pretty unique. I don't think my professions standards have fallen that far -- yet.

ali r.
{downtown broker}