Bernie Hassan
Title: Manager, Weichert Realtors, Briarwood Real Estate
Age: 63
Experience: 30 years
Bernie Hassan started playing accordion as a young kid, then moved on to the organ and piano, and by the age of 12, he was recruited into a band. He saved his money to buy used equipment, which he hid from his parents at a friend’s house across the street. After his father heard him play, he told him to bring his gear home and became one of his biggest fans. Hassan has played professionally throughout his life, even while selling residential real estate in the Brockton area for the last 30 years.
Q: How did you get started in music?
A: I’m a keyboard player and a singer and I went to Berklee [College of Music] in 1972. Getting in was easy; staying in was a whole other thing. It was an intense school. For the three-plus semesters I was there, I was lucky to have some great, well-known instructors. One that had an impact on my professional life after I left was Ray Santisi, the world-famous jazz pianist. He was the chairman of the piano department while I was there.
I was pretty good. From my home town, I was one of the best. So I get to Berklee and I’m one of a thousand “one of the bests.” I went in and played for Ray Santisi and I started playing the piece and he said, “Stop. Did you practice the piece for two hours every day?” And I said, “Well, you know, with the schedule and everything, I mean, I go to it.” And he said, “See you next week.” He threw me out. The message was: I needed to practice the way he said to in the syllabus. When I came back the next week and started playing, he said, “So, you practiced this week.” He’d make me play everything three times and it stuck. He was a great motivator and a great trainer.
Q: What did you do after leaving Berklee?
A: I played in bands. Around 1976, I joined a very well-established nightclub band called Roundhouse that had a few recorded original songs. They’d already made a pretty good name for themselves playing all over New England, New York and New Jersey. They handed me a box of their tapes and said, “See you in three weeks,” so I learned all their stuff in three weeks. I played with that band full-time until 1984. We were booked 24 months in advance. I took over the management at one point. At 24 years old, that’s the dream, but at 30-something when it’s just nightclubs, not so much. We had numerous shots at recordings and a little bit of radio airplay, but mostly we were a nightclub band – a big one. We made a lot of money, but it was tough. Then I did a small stint in a restaurant my brother owned. He bought it and I helped him out for a year or so and then I got my real estate [sales] license in 1986.
Q: What do you like about selling real estate?
A: It’s interesting. I didn’t know, after music, if I’d find something that I’d really like. Honestly, I can’t get my feet on the ground fast enough to get to work every morning. I get out of bed and go from the coffee machine to my email and to check to see who’s called me. I guess it’s the challenge that you can make something every day. It’s not a dull job. It has a lot of challenges, no question about it, especially when you’re managing 20-plus people. So, that and the ability to have an unlimited income. You can make as much as you can wrap your arms around. I do a lot more office hours because I’m running this place, but I’m out a lot. I get to meet customers, look at places I’ve never seen before and do evaluations on them.
Q: Do you still play?
A: I’ve never really stopped playing. When I got into real estate, a commission-only business, I wasn’t making a lot of money so I was fortunate enough to have a lot of local contacts and hooked on to a local band here in Brockton that had a regular stint at the old Avon Towne House, which had a very big dance floor and they did a lot of functions. We had four nights a week there and during the day we’d do functions, and I’d play the organ at different weddings. I did all that to supplement the first year or two in sales. I worked it around my appointments. My wife at the time had just started her job and wasn’t making a lot of money, and we were used to making a lot of money, so it really helped.
The Mudslide Band is the five-piece band I manage and play in now. They’re all guys from Brockton who I’ve known for 40 years. We play once or twice a month, but this is going to be the last year for that band, a couple of the guys are going to retire. I don’t know what I’ll do next. It’s fun, but I’ll be 64 soon and you have to give it up sometime.
Hassan’s Top Five Favorite Albums:
- “Hotel California” – The Eagles
- “First Return to Forever” – Chick Corea
- Any ZZ Top album
- “Piano Man” – Billy Joel
- “It’s About Time” – Les McCann
