Anthony Lamacchia
Anthony Lamacchia
Title: Owner, Lamacchia Realty
Age: 34
Experience: 11 years
Anthony Lamacchia was bred for business. His grandfather was a conservative accountant who taught him to read a profit and loss statement at the age of 14. His father is a straight-talking, risk-taking business owner, book author and raconteur. Lamacchia considers himself a blend of the two. He started working in real estate in 2004, launched his own company with a partner in 2009, became the sole owner of Lamacchia Realty this year and has big plans for the future.
Q: Was it difficult to make the jump from construction to real estate sales at such a young age?
A: The hard part was leaving the family business, although now my dad is thrilled for me and one of my biggest supporters. Getting into real estate is something I always had a passion for. When I was in high school I was thinking about how I was going to buy multifamily properties. When I was 21, I bought a condo in Holliston. I rented it for a couple of years and then I sold it. I bought a multifamily shortly thereafter and by the time I was 24, I had three houses and I saw the market was going to crash – [although] I didn’t think it would crash to the extent that it did – and I knew I was going to be getting out of my dad’s business, so I sold a couple of the properties in 2005 because I needed the money to transition into real estate.
Q: Why not be a landlord? What made you want to get into sales?
A: Frankly, I felt I’d be good at it. I’ve always known a lot of people. I’m a personable person. I have a lot of friends and I felt that my blunt nature would serve people well.
My focus has been very much on helping buyers and sellers. In the beginning, it was exciting to work with buyers and help them find a home they’d spend a few years or their whole life in. As time went on, I grew to like taking listings and helping sellers and we got really good at the listing side of the business in the bad years, and it wasn’t easy.
In the bad years, there were days I felt like a doctor giving people bad news all the time. We would meet with people who bought at the wrong time and owed more money on their house than it was worth. It was tough, but we motored our way through it.
We’re very big on being transparent and brutally honest with clients, telling it like it is, and we find it works. People want the real deal. They want the truth. I always preach that with newer agents. They’ll ask me how to explain something to an owner, and I’ll say, “Tell them the truth.” Now, there are polished ways of presenting the truth, but I always tell agents, “Tell it like it is.”
Q: How do you feel about the current real estate market?
A: I feel good about the market. I like to see that inventory is tracking about 10-15 percent less than a year ago at this time. Last year, the fall was slower than normal because inventory got too high. I’m happy to see inventory is higher than it was in the spring. I see a bright future for the real estate industry as a whole. You see guys like Warren Buffet opening Berkshire Hathaway Real Estate offices and Rupert Murdoch buying Realtor.com – these guys wouldn’t be getting in if they were worried. Every time the market gets hot, people question whether or not we need real estate brokers. Well, wait until the market crashes again and there will be no question. Brokers are needed. I hear talk that Zillow is going to make us obsolete and I don’t buy it. They can’t do it. People need brokers to sell and Zillow knows that.
Q: What is your vision for Lamacchia Realty?
A: From day one, the plan was always to build a large, effective, successful real estate company, but we didn’t quite know how we were going to get there. We found television advertising and that made it so when we first started doing it, we started getting a lot of calls, but they were from all over. Initially we didn’t know how to deal with it, but as the years went on, we learned how to deal with the calls we were getting in Worcester or New Hampshire. Then we started getting agents who lived in those areas to help us.
We will eventually sell more real estate than any other company in Massachusetts. We will be – by far – the most successful real estate company in Massachusetts in the future. I plan to take this to New England and nationally. I know we have something special here. We’re still in our toddler stages with this company. Things are lining up right now and are really going to come together in the next few years.
Five Things Lamacchia Likes To Do When He’s Not Working:
- Ski
- Family activities with wife and three kids (ages 7, 5, 4)
- Snorkel
- Mixed martial arts
- Exercising in general
