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Alison Socha
Team Leader, Leading Edge Real Estate and 2023 GBAR President
Age: 45
Years experience: 23
Alison Socha’s 23 years in real estate started with a personal connection. As a teenager, she babysat Linda O’Koniewski’s children long before the now-CEO of Leading Edge Real Estate had worked her way into her leadership position. That relationship turned into a post-college job offer as a receptionist that Socha parlayed into a variety of support roles at the company taking on everything from marketing to big tech upgrades before an agent at the brokerage urged her to take a look at becoming a Realtor. She took the plunge and, some years later, was tapped by O’Koniewski to first be the administrator for the latter’s personal team, then to join it – and now to lead it. Her career journey has given her a wide perspective on the business of real estate, she said, and a long-term perspective on how the industry works and what motivates buyers and sellers. Also active in the Greater Boston Association of Realtors, she was elected GBAR’s annual president at the start of this year.
Q: What’s life like for seller’s agents out there?
A: For sellers’ agents, this is that time where follow-ups and back to the basics become really, really important. It’s about nurturing every little thing because during those really busy times, you’re just trying to manage the volume. Now you have to be so much more focused on our duty of care so that you’re making sure you’re following up, that you’re anticipating what’s coming next and that you’ve thought of a strategic plan.
Q: With home prices having decidedly rebounded from any softness at the start of the spring, are you seeing any effect on sellers’ willingness to list?
A: I think most of the folks who are listing, it’s largely been driven by life events, the things that happen that always cause people to move. The fear I’m always hearing from sellers is “Where am I going? Will there be property available where I’d like to be buying?” The price of their home going up is not enough to get them to jump on its own. Our two biggest hurdles are interest rates – for those sellers who are also planning to buy – and the lack of supply. Those are what I’ve heard and what other agents have told me they’re experience on behalf of their buyers and sellers.
Q: What prospects do we have of getting noticeably more sellers in the market this year?
A: I think there is a chance, but we also need to be helping those sellers to understand all their options so they’re informed and educated. This is where your skill as someone who is in the field becomes vital. There are folks, older homeowners, who might make a tiered sort of move to spend time with relatives temporarily or move to a vacation home, if they have one, but they also have to decide what they want. Some folks are also taking time exploring where they’re retiring to. I know folks who’re exploring Arizona this summer and will be looking at another area next summer.
Q: We’ve heard from some agents that so-called “whisper listings” are on the rise, a similar phenomenon to the pocket listings that have been a feature of the high-end market. Could these help some sellers get off the dime?
A: I look at it as when you’re making a home available to anybody and everybody, when you have all the eyeballs on the property you can and you’re taking advantage of every iota of marketing, that’s vital for sellers. I’m always going to be pro-full exposure. There are always some sellers who will say “This is the way it’s got to be,” but inventory is in such short supply you never know what you’re leaving on the table in terms of price or buyer concessions, and I think a lot of sellers know that.
Q: What are your big takeaways from the spring market this year?
A: There are still many buyers out there who want to call Massachusetts home or set down more roots and we need to do everything we can to work on more inventory and create the opportunity to help the commonwealth grow.
In the shorter term, I think we’ll have more inventory loosen up if mortgage rates get down into the 5 [percent range]. They’re 6.7 percent right now. When rates are in the 6s and heading into the 7s, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to move. With Boston property values so high, it’s hard to bank some of the value you’ve built up in your home. You’re making almost an even trade. Since sellers had the benefit of watching how the autumn and the spring markets went, and as we head into summer, folks will be able to see if that shift happens and be able to take advantage of it.
Q: What are Greater Boston’s Realtors prioritizing when they lobby Beacon Hill right now?
A: We had our Realtor day on the hill a couple weeks ago. It was great to be back there and visiting with our representatives and senators. What’s really important to us is helping along the implementation of the MBTA Communities and housing choice laws, helping people understand how important real estate is in the commonwealth and encouraging housing development in ways that work in every community so we can allow people to move here. We are so fortunate to say we have great representatives for all citizens of the commonwealth and they’re always open to speaking with us.
Socha’s Five Favorite Trips
- Backpacking in Europe after college
- Visiting London to celebrate her goddaughter’s graduation
- Houston Rodeo
- Family trip to Hershey Park and Gettysburg
- Negotiating a home sale at an Irish sheep-shearing
