Sam Schneiderman
Title: Broker/Owner, Greater Boston Home Team; president, Massachusetts Association of Buyer Agents (MABA)
Age: 61
Experience: 28 years
When a wise old broker sits down with a fresh, hungry young agent and advises her on how to succeed in real estate, they usually use three words: list, list, list. Sam Schneiderman didn’t listen.
Instead, he became one of the pioneers of the buyer’s agent model in Massachusetts, and now leader of their trade organization.
Q: How did you decide that real estate is what you wanted to do?
A:I started with Century 21 in 1984. I got my real estate license because my wife and I were trying to buy a house, and we could not find a house anywhere. We were in Davis Square [in Somerville], looking for a two-family. We kept making offers, and they would go nowhere. Finally I said to one of the guys, “What’s happening? We see a house go on the market yesterday, we come in today and make an offer, and we can’t get in.” He said, “Oh, we’re buying them … a bunch of agents in my office, they’re buying up all the good listings, all the two- and three-family listings.’ Well, [my wife] and I walked away from that and I said, “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.” And the next day I was in real estate classes. I just thought, if this is the way they do business, I can do better. But then I got the real estate bug.
Q: What had you been doing before that?
A: I was in the music business. If you go to a concert, and see all the stage lighting hanging up above? I did that. Starting in the early 1970s. This was before everybody had stage lighting – but the bands we were with …Aerosmith, Journey, Sly and the Family Stone – Sly was my first client. Alice Cooper was my last client. [And in-between] it was Harry Belafonte and Joan Baez and Arlo Guthrie and Earth Wind and Fire…I was negotiating with major, major, major managers back then. So when I started doing real estate, people would beat their chests and start doing all this silly real estate stuff, it was like, c’mon, get over it. I wasn’t intimidated at that point.
Q: What made you want to get onto the buyer’s side of the business?
A: Well, when I got in I was investing for myself. [I had heard of buyer’s agency] but it was impossible at that time, the way the real estate clique was set up, in Massachusetts…. It was very frustrating, because I saw [buyers] make a lot of mistakes, people that I liked and had a relationship with. But you couldn’t advocate for them, because I represented the seller, and if you did advocate for them, then the listing agent would take your head off – ‘Who are you working for? I’m writing the check. Zip it, and get paid.’ That was the attitude.
So I got out of real estate brokerage at that point, and did real estate appraisal for nine years. And then I got acquainted with the founders of MABA, went to a couple of meetings, and said, ‘this is a really interesting way to do business. I think there are consumers out there who will appreciate this.’ And being a bit of a pioneer, I wanted to get into it.
Q: Is it more difficult being a buyer’s agent?
A: Well, in the early days, I’d call to set up an appointment and get hung up on. [Growls] ‘You’re a buyer’s agent? Don’t do business with buyer’s agents! Never worked with one, never want to work with one!’ And I’d say, ‘well, why don’t we see the house first, and then decide?’ Because my client had a right to see the house. ‘Well, okay!’ And we’d develop a relationship…Really good agents, really good brokers that last, remember that this is a people business, it’s about taking care of people. But yes, the business has changed… attitudes have slowly come around, and people are little more consumer-based.
Q:Do you think keeping that consumer focus will be a challenge for the future? After all, there’s been a bit of a movement lately for brokers to take listings off of portals like Zillow and Trulia – and critics say that’s driven by a desire to double-end transactions.
A: That’s just plain old thinking. Consumers won’t tolerate it – and sooner or later, businesses who do that are going to dig their own grave. I truly believe that. It may be five years, it may be ten years, but sooner or later businesses who do that will dig their own grave.
Q: Don’t you get a lot of consumers these days who think buyer’s agents are obsolete?
A: Oh, yeah. But one of things I explain to people is that the real value of an agent for a consumer is the backside of the transaction. ‘Here’s the paperwork: What are you going to do with it? It’s time to make an offer, and in today’s environment there might be 12 offers against you. Now what are you going to do? Mr. Smart First Time Buyer, how are you going to navigate 12 [competing] offers? How are you going to put this together if you can barely scrape up the money to close?’ There’s always a segment that wants really good service. When I was in the music business, I was having one of those late night conversations with the guy who designed lighting consoles for me, and he said, “There’s always going to be demand in any business for somebody who takes really good care of their clients.” …If you take care of the people first, everything follows.
