Ross Verbiyan
Title: Agent, Keller Williams
Age: 21
Experience: 3 years
Q: Tell me about your first deal.
A: My first big transaction was a $3.5 million dollar penthouse at the Mandarin Oriental for which I found the buyer. But my very first deal was a 1980s colonial house in Newton that I sold to my parents. We did a complete gut renovation, extended the basement – it’s basically like a brand new house.
Q: Was it really more the development aspect that interested you?
A: I guess I grew up around real estate development from when I was a kid. In the summers, almost every day, I’d be helping out my dad. I had no carpentry skills or anything, so it was mostly the dirty work, but it definitely got me interested. It was when I first sat down with my dad to go over numbers, and he showed me how he decided which projects to go for, that’s what really got me into it. I was around 12 years old back then, and I knew that I wanted to be a financial analyst, do something with numbers, something with real estate. That’s where it all began.
Q: Were your parents pleased when you decided to get into the business?
A: I guess you could say that. When I first got into it, I was thinking of doing rentals, and they were very supportive. And then after September, when everyone moves in, [business] really died down, and they said, well, maybe you should think about finding some other work – maybe a law office, or Fidelity, some other kind of work that I’m interested in. And I kept on telling them, this is what interests me. I love this. It’s not work for me. It’s something I enjoy, and ultimately, something you enjoy is not work. I love doing it, and that’s the reason that I work so hard.
Q: A lot of people come to real estate as a second career. You’re pretty unusual, having started so young. Has it been difficult to get people to take you seriously?
A: I guess when I was 18 or 19 years old, it was harder. As with any career, when you’re just starting out, there’s things you don’t know, you have to feel your way around. And it took some time for me to find clients and be able to show them, I know – not everything – but I know a lot about the Newton market, I know every single house, I can show them the comps.
Ultimately I think that part of the problem right now is how many people approach real estate as a second career. It only takes 40 hours of classes, and you have a piece of paper that says you’re a real estate agent. Those people take the course with the idea, “I’ll rent myself an apartment, I’ll rent my friends an apartment.” But they don’t take it seriously. It [reflects badly] on us, as agents. They’re unqualified, because they don’t know their markets. So when I first told my friends I was an agent, it was like, “Oh, okay.” And they’d go the other way, find someone who was older. Now I’m at a point where my friends are telling their friends I’m an agent, that they should come to me.
A lot of my clients don’t realize my true age. I get told I look 27 a lot. I remember when I sold the apartment at the Mandarin, I wanted to celebrate with my client. But I was 20 at the time. I couldn’t go and buy her a bottle of champagne.
Q: How did you finesse that situation?
A: I took her out to dinner instead.
Q: I understand you also own a small flower shop here in the Back Bay. How did you get involved with that?
A: Actually, my first idea was to open a Christmas tree farm. But eventually I realized, you know, I am from Newton, I am not a farmer. So that idea died. But I had made some money with my real estate career, and I wanted to have something that was something where I could have a connection to the community and give back, and the flower shop has allowed me to do that. We’ve had six fundraisers now for the Boston One Fund … Everyone loves flowers. Just today I was delivering an arrangement to Brigham and Women’s … just as I was walking through they halls I must have had seven or eight people come up to me and say “Oh, those are beautiful,” or ask me “Are those for me?” I get that a lot, and it’s certainly nice, going from a hectic and stressful real estate lifestyle, to come back [to the shop] and spend some time just making these beautiful arrangements of flowers.
Q: What’s your plan when you graduate?
A: I really want to focus on development more. Especially seeing how the real estate market has grown, I can kind of do both things at the same time, since we do have a family business. I think it will be interesting to see where the market goes, since right now my phone is constantly ringing. But I think in the next two, three, even four years I think we’ll see a high turnover in real estate, with people buying and selling constantly as the prices rise.
Ross’ Top Five Favorite Flowers:
- Orchids
- Nectarine roses
- Pincushions
- Garden roses
- Blue wax flowers
