Manhattan real estate is among the most desirable in the world. It is the Big Apple, the center of the finance world, the fashion world and so much more. As the song goes, “If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere!” As a result, people come from all over to live in the Big Apple. To find that perfect apartment to buy, rent or sell, you need a licensed real estate broker who understands the Manhattan market, knows its different neighborhoods and has the most up-to-date real-time information regarding apartment inventory and comparative pricing. To find you the best property, the broker needs to know you, who you are and what your needs are, whether personal, professional, cultural, religious, ethnic or otherwise.
There are two types of questions you have to ask yourself in order to have the most successful experience with your real estate broker. The first questions are about you: “Does my broker understand what I am looking for?” “Does she know the neighborhoods I am interested in?” “Does she ‘get me’ and the features that are important to me?” The more your broker knows about what you want in an apartment, including the price, features and neighborhood, the closer to your “dream apartment” she will be able to find for you. The other question you have to ask is about your broker. “Does she have the energy, the personality and the ‘passion’ to find the very best property for me, no matter what it takes, and does she have access to all the best possible resources to find that ‘dream apartment’ at the best price?”
In today’s world, in order for a real estate broker to have the latest and most comprehensive information on available apartments, she must be adept at connecting through social media. Social media is the platform by which anyone can share his/her information with the world at large. Social media gets the word out in an exponential way that simply cannot be surpassed by the old-fashioned way of relying on just emails or mailings. Therefore, the real estate broker’s ability to utilize social media instantaneously expands the pool of parties interested in renting, selling or purchasing the best possible Manhattan apartment for you. Brokers who are comfortable using social media are at a distinct advantage over those who are not.
Let me explain with some personal examples. The hottest apps in use today are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. So, on Snapchat, I have an account at Noa.Knows, where you can see beautiful apartments that my colleagues and I are selling, or brokers’ open house events of other properties available throughout the city. You can see photos of properties and walk-through tours of some of the city’s most unique properties that we represent, with award-winning architecture and incredible staging.
On Instagram, hashtags connect people of similar interests through pictures and videos of a product. This is why I have created the hashtag, #NoaKnows. By searching that exact hashtag on Instagram or Facebook, you are able to see everything I work on, every apartment I feature. My viewers get a taste of who I am, what I can offer my clients and how, as a NYC broker at Douglas Elliman Real Estate, I can provide them with the very best real estate properties and service they can imagine. The more hashtags that we tag onto pictures, the more relevant it becomes to a wider range of followers. All of a sudden, my Instagram account begins telling people’s stories, sharing their hobbies, interests and needs with the people who are viewing it. Since I have started utilizing social media outlets for my work, I have been getting numerous followers, who have thousands of followers themselves. As a result, the range that I have been able to reach has increased exponentially! Those who are interested in selling, buying or renting apartments throughout Manhattan can alert the virtual world at large through my Instagram account. Suddenly, I am in the center of a virtual “bazaar” of apartments that some are looking to buy and others are looking to sell, and I am privileged to act as their “matchmaker”! That is what I strive for. As a broker in NYC who is linked to every social media outlet, connecting the world to my work, keeping everyone engaged in what properties I have on the market and what my clients are looking for—that is what excites me! Suddenly it’s not about email blasts that most people delete before opening, but it’s about a whole online social community that connects and interacts through social media, that brings properties and possibilities together in a way that could only be imagined before!
Doing real estate in Manhattan is tough. It requires hard work, late nights, the drive to really take care of the client and the use of every possible resource available. Emails, phone calls and texts are always a priority. But, in today’s world, the knowledge of social media is the new crucial ingredient that brings the real estate market, especially in Manhattan, to a brand new level, and for those brokers who are on top of today’s social media, not only can they search for the best deals for their clients, they can actually facilitate the conversations that lead to the best possible deals to be made for all concerned!
See you online!
Noa Hubsher
#NoaKnows
Snapchat: Noa.Knows
By Noa Hubsher
Noa Hubsher is a Licensed Real Estate Salesperson at Douglas Elliman Real Estate in New York City.
