Richard Babeck

Richard M. Babeck

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Forest Hills, NY and moved to Long Island after I graduated High School.  When it was time to leave the nest I immediately chose Manhattan, because....WHY NOT? Manhattan is awesome.  Every neighborhood is its only little world and you feel like you have access to anything and everything 24/7/365. 

How did you get into real estate brokerage?

I was actually on the legal side of the business for 4+ years before transitioning into brokerage full time.  My unique skill set of critical and analytical thinking coupled with my passion for sales and negotiating made the transition into brokerage/sales a natural fit.  Though I no longer act in a legal capacity for my real estate clients, they do get the benefit of my understanding of the process of buying/selling property from both sides of the closing table.

 Do you specialize in a particular area of real estate sales?

My specialty is working with expired listings, this are homes that did not sell for one reason or another with a previous broker.  I like to breakdown what went wrong and formulate a customized plan of action so that we can get the client's. home sold for the most amount of money in the least amount of time.  I also focus my efforts on working with attorneys and executors on Estate sales. I chose to work in these two specific areas of practice because I recognized that was an opportunity to step in and offer true value in the transaction. There is a story behind why an apartment went on the market for sale and didn’t sell. I go into every meeting with a “I really want to know why…..” mindset. I have since found that working with expireds is similar to working with estate sales. These apartments have a history to them. Someone typically lived in the apartment for a long time. They are usually not in the best shape and we have to find a way to reposition them to sell for the maximum price.  The process is very similar.

Why did you choose to work at Compass over any other brokerage in NYC?

Compass by and large offers expired sellers and estates the most value and so it only made sense that I work here to offer my clients the best possible experience.  A few of the resources Compass has that no other company has:

1. Compass Concierge - Compass is the only brokerage in the world that will invest up to 3% of the sales price ($30,000 on a million dollar apartment) prior to selling the apartment to make the apartment more cosmetically appealing. These funds can go towards, painting, staging or renovating. They do this without asking the client for any interest or return on investment. This could result in 10’s of thousands of dollars in extra proceeds for the seller. The funds invested into the sale are repaid at the closing.
2. Proprietary Technology - Compass can tell me in a click of a button all of the agents that have sold a home similar to the one I am selling, that have one listed or one in contract in the last 30, 60, 90 or 180 days. No other company offers this and it’s important because brokers have the largest pool of qualified buyers for my sellers. In manhattan 99% of apartments sell with a broker. With this tool I can contact the 100 people that will likely have a buyer for my seller on day one of listing the apartment.
3. Other - I can go on about all the other features compass has but in short they offer me all the latest technologies and tools to make the sale as successful as possible.