Native New Yorker and licensed Brown Harris Stevens agent, Jeff Goodman has a thorough understanding of his city's evolving neighborhoods and fluctuating real estate market. During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, he was able to bring a historic Victorian mansion in one of Brooklyn’s most iconic Brownstone neighborhoods to the market and negotiate an accepted offer at full asking price with no contingencies just a week after it was listed.
Goodman is consistently building on his award-winning neighborhood programming, Rediscovering New York, and even expanded the content of his radio show and podcast to include other areas of the city that his clients may like to explore.
Here, Goodman discusses what it means to him to be among this year's honorees and Rediscovering New York, among other topics:
RISMedia’s Real Estate Newsmakers honors were created to recognize the people who are raising the standards of professionalism in the real estate industry. What does it mean to you to be named among this year’s honorees?
I am honored to be included amongst my colleagues across the U.S. who are making a real difference: a difference in how we sell and represent real estate, how we help people buy property and how we engage people in different ways that empower them to become more engaged in the myriad aspects of real estate.
You were selected as a Newsmaker within the Trendsetters category, which is dedicated to the creative thinkers within our industry. Could you tell us a little bit about Rediscovering New York?
My programming has two components. One is live, in-person tours of New York’s great neighborhoods that engage participants in the history, vibe and feel of some of the city’s great neighborhoods. And an important part of the experience I create with my tour events are the receptions that I host after the tour at a local business, so my guests can meet each other and connect on a more intimate level than they would during the tour itself. Many of my tour-goers have made new friends on my tours.
The other kind of programming I do is digital, or more to the point, live radio and podcasts. The content is similar: I bring individual New York neighborhoods to life through interviews with my guests (local historians, business owners, artists, elected officials and others who are involved in the community).
Last year, you expanded the content of your radio show and podcast to include other areas of the city. How did this idea to expand come about and what have you learned about your city in the process?
Originally I expanded it because even a city the size of New York has a finite number of neighborhoods; I just hosted my 120th show and I need to have more subject matter than just neighborhoods in order to keep the content vibrant and fresh. I think the thing I have learned, and keep learning, is what an incredible place New York City is and how many amazing, knowledgeable, enthusiastic and proud people there are who provide exceptional material to showcase all the wonderful things about this amazing city.
What would your advice be to other real estate professionals about moving forward as our country begins to reopen and the pandemic slowly ends?
First and foremost, to recognize that the people we engage with may have different comfort levels as to how much they want to physically engage with us and with other people. Safety is number one. Second is to stick to the basics of being a great agent once we have our clients–now more than ever the market wants reliable, measured expertise and a commitment from agents to help our clients achieve their goals. Third, not to use an outmoded cliché, but I’d also say as far as enhancing our brands, be open to new paradigms and horizons.
One thing that the pandemic has done is change a lot in us: how we think, how we perceive things, even realizing what’s important. In that sense, it would be a good opportunity to think about how we can keep our brands fresh and appeal to our potential customers in ways that we may not have done before. In addition to the extraordinary challenges and personal loss that some of us have had to deal with, these evolving times can offer opportunities for us to figure out how we can reach and touch people in ways that we haven’t done before.
