Lee Goldstein
Broker/Owner
InTrust Realty, Inc.
Raleigh, N.C.
Starting off his real estate career as an appraiser, Lee Goldstein, broker/owner of InTrust Realty, Inc., has just wrapped up his 15th year in the industry. With a rich work history, owning a chain of video stores in New York and delis and restaurants in North Carolina, Goldstein thought he was finally retired in 2005. Then the wide world of real estate pulled him in.
With his experience in appraising and running a successful business, Goldstein shifted gears, joining his wife by getting his real estate license. "I got into sales in 2005 with RE/MAX," he explains. "In 2012, we opened our own company…that's when InTrust Realty started." InTrust Realty Inc. went from an employee pool of two, Goldstein and his wife, to a dedicated team of eight REALTORS® and a goal to bring on a larger team by implementing lucrative business models for new agents.
Over the last year, Goldstein and his team have developed skills and solutions to dealing with home-buying and selling through the COVID-19 pandemic, such as ensuring pre-approval and dedicating time and effort to those who have already hired them to be their agent. "We're not just out running around showing people homes, volunteering our time and never getting paid," he says.
With the pandemic following up a record high sales year for Goldstein and his team, which sold five homes between $1.5 million and $2.3 million in 2019 alone, 2020 has been an interesting year. With their busy season boosted in July, rather than the usual peak in May and June, Goldstein describes their current market as "crazy," while still providing great customer service and taking the best care they can of their clients during this unprecedented time.
In addition to the high-quality face-to-face service, or even video conferencing and Zoom meetings, social media plays a huge role in Goldstein's customer service, especially on the marketing side of his business. "I think social media is pretty incredible right now," he says. "In order to be relevant, you have to have communication and you have to have conversations."
Crediting his success to meaningful communication across these digital platforms, he has also noticed significant growth in his following over the last year. He explains the importance of not only posting consistently, but following up with comments and questions, and developing relationships with leads and clients through simple conversation. "It's really important that you post and it's really important that you have conversations. The more conversations you have, the more people that get to see your posts and the more people that make comments," he says. "And then it grows from there."
Goldstein turned to RISMedia's ACESocial in 2016 to help him in his social media marketing efforts. He believes that this platform has given him the presence he was looking for, while providing high-quality content to his social circle.
"It really made me start thinking about what I needed to do on social media," he explains. "ACE was a way to get some relevant content on my page and very quickly for an inexpensive price."
Through his utilization of the ACESocial platform, Goldstein also discovered the significance of posting consumer-focused content across his social media. He explains that most REALTORS® only post and share information all about their business, which is often overlooked. "ACE makes you more relevant and gets people interested, rather than just trying to tell them what you do," he says.
After recognizing the value of the ACESocial platform, Goldstein believes that in order for agents to become and remain a valuable resource, ensuring that you have more than just bare bones on your social media will do all agents a service. "ACESocial definitely helped me to think about these things and find a way to make my social media more important in my business and, ultimately, be more relevant in the market."
For more information, please visit intrustrealty.com and rismedia.com/acesocial.
