Michael LissackExperience: 17 years Specializations: Service. Internet marketing to both buyers and sellers. Pricing analytics. Areas Served: Personally, I serve the area inside the 128 corridor in Boston; I am also the Managing Broker for our new Virtual Realty Group offices in Portland and Seattle opening in January 2019. (Required legal disclaimer: In Washington State, the Virtual Real Group operates as BestHomesPNW and soon to be as Team VRG). Q: What made you become interested in real estate? A: I am a Professor of Applied Philosophy where my main interest is in trying to understand how people go about making decisions. Real estate allows me to be involved with clients as they make one of the most important decisions of their lives -- where to live. It allows me to see first hand their decision-making processes in action. I have learned much over these years and real estate has greatly informed my academic and intellectual ideas. Perhaps the most important lesson was the simplest one: you cannot sell a house -- what you can do is help create the environment in which the client decides to buy a home. Q: What is the most interesting thing that happened during an open house you hosted? A: When I was still working in Naples Florida and old friend from grammar school stopped by -- one I had not seen for 40 years. Q: What was your favorite moment in your career so far? A: The day I sold a $5 million house on the beach to a lead who started off identifying himself only as "Mickey Mouse" with a bad phone number (but a good email). He was proof that if you provide first class service even Mickey Mouse can be a good sale. Even better he and his wife became good friends of mine. Runner-up moments would be the times when clients have trusted me enough to buy a home sight unseen just from pictures, videos, and the like. It is an honor to be trusted. Q: What do you wish you had known when you first got your real estate license? A: The overriding importance of providing service. Q: In what ways have you seen the real estate industry change since you started? A: Technology has vastly changed the experience for the clients and the agents. Who would have suspected just how much information would be available with a mouse click? The good agent today is not a source of information but rather a curator and guide to helping sort good information from bad. Q: What’s the most challenging part of your job? A: Managing multiple practices across three time zones: my ISA is in Caracas Venezuela, I am outside of Boston, and my two offices are on the West Coast. Q: If you could sum up being a real estate agent in five words or less, what would you say? A: Service. Listening. Respect. Information curation.
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