Stephan Shipe Welcome back to the Scholar Wealth Podcast. This week we begin with a listener researching an insurance policy covering trustee theft. He's weighing whether it's worth adding as a protection for his kids down the road. Then we hear from a listener who's been with his advisor for years, primarily for private investment access, but feels the broader planning conversations are falling short. And in From the Field, we're joined by Ashley Reidy Quinn, a New York City real estate agent with over a decade of experience across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Hamptons. Ashley gets into why New York City hasn't seen much appreciation lately, why so many deals are all cash, and where the pied-à-terre tax conversation stands. So let's go ahead and start with question number one. I was reading about a type of insurance policy that covers trustee crime theft, with up to $10 million in coverage. Of course, the article included plenty of stories of trustee fraud that were harrowing. When our trust eventually passes to our kids, they'll be inheriting a substantial amount of money. And it got me wondering whether this type of coverage is worth adding to protect them down the road. So, I see this as well. This is very new, and it's kind of an interesting thing to insure, in the sense that when you set up a trust, you're trusting someone to handle all of your legacy for typically your kids and your family members. So to go in and then throw another insurance policy on top of it that says, if they steal from my family, then I want that covered too — there's a little bit of tension there of what you're trying to do, and the controls that need to be in place to make sure that the person you're trusting with that money doesn't need the insurance. Now that doesn't mean that you don't need the insurance, but I think sometimes it's one of these scenarios where we look at it and say, well, that would be nice if Tom over here is going to steal from me, I'm going to have an insurance policy. Maybe the question we should ask is, do we have Tom with money, if we're worried that he's going to steal from us? So before we go into any type of insurance, I look at this insurance as, we've done everything possible to make it difficult for someone to steal from our kids in the future. And then after all of that is set up, then sure, throw some coverage on top of it, depending what the price is. And I imagine that's going to be priced on what type of controls are in place. But then throw that on top and say, you know what? If something happens and Tom turns into a bad guy long after we're gone, then there'll be some protection there for our children. But where this tends to be a problem is, one, everyone's worried about this. No one wants to go and save their entire lives and be a steward of all this wealth, only to find out that they put the money in a trust for their kids to be set for the rest of their life, and then somebody comes along, steals all the money, and now your kids don't have any of that money that you saved for. That's horrible. That is the worst nightmare for most people when it comes to creating a legacy for their children. So what we can do, though, before we even get into that, is, how do we structure the trust relationship and the trust in general to make sure that that isn't going to be a problem, or at least reduce the risk of that being a problem. And where this typically is an issue is that trustee Tom is not just some random guy. Tom is like some cousin that you've picked that knows something about finance, and he's now running the trust for the children. And there's nobody watching over Tom's shoulder to make sure the funds coming out of the accounts are the actual amounts that are needed, and that it's being managed appropriately. That's where you run into this issue. A family member is typically the trustee. They're the single trustee. They have this sole discretion over how the investments are managed, how the money's going to be dispersed. So that is the risk. That's the bigger issue that we're dealing with — that the trust itself is set up in a bad way. Not that Tom is a bad person. We're just making it easy for somebody at that point, if there's no checks and balances to the system. So we want to make sure that we have the normal types of insurance. You have your E&O insurance, you have your umbrella insurance for crime. Now you have your trust being managed by typically a family member or a close friend. And they have this single point of failure risk, that if they do something, now we have an issue. So this is where I always recommend thinking about, or at least having the conversation with your attorney regarding, having a corporate trustee or some sort of trust protector language mixed in. So that way there's two signatures on everything. And if Tom's not worried about any of that, then he likes the idea too of having somebody else be able to co-sign any of these major transfers that are happening, and looking over his shoulder. Because if I'm Tom, I don't want to make a mistake. If I'm the trustee on this, I don't want there to be a problem. But I'll tell you what drives me even more. It's, I don't want anyone in the family wondering whether I'm stealing their money. And that is always the issue that we have — and typically this happens with siblings — when you have one sibling who the parents choose and say, this sibling is responsible with money, they're going to be the one to be the trustee, they're going to be the one to be the executor of the estate, all of this. And that makes perfect sense. That's completely rational, that you pick the child that is going to be the most responsible with money to be the one to dole out the family funds. The problem is the other children — and this has come up on the podcast before, with questions related to this — is that you have other children in the mix who look at that and say, well, I don't know if I trust them. How come I'm not able to control my own money? Now I have to worry about my brother or my sister telling me how much money I can pull out of the trust. How do I know they're not stealing from me? How do I know they're not just giving me less money? You're just creating a bunch of conflict there. So having a second signer in the process structurally not only helps to prevent any of the fraud that we're talking about here, but it also helps to prevent a lot of the family strife that can go along with these estate and trust concerns long after you're gone. So while the insurance is very neat — I think it's a cool idea to have as this last line of defense for a trust and for your legacy — I think there are bigger questions that need to be solved structurally about the trust first. And that's really where your energy should go. It's time to sit down with your attorney, go through it and say, this is what I'm worried about, these are the concerns, how do we make sure that this can actually happen? And then sure, if something fails down the line, now we have multiple points of failure that have to happen before a fraud policy kicks in on top of it. Let's go on to that next question. I've been with my wealth advisor for six years, mostly for access to private investments I wouldn't get into on my own, like PE funds and private credit. But whenever I try to have a broader planning conversation, I get thin responses and a quick pivot back to portfolio recommendations. I'm paying close to 1% for what's starting to feel like a fund-picking relationship. Do I need to push my current advisor on this, or is this setup not built for what I need? So, another common question. We've had this one show up in different ways this past year or so on the podcast. I'd say the first question I always ask when it comes to this is the justification — I have my advisor because I'm going to have access to private equity, private credit that I can't get anywhere else. Who says you can't get it anywhere else? Is it the advisor that's saying that you can't get it anywhere else? Are you having that independently checked? Have you talked to other advisors to see if they can get the same stuff? Have you called some of these funds and seen if you could get access yourself? Because now you're paying one percent on an entire portfolio for what is likely private investments making up 10, maybe 15% of your entire portfolio. So you're paying really 10% in fees to have access for that one section of your portfolio. That's a little bit of a concern for me. And that's always been my concern when it comes to these types of relationships. So one option is always — you can try, depending on the advisor, they may or may not be too thrilled with this, but you can have them manage only the portion that you're going to put in alts, or a smaller percentage of it. And you might get some pushback and say, you're not going to get the same level of alts. That's fine. But then, if that's what they say — like, you're not going to get the same level of alternative investments that you'd get if you had, you know, 15 million here, 20 million here — then I'd ask them, does that change? Is that linear? So if I had a hundred million here, they get the good stuff? And that's usually what happens. If you have a hundred, two hundred, three hundred million, now you're probably getting higher level deals when it comes to not only the waiting list, so to speak, of getting in there, but fee structures and everything else, if you're getting breakpoints. And I see this happen a lot around the five to ten million dollar mark, where someone starts getting pitched alts in their portfolio, and they get the pitch that's like, well, you need to start investing like someone with 10 million. I don't know what that means. That's not really a good option to go with, because the way you invest at 10, 20, 50, 100 million is all the same, in that it should start with what the goals of that portfolio are. Maybe the goal of the portfolio is to create cash flow, even though you have $10 million. Maybe the goal is asset protection. Maybe the goal at $10 million is to increase risk. There are a lot of other factors that go into this, as opposed to just saying, add a certain amount of money, you're supposed to have alts. Now, are those correlated? Of course they're correlated. As wealth goes up, you start to have more alternative investment options in a portfolio, but it's not a requirement. So that would be the first step — do you need the alts in your portfolio? Or is this just something you're checking a box with that says, well, I have this amount of money, so I must have alts now? That's number one. And then I look at what percentage of alts they are in your portfolio that you're paying 1% on. And if it's not that large of a percentage, then I take a step back and say, am I missing out on — or are all the benefits of the alternative investments that I'm trying to add to the portfolio being outweighed by the fees that are being charged on the entire portfolio that I'm using to access these alts? So that would be another layer of analysis that I would do. And then I'd go and say, is it true that I can't get access to alts that I like anywhere else but with this advisor? So that one's a little bit easier. I'm a little concerned generally when somebody says I can't get alts anywhere else, because anyone who does have alts knows that once you put the word out that you're looking for alternative investments, everybody comes out of the woodwork with options for you, whether it's private equity, whether it's private credit. And those are such broad terms anyways, that you end up in this situation where you need to determine what type of private equity, what type of private credit. Very few people I talk to have a fund or two in mind that they've done their research on and said, I want to get access to this fund. A lot of times they're telling me the fund that their advisor has access to, and they don't do any of the research to determine whether or not there are other paths to get into similar funds. We see this even locally as well. You go into your local city, municipality, and go type in investing clubs, and they're likely there. I'll tell you, even something like Denver — Denver's got a great investing club that's set up and they have tons of deals that are constantly coming through, lots of great options there. And that's the same in Miami. It's the same in New York. It's the same in Austin, LA, San Francisco. They're all there. So you have not only those, but just in general, deals that are out there, or investing clubs that are more national. You have the Long Angle and MeetPerry of the world that are out there, that have ways for you to invest where they're going in as a group and saying, we want deals available to this group, and as a member of that group you get access to them. So I wouldn't use the availability of alternative investments or private investments as your sole choice of whether or not this makes sense, because I do think there are a lot of other options out there. Now, after all that, you look at it and say, hey, I've gone through all the things you just talked about, and it's true, I can't get access anywhere else, this is my only path forward, I still want planning and I like my guy managing the investments — I want to handle it. Fine. Then you have another problem. If you want the planning aspect, then you need to go one of two paths. You either need to hire somebody to do the actual advising and planning in the strategy layer, and then you have an investment manager. Those are two different things. Sometimes they get mixed together. And if you're paying 1%, they probably should mix those together. And I'd expect them to manage the money, plan for it, and buy you dinner too — probably dessert at 1%. So you're going to want to go down that layer of talking to them about more planning that needs to be done. And if they're not going to do that planning, then you need to be up front with them and say, well, then if you're not going to do the planning, I need to bring somebody in who is going to do the planning, to handle some of the tax consequences or the long-term strategy for legacy. That would be the next move. And if they don't do the planning, they probably don't care. They're probably fine with that, and they say, sure, we'll handle the investments, somebody else will do the planning. And if you don't want to have to manage two advisors, or they're not going to deal with it, then you can consider the option of maybe you manage a lot of the accounts, your advisor that has the private investments handles just your private investments, and you have an advisor who's going to handle just how the strategy is going to work — and you're going to push the buttons, and they're going to tell you what buttons to push. Those are a couple of options for you right now, and none of those are necessarily bad options. I just think it's probably time to take a step back and look at really what you're trying to get out of that relationship first, and then determine whether or not what you're trying to get out of that relationship is what you're being offered now. And if it's not, there are plenty of other paths to go down to make that happen. Stephan Shipe Next in our From the Field segment, we're joined by Ashley Reidy Quinn of Christie's International Real Estate, New York. Over the past twelve years, she's built a team of seven and closed deals across every borough, from Staten Island townhouses to a fifty-nine million dollar property in Wainscott. She walks through how the New York City buyer landscape has shifted, and why flat appreciation over the past decade is changing how her clients approach a purchase. Stephan Shipe Ashley, welcome to the Scholar Wealth Podcast. Why don't you tell us a little bit about your background and what got you into this world? Ashley Reidy Quinn Thank you. Yes, I'm happy to be here. So I have been in the fabulous world of New York City real estate for 12 years now. I started actually when I was a senior in college. I was studying undergrad at NYU. And I was going in 95 different directions. And of course, in the final hour of senior year, I said, you know what? Real estate. This is it. So I decided to take classes at the New York Real Estate Institute at night. I found a firm, responsible for my license. And I said, mom and dad, one year, just give me one year. Let's see how this goes. And twelve years later, we are thriving. I have a team of seven, because we have a marketing coordinator and six agents, and there's no looking back. We're incredibly busy, and I'm loving it. There's no single day that is the same. Stephan Shipe Now, you're based in New York, but I imagine the breadth of where you're selling properties or listing properties is vast beyond that. Ashley Reidy Quinn It is vast. So I'm only licensed in the state of New York. Our office is on 16th and Madison. Predominantly our business is in Manhattan, Brooklyn. We just did some deals in Staten Island. We did some deals in Queens. We don't do a whole lot of deals up in the Bronx — that really is kind of the Westchester territory — but we also have an apartment for sale in Westchester. And then we do some deals out in the Hamptons as well, so South Fork of Long Island. And truthfully, we've done the North Fork, now that I think about it. We're all over. Have car, will travel. And then we also have a phenomenal referral network. So we're constantly meeting and collaborating with agents in other states, other countries. Listen, if our client says that they want to buy a property somewhere, we find a way to get it done. Stephan Shipe Wonderful. And so, twelve years, you've been in it. You started off, you get your one year. What was the big sale that really said, this is the one, you're going to stick with this and this is where you're going to run with it? Ashley Reidy Quinn You know, I don't even think I could pinpoint one sale that said I'm going to do this. But it was very early in my career. I was still studying. Graduation was in May, I believe, if I remember correctly, May or early June. And part of my offer was that I actually had to start the Monday after spring break in March. So I actually started working in real estate those final few months of senior year. I took on a full course load, because why not? And I was like, what am I doing? This is insane to be doing right now. But I was sitting in — I went to the College of Arts and Science at NYU, so that graduation is in Radio City Music Hall, and then NYU's graduation is in Yankee Stadium. But I was in my school's graduation at Radio City Music Hall, and I got my first deal. It was a rental transaction. It was not very expensive. It was a studio, if I remember correctly. But I got that transaction done, and I was like, I think I can do this. I think this is my path. And in hindsight, that is absolutely not an indicator that this career was going to be worthwhile for me. But it gave me that momentum and that confidence that has carried me through 12 years. And we've had incredible, noteworthy sales. Our team just closed a deal this past year out in Wainscott, so in the Hamptons, for 59 million. That was incredible. But I will tell you, it's not the most expensive transactions that are the most memorable, or that give you that motivation forward. Sometimes it's actually the least expensive. It's the most difficult transaction. It's the most unusual purchase or sale or rental scenario. Every time we can get one of those transactions across the finish line, I'm like, I'm doing it right. This is it. Stephan Shipe What makes one of those transactions difficult? Because you always hear it from your perspective — everyone has a story of a real estate transaction that was difficult from their perspective as a buyer or seller. But from your perspective, what makes things difficult? Ashley Reidy Quinn So we'll use difficult loosely here. Stephan Shipe Absolutely. You can define it however you'd like to. Ashley Reidy Quinn We'll say lowercase-d difficult. But one that was unusual, and that I was not totally prepared for — we actually just closed on the property two weeks ago. We helped the client purchase this property in 2016. Three bed, three and a half bath, right on Madison Square Park. The building is Two Two Fifth Avenue. Incredible unit. Again, an investment, so the client wanted to rent it out right away. Unfortunately, a few years ago, the client passed away. So I had never experienced a client death. We went to the funeral, and then the apartment was in a trust, so it rolled over to the trustee members, and they gave us a call. And there was no guarantee that we were going to still be this seller's, for lack of a better term, real estate agent. Now, it was — we went from one individual that we were reporting to, to now a handful, five or six individuals. And in New York City, everyone has a real estate agent. There are a lot of us. So we kind of had to start the process over again and pitch to the team why we should still sell this apartment, because they did ultimately want to sell the apartment. So it was very unconventional. It was an odd process, and it was definitely a steep learning curve. I hadn't been through that before. But we did just close on the property, so I'm very pleased, and I'm excited for the client, and I'm excited for the purchaser. It was a great transaction to work on. Stephan Shipe And when you think about misconceptions of people looking at — let's narrow the scope to Manhattan real estate. What are some of the misconceptions people have coming into Manhattan, buying a property or working with an agent? Ashley Reidy Quinn So I have a few answers here. I think one of the biggest misconceptions — over the past decade, there are a lot of TV shows that have highlighted New York City real estate. And I find we get a lot of clients who think that is the reality. Million Dollar Listing years ago, I remember watching it, and I was like, wow. These are the nicest apartments. The transactions seem rather short. We have clients that we've been working with for five, six years before we finally close on a transaction. So I'd say the misconception is, it looks very glitz and glam, it looks fancy, it looks fun, it looks like there are a lot of parties. And that reality does exist, but it's such a small percentage of the day-to-day in this industry. So I feel like that is a misconception. I also would say there's this idea that New York City, over five boroughs, we have a lot of real estate, there are a lot of apartments. So clients just think their dream home will be right there, it's easily accessible. And it's not. Sometimes it takes time. And we have a lot of clients that will come into an apartment and they're like, this is what I can get for $2 million? And I'm like, welcome to New York, baby. This is where dreams are made. So there are a lot of misconceptions. So much of my day is spent educating our clients and resetting these expectations, and really ensuring that we're approaching this process with a clear and open mind. Stephan Shipe And you mentioned the five boroughs. I'm curious, of your experience in the city, where are you most bullish and where are you most bearish? If you had to put it on a spectrum — and it doesn't have to be necessarily a borough, but an area — where are you excited about, really optimistic about, and which areas maybe you'd probably try to steer clients away from, at least right now? Ashley Reidy Quinn So I feel like you're trying to trick me. I would never steer a client away from any borough. We can do it all. But — Stephan Shipe That's true. See, that was definitely a test. You're good. Ashley Reidy Quinn I will say, where I am probably the most confident and transact the most — the markets I transact most frequently in are definitely Manhattan and Brooklyn. And they vary drastically. But one neighborhood — and we'll use the term loosely, because the entire borough was Staten Island. I had said, like, I want to do a transaction in every single borough. And that was a totally different beast. Listen, I can study the markets, I think I know what I'm getting myself into. We ended up doing three transactions this year in Staten Island. And those really gave me a run for my money. It's very easy to forget how different the five boroughs are in New York City, which seems so obvious saying it, but they operate completely differently, these markets. So it's a good learning experience. Stephan Shipe You can't leave me with that. What makes it so different? Because one of the things you've said is that eighty percent of your job is more psychological, twenty percent is transactional. Ashley Reidy Quinn Totally. Stephan Shipe So what makes that psychological component so different, working with someone from different — I imagine it's even within Manhattan, different neighborhoods versus different areas. What's causing that difference? Ashley Reidy Quinn So I'll talk about it from the listing perspective. We listed a home in Staten Island. And in New York City, I spend so much time preparing for our listings, preparing the clients for the sale, preparing the home, getting certain photos, videos. We work with a phenomenal photographer and videographer. We really take great pride in our listings and how the home presents online. Because where this home was located in Staten Island, logistically it's not easy for us to get to. So we partnered with an agent on Staten Island, someone who really knew that market far better than I knew it, and someone who could position the home, market it to the other people in his database on the island. No joke, he took photos on like his phone. He went through the house, took photos on his iPhone, and listed it. And I was like, we have to talk about those photos. We spend time making floor plans. And it's like, we don't do floor plans here. Like, what do you mean you don't do floor plans here? How can somebody look online? First of all, these photos leave room for improvement, and I can't tell the orientation of this house based on the photos. The floor plan is very valuable. We don't do that. So at that point, I'm playing in their sandbox. So there was definitely an element that I had to be a little bit more lenient on my expectations, and reset. But that was just one part of this. And I was like, okay, let's send out some postcards. Let's talk about a broker database. Let's talk about some clients that you've worked with in the past. And he's like, I got it, don't worry about it. And I was like, I'm not sure we got it. So it was just a learning experience. And then leading up to the closing for that transaction — it was a house. So in the city, we are predominantly apartments, besides townhouses. So you have condos and co-ops. So the actual process of closing, you have to work with a management company. We did have to work with a management company that oversaw the HOA for this community in Staten Island. But otherwise, there are no safeguards in place to make sure — like, Verizon went to this home, I think it was two weeks prior to our closing, and started drilling the sidewalk to tear up the lines, to put new lines on for the owner. And it's like, we didn't close on this property yet. We can't do that. And then we had to do the HOA — like, who let them in? I was like, I don't know, I don't live there. It was just a very different process than we're used to. Stephan Shipe And you mentioned the videography and the importance of the photos. How is all the AI stuff affecting your job now? Is that making things a lot easier for someone to be able to experience a property before they actually see it, or is it causing other issues? Ashley Reidy Quinn Such a great question. So, with that transaction that I was just talking about, I just vocalized that I wasn't pleased with the photos. I have a fantastic marketing coordinator on our team. He runs our socials. And I was like, listen, these are the photos, what can you do with them? And he used AI to make these photos look incredible. Like, it looked like a different home, honestly. So we are using AI quite a bit in the marketing space. I don't use it a whole lot for the listings that I have more control over taking the videos. We actually don't use it at all in that regard, because when I have a listing, I want any prospective buyer to walk in the front door and say, it's exactly like I see on the listing, or even better, it's better in person. It is very obvious when you walk into a listing and you can tell immediately that the listing agent doctored up the photos, made them bigger, changed things around with AI. So part of this industry is also working with a trusted advisor who can spot these things, who knows the buildings, who has worked in the building before, is familiar with that line. Otherwise, AI is a tool. It can be used to really help, or it can be used sometimes to deceive with marketing. So it's just knowing what's what. Stephan Shipe I imagine the importance of that has got to be a lot more important in New York, where you have buyers coming from out of town or buying investments and everything else. I imagine you need to make it where it's easier for someone to possibly buy something without actually physically being in the property. Is that more common? Ashley Reidy Quinn It is. You know, it's funny. I find right now the buyer landscape has changed quite a bit in the past few years. I'm finding buyers to be much more selective. So frequently, with our investor clients, we put a whole list together of options that could fit their investment needs and requirements. My business partner and I would go tour the properties. We would say, this is great, this is not great, this is great. They pick one and buy it. They purchased the home without ever seeing it. Now I'm finding clients really want to get in the space. They want to see the building, they want to see the surrounding blocks, they want to walk around the neighborhood. So having these videos and photos, not only of the apartment, but also of the building — and sometimes listing agents will take videos of the neighborhood, which is very, very helpful for clients that don't live in the city. Otherwise, I'm finding that it's a great preliminary step. It helps me to narrow down the options for the client, but they do still want to come see the property in person. There's something like seeing the home with your own two eyes. Stephan Shipe Why do you think that's changed so much in the past few years? Is it, with interest rates going up, people are a little bit more concerned about doing that extra due diligence, or other concerns? What are you hearing from clients as to why they want to have that extra step? Ashley Reidy Quinn Yeah, I think it's a factor for some. I will say, though, New York City is a very liquid market. I would say probably ninety percent of our transactions are cash transactions. Very few have mortgages. But if you look at the past decade, New York City real estate really hasn't appreciated that much. It stayed very flat. So because of this — and buyers are aware of this — I find the buyer in New York City is very well educated. They're a sophisticated buyer. They know what's going on. They see that. Let's just call a spade a spade. If you have a pile of cash, it's going to appreciate much greater in the stock market right now than in New York City real estate. So if someone is buying an apartment in New York City, they really want to be there. They want a piece of New York City, whether it's for a pied-à-terre, or it's to live in for a primary purchase, or for a family member, et cetera. So knowing that this purchase, which is expensive, may not appreciate — and dare I say it, you may take a loss down the road — you want to make sure you really love that home. You don't want it to be so-so. So that's what I'm finding with our clients. Stephan Shipe And are you seeing any of the potential tax implications that are rolling around out there, for property taxes or additional taxes? Is that affecting anything that you're seeing now, from demand or additional questions? Ashley Reidy Quinn Well, knock on wood — I'm in my wooden office. I'm not seeing it with our clients at the moment. It is definitely a talking point. We are meeting with attorneys that are far better versed and study this greater than I do, so that we can best prepare our clients and connect them with the best resources. But for right now, it's not impacting us too much. There's still a lot of unknown with this pied-à-terre tax, how it's going to roll out, et cetera. It's, hate to say it, but it's just a lot of noise at the moment. And we're just doing our homework on the back end so we can best prepare our clients for when it does roll out, whatever it is. Stephan Shipe And I guess, for those listening who may not be familiar, there are proposals to have additional property tax, if I'm not mistaken, on properties that are not your primary home in New York. Is that a fair assessment of all the noise that's out there? Just kind of, we don't know what that's going to look like, but that's the concept? Ashley Reidy Quinn It is such a good overview. And yeah, that's what the attorneys that I've been meeting with and talking about this — I think tax attorneys are going to become more valuable than ever. Truthfully, we don't typically bring in a tax attorney with our transactions. All of our clients work with tax attorneys for other reasons, but I think that'll be a very valuable resource as this continues to roll out. But there's so much unknown. Stephan Shipe It's so hard to tell. It's like defining primary versus secondary and all of that. I mean, that's been the issue of states for so many years, of trying to figure out where someone's primary residence is and how many days you're in a state. And now I feel like that's going to be more at a city level, even more. Ashley Reidy Quinn Yeah. But we hear about Florida for years, right? Six months in a day. Stephan Shipe Yeah, that was always the move. So now, you know, maybe you get more of that happening at a different scale. I think it'll be interesting. I think there are always games to be played there. It's just a question of what gray areas are going to exist, and how strict that's going to be. Ashley Reidy Quinn Of course. And listen, there's always a gray area. New York City is filled with pied-à-terre owners. So it'll be interesting to see. I think there's definitely an argument you could make for, if there are clients that are pied-à-terre ownership and they're a little bit on the fence and they don't want to deal with this, et cetera, could this be what pushes them out? Potentially. But I think they were already one foot out the door anyway. Otherwise, thankfully, for the time being, it's not affecting my immediate business too much. Stephan Shipe Yeah. And I think New York has a similar idea to California, where you can complain, but you don't get California weather, and you don't get New York City anywhere else, right? That's always the difficulty. Ashley Reidy Quinn Where else do you get that lively energy? I haven't found another city like it. Stephan Shipe No, I think it definitely wins, and they know it when they're taxing it, right? So that makes it a little bit easier. Ashley Reidy Quinn It's funny, though, that you say that, because I just was working with a client who's predominantly based in California, and they bought an apartment in New York City, and they were absolutely floored that we don't have to pay for water in New York City. Because most other states, you get a water bill every month. New York City, free water. So that can be the selling point. Stephan Shipe There you go. It's okay if you get the extra tax — at least you get the free water, right? Ashley Reidy Quinn Exactly. Don't ask me about the health of the pipes, but the water's free. Stephan Shipe I wasn't going to put you in that position. I wasn't going to go there. Ashley Reidy Quinn No, no. That's for an environmentalist. That's way above my pay grade. Stephan Shipe As we start wrapping everything up, I'd be really curious to know — we talked a little bit about the 80% of psychology, but what are the core tenets that you take into account? Because you're dealing in a world where, I imagine, a lot of real estate agents not in your area have a client for a property, and maybe they meet with that client again in the future, but you have more of a continuing, ongoing relationship with these clients. So it's truly relationship building, I imagine, that becomes a lot more important. What are your secrets there? What can you share about how you've been successful at it? You've grown your team, you're obviously doing very well. What are the things that you look at and say, I can point to these few things and that works out? Ashley Reidy Quinn Can't share all my secrets. No, I'm just kidding. Stephan Shipe Not all of them. Ashley Reidy Quinn It is 100% — this industry, I think it's very easy to just look at it and say, it's phenomenal products, big price points, potentially big commission checks. It's so easy to get caught up in that viewpoint. And I think a lot of people do. I don't blame them. However, this is a people-first industry. If you don't have that relationship with your client, they're not going to transact. And again, there are so many agents in New York City. If they're not comfortable with you, then they'll find someone else. That's pretty easy. But you really have to hone in on the client, what they're looking for. I can't tell you how many times a client has come to me and they're like, this is what I want, this is where I want to live, this is how much I want to spend, and this is my list of things that I don't want. By the time we close the transaction, it's almost like the list has flip-flopped. So it's amazing. Clients oftentimes think they know exactly what they want, where they want to be, and it changes. And it's really understanding, what is the client, what is really their goal and their objective for this investment. Because whether it's an investment and they're going to rent it out, or they're buying for themselves, this is an investment. And for most people, a home purchase is one of the largest investments you will make in your life. So it's very emotional. I say it's 80% psychological, because going through the waves of emotion to get a deal across the finish line — and I'm referring to just working with a client that's a buyer. A seller has a totally different set of emotions. Many times people are selling for reasons that they don't always want to fully disclose right away. So it's getting a better understanding of, why is a client selling, what do they need to do with the proceeds, et cetera. It all comes into play. So the secret is, my focus is entirely on the person, the client, making sure that they are comfortable, making sure that they trust me, and that we can have the honest back and forth. Because the majority of my day is having very uncomfortable conversations with clients, with lawyers, with mortgage bankers, with property managers. It's not always pretty. Most of it is not pretty. So if you don't have the trusting relationship with your client, this will all just blow up. It's one big fire. So I would say that's my biggest secret. And understanding also that my business now is predominantly repeat business, and it's referrals. So I don't have that if my clients aren't happy and pleased with the end results. So that's a huge motivator. Stephan Shipe That's great. Perfect. I like that advice. Well, thank you so much for coming on here today, Ashley. I appreciate you joining us and sharing the secrets of Manhattan real estate a little bit, or at least some of the secrets. We can't have them all. Ashley Reidy Quinn Gotta keep some in my back pocket. But thank you. This is phenomenal. It's great chatting with you. Stephan Shipe Yeah, likewise. Have a good one. Stephan Shipe That's our show. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week.