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Meet Sylvia Sarkisyan of The Sylvia Real Estate Team in Cambridge

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Sylvia Sarkisyan.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Sylvia. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My background is in database marketing, big data, IT, and helping Fortune 100 and 500 companies achieve their goals. It was after being in this industry for many years that I realized I wanted to do more than analysis in an industry that was very relevant to me, housing.

Real Estate mixes my marketing abilities and my problem solving skills. I LOVE to analyze housing data by flipping data upside down to see if I can find any insights that would be relevant to my clients. For instance, I had a buyer share with me that he did not want to live on a street where there was low home-ownership and high turnover rates.

How cool of a problem to solve for him in his search! Data and other analytical tools allow us to answer questions like these! I was able to share with him the turnover rate on a street and show him a heat map of the home owner occupancy rates before even moving forward on a property any further.

Of course, you can visually look at a street and see if there is pride in home ownership, but the world of technology brings in a new lens. How great is it that I was already versed in a data background and could couple that with solving my client’s sincere questions on the biggest investment of his life!?

In peak season, I am running around with coffee in hand, cell phone in the other and running to every call of my clients and I just love it. I love helping people and this field has allowed me to do just that!

People are the most important aspect of my job. Understanding everyone’s goals and motivations allow me to further analyze leverage, best alternatives to the negotiations at hand and help both buyer and seller come to agreements in deals. Getting an offer accepted is just the first major milestone. Client’s emotions can run high so it is my goal to analyze all the conditions to get us to an agreement and stay objective and calm.

I just love winning deals and getting a win for my clients. There is a surge of satisfaction that I never felt in my career prior to now. What a great time to be in real estate!

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I am not sure a smooth road exists for anyone! Success is all about getting through many failures and learning from your mistakes. Trying to get my name out there and find new clients, like any other realtor can be challenging, but I love the challenge. In the off seasons I focus on marketing and business development which is really a lot of trial and error, testing out new campaigns, waiting and waiting and waiting to see if they are successful.

My past clients have been so generous with referrals and I am forever grateful to them. I know that I provide white glove service. My clients deserve a real estate agent who can cater to their busy days. Many of clients are in the Cambridge area and thus have affiliations with fantastic technology companies in addition to Harvard and MIT.

They are intelligent and their time is precious, they need someone who can do the bulk of the work for them and they need to be able to trust that their realtor is working hard and smart. Coming from the technology background and being in complete awe of some of the projects my clients are working on, I have full respect of their time.

That said, time management is a HUGE struggle that I am always tweaking and perfecting. I used to work maybe a 45-60 hour work week, and now could easily work 70-80 hours. Although, admittedly, sometimes I’m working for fun and those hours add up. It can be tiresome and taking time out for myself is still a learning process. I did take a honeymoon this winter and feel so rejuvenated, I plan to take a vacation every year to just reset and come back with new energy that I can pour over my work. Breaks mean more productivity.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into The Sylvia Real Estate Team story. Tell us more about the business.
I manage my own team, The Sylvia Real Estate Team! We are with Lembu Real Estate, our brokerage firm. Our team has core values and we look for team members who are good people at their core. Our core values are Honesty, Transparency, Authenticity, and Drive. We put our clients before ourselves at all times. We also believe in education as a means to stay on top of technology and what is going on in the market. We also support one another. Being in real estate can be very lonely so having the support of a good broker and a team around you is vital.

We do not specialize in rentals or commercial. Although we help clients purchase and sell all residential property types from condos to multi-families, our sweet spot is with investors of 2-3 families and estate sales. We have hit some challenging transactions in the past that have greatly increased our experience and understanding of the many pitfalls with selling and buying multi-families and with the many challenges that come along with estate sales. Multi-families usually involve tenants, required or desired renovation motivations, as well as relationship management.

Many of our estate sales fall into this multi-family category as well. Estate sales can hit a family unexpectedly or have members of the family involved who really did not want to be involved so relationship management is much more delicate in these transactions. Emotions in an estate sale can also run higher than the average transaction so we are very sensitive to what individuals are going through while being the backbone to move the process forward.

In addition, my husband and I purchased a 2-family in Watertown, gut renovated it and are looking to expand our portfolio. I understand that it’s all about the numbers when working with investors. We help investors understand their return on investment for different avenues, flipping, renting and owner occupancy of properties. We also understand that some of our clients seek short-term rental opportunities and thus we do additional research to ensure they can achieve their goals post purchase.

I would say we are most known for our very individualized level of service. We really see ourselves as your white glove service. You need us to drive you, no problem. You need us to get you some quotes on your property getting ready for sale? We have your back. You need someone to just man your house while you receive some deliveries post closing? We will be there. You are not physically here to see properties? No problem, we will go and take photos and video and send to you for review. Not sure what to research when buying? We have a due diligence checklist we complete for you.

I want our clients to walk away with the best service possible. I want them to tell family and friends about all we do for them and the reaction is that someone else did not get that level of service and they join our happy real estate family! We believe we are your realtor for life and we mean it! You will be invited to go out on the boat with us in the summers, you will be invited to come to my house to sip champagne and learn from our renovation mistakes, you will get a free Thanksgiving pie because we love everyone that has done business with us and we want them to know we will always be a resource to them, no matter how long ago they bought or sold with us. We always think about our past clients and miss them when they close on a property, so we reach out and hope to stay in touch.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I’m not sure luck plays a role. People stumble upon opportunities in life and the responsibility is on them to decide if they will take up that opportunity or let it roll on by.

I had good friend ask me if I had ever thought about real estate sales and I said hm, you know I had not thought about leaving my career or searching other avenues to use my skillset. But that thought never left my head and that seed grew as the months went by. He offered up his broker’s contact information that helped him buy his house. I seized the opportunity, I made the call and the rest is history. One of the best decisions I ever made!

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Image Credit:
Nicole Chan Photography
National Floor Plans

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