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Broker Spotlight: Ashley Cusack, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty
Name: Ashley Cusack
Title: Senior Vice President
Experience: Over 30 years
Location: Miami, Florida
Brokerage name: Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty
Rankings:
Named No. 1 Producer by Volume Nationwide | BHHS Real Estate in September 2022
No. 1 Small Team | Coral Gables/South Miami Office | BHHS EWM Realty
No. 2 Small Team Company-Wide | BHHS Real Estate
Top 10 Small Team Nationwide | BHHS Real Estate
Team size: 7
Transaction sides: 75
Sales volume: Over $200,000,000 sold to date (2022); $1.3+ billion (all time)
What do you wish more people knew about working in real estate?
Many people are not aware of the complexities of the real estate transaction process. The amount of time, expertise, and soft skills required to successfully navigate deals from start to finish is significant.
Agents need to have a customer-service mindset, enjoy working with people, and also have a business mindset. They should be aware of social cues, be active listeners and learn the art of negotiation.
Being an agent or broker requires a working knowledge of the law, local and regional regulations, and home maintenance and construction issues. They need to monitor market and economic influences and have strong knowledge of the lending process. Strong marketing, written, visual, and verbal communications skills are critical. Agents and brokers must be highly organized and spend a lot of time doing administrative tasks.
After all of that, agents need to know how to get a home ready to list (everything from pricing, staging, painting and decluttering to marketing) and/or help buyers find and negotiate for the perfect new home – all with patience and the guidance of a trusted advisor.
There is a lot for people to know about working in real estate.
Tell us about a high point in your brokerage career. How did you get there?
I was the exclusive listing agent for the Arsht Estate – the most expensive single-family residence ever listed in Miami at $150,000,000. It sold in September 2022 for the Miami-Dade record of $106,875,000 and remains the highest residential sale to date.
The listing was presented to Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty and I was named by Ms. Arsht as the listing agent. Ms. Arsht has had a long-term relationship with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty and our President Ron Shuffield. As one of the top producing Senior Vice Presidents and one of the longest-tenured broker-associates within our company, I was selected to list this historic estate.
It was my greatest honor to represent the Arsht Estate, and the greatest gift of all was having Ms. Adrienne Arsht as my client. It was Ms. Arsht’s love and passion for her historic and one-of-a-kind property which became a focus of the Estate’s marketing strategy.
This residential compound with over four acres on the water has been one of Miami’s most distinguished with its rich history and proximity to Downtown and Biscayne Bay. This makes it a unique property to market because the buyer will ultimately be just as unique.
The secret to marketing this listing was, in part, to let Ms. Arsht herself tell the buyer just how much she loved this property and allow the property to speak to the right person when they see it, just as it did for her. This emotional appeal was a key element in finding the next caretaker of the Arsht Estate. We also had great attention from The Wall Street Journal breaking the news of the listing, local news organizations with interviews and more PR than anyone could have imagined.
What’s one thing you wish every agent knew?
I think that it is important for agents to remember that we are all on the same team and that this is a cooperative industry. I have developed such great relationships with my peers and I love that, to be successful, I have to pick up the phone and collaborate with them. This industry takes so much of our time that it is critical that we work together and like each other, and I believe that the most successful realtors are the ones who do so.
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