Name: Sean McPeak
Title: Team lead/Licensed real estate salesperson
Experience: 13 years
Location: New York City
Brokerage name: SERHANT.
Team: McPeak Team
Transaction sides: 39
Sales volume: $110,000,000
Awards: Inman Golden I Club for Best Sales and Marketing Campaign for a Luxury Development 2021
RISMedia 2020 Trendsetter award for their work in social media and influencer marketing after enlisting the dog influencer, RudeBoy, to star in a viral campaign that led to the sale of a luxury apartment (at previous company).
Background: Prior to real estate, I worked in software development and tech support for software engineers. I have a degree in Marketing Management from Siena College where I was a member of the Men’s Division 1 Lacrosse team for 4 years.
What are 3 things you’d like readers to know about you?
- Top producing broker and team leader at SERHANT. in New York City
- Creator of the Trophy Listing System, guaranteeing our sellers a bespoke and award-winning marketing campaign for every listing we work on
- Sell it Like Serhant pro level mentor
What’s one big lesson you’ve learned in real estate, and how did you learn it?
I’ve learned there is no substitute for experience and your hours worked. I’ve learned through trial and error. Sharpening your emails, listings, research skills and content production are all critical to grow your brand and deliver results to some of the most successful people in the world — who happen to live in NYC.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? How does real estate relate to that childhood goal?
As a kid, my goal was to play in the NFL. I loved to compete However, my parents always pushed me to be creative and to use my creativity for marketing. I always excelled at creative writing and putting together creative projects. My affinity for creative solutions and out-of-the-box thinking has helped me tremendously
What’s the most important thing you learned in school or in your prelicensing classes?
I have a degree in Marketing Management from Siena College. The most important thing I learned was you must use data to make decisions. Your instincts and sense of logic will be wrong more times than not. It’s important to use the data at your disposal even if it goes against your judgement.
What’s the best advice you ever got from a mentor or colleague?
All your problems have a common denominator. Fix yourself and fix everything around you. This advice has also helped me with my real estate deals. It helps me predict mistakes and reactions of other agents I do deals with because I take personal responsibility for their actions and mistakes. I try to predict what missteps other people will make so I can limit the potential damage they can do to a deal.
What would you tell a new agent before they start out in the business?
Find a great mentor and join a team with an emphasis on teaching through working on business. Offer to work for free if you’re very young and be willing to do administrative work in order to learn the business as fast as possible. A low-paying admin position is better than no income your first year because of a lack of deal flow.
What do clients need to know before they begin a real estate transaction?
They need to know their finances and their timeline on moving. Their expectations should be in line with their finances and moving goals!
What do too few agents know that would make their lives easier?
Agents lives would be a lot easier with time blocking of their calendars and planning their day/week ahead of time! Too many agents get stuck daily because they have so many tasks to complete but no order or time blocked off to get them done without disruption!
What book, movie, tv show, podcast, or other media has taught you the most and what did you learn from it?
I love the Broker’s Playbook Podcast, it has top tips from brokers and it’s very enlightening. My favorite NYC real estate books are Big Money Energy and The Sell.
What is the one thing everyone should be doing to make their business better?
Everybody should be building out their business with technology tools to help efficiency and creating a staff to help with lead gen and productivity. Saving time is great but, creating time is even better. Try to think about getting more than 24 hours of productivity out of your day without overworking yourself. I try to get 30 hours of work out of my day via tools and people.
If you could do anything other than real estate, what would it be and why?
I would want to work in Venture Capital. I love analyzing deals (even outside of real estate!) and learning about new businesses.
Tell us a story about your most memorable transaction.
My most memorable transaction was an estate sale in a coop building with a very tough board. The week before the transaction was due to close, we found asbestos in the apartment which caused a significant issue. Later that same week, we had to get an estate tax exemption because the all the proceeds from the sale were being donated to charity. This tax exemption document almost derailed the financing and nearly killed the entire deal!
