Last Thursday night, the Real Estate Board of New York held a panel discussion about the impact that the bear market in real estate is having on the brokerage industry. Here are some choice quotes courtesy of The Real Deal.

“You can’t get financing for anything that isn’t 50 percent sold, and in some cases, 70 percent.” — Hal Wilkie, Brown Harris Stevens

“Development is going to be very quiet if not non-existent for the next three years.” — Diane Ramirez, Halstead

“[The current market] forces you to focus like a fat man who got a heart attack, then started to exercise.” — Barak Dunayer, Barak Realty

“[Agents should] figure it out, because there’s always opportunity.” — Dottie Herman, Douglas Elliman

Corcoran chief Pam Liebman’s comment from last week fits right in to this context: “A lot of brokers won’t survive this.”
Real Estate Firms and Brokers Need to Think Thin [TRD]