David Firestein (R) on one of his motorcycle rides.
As considerations of public transportation in New York continue amid the coronavirus pandemic, some genuine real estate agents are focusing on something new to show their homes to potential customers: motorcycle rides.
“I still don’t know if we’re in Amsterdam,” said David Firestein, a retail broker at The Shopping Center Group, “but it’s interesting, when you’re there, how many other people are on a bike.”
Firestein, whose customers come with Starbucks, Whole Foods and Sweetgreen, has organized 3 motorcycle rides in Manhattan since mid-June, going as far north as 116th Street and as far south as Canal Street. He said he had between 15 and 20 consistent homes and visits lasted about four hours.
The strategy is not a general balm for an industry that decimated through the pandemic, but it’s useful, Firestein said. Some languishing sites are attracting increasing interest as a result of their tours, even when the procedure for terminating a lease remains slow.
“We haven’t signed an agreement,” he said, “but we’re negotiating those agreements.”
Firestein’s colleague Seth Kessler also followed motorcycle rides. He fixed the first about two weeks ago, visiting six neighborhood sites, adding Chelsea and the Upper West Side. He described it as a relatively healthy way for consumers to see households in users despite the challenging environment.
“We were all in combination all the time, but outdoors with masks,” Kessler said, “so it went very well, just to pass out and communicate with customers.”
But cycling houses have their own challenges. The climate varies, with warm waves and normal thunderstorms threatening summer. And finding a smart position to use the bathroom can be difficult, Firestein said.
“You’re a kind of juggling, ” he said. “Okay, I pedal, I exercise, I’m thirsty, but I ration a lot the amount I drink.”
It is also worth noting the extent to which agents will adopt bicycles to reach the sites and will continue the practice once New Yorkers continue to take more taxis, buses and underground trains.
Rafe Evans, a Walker Malloy racer, has been his motorcycle to come and go from the screens for years. He recently added electric scooters to his repertoire. However, he maintained that he had not noticed a build-up among other agents following his example since the coronavirus began to hit the city.
“I didn’t see him clinging to it, which is strange,” he said, “because I do more if I have a two-wheeled transport than you can take the subway and car services.”
Andrew Katz, a developer of the Prusik group, also used Citi Bike at sites long before the pandemic, however, he does not believe that the genuine real estate sector or the population of the city in general will start cycling much sooner.
“I think the city still has a long way to go before other people feel comfortable,” Katz said. “Most of the people I communicate with are still nervous about riding a motorcycle in New York.”
Meanwhile, however, this works at least as an interim measure, Firestein said. Visiting the sites on the user has not ceased to be vital just because it has more difficulty doing so, and bicycles so far have proven to be a forged way to track those visits, he said.
“You still have to do old-school things like that, ” he said. “It’s a positive thing and a smart exercise to start with.”
For a letter to the editor, send a message to [email protected]
Our mission
Contact us
Report a problem
Personal directory
Works