2021 RRC President Alex Milshteyn discusses his journey in real estate and how he plans to take the Council to new heights this year
Alex Milshteyn’s relationship with real estate started at the age of 10.
It was two years after his family had immigrated to the U.S. from Ukraine. His parents bought their first home and included him in the process. Going to every open house and attending every meeting with their REALTOR® grew Milshteyn’s appreciation for the business.
“My parents said every Sunday when everybody would grab the sections of the newspaper, I would always grab the real estate section,” says Milshteyn. “I remember that was my favorite section, and every Sunday I waited for it.”
Jump ahead 28 years, and with nearly two decades in the business, Milshteyn is now RRC president for 2021. What’s first on his agenda? Supporting the implementation of the Council’s Engagement Sales Force Initiative and Independent Broker Initiative. The Engagement Sales Force Initiative is centered around growing membership, while the Independent Broker Initiative helps provide much-needed resources to independent brokers. “The majority of brokers in the U.S. are independent, and [they] don’t have easy access to resources,” says Milshteyn. These resources include business planning, financial planning, human resources and marketing—all essential tools needed for brokerages to thrive.
“Now, some members may ask, ‘How does this benefit me?’ Well, the simplest answer is that it expands our current member referral network as it will ultimately increase the number of members that hold the CRS Designation,” says Milshteyn.
Members will not only benefit from referrals, but also from services and tools that might be of assistance to them. Whether they are independent brokers or not, they can rely on RRC to help them get started on the right path.
How did you get started in the Council?
What drew me in was that in my local market there were many top-producing REALTORS®, but I wondered how they built their businesses. There wasn’t anybody who could coach me, so I started looking further out and saying, “What organization can help me take my business to the next level?” In 2012, I was introduced to some members of the Council. They tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Hey, come with us!” And that’s how I got in. I met the right people and I really liked the idea that I was among a group of top-performing REALTORS® throughout the country. I attended my first Sell-a-bration, and from there my involvement has grown.
What have you found to be the strongest benefit of RRC?
The No. 1 benefit is the referrals. It helps every single day—not only with regard to getting business, but also being able to network with other top REALTORS® across the country, share ideas and implement things in my business that I would’ve never had the ability to do without the network of other CRSs.
Have you seen any significant change to your market over the last year due to COVID-19?
I have. When the pandemic hit, I never imagined that real estate would be shut down. In Michigan, REALTORS® were not considered essential workers, so I was shut down for almost eight weeks. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I knew I had to do something. I started spending a lot of time on the phone talking to REALTORS® across the country, my clients and my business acquaintances. In May, we were able to get back and then everything just blew up. Everybody wanted to move, and the real estate market really took off. This will be my best year ever. The reason I was able to be so successful this year is because of those eight weeks I was at home dialing people, talking, texting and doing what I could to be in touch.
It definitely feels different. People are a lot more cautious, people are a lot more emotional, but if you keep doing your same old job of being there for your clients and offering them good, solid, honest advice and feedback, your business will propel to the next level.
What is the best professional or personal advice you’ve received that’s helped you grow in this business?
I got this advice many years ago. It was when I was a younger agent, and I assumed that working in your client’s best interest meant that you beat up the other side.
I got an education from a CRS Designee who said to me, “Alex, it doesn’t have to be this way.” She said, “Our clients come and go, but we stay. So, the next time I do a deal, I might not want to do one with you.” And that’s what I keep reminding myself. That’s what I keep reminding other agents in the business. Our clients come and go, but we as agents stay, and that means we have to cooperate, work together and build trust among ourselves.
What do you think real estate agents need to do to stay relevant in today’s climate?
Be involved. Being seen in the community [as] somebody who is there is so important. I work with several nonprofits, I attend a lot of nonprofit fundraisers, I serve on the planning commission for the city of Ann Arbor—it is a lot of work, but it’s something that I enjoy and it also gets me into the community. Get out of your comfort zone and do other things outside of real estate that help the community, because in the end it pays off so much more than what you put into it.
How do you see COVID-19 impacting the future of real estate? What do you hope stays the same?
One thing that’s happened is we’ve become very efficient, and I hope that stays in the business. At the end of the day, what we did learn through this is that most buyers are not going to buy a house from looking at it online or in a video. They need to see it, feel it, touch it, smell it in order to make that purchase, and that’s the one thing that I don’t think is going to change. Here we are in the middle of a pandemic and it hasn’t changed. We didn’t all just become virtual agents selling houses from our house—we still have to be out there. So, the future of the real estate business is a bright future because we’re not going anywhere. Our clients need us more than they’ve ever needed us before. We can’t do it all virtually.
Lastly, what motivates you to succeed and to push through all the hard times?
I always think about my parents in that they moved here when they were my age—I’m almost 38. They moved here and they completely disrupted their entire life, their circle of friends—everything—to bring my brother and me here to the U.S. for a better life. So that motivates me every single day to know that they did that for my brother and me. I want to make sure they’re proud of everything that I do and that they know it was completely worth it for them to turn their life upside down to ensure their kids had a better life.
Photo: Scott Stewart
