Each Friday, Russ Anderson, the president and CEO of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty and the president of Pacific Sotheby's International Realty writes about luxury, trends, business and more in the advertising pages of the Mansion section of The Wall Street Journal. Below is his letter of March 14, 2025.
FROM THE PRESIDENT'S P.O.V.
You are just a number.
At least, that’s what it’s feeling like with the others. Brokerages are getting bigger. Their methods are getting standardized. Every house gets the same 1-2-3 selling plan. All the boxes are getting checked — but at what price?
We are the contrarians. And we have been for 65 years and counting. Since 1960, we’ve treated our sellers and buyers like the people, thinkers and feelers that they are. It’s radical, isn’t it? You are not a commodity at Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty. You are a client — deserving of the best advisors, guidance, care and coddling.
Each of our properties gets its own marketing strategy, not a predetermined and phased plan that starts by keeping a listing private within a brokerage for quite some time. (Those in-house schemes keep a listing from someone else, too: the majority of eager buyers.)
Those caring, coddling advisors of ours are backed by an insightful management team and special tech tools crafted to streamline their time — so that they can spend more of it on you.
Yes, the big-box brokerages are getting bigger. We’re the boutique brokerage and always have been. (The boutique that sold $2.4 billion just last year alone.) Just as it has always been with Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty, you’re not a number. You’re a neighbor.
Russ Anderson
President and CEO, Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty
President, Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty
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