When Bahamas Realty CEO Larry Roberts told Silvina Andrews she was the leading real estate company’s top performer for a second time, Andrews threw her head back and laughed. “I thought he was either kidding or teasing me,” she said.
To Andrews, an unassuming, soft-spoken, slip of a woman, the reality of being number one in a competitive environment like real estate in a year that was anything but record-setting was, well, about as foreign as the thought of missing one of her son’s baseball games.
And that, says her chief executive Roberts, could just be the secret to Andrews’ success.
“It might be the unassuming nature, gentle touch and steady dedication that make Silvina such a winner,” said Roberts. “She’s hard-working, but soft and sincere. Those who deal with her don’t want to go to anyone else. They trust her.”
Andrews, who has been with Bahamas Realty for all of her 14 years in the industry, was the top performer in 2007, just before the U.S. housing bubble burst, triggering falling prices and harder-to- access financing. The downturn, she said, had an upside — leading to construction of gated communities that were no longer just for the wealthy and offering greater accessibility to water view properties for middle income families. There were other changes over the years, most notably improved technology influencing real estate browsing. Despite those, basics remain.
“It’s still about personal relationships,” says Andrews. A few years ago, she found the perfect home for a client who arrived to head a major offshore bank. Andrews has enjoyed the bank’s work ever since, building on the relationship and making the process of relocation for new bank staffers as seamless as possible, often going beyond locating a suitable rental to handling utilities and finding herself the newcomer’s necessities guru advising on the best schools, doctors and fastest pizza delivery. Providing information is not a problem. The challenge arises when a little online research has made others from abroad instant experts.
But that same online appeal has blurred the lines between real estate companies.
“It’s not like it was when there were five big companies,” she notes. “There are hundreds of agents and associates offering virtual tours of property and every year, expectations increase, browsing becomes more sophisticated. Just when you think you’ve got some fantastic new feature, you start blogging and then when you start blogging, it turns out everyone is and you have to find the key words to make an impact. It empowers the buyer and keeps us on our toes.”
Technology is so critical to real estate that the one course Andrews took recently to keep abreast of trends was online marketing, an 80-hour course she took — online.
Another staple that hasn’t changed — Andrews’ priorities. She still works primarily from home, drives her son to and from school daily (her husband picks up from activities) and now as before, attends every ball game, squash match and parent teacher conference. “Real estate is a lot like motherhood,” says the winner who also happens to be multi-lingual and athletic. “It’s about protecting and sheltering the ones you care about. It goes way beyond the dollars.”
Her firm, Bahamas Realty, recently celebrated 60 years and merged with Paradise Sales & Rentals at its head office in an historic building on East Bay Street with offices or agents throughout The Bahamas.
By Diane Phillips
