REAL ESTATE
EXCLUSIVE
ELEGANT APPOINTMENT ABOVE:
The inviting living room of 498 West End Avenue incorporates a mix of shapes and textures; Suzanne Miller and Nikki Field. OPPOSITE: Anjali Pollack and Louise Phillips Forbes; Art adds color to the entry (middle); The kitchen is finished in marble and chic dark wood surfaces.
Suzanne Miller is the founder of Empire State Properties, a boutique real estate firm located in Midtown Manhattan, with a portfolio of more than 500 properties. Specializing in sales, rentals, and management of Manhattan properties for domestic and international investors, Empire State Properties is sought after by individual buyers as well as corporations and developers. Miller has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, and Crains among others.
44 N E W Y O R K S P A C E S . C O M
Nikki Field: Residential real estate in particular has always been a stronghold of talented, articulate, educated women. In fact, 80% of the established brokers nationwide are women. So we reign in this industry. Why? Because this is such a unique purchase. People buy all sorts of items throughout their economic life but they look at the purchase of a home in a personal way. Suzanne Miller: My business is a little different because I own a furnished rental company. So we sell income-producing properties to investors all over the world and rent them out to corporations. Most of the people that we deal with are women, both on an executive level and as international buyers. Whether it's an executive or the wife of an executive, the women are making the decisions on investment properties. Anjali Pollack: My perspective is different because I'm an interior designer and when there is a woman selling or buying an apartment there's more of an understanding of necessary things like closet space. Men walk through a space differently than women. A woman understands that people really live in their kitchens. Men want to know where the big TV can go, whereas women are thinking about the family’s needs. NYS: Is it still about the “ladies who lunch”? NF: We are an evolution of those women. If you are selling something, it almost always starts with a social relationship. We started as parttimers, with white gloves, and little Rolodex cards on who was moving, and who was divorcing, and since then, real estate has become a very
big business. The social aspect is transferred into a highly sophisticated business skill set. LPF: Real estate is the business of people and we are entrepreneurs by nature. Ninety % of my business is driven through personal relationships. Understanding what clients are looking for and what makes them tick is something that women are connected to—that matchmaking process and synergy. I don't really sell my clients, I educate them. NYS: How much of your business is from women buying property in their own name? NF: Hallelujah. Women are no longer waiting to get married for financial security. LPF: I didn't get married until I was 40. When I was younger I was finding people these beautiful homes with their partners and I had this epiphany of "What am I waiting for?" When I was 26 years old, I began building my business targeted towards individuals like myself. My connection with women is strong.