New Brown Harris Stevens Office Location Opens in Forest Hills
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By Britney Trachtenberg britt@queensledger.com
Brown Harris Stevens Forest Hills has moved its office to a new larger location at 73-01 Austin Street, to continue to help clients sell and find homes throughout New York City. The new office operates mainly in the residential real estate sector and handles both rental and sales transactions.
The idea of renovation inspired Jacques Ambron, Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Sales for the Forest Hills and Long Island City BHS offices, to change locations.
Ambron said, “We wanted to do a renovation of the [original] place [at 108-23 Ascan Avenue], but the landlord wouldn’t offer any incentives, so [then] this [new] place came up. It’s much larger than our previous office, but we thought it might be a better opportunity, so we decided to take it.”
With the bigger office space, the Forest Hills location also doubled its roster of agents.
Denise De Maria, Operations Manager and Licensed Real Estate Salesperson for the Forest Hills location, said “Brown Harris Stevens is actually [one of] the biggest privately owned real estate agencies in New York City.”
The real estate company has an in-house Chief Economist who educates the staff on how the economy could affect the real estate market and interest rates. Agents receive weekly reports and can meet with the Chief Economist and listen to his podcast. Ambron said, “It informs the average agent who might not know very much about the economy… [For example,] the average person doesn’t know what [to] do with the Consumer Price Index. He explains it to us and how it’s going to affect interest rates and/or real estate, so we can help our clients make better decisions.”
The company benefits from a separate marketing team that helps agents set up social media accounts to promote their listings in addition to print and online media.
Brown Harris Stevens focuses on educating their agents about real estate. Ambron said, “Our training is constant throughout the month and throughout the year.” After 35 years in the real estate field, he also plays a role in advising the agents who work for him. He wants his staff to “become the best at what they do.”
Ambron is the son of Madeleine Ambron, a respected real estate agent in Forest Hills and former owner of Madeleine Realty. He said, “She started in it, and I grew up in it. It was a natural progression to get involved. Even at a young age, I was helping her in real estate, and then after I finished school, I just continued on with it.”
He worked at his mother’s family-owned firm from 1991 until the company merged with Halstead Real Estate in 2017. Subsequently, Halstead merged with its sister company Brown Harris Stevens.
