REAL ESTATE, BRONXVILLE, AND THE PRIZED 5 ELM ROCK ROAD WITH SHEILA STOLTZ
As Bronxville’s top producing agent for over a decade, Compass realtor Sheila Stoltz is the undisputed local expert of the charming English-style village. Sheila speaks with The Luxury Division about her lifelong passion for real estate, her analysis of the Bronxville luxury market and the most notable Bronxville listing of her career to date - 5 Elm Rock Road.
Sheila Stoltz, Sheila Stoltz Real Estate at Compass
How did you know real estate was your calling?
My parents owned real estate, so I grew up being exposed to a lot of real estate. Then when I was in college, I didn’t have a lot of money so I got a job as a secretary in a real estate office. The agents said if I got my license, they would throw me a couple co-ops so I went to Faneuil Hall and took the 40-hour course.
It got me out of the office. I could walk and see the apartments and the buildings, and I liked the hard asset aspect of it. After graduation, I became an investment banking analyst so I could earn money to pay off my school debt. Each time I was hired for these investment banking jobs and asked what division I’d like to be in, I’d say I’m a real estate agent in Boston, so the real estate group would be great.
I just loved it. I got to look at hotels and golf courses. I went to Russia when Gorbachev was in office to create a plan on privatizing the city of Moscow. There are so many different aspects of real estate, whether finance, sales, hotels, golf courses, or Moscow. With corporate finance, it was just pages of numbers and boring to me. With real estate, I could see it, touch it, dress it up… I knew pretty early I was fully committed to real estate.
What is the secret to your success in the Bronxville real estate market?
My investment banking background. I like numbers and analysis, and helping people find a good investment. There are a lot of professional people in Bronxville, and I can connect with them and intelligently discuss their financing and their investment… And my bi-annual Stoltz Report with in-depth analysis of each segment of our local market has definitely set me apart from other local brokers.
In addition, I work all the time! I love that in real estate you can set your own calendar but it’s a service business and if you want to do well, you have to always be available. There’s much more involved than simply opening up a home and showing it. It’s following up with people, letting clients know what you’re doing for them. It’s marketing and building websites. I have more spokes in my marketing wheel than other agents, and coming to Compass has really grown this aspect of my business. At Compass, I have incredibly talented people to help me create and build those spokes in the marketing wheel, which is so important. There are a lot of homes on the market and a lot of buyers and you have to differentiate yourself to stand out.
What do you consider to be your biggest real estate milestone so far?
Last year when I sold $85 million in real estate. That was the biggest year I ever had, and doing so during Covid was an especially big undertaking, as I needed to make significant adjustments in my business in order to market, show and sell homes in a whole different way. Having 25% of the Bronxville market share and being that dominant in a difficult year was a huge accomplishment.
As far as my biggest luxury real estate milestone, that would be the sale in Rumson NJ, a magnificently beautiful property belonging to a high profile client. I used targeted wealth mapping which worked incredibly well, and it sold for about $13 Million.
What are the most notable projects you’ve worked on in your career?
The one I am working on now with Compass, 5 Elm Rock. It’s very significant to Bronxville because it's an A++ location and was designed by renowned architect Louis Bowman for himself and his wife to live in. Even the gutter has his initials on it! With the help of Compass and Compass’ Luxury Division, I’ve been able to provide the 5 Elm Rock sellers with better photography and more extensive marketing and service than ever before.
With the Rumson home sale, I learned that wealth mapping and targeting marketing really do work, and that is the same for 5 Elm Rock. There’s a special market for these ultra luxury homes. A Bronxville home that’s for sale in the $2-$3 million range, you take pretty photos, put them on the internet and that’s enough to sell the house. The $2-$3 million buyer needs to buy a house. They’ve likely got kids, Bronxville has great public schools and while it's not cheap, it’s a good value and really works financially. For the higher end, the home purchase is not a necessity, it’s a want. You need to create the feeling that the ultra luxury home is super special.
What are the most important elements of preparing a luxury home for market?
Great photography is the most important. With Elm Rock, even though its history is so interesting, you don’t want to focus too much on it because people want the modern touches and modern floor plan. Because Elm Rock is an older home, we created a video with younger people in it to showcase it as a young, modern home. It’s the right blend of being historically significant and also a place for young people to live. That’s the balance.
That said, when marketing a luxury home, a little bit less is more. You don’t need to show every picture, only the great ones. People get on the internet now and make judgements without actually seeing the home. By creating marketing that’s more of a teaser, it builds desire to come in and experience the home, the pool, the property, the location and the village. In the luxury market, you won’t have many showings but the ones you do have are all important.
What differentiates 5 Elm Rock Road from other luxury Bronxville homes?
5 Elm Rock Road has one of the largest pieces of property you can get in Bronxville. It’s 1.3 acres. When you walk around 5 Elm Rock, the details cannot be replaced. The beams, the stomework, the detailing, the paneling on the walls, the carvings on the fireplaces… What you’re paying for at 5 Elm Rock is the irreplaceable nature of the asset.
5 Elm Rock is also the very best location in Bronxville. It’s completely private and quiet, but you’re a 6 minute walk to town and the Metro North station to Manhattan. This is very unique.
How competitive is the Bronxville luxury market now for someone looking to buy?
There are a lot of opportunities for buyers. Much of this has to do with the demographics of Bronxville. The people who have lived in the luxury homes are well-off people. They haven’t traditionally sold but rather held onto their homes, as their kids come back and they’re not motivated sellers… But now many luxury homeowners are getting to the age where it makes sense to move on or back into the city. I am getting a lot of calls, so it’s a good time for buyers to come out and look at some really spectacular homes here.
Many homes in the Bronxville luxury market start off as office exclusives. These homeowners are private people and don’t want their business all over the internet (another reason why I am careful to not put too many pictures and floorplans on the web). I add value because I am very involved in the community and know a lot of these people. If a buyer comes to me, they don’t know the potential sellers out there who are thinking of selling their high end homes. I do. It’s not like the MLS, these buyers need to call and I make sure they have the right profile, they have the right amount of money and the home is a style they like. It’s a personal relationship I have with the prospective buyers, to fit them into the right luxury home.
With the $2-$3 homes, the pictures are put on the internet, the buyers come out, we spend an hour and a half looking at homes and then they buy one. The luxury market is ultimately a more interesting place to be a broker, both from representing very sophisticated sellers who deserve a lot of service and also connecting them to the right buyer… Not everyone should go into 5 Elm Rock, only a handful of people.
What do you see happening in the Bronxville market over the second half of 2021?
At the start of July, I am done with about 80% of my year, and this is true almost every year. Bronxville is very heavily weighted between January and June because of the school cycle. By July/August, many Bronxville people are in the Hamptons and return in September for their kids to start school.
I don’t like to have a ton of inventory in the fall as I don’t want homes to sit, but I do want to have some listings so I can educate buyers on the Bronxville market. Fall is a beautiful time to show homes and see Bronxville, and then they’ll buy a home in January, February or March.
Having said that, in the Covid world the cycle is a little different. I am busier than I’ve ever been in July, with more listings and sellers preparing their homes listing. What I look towards is how Bronxville will look January/February/March 2022, and assuming the stock market and interest rates remain basically stable, I think Bronxville will have a strong year.
Why? Because people have to get back to work! If you’re a working parent with three kids, the extra 20 minutes to Scarsdale or 40 minutes to Greenwich adds up. Bronxville has a lot of dual working parents and the extra commuting time really impacts family life. Covid made us appreciate our families more and family time together.
Another thing that’s interesting about Bronxville is it has the lifecycle of real estate within it: 980 single family homes, 1300 apartment dwellings and 240 townhomes. This means I am showing homes to young married couples with no kids, and elderly who want to stay close to their grandchildren. My 85 year-old mother lives in an apartment in town and she walks to my house every day, and my kids can visit her at her apartment every day. She doesn’t have a car, but we have a world-class hospital, butcher, restaurants, shopping, movie theater. My mother can easily walk to everything. Bronxville is a really great community for all generations.