As 2011 Special Liaison for Large Firm Relations for the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR),
Charlie Oppler has worked with the large firms and franchises thatmake up half of the total NAR membership. At the same time, Oppler handles operations for
Prominent Properties | Sotheby’s International Realty, a Northern New Jersey premier luxury broker with 10 offices, 400 agents and approximately $800 million in sales in 2011. His offices range from the Fort Lee office at the foot of the George Washington Bridge to several only 30 to 40 minutes from New York City.
Oppler graduated from The College of New Jersey. He served as President of the New Jersey Association of REALTORS® in 2004 and as Chairman of the REALTORS® Political Action Committee (NAR) in 2009.
You’ve been in real estate for 31 years. What one thing has been the biggest impact on doing business differently today than when you started?
When I started in 1981, there were no cell phones or computers. Everything was done by hand, and to get customers, they had to see a sign or pick up a newspaper. Today, communication takes place in so many different ways – not just verbal. We’ve learned to negotiate with clients as to whether they would rather have information e-mailed, texted or faxed.
Of course, the availability of information on the Internet allows our clients and customers to be more educated about communities … schools. They know more than ever, so different from the days when we would drive people around and show them everything.
What is today’s skillset for real estate professionals?
Negotiating, marketing, reputation, successes. They know the other parts already.
I don’t understand why it’s still called a “listing” presentation instead of a “marketing” presentation. It’s no longer just about putting a key in the door – and yet we have the same first 5-10 things we say we’re going to do.
Is real estate a good career for young people? Is your office trying to attract them?
I have a 25-year-old son who serves on the YPN (
Young Professionals Network of NAR). We are trying to build a younger group; we focus on career night in colleges. We are being more innovative in getting the younger agents – to sell them that real estate is a career, that there is a real skillset involved. You know, the average homebuyer is age 38, what is the average REALTOR®’s age? (Per NAR, the median age of sales agents is 54 and the median age of brokers is 57, meaning half are younger and half are older.)
It’s a young person’s world and we’re trying to get there.
Is real estate a good career for young Has your office initiated any interesting marketing tactics?Is your office trying to attract them?
Our new in-house photographer started on November 15. We’ve also hired an IT person – he’s young – to figure out ways to get more eyeballs, more business.
So how did you originally get into real estate?
I worked for the March of Dimes right out of college. I was fundraising with several real estate brokers. Two asked me to work for them; I took a position with one. I started my own firm in January 1992.
Tell us a little more about your position with NAR.
I have worked as Special Liaison for Large Firm Relations in 2011, there will be a new liaison in 2012. The Real Estate Services Advisory Board includes 25 people from the large firms and franchises that make up more than 500,000 NAR members. We have two main focuses: one is to be better at our efforts in Washington, D.C., so our voice is heard as an industry and as a membership. Second, to be more professional every day.
These two things are really the focus of the whole NAR organization. Essentially, both small firms and large firms have the same goals, and we maintain continued and concentrated efforts to reach those goals in a joint effort with local and state associations.
