Table of Contents
- How long have you been in business?
- What made you choose real estate as a profession?
- What makes Sotheby’s and Hiatt Homes Group stand apart from the competition?
- What aspect of the business do you most enjoy?
- How is your extensive experience working in new media, an advantage for your clients?
- What are the latest Westside market trends you see?
- How have things shifted in the last few years?
- Where do you see the real estate market headed in 2015?
- What do you do in your off hours?
Michael Hiatt’s extensive media savvy and expertise, combined with Sotheby’s International Realty’s advertising, marketing, information and network resources, makes clear why Hiatt is one of the company’s top-performing sales specialists.
How long have you been in business?
Michael Hiatt: I’ve been a residential real estate agent for more than 12 years: my first job, and with first car, however, was in title, where I drove Title Insurance documents around town from institutions and city offices. That certainly dates me… just this side of prehistoric!
What made you choose real estate as a profession?
Michael Hiatt: I have had a lifetime of experience with real estate; three generations of developers in Los Angeles. Additionally, in all my various pursuits —entrepreneurial business, corporate and marketing endeavors—my principal business has always been with and about people. Residential real estate is the perfect amalgamation of my passions, experience and skills.
What makes Sotheby’s and Hiatt Homes Group stand apart from the competition?
Michael Hiatt: Did someone say global? Sotheby’s offers an extraordinary global brand and marketing platforms that are leading the way residential real estate is practiced, marketed and sold; online and in print, locally and globally. I am Sotheby’s International Realty local and first point of client contact.
Besides my “homegrown” native knowledge, I have worked with many companies and premier brands. Sotheby’s, above all, is in the integration of luxury lifestyles in all its business interests, and, further, the company is moving proactively to make it accessible to the greatest number of ‘connoisseurs of life.’
What aspect of the business do you most enjoy?
Michael Hiatt: Changing people’s experiences and lifestyles in positive and profound ways.
How is your extensive experience working in new media, an advantage for your clients?
Michael Hiatt: In addition to my real estate experience, I am very fortunate to have worked, and grown-up, in the motion picture and television business…and working for some of the most, respected media companies. The groundwork the entertainment industry has pioneered with visual (video) content, new media, social networking, and marketing, provides the foundation and lessons to market, advertise and sell the ‘American dream’ of homeownership today.
The similarities in shared business and marketing practices are many. One example is social media and ‘viral’ marketing: Cutting-edge utilization of technology then, and today, almost 15 years later, is an integral part of many residential home sales marketing strategies. Add to that, distribution of (video) content. Sotheby’s is leading the industry in developing those real estate video distribution channels.
What are the latest Westside market trends you see?
Michael Hiatt: Today, the consumer wants what no one else has or knows about. The trends in residential real estate today are ‘pocket’ listings and off-market sales. Originally driven by many celebrity and high-profile business and entertainment clients, now many more buyers, sellers, and agents express a keen interest in this market and network. I have done many of these types of transactions for my clients. I have systems in place in my own business, and with a network of professional agents to aid and ensure a valid transaction that delivers on buyer and seller goals and expectations.
Sotheby’s, as well, has a well-vetted, off-market network and community, connecting seller and buyer agents seeking and selling ‘off-market’ properties. My one piece of advice to buyers and sellers is to hire and align themselves with high-caliber, professional agents. Winging it on the fly with promises and hope; be aware…the operative word in ‘pocket’ is ‘listing.’
How have things shifted in the last few years?
Michael Hiatt: Fundamentally, as a people business, residential real estate depends on face-to-face interaction, and field market knowledge. Today residential real estate has gone completely digital…finally! Technology today empowers buyers and sellers. This reality is every agent’s reality and that is empowering to our industry. Agents today can provide professional services on a higher level than they have ever been able to do ever in the past.
Where do you see the real estate market headed in 2015?
Michael Hiatt: 2015 and 2016 are projected to be growth markets in numbers of transactions. Values for the most part have stabilized, interest rates are at historic lows. This stable housing market should continue to be evenly weighted for both buyer and seller with new homes, remodel first-time purchaser and fixer opportunities: That is good for everyone; including lenders, appraisers, builders, developers, and other real estate support businesses and home services.
What do you do in your off hours?
Michael Hiatt: Cook healthy and tasty. Farm to table. Organic. Play music. I rejoined my classic rock band of 40-something years ago. Play golf, of course, in that little bit of spare time…and keep swingin’!
Photography by Paul Jonason