Ashley Reidy Quinn just sold a $59 million Hamptons home. She also spent more than $100,000 on clothes last year. For luxury real estate agents, looking the part is not optional - it's a business cost.
Quinn, a co-founder of Coldwell Banker Warburg's Asset Advisory team, describes Botox as an essential expenditure. "Botox once a quarter. That's non-negotiable," she says.
She sees her appearance as part of how she shows up for clients. "I tie my personal appearance hand-in-hand with how I show up for a client. "It's part of the full-picture business portrayal of you as an individual, so I take that very seriously"." Quinn also undergoes regular laser treatments, biannual facials, brow appointments every three months, and a biweekly manicure appointment using the same red polish - "part superstition, part good-luck charm," she says. "Beauty is something I think about every single day."
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Other agents follow the same playbook. Neyshia Go, head of Sotheby's International Realty's Go Group in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, spends $800 to $1,500 per pair on Chanel ballet flats. Go collaborates with a stylist and multiple personal shoppers to craft her outfits.
"Beyond just enjoying fashion, I actually find it to be a very big connection point with a lot of clients," Go says. She has represented listings upward of $77 million and uses fashion to bond with clients before they even look at a property.
Alex Hall, a Netflix "Selling Sunset" spinoff star and real estate agent with the Oppenheim Group based in Orange County, states bluntly: "I think image might be more important than even knowledge at a certain point." She adds, "If you don't look like somebody that these high-net-worth clients want to work with, then you're not even going to get the opportunity to have a conversation with them."
Mike Fabbri, a luxury broker at The Agency New York, enhances his self-assurance through careful grooming, donning high-end fashion labels, sometimes enlisting personal stylists, and keeping a "really good" skincare regimen. "You really have to make that product look good," Fabbri says. "Presentation matters."
Sean P. Salter, a Middle Tennessee State University associate professor who studies how physical attractiveness affects real estate, says clients expect white-glove service. "If they're going to spend that much money to buy a property, they're going to expect the level of service they've seen on television or social media, and that includes everything from the car the agent drives, the clothes the agent wears, and how the agent looks when they walk in the door."
Social media and shows like "Million Dollar Listing" and "Selling Sunset" have raised the bar. Multiple agents informed Business Insider that the demand to develop a personal brand and produce leads through online channels is growing. "You're constantly being expected to produce content," Fabbri says.
Appearance becomes the price of admission - like wearing a tailored suit to a job interview before you can even talk about your skills. But as Quinn's success shows, the investment can pay off. She sold a six-bedroom, ten-and-a-half bathroom Hamptons home for $59 million while spending six figures on her wardrobe and sticking to her quarterly Botox routine.
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