My biggest advice would be to hire an agent who is not going to upsell you an unrealistic price but rather provide data and figures that justify the price they’re suggesting,” Salem says. “We are on the field daily. Photos online are one thing, actually stepping foot in an apartment and seeing all the tiny details that make one sell or not sell at a certain price is another.

When sellers start hearing how hot the market is, they get tunnel vision,” says Phillip Salem, a Compass agent in New York City. “They think their property is the hottest one on the block.

Coming from a background in the fashion industry, the majority of my clientele appreciates the fact that I am not the typical suit-and-tie agent.

Luck and timing were with Nikki Millman when she bought a one-bedroom in a 1964 Greenwich Village co-op building. It was 2010, near the end of the recession.