Broker panel | TRD NYC Showcase and Forum

The Real Deal’s tenth annual New York showcase and forum brought together the crème de la crème of the city’s real estate industry. The event kicked off with a head-to-head showdown between Pam Liebman and Howard Lorber, and continued with a fiery panel of developers, who tussled over local and federal politics–and the final panel of the day did not disappoint.

Some of the city’s top residential brokers gathered for a discussion moderated by TRD Editor-in-chief Stuart Elliott. The panel touched on price-slashing in the luxury market, the recent controversy surrounding StreetEasy’s new Premier Agent feature and more.

The first question was directed toward Leonard Steinberg, who was asked to respond to the disparaging comments made about Compass by Liebman and Lorber during the event’s first panel.

“Well, in two weeks time, I’ll be celebrating my third-year anniversary at Compass,” Steinberg said. “And I guess that is two-and-a-half years later than when the company was said to be going out of business back when I started.”

Also featured on the panel were Dolly Lenz, Leonard Steinberg, Brenda Powers and Richard Steinberg. Though he originally condemned the initiative, calling it “shocking” and “illegal,” the Nest Seekers International explained why he’s now singing a different tune about StreetEasy’s Premier Agent feature.

“I sat with StreetEasy, and explained my position and threatened them with more Instagram videos, and they said that they we’re going to make a change, and they did,” Serhant said.

Richard Steinberg, on the other hand, remained defiant.

“I work hard enough, I don’t want to be a policeman for these unethical brokers,” Richard Steinberg said. “Shouldn’t REBNY have to take it on?”