Mann Report
January, 2002

The Academy for Continuing Education (ACE) presented its fall session to a large audience made up of many of New York City’s top brokers, who attended the 22.5-hour continuing education program, as required by New York State for license renewal, announces Esther Muller, ACE president.

The course was held at the Hotel Delmonico, 59th Street and Park Avenue. Real estate salespersons and brokers licensed for less than 15 consecutive years are required by the Department of State, Division of Licensing Services, to complete a continuing education program every two years in order to retain their licenses and conduct business in New York State.

“What makes the Academy’s program so popular is that it differs from others by the scope and diversity of our guest speakers,” says Muller. “We bring our students the curriculum, as mandated by the state, but it’s presented by a star-studded line-up of inspirational and informative lecturers, who are the leaders in the real estate industry. In addition to Alan Rogers, CEO, Insignia/Douglas Elliman, Lois Weiss, one of the most respected real estate writers today and the inimitable Barbara Corcoran, the fall program included Neil Binder, principal, author and co-founder of the Bellmarc Companies; Leonard Bayer, president of Goodstein Realty; Barbara Fox, chairman, Fox Residential; David J. Knight, president, D.J. Knight and Faith Hope Consolo, vice chairman, Garrick Aug Worldwide.

Several of the speakers brought along special materials, as in the case
of Alan Rogers. Rogers introduced a videotape of Mary Ann Tighe, vice chairman of Insignia/ESG, and distributed two special reports analyzing
the after-effects of the World Trade Center attack.

Corcoran rallied the audience with a description of “superstar” brokers and the characteristics that define those agents. “Great salespeople are hunters by nature,” says Corcoran. “They are goal-oriented and love their work.”

On the last day of class, Muller introduced a new feature, a town hall
meeting, in which Leonard Bayer of Goodstein Realty, led an open
discussion with the students. During the discussion, they examined
current activity in the real estate market, remedies for the current
downturn and predictions for the future.

Nearly 130 agents attended the fall session. The next opportunity to attend the program will be in February 2002 with, yet, another group of prominent guest lecturers.