Before they sold houses, Douglas Elliman agents Susan and Richard Connelly built or renovated them and flipped them, creating a robust business for themselves and learning a lot about the house trades along the way.
They also learned a lot about the real estate business—particularly, what NOT to do when trying to sell a house.
“You put all this blood, sweat and tears into your projects, and we had hired professional realtors to help sell our project homes, and quite honestly we were very disappointed,” Susan recalls. “We were disappointed in their efforts and their dedication, or lack thereof, to our builds, so we said, ‘you know what? [Selling] is something we should do because through them we learn what not to do and certainly what to do.’ ”
Richard adds, “There’s a lot of folks that can get a real estate license, but that doesn’t make them a realtor.”
So the couple got their real estate licenses in December 2016 and hung out their collective shingle as The Connelly Team, one of the early such husband/wife-led team models in the business.
“We have really grown our business through hard work and dedication. It’s a work in progress to [assemble] a group that aligns with our core values and our business mission,” Susan says.
They brought disparate experiences to the business: Susan, who grew up in Westchester County, came from a corporate finance background. Richard, who grew up in Southern Jersey and raised his family in Westhampton, says though he worked in corporate America, “I’ve been a salesman all my life,” following in the footsteps of his father, a car salesman. But he also took a few pages from his dad’s renovation playbook. “My dad totally renovated our home and several more. I’m a chip off the old block,” he says.
Soon after establishing their own team they joined Elliman, where they handle up to 50 trades per year from their mostly full-time base in Hamptons Bay. When not there, you can find them in their Airstream along the East End, working, fishing, cruising and enjoying a mobile beach lifestyle.
Southforker: What have been some of the challenges or changes you’d seen in your decade in the business?
Susan Connelly: It’s just mind boggling what the prices have done since COVID. I’d have to say it doubled everything, if not tripled. I mean, and suddenly two million became the new base baseline. And it’s not going back.
SF: So, what are some of the tools you’re using to help stay creative or combat the challenges?
Richard Connelly: We’ve had our own branded website. We do aerial photography and videos. We were doing videos way before COVID and they helped sell our properties sight unseen because we had great a videographer.
SC: The difference back then, he would do a five minute video and it was beautiful. He captured everything. Today, as you know, everything is 30, 15, 10 seconds on Instagram and Facebook. But he’s really making it more current with the attention span and the time frame that people want.
SF: What would you say makes you unique among the agents out there?
RC: I really believe through our building and flipping experiences, although they weren’t always so joyful, we learned a lot that we now parlay into our business. We’ve helped many folks do the work before they sell, or help a buyer do the work afterwards. We have all these relationships from surveyors to architects and know what goes into a build and can help negotiate certain fixes.
SF: What are some of your favorite spots on the East End?
RC: There’s nowhere nicer than Montauk and we can’t wait to be out there, but if we’re hitting the beach, Rogers in Westhampton Beach is always nice, and so is Iron Pier on the North Fork.
SC: For restaurants, Harvest on Fort Pond in Montauk. We love that place. We also love Oakland’s and Cowfish in Hampton Bays, Legends in New Suffolk.
SF: And how about your spare time, if you have any?
SC: I would say my biggest passion, and I do it almost every day, is running. It just clears my mind—I can think out situations, business deals. It’s really very therapeutic, and it’s quick— you don’t have to invest hours. I used to be an avid cyclist, and I would do 40 mile, 50 mile rides regularly.
RC: Susan’s modest, but I think between half marathons and marathons, she’s probably accumulated 26 races.
SF: And how about you, Richard?
RC: I’m into fishing and archery, camping … anything in our Airstream. We have about 10 personal watercrafts and boats, so we have a real water lifestyle. I want simple, and I want to travel more … see the country with our Airstream, which we’ve been doing more of the last five years.
