The Ever-Resourceful Robert Silverman

How do you get into real estate? A strong background in human resources got Robert Silverman in the door at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices’ corporate headquarters in Wallingford, Conn., a dozen years ago. It wasn’t long before he caught the attention of Candace Adams, President & CEO, who asked him: “How will you grow at Berkshire Hathaway?” Without hesitation, Silverman replied, “I’d be a great regional vice-president.”

In 2016, Ms. Adams encouraged him to get a real estate license and shadow a leading realtor in the West Hartford office twice a week for two months. After completing that assignment, Silverman was then instructed to go sell a house. “I got a listing the very next day — and no, it wasn’t my mother’s house!” he joked in an interview this week. 

He added, “My strong suit is chatty, friendly. I just wish I had gone into real estate years before I did.”

Silverman not only sold real estate but was the one who management asked to “hold down the fort,” when an office leader was diagnosed with cancer or there was a change at the top. In the fall of 2022, two months after the youngest of his three children went off to UCLA, he signed on to temporarily manage Berkshire’s Westport, Conn. office. 

Since Jan. 3, 2023, Silverman has managed Berkshire’s Rye office. “I was hired after the office lost one of its top agents.”

Silverman said that isn’t going to happen under his watch. “We have 19 agents here and every one of them has my support. They hear from me, my admin by phone, text, or email every few days, and we meet in person every other Tuesday.”

While Silverman makes no bones about the fact that these are challenging times in residential real estate and “it doesn’t look like there will be a turnaround until the fourth quarter,” he is buoyed by the fact that Berkshire Hathaway has “the financial stability and integrity to withstand this environment.” He added, “My job is to keep agents engaged and follow the corporate credo — recruit, retain, and be prepared — because the market will stabilize.”

From his second-floor office on Elm Place, Silverman has a good view of Rye’s active downtown — families lining up outside Longford’s for ice cream or heading into Al Dente for pizza, commuters, busy parents dashing into Starbucks for that second cup of Joe.

“Rye is a wonderful town, a rare community,” he offered. “It didn’t take me long to understand that once a family puts down roots in Rye, they don’t want to leave.”

Now that his children have left the nest, Silverman, who grew up in Long Island, has returned there. He doesn’t mind the commute. Next week, he is putting the family house in South Windsor, Conn. on the market. He is excited at the prospect of putting his many real estate skills to good use.