Shvo shares some secrets at RE Academy.

The recent daylong seminar for the Real Estate Academy, the New York-based continuing education program for real estate brokers, produced some memorable sound-bytes, but few as provocative and timely as Michael Shvo's.

Real estate uber-marketer Shvo, whose eponymous real estate marketing and sales firm is marketing over 10,000 New York residential units through the end of 2007, shared some unique pearls of wisdom to a standing-only room of over 100 brokers.

Shvo's advice for brokers was based on a simple principle: listening to and really understanding people. Among his best tips, Shvo, whose recent successes include 20 Pine The Collection and The Jade, said the market is split and there are two types of customers brokers should be on the lookout for: the buyer who wants something truly unique and is willing to pay a premium for it, and the buyer who wants a real value based solely on price.

"Offer something unique and market it well and you'll be competing on product," said Shvo. "If you're product is generic and the guy down the street is selling the same thing, you can only compete on price. You'll also find that you'll eventually have to lower your price again and again to remain competitive in a softer market."

Other words of wisdowm he imparted included really listening to what your buyer wants and developing good relationships, both professionally and personally.

"You have to know who the players are: not only the brokers and business partners you work well with, but those who will actually close a deal quickly and honestly."

Shvo told the group, "I found great success as a broker and I'm happy to share lessons learned with an industry that has to keep pace with a smarter buyer who now has more options than ever."