Traditional brokerage services seen as outlasting the Internet.

While much has been written of late regarding the demise of the role of the real estate broker in the age of the Internet, I feel that news of the death of the broker profession has been greatly exaggerated. In fact, I believe that the Internet will only fuel the need for established brokers to bring difficult deals to fruition.

Business habits that real estate agents, employ to keep their customers happy and get exclusive listings run the gamut from the bizarre to the comic, to the common-sensible. A nice note, remembering a client's birthday, their favorite food -- the little things go a long way in cementing a relationship. The Internet, despite its ability to post multiple listings, does not foster personal relationships or bring difficult deals to the table.

In the current hot real estate market, where sale prices sometimes exceed the asking price and condos and rentals are being grabbed up sight unseen, many brokers may wonder why anyone would waste time with a deal that could take nearly a year to consummate and threaten to fall apart at any time. The old saying that "time is money" will always be true, but this cliche overlooks the fact that time also builds one's reputation, and one's reputation cannot be bought.

While the secrets to a successful sale have been written about, discussed and dissected, there will always be room for one more sale to rewrite the books on how a deal should be done, and which will give the broker an assessment of his or her strengths and weaknesses.

A recent successful sale that took my firm eight solid months to complete and threatened to fall apart almost daily involved a long-term partnership breaking up, a successful business being split apart, millions of dollars and, of course, clashing personalities. Forget about being a broker; I had to play mediator, counselor, confessor, and confidant. My role as a broker came later; after all the angst and ill-will had been vetted.

This particular deal was a multi-million dollar building downtown. Nearly every major brokerage firm in New York attempted to sell this property and failed. The families that owned the property were of emotional ancestry; the eventual buyer was a no-nonsense firm. Getting everyone to the table to agree to disagree, to vent and, finally, to agree, was a test of perseverance in the face of negative reality.

What was the secret to this sale? A lot of hand-holding, soothing talk, gaining competing confidences, and, ultimately, maintaining professional credibility.

How one deals with these many personalities and turns things around to close the deal is more art than science. Some folks have innate people skills; others have to take classes on empathy. Having, a degree in psychology may serve a broker better than an MBA in finance.

Quick sales and closings in real estate are mirroring the fast fortunes that have been made on Wall Street. Newer brokers -- of the stock and real estate trades -- may get lulled into a sense that all times are good, and Friday's crashes are quickly fixed by Monday's rebound. In the current market, history has yet to prove itself as a guide. But I am sure, without having to give my age away, that history will prove itself once again.

There are boom and bust cycles in real estate, and they don't take a weekend to correct. When the dot-coms start to defenestrate, and the phone doesn't ring as much as it used to, one's business survival may depend on the references and connections of those impossible deals that took months to complete.