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PHOENIX FALL HOME SPECIALIn Slope, Every Day Is May DayBY ROB TAYLORC onstruction w ork a t th e new W illiam B. M ay C om pany re a lty office in P a rk Slope is behind schedule and according to the a r %u00adch itects, Sunnie Lee a n d Tony B in d , the building will probably not open on Oct. 15 a s planned.Anxious for the new office to open, R oberta F au lstick , vice-president of th e Brooklyn operation, ta k e s the d elay s in strid e , explaining th a t W illiam B. M ay%u2019s expansion into the Brooklyn re sid en tial re a l estate m a rk e t is fu rth er a h e a d than she im agined possible w hen the com pany opened its M ontague St. office in 1983.%u201c I%u2019ve pushed for th is office,%u201d she says. %u201c W illiam B. M ay h a s proven th a t th ere is a la rg e r m a rk e t out th e re and th a t we can handle an o th er office. W hen we cam e to B rooklyn, we filled a professional gap th a t w as m issing in B rooklyn and w e have been su ccessfu l.%u201dBy su ccess, F a u lstic k re fe rs to Brooklynbased sales of $21 m illion in 1985. %u201c We have doubled ou r business in each of th e th ree y e a rs we hav e had an office in B rooklyn,%u201d he says. W hen the new P a rk Slope office a t 397 F latb u sh Ave. opens, F a u lstic k intends to double th e Brooklyn staff a s w ell to about 19, or one-fifth of th e to ta l n u m b er of all the em ployees h ired by th e W ililam B. May C om pany.A lthough she is o p tim istic about the com %u00adp a n y %u2019s fu tu re now, F a u lstic k a d m its th a t when the M anh attan -b ased com pany first cam e to Brooklyn, she w as a fra id it would not be successful in th e B orough%u2019s real esta te m a rk e t.The W illiam B. M ay C om pany is one of th e oldest re a l e sta te firm s in New Y ork City and h a s a rep u tatio n for serv in g upperc ru st clients looking for door-m anned cooperative a p a rtm e n ts on M a n h a tta n %u2019s eastside. The 120-year-old com pany re g u la rly a d v ertises its listin g s in such g ran d s u rroundings a s %u201c L uxury E sta te s and P ro p e rtie s %u201d section of the N ew Y ork T im es%u2019 M agazine and p rid es itself on th e foresight of its founding fam ily who se rv e d som e of New Y ork%u2019s m ost p ro m in en t people.But, in m o re re c e n t y e a rs, th e firm h as expanded into the m id d le and upper-m iddle incom e m a rk e ts of B row nstone Brooklyn and to W estchester County. O pening its first B rooklyn H eights office in 1983 when the com apny bought th e fo rm e r B row nstone P ro p erties re a l e sta te firm , th e P a rk Slope location will be the second B rooklyn sales office for W illiam B. M ay.%u201c When M ay cam e in we thought th a t on th e one h an d it would be a big push for B rooklyn,%u201d say s F a u lstic k , who w as w orking for B row nstone P ro p e rtie s a t the tim e it w as acq u ired by W illiam B. M ay. %u201c But, I w as a fra id of w hat th e y would do in B rooklyn.%u201d%u201c I told P e te r th a t if th ey intended to w ork in B rooklyn, they h ad to do business the w ay it w as done in B rooklyn an d not in M a n h a tta n ,%u201d she a d d ed , refe rrin g ot P e te r M arra who w as then th e co m p an y %u2019s executive vice-president and e a rly this y e a r w as n a m e d presid en t, th e first non-M ay fam ily m e m b e r to hold the post.DOING IT T H E BROOKLYN WAYTo conduct business th e B rooklyn w ay, th e com pany first reo rg an ized th e Montag u e St. office an d k e p t F a u lstick , eventually prom oting h e r to h e r p re se n t m a n a g e ria l position. F a u lstic k is an en erg etic force in re sid en tial re a l esta te inthe a re a . W ith a hom e in the P a rk Slope neighborhood, she hopes to build a sim ilar professional rep u tatio n th e re an d boost th e com p an y %u2019s sales even fu rth er.W ith a degree in sp eech an d psychology, F au lstick sa y s she originally p lanned to w ork in education b u t w as side-tracked along the w ay. She c re d its som e of h er p e rsonal su ccess a s a businessw om an to the social an d psychological in stin cts sheH o v i i l n n o H t h r n n o h h o r n n u r w c o f s t n r l vA fter w orking seven y e a rs a s a tra v e l agent, she realized th a t business w as h e r %u201c forte%u201d an d afte r m oving to B rooklyn in 1978 from P h ilad elp h ia, found h erself the ow ner of tw o B row nstone p ro p erties.(Left to right) Sunnie Lee, Tony Vinci, Roberta Faulstick and Peter Marra look over the architectural designs of the new Park Slope office of the William B. May Company. Lee and B ind are the architects. (Phoenix/Taylor Photo)<%u201c I had a real ta ste of re a l e sta te a t this tim e and w henever I h a d g u ests I found m y self driving around giving to u rs and prom oting B rooklyn,%u201d she says.A fter som e en co u rag em en t from friends and h e r husband to e n te r th e re a l estate business, she says, %u201c The day I sta rte d selling re a l e sta te w as the d ay the n ew spapers p rin ted th a t New Y ork w as experiencing its w orse housing slum p in y e a rs .%u201d D E V E L O P E D NETW O RK O F CLIENTS F a u lstic k says she w as undaunted by the new s and pushed h e rself into th e business, developing a netw ork of clients along the w ay. Im p ressed with h e r p an ach e and m a rk e t savvy, W illiam R. M ay decided to follow h e r advice and conduct business in th e borough %u201cthe B rooklyn w ay .%u201d%u201c M ay is a very conventional firm and people think a lot of our re p u ta tio n ,%u201d says F a u lstic k , adding th a t m a n y of the clients serv iced by the com pany a re %u201c people whose tim e is m oney,%u201d and w ith long w orking hours a re not able to spend a lot of tim ecom m uting to the suburbs to look for hom es.%u201c A lot of young professionals are looking for neighborhoods w here they can put down th e ir ro o ts,%u201d she says. %u201c Brooklyn has m ore of a hom e tow n feeling with som e g re a t neighborhoods.%u201dWhile th e descriptions about her cu sto m ers m a y sound a s if the W illiam B. M ay reputation h as lu red M an h attan ites to B rooklyn%u2019s brow nstone com m unities, F au lstick say s th a t m o re of h e r clients instead , alread y live in B rooklyn and com e to h e r a s refe rrals.M O RE COMING ACROSS B R ID G E%u201c But if B rooklyn%u2019s future is a s good a s everyone says, a lot m o re people a re going to be com ing acro ss the bridge from M anhattan looking for h o m es,%u201d she says. A lthough Booklyn H eights h as trad itio n ally been th e neighborhood th a t M anhattanites have chosen when they first com e to live in B rooklyn, F au lstick sa y s th a t the reputation of P a rk Slope now m a k e s it the m ore p re fe rred are a .In Brooklyn wehave a very handson approach withour clients. Iunderstand thatin Manhattanthey are a lot lesspersonal and alot morecompetitive. InManhattanpeople have tolearn about aneighborhood ontheir own; in%u2022 v / v / i v i j I i %u00bb t u %u00bb v *community sale.Roberta Faulstick, vicepresident and Peter Marra,(Phoenix/Taylor Photo)She calls P a rk Slope the %u201c left Bank of M a n h a tta n ,%u201d explaining th a t it has becom e a m ecca for fam ilies search in g for quality, fine arc h ite c tu re , good serv ices and value for th eir m oney.%u201c P a rk Slope w as alw ays th e secondary p lace to check out, but now m o st of our clien ts ask about P a rk Slope first,%u201d she ex %u00adp lain s, adding th a t P ro sp ect H eights is %u201c the new neighborhood for people to look a t.%u201d W orking with th e client is th e key to the c u rre n t M ay ap p ro ach to business. %u201c In B rooklyn we h av e a very hands-on ap %u00adpro ach with our clie n ts,%u201d she say s. %u201c I u n d erstan d th a t in M an h attan they a re a lot less personal and a lot m ore co m p etitiv e.%u201d SE LLIN G T H E NEIG H BO RH O O D A lthough she is careful not to be too c ritic a l of h e r W illiam B. M ay colleagues who w ork in th e co m p an y %u2019s M an h attan offices, F au lstick sa y s th a t in o rd e r to m ak e a re a l estate sale in B rooklyn, the sale sp e rson h a s to sell th e neighborhood to the client. %u201c In M an h attan people have to learn about the neighborhood on th e ir own; in B rooklyn it is a com m unity s a le ,%u201d she ex %u00adp lains. %u201c H ere, I d riv e th em aro u n d in m y c a r and show th e m som e of th e interesting th in g s, but in M an h attan you usually m eet a t th e a p a rtm e n t. I t%u2019s ju st not m y style b ecau se I a m v e ry people-oriented.%u201dThe new W illiam B. M ay office will o p e ra te under F a u lstic k %u2019s principles. She p lan s to h ire about nine people to staff th e P a rk Slope op eratio n , though a t th is tim e she is not su re how best to use the salespeople. %u201c I have th e feeling th a t th e re is a bigg e r day crow d in P a rk Slope because th e re a re so m an y stre e ts th ere. W illiam B. M ay h a s n ev er been a n on-the-street com pany a n d is not used to w alk-in clie n ts.%u201dF au lstick visualizes the P a r k Slope office expanding into o th e r B rooklyn neighborhoods a s w ell. %u201c I ca n see us w orking all the w ay into F latb u sh , Midwood and B ay R idge from th is office. W hen we opened th e B rooklyn H eights office we sta rte d handling a p a rtm e n ts and hom es in P a rk01%u2014 ~ o %u2014 c A. ^u K/lVf/V UJIU * iVW|/VOk UU1, M