Lora Cusumano has been named a Crusader by RISMedia, a residential real estate media group.
“I was elated,” she said about the recognition.
Cusumano said she had felt like a “crusader” for her clients since she started her buyer agency, which represents only the buyer in real estate transactions.
“I always felt like I was a crusader for my buyer-clients,” she said. “I always felt like I had a shield and a sword in my hand.”
Cusumano, a Glen Cove resident, serves homebuyers throughout Nassau and Suffolk as well as the city. She said it has been challenging to close on houses in recent years because each listing has multiple offers on it. She said as a buyer agent, she does “everything in her power” for her clients.
In addition to practicing at her exclusive buyer-agent brokerage, Cusumano is the president of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents. She said focus on the practice as well as the association has increased since she began her career in the industry.
Cusumano started in the real estate over 20 years ago when she was looking for a career change. She said she initially taught figure skating and hockey but was drawn to real estate because she had knowledge about homes and construction. She said she was “immediately drawn” to buyer agency when she took her first real estate course.
“I always thought that I would want to work with the buyers,” she said. “I loved the concept of representing the buyer.”
When she started with a traditional real estate agency, Cusumano said she learned that buyer agency was not typically practiced. She said she began practicing buyer agency at the company and within two years, she completed the broker’s exam.
After completing the broker’s exam in 2006, Cusumano said she formed her own company, Lux House Hunters, which does not take listings and only represents the buyer. She said she joined the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents shortly afterwards.
“They were all like-minded people that felt like buyers should be represented in a real estate transaction,” she said.
She said the practice of buyer agencies has steadily increased throughout the years. Cusumano said the real estate industry shifted after the market crash around 2009, which put her brokerage “on the map” on Long Island. She said a bigger shift came last year, when the National Association of Realtors settlement changed how buyer transactions and commissions are handled.
With the industry changes, she said the national association has more recognition “than ever before.”
Cusumano said she hopes buyer agencies will continue to grow in the future. She said she hopes dual-agencies, which take both buyer-clients and seller listings, continue to decline in the real estate industry to avoid conflicts of interest.
“Whether you’re a home buyer or you’re selling your home, they should be 100% fully represented the whole time,” Cusumano said.
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