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Barbara Corcoran inspired and motivated the large gathering many of whom stayed as long as possible to continue the conversation. Photos by Andrea Aurichio

Jamesport - Barbara Corcoran sold the real estate company that bears her name several years ago for $70 million, exiting the daily rough and tumble of the real estate market, gone but not forgotten as she continues to sell, sell, sell.

Corcoran was spreading the word and keeping the faith this week when she appeared before hundreds of agents who turned out to hear her speak at Vineyard Caterers on the Main Road in Jamesport. Her forecast for the future gave agents hope as she pointed to accounts in the news media, a general panic related to the economy, and the overwhelming confusion prevalent in real estate offices around the country today.

Corcoran agents Pam Liguori and Peggy Brodis are all smiles as they wait for Barbara Corcoran to arrive.

"There's a lot of misinformation out there. There's a lot of confusion. Buyers are scared, sellers are frustrated and agents need to take a vacation," Corcoran said to an audience that was overwhelmingly receptive to her on-point observations. She stressed the importance of focusing on local markets rather than following national trends. "The local market is where you live, it's where you work. It is where you earn your living. Concentrate on that," she quipped.

Familiar to viewers who watch her broadcasts on NBC-TV's Today Show, Corcoran had plenty to say about her new profession. "I'm in the media business now," she noted as she shared her observations about the East End market with the nearly filled to capacity broker crowd on Wednesday morning.

"Your market is down to one-third of what it was just four years ago," Corcoran said. "I studied the numbers before I came out here today. I had to look at them several times, and I kept saying "are you sure," the veteran real estate broker who raised the bar for agents everywhere said.

According to Corcoran's above average, and some would say nearly expert, analysis the numbers on the East End are down nearly 66 percent. "That's a lot," Corcoran said, not being facetious as heads bobbed up and down in a collective nod. Corcoran held the audience spellbound for more than two hours as she described her rise in the Manhattan real estate market, it was a roller coaster ride at first, in which she sidestepped financial ruin to eventually build a real estate empire that sold for $70 million just over 20 years later.

Barbara Corcoran made larger than life by a projector that gave her the impact of a rock star at a small concert much to the audience's delight.

It all began with $1,000 and a dream thanks to a loan from Ramone Simone, her partner in Corcoran Simone in 1973. The pair split up in 1978 and she went out on her own to form The Corcoran Group. Corcoran recalled the split and likened it to choosing a football team. "I let him go first, he took the best agent, I took the hardest worker, and so on." In the end, Barbara Corcoran ended up with a catchy phone number 212-355-3550 (still in use today), and some hard working agents. That ending led to a new beginning as Corcoran formed her group and took Manhattan real estate by storm.

HANFRA's Richard Stauffer reads Corcoran's best seller. Proceeds from the sale of the book are given to specialized schools for dyslexic children. Corcoran one of 10 children, suffered from dyslexia as a child along with two of her siblings. The superstar broker has more than 20 jobs before she turned to real estate at the age of 24. She was a "D" student in school who got straight A's in life's lessons.

The Corcoran Group is now a $4 billion a year enterprise, however she noted the current market favors the small independent offices in many respects. "The big guys are conservative, they are not creative," she asserted.

"I think buyers are afraid," Corcoran added, as the audience nodded yet another collective nod. "They are trying to sharp-shoot the market and you can't do it."

Recalling her mother's enduring influence on her career, she recounted, "I divided the business the same way my mother used to cut up a Duncan Hines cake for the family. My mother used to cut up the cake and pass the pan around. She would tell me to let my brother take a piece before I did and that way my piece would taste even better."

Corcoran pioneered internet use to attract customers. She was also the first broker to step out from behind her desk and use her own now-famous face to brand her company. "I think people look at a face when they look at an ad, and they are drawn to it." The New York Times advertising department did not agree - initially refusing to run Corcoran's ads with her picture as a focal point. Undeterred, Corcoran persisted until her photographs garced advertisements in the New York Times Sunday Magazine section.

Eventually, Barbara Corcoran's face occupied a side bar column in the daily papers and paved the way for her memorable subway campaign that made her a staple of life in New York City.

When this dynamo, who grew up as one of 10 children in a close knit Irish Catholic family in Edgewater, NJ, walked in to the Vineyard Catering Hall in Jamesport she was unnoticed by the large group that had gathered to hear her speak. Many years ago, the New York Times described Barbara Corcoran noting," For all her drive, she has no airs." She patiently signed copies of her book, shook hands and chatted with everyone who stood on line after she concluded her speech.

Suzanne McDuffee, principal broker at Coast and Country Real Estate was on her feet for Corcoran along with the rest of her colleagues.

Corcoran's book titled, "If You Don't Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons On Your Pigtails," is now out in paperback having been re-titled since its first printing and rise on the best seller lists when it was dubbed, "Use What You've Got." Both titles were inspired by her mother's lessons to her and her nine siblings. "I had great parents. My father was great, and my mother was better."

Critical Of Media Angle
Corcoran was critical of the media coverage of the current market noting her own producers on the Today Show favor negativity. "A lot of this is out of our control. The media reports negative market conditions, and our customers listen to them, rather than to their own agents who are out in the trenches on the front lines."

"If I pitch them a positive story they turn it down. When I pitch the same story with a negative spin, they turn around and give me the go-ahead," Corcoran said, noting her producers frequently forget what story she has pitched them. "They will turn something down then accept it a few weeks later when I re- package the story in gloom and doom."

"Am I talking too much?" Corcoran asked at one point as the minutes raced by. "No, keep talking," the room replied in unison. Her speech ended way too soon as representatives of Wells Fargo Mortgage Company, the event's sponsors, started to point to their watches as Corcoran waved her four by six inch index cards that served as notes for her scripted but seemingly impromptu speech that drew a standing ovation when she concluded.

Agents lined up to speak with Corcoran and get her signature on her book.

The crowd could have and would have stayed all day if Corcoran had the time to hold forth. Her message was one of hope and optimism seasoned with experience, hard work and enduring marketing savvy. Her experience clearly resonated with the agents in the room who identified with her right down to the last agent standing.

Brown Harris Stevens Broker Kathleen Travers chats with Corcoran who provided words of wisdom and encouragement urging brokers to share and help in other in this market.

"That was great," Patricia Gleason of the Corcoran Group said. "I love her," Michael Daly, an independent broker and real estate blogger working in the Sag Harbor North Haven area chimed in. "Just terrific," was the word from veteran broker Pam Liquori of the Corcoran Group. "She has a lot to say," Suzanne McDuffee of Coast and Country Real Estate added. "I read her book and I am going to read it again."

"I would encourage you all to share, to co-broke, to work together, to reach out and figure out how to survive and move forward in this market," Corcoran said. "The distinguishing characteristic, the secret to success in this business is the ability to bounce back."

Inventory is up, prices are down and mortgage rates are at an all time low, according to Wells Fargo Mortgage Company representatives who cited figures back to 1935. Those conditions may revive the market as everyone hopes for a bounce on the East End where sales are slow.

"It is a good time to buy," Corcoran said. "There is no top and there is no bottom. No one can sharp shoot the market. If you wait for things to go down, you will find yourself in a bidding war when everyone jumps on the same property at the same time."

In today's market that would be a real estate agent's dream. In the meantime, Corcoran's advice, "Have fun, go on vacation, don't sit around and worry."

The crowd cheered Corcoran on as she described her life and times in the rough and tumble real estate market.