WATCH: Shaker Heights Tudor estate worthy of the small screen

By LINSEY STONCHUS

Friday Faces makes its 2022 return with Adam Kaufman, a real estate agent at Howard Hanna as he tours a handsome home in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Notably, this Cleveland suburb represented by Mr. Kaufman captured recent attention as the setting of the Hulu drama Little Fires Everywhere, starring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington. The TV show recalls the past of the 1990s, but the community’s properties tell an older story, with iconic mansions beautifully preserved a century over. The town’s historic architecture influenced Mr. Kaufman’s own preferences.

“Originally, my architectural style was probably more modern, more transitional, but as I’ve gotten older, my architectural style has changed,” Mr. Kaufman said. “I actually recently sold a home that I had built and bought a home in Shaker Heights built in 1920.”

Watch on for more from Mr. Kaufman.

Mr. Kaufman’s interest and career in real estate began at a young age.

“My parents started to look for a new home when I was nine years old and they would take me with them and I absolutely loved it,” he said. “I loved the architecture. I loved walking through the homes. I just fell in love with it. I knew right then and there that this was going to be my career.”

Own spin, but keep the wheel
Since 1988, at 18 years old, Mr. Kaufman has remained in the same office at Howard Hanna. During his decades-long career, he has learned valuable lessons applicable to any real estate hopeful of the day.

“I would say my advice is to work hard and you don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” he said. “Watch what successful people in real estate are doing and mimic what they’re doing. Put your own personal style on it, but really watch what they’re doing and learn from them.”

Real estate is a people business, a sentiment that Mr. Kaufman shares with many of his peers.

While technology will continue to evolve the face of the industry, at its core it remains, and will remain, according to Mr. Kaufman, much the same – centered around people.

“People want someone to help them make a decision,” Mr. Kaufman said. “They want to know that the decision they’re making is the right decision. That’s one thing about the real estate business that won’t change.

“In five years, technology will be far different than it is today, but people are still going to want to rely on someone to hold their hand and to walk them through the process,” he said. “I see the business similar to what it is now, a people-to-people business.”