Posted by Leonard Steinberg of URBAN COMPASS on August 7th, 2014

“In what could be a real estate record for New York City, the nation of Qatar is in contract to buy an Upper East Side townhouse for $100 million, The New York Post reported earlier this week.”

This week it was revealed that the headlines that resonated around the globe about the sale of the first residential $100 million property in New York to the Qatar Government was not only misleading, but also will not happen as the reports addressed a signed contract, not a closed sale.

I am not defending the actions of Tal and Oren Alexander: they are young, less experienced brokers who have learned a very painful lesson, not only in the potential damage to their credibility (the signed contract was supposedly $90 million, not $100 million as reported) but also a huge loss of income. Worse than what happened here are those very experienced brokers throwing stones while they are the perpetrators of similar (or worse) crimes on a regular basis. I have witnessed some truly outrageous “distortions of the truth” in my 18 years in New York real estate, and those with the experience actually know that they are doing bad things….and do them intentionally. The Alexanders in their over-exuberant youth may have mis-judged…….the experienced brokers are willfully misleading and distorting facts, breaching confidentiality commitments and worse. Experienced brokers know to be careful with the press….who knows if what was said to the press was mis-interpreted?

So to those brokers who are hurling insults and passing judgement at the Alexanders, please apply the same strict rules to all other brokers who have done similar or worse things, and maybe take a hard look in the mirror while you’re at it. We as real estate brokers should assume a responsibility to our profession to call out bad behavior…..but not just selectively!