The Tech Savvy Kid – 13 and Crushing It
Cole Perkins is the man. Well kinda.
At 13, Cole is to my knowledge the youngest real estate blogger in the country. His blog Lavish Property has recently been featured on Curbed.com, Inman News and the Daily News in New York City. Lavish Property covers million dollar plus real estate throughout the world and is a well written blog with exceptional narrative considering the authors age.
After reading the press Cole has been getting I thought it made sense to reach out to him for his first on camera interview, after getting his parents permission of course!
Some of the things we touched on in the interview above were:
How did Cole get into writing about real estate?
Can a 13 year old can be passionate about something like real estate?
His thoughts on the way many of the million dollar homes are marketed on the web, notably lack of photos and video.
He has grown up with technology and starting a blog was easy considering he has 8 computers in his house.
Cole attends Cyber School which is a combination of home school and public school and gives him extra time each day to blog.
He spends 2-3 hours a day on the web looking at properties on sites likes like Realtor.com and Sotheby’s. He tries to write a post a day.
While many kids play video games he prefers to browse the web for high end real estate
All of the narrative on his site is written by Cole, no copy paste.
He has a Facebook Page and a Twitter account in addition to the blog.
Bottom line is that Cole is a nice kid who at this point in his life has found a love for our industry.
I am sure there are some purists out there who will hate on him due to his age and argue that he can’t really have a passion for real estate at 13. I for one was inspired and had a great time interviewing Cole. He seems to be your typical 13 year old kid, braces and all, who happens to be crushing it on the web. Is anyone really surprised? I Would love you to leave Cole a comment below if you appreciate his hustle as much as I did.
There are 16 responses to this post! Join in...
My wife and I saw the Inman piece and were instant fans.
A word to those 40 and under, your future competition is going to hit the market with over a decade of content, how will you compete?
Wow! Very impressive Cole. Way to Crush It! You’re going to do very well in this business!
Chris, thanks so much for interviewing him. This is a big wake up call for not only us high end / second home agents, but any agent for that matter. We need to look at our marketing materials / online pics and video, and ask ourselves: 1. is this lame? 2. is it informative?
Wow, Cole, you are impressive. It is great to see a 13 year old so focused and passionate – especially about real estate (I am a Realtor). I hope you get your real estate license when you are 18 and Crush It where ever you are living at the time. You will certainly be able to show your potential clients that you know what sells property and that you know how to market homes!! Good luck to your endeavors.
Wow Chris, Cole has inspired me as well to do a better job with my blog. It is amazing what technology can do for you these days. Thanks for the interview.
Inspiring, as a Marketing Director it’s a tough job to get agents to embrace SM, Cole is the epitome of “Just Do It” because it’s your passion.
Thanks everybody! I appreciate all of your comments!
let me try this in teenager terms:
Cole ur ripping it, your BLOG is sick & tight.
Chris, as always keeping the industry on it’s toes & opening eyes wide!
enjoyed the interview a lot.
Great interview – almost makes me feel guilty for all those hours playing Missle Command on the Atari 2600 when I was 13. Great things ahead for Cole.
Liked what you said about agents UNDER-marketing some of these homes — $8 mil, 12000 sf and 11 photos?? Really?
Cole is an inspiring person. At the age of 13, he already has more sense that many of those agents who only have a handful of photos and a poor summary for multimillion dollar homes. I hope he continues with his passion and uses it to help others.
Hey Cole,
Good for you little man! By the time you are old enough to get your Real Estate License, you will have legions of loyal fans(customers)! Stick with it and good luck.
Agents in business today that are not using technology, at least in some way, are missing the boat big time.
Loved this interview, Chris. Hey Cole, I’m an under 30 agent in the Philadelphia area and LOVE your enthusiasm. When you turn 18, get your real estate license and give me a call. I’ll give you a job!
P.S. Check out my blog post today featuring you:
http://sheilasalvitti.com/blog/
I like your initiative about doing so much research. I have been in real estate since I was 23, I am now 56. It’s in your blood. Here’s to your continued success and passion
Impressive, Cole. What a passionate, focused 13 year old. Great quality post – photos and descriptions of luxury real estate! Hopefully, my teenage boys will be inspired! Keep up the great job, Cole. Watch out, Donald Trump, here comes Cole…and he has much cooler hair than The Donald!!
Great job, Cole (and Chris)!
What I most appreciate (after 16 years of teaching/coach HS kids) is pursuing an interest (even if it’s NOT a passion).
For years, I helped kids connect RELATE thinking and writing to their lives (& future). Many kids see writing (blogging as well) as a forced action with no relevance (even kids in honors/advanced classes).
In this case, Cole definitely sees relevance. He also communicates using images and video as well.
AWESOME!
Another take-away: Forget age. Regardless of age, you and I (and Cole) can do whatever it is we set our minds to do!
Mike
Awesome interview. Cole, you are an inspiration to everyone. Quick question for you -how are you getting permission to use these photos? I trust you are pulling them from the other Realtor sites that you are browsing