Upsold

"Housing has an outsized impact on inequality in the US. But among the factors contributing to housing inequality is a group of highly influential individuals--real estate agents. Upsold is a deep dive into the role that interactions between real estate agents and homebuyers play in buyers' decision-making, showing how those interactions affect both individual purchases and the composition of neighborhoods. Besbris focuses on the empirical facts of how interactions between agents and buyers shape value to address broader questions about why consumers choose particular products in a given market. Besbris asks: Where do preferences come from? How do consumers decide that certain goods and services are worth their cost? How do these decisions aggregate into market patterns and produce inequality? He answers these questions by looking at the housing market in New York, examining how real estate agents guide buyers through searching for a home, often upselling them. More broadly, it shows how face-to-face interactions between buyers and agents produce neighborhoods; some which are or are becoming elite and exclusive places where aspiring residents can consume high-end amenities and expect ever-rising housing prices"--