Upstate House

When Hayes Clement, Donna Brooks, and Harris Safier founded what is now known as the Unlock Upstate Team in December 2019, the Hudson Valley real estate market was already changing. What none of them could have predicted was just how quickly—and how profoundly—it would continue to evolve. Nearly six years later, the team they built has grown in size, sharpened its systems, and expanded its reach, while staying rooted in a shared philosophy: real estate is ultimately a service business, one built on trust, problem-solving, and long-term relationships.

Today, the Unlock Upstate Team operates under the Compass of Greater NY LLC umbrella, with offices in Kingston and a total of 13 agents supported by dedicated in-house social media, marketing, and administrative professionals. Since inception, the team has closed more than 1,000 properties and achieved almost $500 million in sales predominantly across Ulster and Dutchess counties, including $99 million in written business in 2025 alone, along with record-setting sold prices in multiple Ulster County communities.

Different Paths, Shared Practice

The three principals bring distinct but complementary backgrounds. Clement came to real estate from publishing and television, including work with HBO and The Tennis Company; Brooks, a former executive with a national fitness-center operator and a founder of two popular coffee shops, brings an entrepreneurial sensibility, while Safier, the founder and former owner of Westwood Metes & Bounds Realty, has more than four decades of experience in Hudson Valley real estate, having seen multiple market cycles come and go.

That depth of experience has shaped the team’s internal culture. Unlock Upstate operates as a fully collaborative group, with an emphasis on co-listings and shared responsibility and knowledge. Weekly team-wide meetings and ongoing education ensure that clients receive uninterrupted coverage and multiple expert perspectives throughout a transaction. The group includes a wide range of complementary skills—including a licensed architect—allowing them to address issues that often fall outside the scope of a typical brokerage relationship.

“Showing houses is only one element of being a top real-estate agent these days,” Brooks says. “There’s so much more involved, much of it very time consuming but invisible to the public, and we consistently excel at those complicated and difficult parts, and make problem-solving a core part of each team member’s orientation.”

Hands-On, Start to Finish

That behind-the-scenes work can include coordinating professional staging, cleaning crews, and repairs; overseeing social media and marketing campaigns; and spending hours resolving building permits, zoning questions, or deed issues that might otherwise derail a deal. Clement recalls a recent winter storm when, at 7am, he was personally chauffeuring a house painter to an out-of-town client’s property in preparation for a listing—followed by haulers, cleaners, and a professional stager—before shoveling the front walkway to ensure access.

“We venture, quite consciously, to respond with two words—‘No problem’—as many times a day as possible,” Clement says. “And I think that’s absolutely why this will actually be the fifth transaction I’ve managed for this client.”

Repeat business is something the team tracks closely. According to Safier, it’s one of the clearest indicators of success in an industry often focused on headline sales numbers. “I’ve been in the business more than 40 years, and the ultimate true benchmark for success, to my mind, is how much repeat business and referrals from past clients you get,” he says. “We actually measure that, and right now, repeat clients are at the top of the list as our source of business. It’s something we’re not just proud of, but something anyone interviewing brokers should explicitly ask candidates to quantify. It tells you everything.”

Scaling Up While Staying Grounded

Last summer, the Unlock Upstate Team made a significant move, transitioning to Compass—the first brokerage change any of the three partners had made in their careers. The decision, Clement and Brooks say, came down to three factors. First was Compass’s technology platform, which allows for more seamless communication with clients and faster, more sophisticated marketing production. Second was access to a much larger New York City pipeline, critical for promoting Hudson Valley listings to downstate buyers. Compass has approximately 5,000 agents in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The third factor was the strength of the Compass brand itself: a number one national presence with a fresh, forward-thinking, and cohesive identity.

“When you look at all of these advantages, the move to Compass was a no-brainer—for us certainly, but most importantly, for our clients, both sellers and buyers,” Clement says. “And it’s proven to be an even better move for us than we even hoped it would be.”

The transition was smooth, with immediate collaboration between the Unlock Upstate Team and Compass colleagues in New York City. Compass also agreed to open its first dedicated Hudson Valley office specifically for the team, located at 16 Hurley Avenue in Uptown Kingston—a milestone that reflects both the team’s performance and the region’s growing importance in the broader real estate landscape.

Despite the expanded reach and enhanced tools, the team’s approach remains grounded in local knowledge and community engagement. Brooks and Safier are both former presidents of the local Board of Realtors, and Clement is deeply involved in regional civic life as a board member of Ulster Habitat for Humanity, the Ulster County Housing Development Corporation, and the Woodstock Film Festival. Other team members are involved in their hometowns’ public-library boards and other non-profits.

“It’s not just their right thing to do, it builds truly deep knowledge of communities that absolutely helps us guide buyer clients in picking the right community,” Safier says. “The Hudson Valley is not a monolith, and understanding the differences between towns, school districts, infrastructure, and community culture is essential to making informed decisions.” That perspective applies equally to buyers and sellers, especially as more clients arrive from outside the region with expectations shaped by online listings rather than lived experience.

For the Unlock Upstate Team, the goal is not simply to close deals, but to guide clients through one of the most consequential financial and personal decisions they will make. “Buying or selling a home isn’t a transaction you forget about once the papers are signed,” Brooks says. “If we do our job right, it’s the beginning of a long relationship.”

In a market that continues to attract attention from well beyond the Hudson Valley, that emphasis on service, accountability, and continuity is what has allowed the Unlock Upstate Team to grow steadily—without losing sight of the local roots that shaped it in the first place.

 

Contact:

Hayes Clement, Associate Broker

Cell: (917) 568-5226; Office: (845) 334-0277; hayes.clement@compass.com

Unlockupstate.com