With today being Valentine’s Day, it seemed appropriate to highlight some of Rodeo Realty’s couples who are also real estate teams. How do they do it? How do these couples also work successfully as professional partners?
The answer boils down to synergy, according to four of those teams.
“Clients tell us there are a couple different pieces to why they like working with us,” said Steve Goldbaum of The Gold Team in Northridge. His wife is Teri Goldbaum.
“We each have unique abilities and personalities. The combination creates a synergy that allows us to achieve our client’s goals. She dots the I’s, crosses the T’s, and does our marketing. My job is more about being out there working with clients to buy, build or sell homes.”
David and
Michelle Cohan of the Calabasas office say there are pros and cons to being a married couple and professional real estate team. “Our priorities are clients, work, kids and being a couple,” said David Cohan. “But sometimes it’s hard to just say ‘How are you?’ and not talk about work.” Communication is everything, he added.
One of David’s strengths is going out and showing homes for long stretches of time. One of Michelle’s strengths is seeing the potential in a home and understanding its floor plan, history and the like.
When meeting with clients, David and Michelle speak to each other’s strong points. They also have to communicate information effectively with the rest of their real estate team.
When it comes right down to it, David also knows how to keep the peace. “The most important thing about working together is me accepting that Michelle is boss,” he said lightheartedly.
Desiree and Gregg Zuckerman of the Calabasas and Beverly Hills offices also have a clear understanding of who does what.
“Gregg does most of the behind the scenes work and I do everything on camera -so to speak,” said Desiree.
Gregg excels at taking care of the weekly advertisements, technology stuff such as making sure computers are doing what they should, and the organizational side of the business. Desiree does most of the home showings, inspections and anything else needed to close on the sale or purchase of a property.
Ken Bryant and Barbe Nance of the Studio City office have been in real estate together for the past decade.
“Some clients really like working with both the male and female sides,” said Barbe.
Ken works on the computer related parts of the business, paperwork, and going over sales materials with a fine tooth comb to find mistakes. He’s also good at initiating client relationships. Barbe works more on the sales side. Clients look to her for technical details about real estate.
The duo works closely on developing sales strategies for each home. “When we’re working with clients we always have a brainstorming session, a lot of back and forth,” said Ken. “Like they say, two heads are better than one.”
