SOUTH BAY DIGS | Digital Edition Online

4.2.2021 | DIGS.NET 73 M A R K E T partnership where respective talents and likely, temper- ament (Freedman's style is animated, Geilman's more measured), create a sum greater than its parts. "Some people call him the Deal Doctor," he says of Freedman. "He's very experienced and creative with real estate prob- lems. He's also one of the most creative negotiators that I've ever met." Geilman, on the other hand, has a partic- ular bent for technology and communicating DOMO to the world. "He's more of the marketing guru who thinks about the way things look and the way things present," describes Freedman. Overlapping in both agents is a hard-charging work ethic and a love of real estate, in all its minutiae and glory. –e word 'domo' is a multi-shaded Japanese term denoting thanks and gratitude, chosen deliberately by Geilman and Freedman as the name of their firm in order to represent a service-first approach, to the exclusion of all else. "It's the antithesis of salesman- ship," Freedman describes. "It's pretending you don't have a horse in the race and saying, 'How can I help this person get to their truths, get to what they really want to do?'" –e success of the team by conventional markers (such as revenues, properties sold, industry ranking and so forth) bears witness to their approach. "If you want to be a really good, dynamic real estate agent," he points out, "you don't want to concentrate on commissions. You concentrate on helping people. –e more people you help, the more money you make. –ey go hand in hand." –e same is true for a brokerage. Which is why Geilman and Freedman paused when approached by Corcoran Global Living (CGL), a new offshoot of Corcoran that's moving swiftly into Southern Cali- fornia. "We were not looking to make a move," recalls Geilman. At first contact, however, the duo's interest was piqued by Corcoran, which seemed to be speaking DOMO's language when it came to the business of real estate. "–ey wanted to have big growth," says Freedman, "but they also wanted to do it right. –ey didn't just want to set up a company so they could sell it or go public." "We're very like-minded," Tom Swanson, partner at CGL and district manager for L.A. and the Beach Cities, says of the two firms. "We're very forward- thinking. We're all about what's coming next in our industry." Staying nimble in order to ride the crest of industry change while sticking to one's personality— recognizing it as the perennial of one's success—are shared premises. "We will always keep that human touch in our brand in a very real and relatable way," Swanson says of CGL, adding that Freedman and Geilman's day in and day out involvement at DOMO is another draw. "Greg and Rob are very engaged in the process, in growing their team and helping their group succeed to the best of their ability," Swanson explains. "It's very refreshing to see that in team leaders." Another area of attraction is in the similarity of each organization's brand personality. While "luxury" ranges from the traditional cuff-and-collar sort to the uber-re- laxed end of the spectrum, their respective takes on the concept were in sync. "–e way I like to describe our brand is 'approachable luxury,'" says Geilman. So too is Corcoran's, focused these days on an individualized sense of the idea. "Our philosophy is 'live who you are,'" says Swanson. "It's infused in everything we do." "We kept waiting for that dealbreaker to pop up," Geilman says of the signing process, "and it never did." In the end DOMO ended up with more than just a new brokerage; they're now equity partners at CGL, which launched only last February yet is off to a breakneck start. "In our first year we're at about 47 offices, with about 1,700 agents," states Swanson. "We've done over 6.3 billion dollars in sales in our first year—and we're profitable."

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