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Brokerage At Home In Condos

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Luxury real estate company Agency is growing rapidly, but not just because it has listings for some of the most expensive residential estates in the country.

The Beverly Hills brokerage, which opened three offices this summer and has hired more than 70 agents since it was founded two years ago, is thriving because it took on a segment of the market few high-end home sellers give a second thought: selling condos.

Agency was recently awarded a contract to market and sell homes at Westwood’s 78-unit Carlyle Residences at 10776 Wilshire Blvd., where a two-bedroom condo goes for more than $2 million.

That contract comes on top of listings the firm has for grand properties commanding sky-high prices, such as the 10-acre Owlwood Estate in Holmby Hills. Once home to 20th Century Fox founder Joe Schenck, it is on the market for $150 million, the second-highest-priced residential listing in the country.

Agency, which said that it sold $1.5 billion in residential real estate last year, is headed by Mauricio Umansky, formerly of Beverly Hills brokerage Hilton & Hyland, though he’s best known outside the world of high-priced homes as the husband of Kyle Richards, one of the stars of Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”

Umansky, who has been selling posh mansions in Los Angeles for 16 years, said he co-founded the luxury residential real estate brokerage with his father, Eduardo, and business partners Billy Rose and Blair Chang because he saw a void in the market for high-end condo sales in Los Angeles.

While sales of high-end single-family houses account for about 60 percent of Agency’s revenue, it’s the condo side of the business he wants to expand.

“With (single-family) resale, you get a listing, sell and then you’re done – you have to go search for the next relationship,” he said. “One of the reasons I was so excited about new development was because you have the opportunity to sell hundreds of residences.”

– Bethany Firnhaber

Bethany Firnhaber Author