With over $19 billion in career sales, Aaron Kirman, chief executive of the Aaron Kirman Group and owner of Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California, has repeatedly ranked as one of the top grossing residential real estate agents in Los Angeles.
Kirman represents some of the world’s most luxurious estates, with a client roster including Ariana Grande, Ryan Murphy, Nicki Minaj and Cher. Prior to branching off in 2022 to start his own company, he was a top-producing broker at Compass.
Kirman sat down with the Business Journal to discuss getting his start in brokerage, what it’s like to be your own boss and the lure of luxury real estate.
Tell me about your background. How did you get started in real estate?
I started really young. I was pretty challenged as a kid because I had dyslexia. I couldn’t talk, I had speech impediments and I couldn’t keep a job. I knew I needed to have a job where I was my own boss and nobody had the ability to fire me. And at the time, when I was about 17, real estate was the only thing I could think of that gave me that ability.
I also loved houses ever since I was a kid. My mom was a teacher and my dad was a trucker. I used to ride my bike into the rich neighborhoods. I would break into the houses – which we shouldn’t do today but I did – and I got used to feeling and seeing how the other half lived. It gave me a very different world from where I grew up. Because of that, I always was inspired to sell them.
It’s been about two years since you branched out on your own and formed Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California. Tell me about your decision to split off.
Whenever I’m comfortable or whenever life feels easy, I always want to do something new, interesting and exciting. It’s just the way my brain works. I worked in partnership with other brokerages for 25 years of my life and I got tired of other people’s leadership, management, marketing, advertising and, quite frankly, (my team) thought we could do it better and we wanted to take the lead.
And we thought that there was room and entrance for something that would be transcending above the bar of norm. Our goal was to set the preeminent luxury boutique, and I got the idea to work with Christie’s because they weren’t in the Los Angeles market and Christie’s is the world’s finest auction house plus a legacy brand from 1766. It gave me the ability to do both. I have the luxury boutique with the power of international and national marketing offices and the auction house.
What’s it like now being on your own?
I love it. It’s a lot more work than I had ever imagined. It’s a lot more money than I had ever imagined because running a brokerage is very expensive and time consuming. We have a lot of agents and a lot of deals, so the management has been a little bit more of a learning curve. I wasn’t aware that it was going to be as challenging as it was. But what I love about it is we get to create (the) look, image, feel, culture, brand, what the consumer faces (and) what our agents are feeling. It’s been a lot of fun. It’s very empowering.
How has the firm grown over time?
The growth has been exponential. We started with probably about 65 brokers and now we have a roster of over 225. We started with one office, we now have four – we built four offices in what is one of the most challenging real estate markets of our moment when other companies, especially the mega ones, are retreating. We’ve done nothing but grow. We consider ourselves the preeminent luxury real estate brokerage of the country right now just because of the number of high-end listings we have and number of transactions that we do.
Which markets are you most passionate about and why?
My primary hubs are Beverly Hills and Bel Air. I always say, I’m not necessarily an area broker, I’m a luxury specialist. My price points on average are anywhere in between $20 million and it goes all the way up to hundreds of millions. We go where our clients are and we go where luxury is and that could be anywhere from Beverly Hills and Bel Air to Hong Kong and London and Shanghai.
I was always a pioneer in traveling to get business. Financial markets are always changing. When Russia was the thing and all the Russian oligarchs were buying in Los Angeles, I was in Moscow and St. Petersburg following the wealth pattern. When that moved over to China, I was in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Nanjing and Guangzhou following the wealth. A lot of my clients are international wealth from all over the world. They buy in Los Angeles, but they also have homes elsewhere and sometimes they call us to sell those as well.
Are you still mainly doing luxury deals, or have you diversified deal types at all?
I personally mainly do luxury. I always tell people, ‘you can’t be an expert at everything.’ I would go into $50 million or $60 million houses and get hired, and for the fun of it, every once in a while, somebody would call me on a $2 million or $3 million house. It’s our business to take on as much as we can and maybe on that $2 million house I didn’t get hired, but I got hired on the $60 million. I evaluated. It’s my wheelhouse. I know the buyers, I know the sellers, I know the movements. I know the neighbors, I know the clubs they are a part of, I know the schools they are a part of, so when I go into these appointments, I’m an expert. And you can’t be an expert at everything. At Christie’s (however), we sell everything. And we’re happy to take everything from $500,000 to our most expensive listing right now at $125 million.
What do you like most about being an agent?
I love that every day is different, and I love that I have no idea what I’m going to do every day because I might have a schedule and it may be packed, but it’s going to change. From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., my schedule is a moving ball because somebody wants to buy a house, somebody wants to sell a house, somebody wants to list a house, there’s a problem, there’s an emergency, there’s an offer. Every day is unique, and I love the fact that we are independent contractors and we’re our own bosses. We run our own domain.
For me, it’s been a blessing because it’s given me the ability to have an entrepreneurial spirit. I’m the son of a trucker. I’m the son of a schoolteacher. The fact that I’ve sold houses for $200 million is not the world I came from. It shows not only the power of real estate, but the power of America and the power of the city.
What’s your opinion on the NAR settlement? How will it affect you and your brokers? The settlement, which took effect on Aug. 17, is a $418 million accord to resolve antitrust claims that will change how real estate agents are paid and who pays them. It requires written buyer agreements that detail agent compensation.
I think the NAR settlement … is terrible. I think the reality is sellers always had the opportunity to negotiate commissions. I know because I was dealing with it every day, pre-NAR. I think the new settlement is really bad for the consumer. It leaves complications in how the process is going to go down which I think is problematic for buyers and sellers. And I think that, quite frankly, it was an industry shakedown. People thought that we made too much money, but if you look at most brokers, the average salary is $50,000 or $60,000, which is not above the norm. We work for free until we make money and so I think ultimately what we’re going to see is more confusion in the industry and consumers not getting the same reputable services because sellers are going to want to pay less.
Previously, you and your team starred on CNBC’s, “Listing Impossible,” showcasing multimillion-dollar homes and what it’s like to be an agent behind the scenes. Any plans for a TV relaunch?
I’ve been in conversations with some networks. I wouldn’t be opposed to doing another show, but I would want to do the right show. I think real estate has a couple fun facets. I call it house porn, people love to see the houses, but I think the current shows show a false reality of what it is to be an agent and also a false reality of that life.
For me, education is somewhat important. Really telling the truth is important and showcasing the good, the bad and the ugly because it’s not all glamorous. People think it is, but it’s not. There’re trials, there’re tribulations, there’re problematic situations for clients. If I could have a show that really shows that, I would absolutely be interested.
What’s next for the Aaron Kirman Group?
We’ve only just begun. I always say we’re not trying to be the biggest, we just want to be the best. We want to have 20% to 30% dominance in the luxury market (of Southern California) and have people know that, when it comes to selling luxury houses, no one is better than us.
We have excelled in a challenging market. We’ve sold more houses than most and we’ve sold a lot of really expensive houses and set records like price per square foot (on deals). We’re going to continue to do that, expand territory, expand area, expand market share (and) make sure that our technologies are at the forefront of cutting edge.
And, last but not least, we want to impact our community because we have the innate opportunity to work with so many people that (what) we do is very powerful. We always want to give people better lives.
