Posted on June 2nd, 2014
Dear Friends:
Today marks a historic day as I begin my role as President of URBAN COMPASS.
We have always been at the forefront of the New York Real Estate industry, always with an eye towards the future of real estate: in URBAN COMPASS we see the future. URBAN COMPASS is creating the engine that will power real estate brokerage and we look forward to playing an important role in its ascent.
We are extremely excited about the URBAN COMPASS opportunity, merging our talents, expertise and experience with the brilliant minds of Ori Allon (the person responsible for the way we search daily on GOOGLE…..a global impact), Robert Reffkin (whose inspiring career spans Goldman Sachs to the White House) and Sofia Song (largely credited for creating the Streeteasy model). These incredible talents combined with many other inspiring URBAN COMPASS team members will certainly create a new model for modern real estate brokerage, especially in the area of technology.
At URBAN COMPASS we will elevate the substance of real estate brokerage, helping our clients and customers navigate through the complex process of selling, buying or renting. Our services will begin well before a transaction and continue indefinitely afterwards. Real estate is a substantial investment for anyone living in an urban center such as New York, Los Angeles, London or Sydney: we as real estate advisors take our role very seriously and will continue to modernize, enhance and streamline the process through the sophisticated technology combined with human interaction. We will provide our clientele accurate, curated, up-to-the-minute information to help guide them to making smart decisions. We will also insist on maintaining rigid professional and ethical standards of all in the company.
We were the first brokers to have a comprehensive website (LUXURYLOFT), the first to deliver our newsletter (LUXURYLETTER) consistently every month for 10 years, the first to have a blog (LUXURYBLURB), the first to have an online television network (LUXURYREEL), a strong INSTAGRAM presence (luxury_loft_team)etc. We will continue to innovate on this level. We look forward to many NEW firsts at URBAN COMPASS. We feel the URBAN COMPASS structure will allow us to innovate and implement creative ideas quickly and effectively.
We are very proud of our achievements at Douglas Elliman: Since Herve Senequier and I joined almost 13 years ago, we helped the company become the leader in its field, helping revolutionize its image and brand. We helped re-invigorate the New Developments Division by helping structure and market iconic luxury buildings such as 200 Eleventh Avenue, 150 Charles Street, 560 West 24th Street and Seven Harrison Street, buildings that traditionally would have been marketed by CSMG who had a hold on the luxury market. We have consistently been at the top of our field, ranking consistently by the Wall Street Journal amongst the Top 20 brokers nationally. We leave Douglas Elliman with mixed emotions, saddened to say goodbye to so many wonderful colleagues and friends, yet excited about the future.
While we have certainly broken many barriers and pricing records across the board, we are most proud of the fact that we have done so with a consistent level of dignity and professionalism: We hope to inspire an entire generation of brokers. We have become a leading authority on the luxury real estate market, and luxury trends in general, and consult with clients, bankers, developers, marketers and brand creators globally to share our insights.
URBAN COMPASS is focused on modern brokerage, for both sales and rentals. Over the course of the next few months we will be highlighting and introducing the many services and attributes that are certain to make URBAN COMPASS a leader in its field. By combining the un-paralleled URBAN COMPASS technology, client management tools and positioning with our prominence in the real estate community, our expertise and in depth knowledge of the market and the mechanisms of traditional real estate brokerage, we aim to be the leaders in Modern Brokerage by providing our clientele high technology AND human ingenuity.
We look forward to seeing you in the near future.
With much gratitude,
Leonard Steinberg
President
URBAN COMPASS
ls@urbancompass.com