Christy Berry and Jonathan Rosen, aka RosenBerry Group, two of the highest horse powered luxury real estate agents in town, have left Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Real Estate and created a new luxury real estate shop just south of Highland Park.
“The Collective Residential” is a boutique luxury brokerage comprised of dynamic real estate advisors (never agents) in Dallas- Fort Worth with a focus on enhanced design and innovation that guarantees clients maximum efficiency and premier access to the city’s most exclusive properties and listings. Though the firm is starting with two agents, it will be limited to 30 or 40 agents at most.
Christy and Jonathan say they recognized a void in the high-end residential market, and vow that The Collective will fill it:
The Collective is the new wave in Dallas luxury residential real estate, spearheaded by a well-respected team of industry innovators, Berry and Rosen, who have more than 20 years of combined experience and represented more than $120,000 million last year in luxury property sales and advisement. With an advanced brand, exclusive agent and client services platform, and unparalleled agent force, The Collective is charting a new course in the industry, while at the same time preserving the art of residential real estate.
The luxury small boutique doesn’t exist anymore in Dallas, said Christy, when I grabbed her by phone this evening.
It’s true: brokerage growth has been rampant in Dallas/Fort Worth over the last few years fueled by our markets’ wild run. Briggs Freeman aligned with Sotheby’s and expanded to 450-some agents with offices in Uptown, Lakewood, Plano and Fort Worth. Dave Perry-Miller has been a division of Ebby Halliday, one of the largest independent brokerages in the nation, for almost ten years. Warren Buffet now owns Allie Beth Allman & Associates. David Griffin & Company Realtors is a part of Virginia Cook. Roxann Taylor aligned with Engel & Volckers. Even Coldwell Banker is back and growing in the market, picking up heavy hitters like Kyle Rovinsky (stay tuned) and Kenneth Walters. Few young agents today remember the Coldwell Banker office of yesteryear on Preston Road run by one of the most notorious couples to ever hit the business.
“Eleanor who?”
And there is even scuttlebutt that a large New York area firm is eying Texas for expansion, either through an acquisition or setting up competitive shop. With growth comes overhead: fancy offices, marketing departments, rules and regulations and ways of doing things to maintain the company brand. Then, too, there is the competition between star agents within each brokerage, competing for the same properties.
“Agents want to be taken care of,” says Christy, “they want to be part of a special culture, a collaborative team that networks together. We are way collaborative.”
How so? It begins with the office space, which The Collective believes is for networking and brainstorming over coffee or wine. You don’t go quietly into a cubbyhole and peruse your email. Located at 4012 Oak Lawn, right across from Equinox and just south of the wealthiest community in North Texas, The Collective is more like a coffeehouse. There are no offices, rather one big space. With everybody open to each other, networking happens naturally all the time.
“We are there to take care of the agents,” says Christy. “Think cutting edge, no corporate feel. And we are going to push the agents’ brand above all, above us.”
How? Well, the only phone number on The Collective signs will be those of the agent. with everybody open to each other so networking happens naturally all the time. And forget the traditional “graphic sheets”.
“What we are doing is nothing like what is out there right now,” says Christy. “Like I don’t believe in putting out 30 pictures to sell a home. Maybe 10 beautiful photos to draw the customer into the house.”
You don’t want to give everything away up front, she says. Photography will be highly produced and specific to each house: like using a drone for a lot.
“It is our hope that people work in the field,” says Christy. “We are all one group. Once you put up those walls, that unity goes away.”
Besides, says Christy, most top agents are seldom in the office.
Christy, who has her brokerage license, says The Collective is starting with “us for now, until we get it perfect”, but their phone is ringing like crazy. Many agents are waiting at the door, but be forewarned: the boutique will be VERY selective.
“The Collective fuses traditional real estate with innovative methods of collaboration in a setting that lends itself to a seamless experience for our clients and agents. We are relationship- driven, and our experience and knowledge of the Dallas-Fort Worth market is unrivaled and unprecedented,” said principal Jonathan Rosen. “We interweave excellence from start to finish in the transaction process, elevating the client experience while achieving outstanding results.”
What was the impetus for this venture?
“Once Jonathan and I partnered up (about a year ago), it was such a good match, we realized we could build bigger,” says Christy.
This market, she says, is missing a place that nurtures agents.
“Our daily motto,” says Christy, “is ‘how can we take care of the agents so they can take better care of their clients’?”
Example: the help the two veteran principals, one a Baby Boomer, one a Milennial, can provide the agent will free up time for more customer service. If the agent needs an amendment: call the back office, done, no more paperwork. RosenBerry is also always touching clients after the sale with communications and select gifts.
“We place a high priority on our agents’ time and realize it is a luxury for them,” says Christy. “Our goal is to create a culture like no other, which will benefit agents and more importantly, their clients.”
The Collective is located at 4012 Oak Lawn Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75219. For more information, please call 214.814.8100 or visit www.thecollectiveresidential.com.
