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After years of collaborating together on various high-end listings, Tomer Fridman and Sally Forster Jones have formed a new team, Jones Fridman International, The Hollywood Reporter reported on Monday.
Jones of The Sally Forster Jones Group and Fridman of The Fridman Group both joined Compass about six years ago and almost immediately began working together to represent properties. (Fridman had a brief, one-month hiatus at Hilton & Hyland.) Together, the two agents’ teams have closed a collective $25 billion in career sales, making those combined forces a powerful team to be reckoned with.
The duo’s first listing together was the Viewpoint Collection of homes, a portfolio of luxury homes in some of LA’s most iconic neighborhoods, valued at over $1.5 billion.
“It’s been over six years that we have been working together and throughout that whole time, what we realized is, that we work together really, really well, all of our teams work together really, really well and the two of us together are far, far better than each of us individually,” Forster Jones told Inman. “We just complement each other so much and bring out the best in what we present.”
The pair have represented notable properties like the Spelling Mansion (once the highest-priced property in the world at $150 million), the Owlwood Estate, the Brentwood Oasis and the Odin House in Encino. Some of their clients have also included big names like the Kardashians, Jennifer Lopez, Pamela Anderson and Candy Spelling. With their forces combined, they will represent $2 billion in active listings and have approximately 43 staff and agents on the team.
The duo is also currently leading sales at the 17-unit Rosewood Residences in Beverly Hills, the first-ever Rosewood residential project in the area, which is still in progress.
After years of working together, the pair’s clients actually started suggesting to them that they make their knack for working together official by forming a joint team. And after about six months of working out the logistics, that formal partnership has come to fruition.
“Our [partnership] is tested and proven to be very impactful, not just for our business, but for our clientele,” Fridman said. “Because we have moved together in the last six years probably $3-plus billion of inventory that we co-represented, and we continue to do so.
“Additionally, we felt that what we’re looking for is an evolution; to evolve and expand and grow,” he continued. “And that was just a natural progression for us to do that together as one large team because having individually co-listed that many properties — not just co-listed, but sold — that much volume, which was record-breaking in the country, we thought, ‘What if we actually merge? Start a new brand that really deals and represents luxury properties,’ which Sally and I specialize in. ‘How impactful would that be?'”
Jones Fridman International’s reach spans approximately 40 countries, with five offices alone in Latin America (Mexico City, Cancún, Vallarta, Los Cabos and Panama City), made possible by Compass’ international referral network with Barnes International Realty. Additionally, Tomer Fridman and his mother, Isidora Fridman, have an international advantage as co-founders and co-chairmen of Israel Sotheby’s International Realty.
“Tomer and I have a very unique and specific advantage of being co-owners of Israel Sotheby’s International Realty,” Isidora Fridman said in a statement. “Our relationship with owners and leaders in the luxury real estate market in the top countries in the world places us in tune amidst international conversations for luxury properties and global buyers. This allows us to network with buyers and sellers globally in a much more reciprocal and vetted manner than without our years of experience and international recognition.”
Fridman and Forster Jones told Inman that the nature of their clients owning multiple homes across a variety of markets has helped drive each of their teams’ growth across the U.S. and internationally. Now that they have joined forces, they hope to expand their market footprint and their team’s size even further, with an eye on adding 12 additional offices in luxury markets in the U.S. and abroad in the next year.
Their recently trademarked tagline, “Elevate Luxury,” reflects their shared mindset of luxury as a lifestyle and the high quality of service they strive to provide their clients, the pair also told Inman.
Fridman and Forster Jones said their personalities and work styles complement one another so much that they can often anticipate the other’s reaction to a particular listing or in a certain situation with a client. They also have a similar work ethic, so that each of them contributes equally to the partnership.
“If you’re going to have a partner, the partner should not just complement you, but really show up and work as hard as you do,” Fridman said. “And we’re both incredibly hard-working… that’s a huge foundation for us; that we are non-stop, the both of us.”
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