Table of Contents
- Perpetually Learning, Always Innovating—Top 100 Real Estate Pro, Ed Kaminsky Offers Tips for Staying on Top & Insight on Trends That Are Moving the Local Market
- Creating Multiple Revenue Streams
- The Future of South Bay’s Market
- Do Global Buyers Flock to the South Bay?
- Home Selling Challenges
- Competition Fires the Idea
Perpetually Learning, Always Innovating—Top 100 Real Estate Pro, Ed Kaminsky Offers Tips for Staying on Top & Insight on Trends That Are Moving the Local Market
It was the mid-1980s when Ed Kaminsky, a transplant from Ohio who was working in the jewelry business, decided to try his hand in real estate. It was a good time to get involved, doubly so if you were a hardworking, up-from-the-bootstraps type accustomed to the long hours of retail and intent on grand success, despite not having a college degree or any personal contacts in the business.
“I came in as naked as I could be,” recounts Kaminsky some 30 years later. A mainstay of luxury real estate in the South Bay who sells over 100 properties a year (top producing agent at Strand Hill, Christie’s International 2017, and Trendgraphix’s top agent in the Beach Cities are among his awards), Kaminsky employs a team of 10 and is engaged in businesses beyond selling properties.
The South Bay is extremely ripe for significant appreciation over the next 10 years. I say that because of the amount of job growth that is happening in Playa Vista and areas like that with the tech industry. It’s heavily influencing this market.”
Creating Multiple Revenue Streams
“I don’t run around and call myself an entrepreneur,” says Kaminsky. But it fits. “I work for myself,” he adds. “I create revenue streams with different companies, and that’s what an entrepreneur is.”
Staying on top for decades requires more than just smarts and dedication. A knack for knowing what’s coming around the corner and how to properly optimize it continues to be essential to Kaminsky’s success. The state of the local market, for instance, has him bullish, and jobs are the prime reason.
The Future of South Bay’s Market
“The South Bay is extremely ripe for significant appreciation over the next 10 years,” says Kaminsky. “I say that because of the amount of job growth that is happening in Playa Vista and areas like that with the tech industry. It’s heavily influencing this market.”
Twine that with an increase in the quality of education in the South Bay, particularly in Beach Cities, where star-school status is spreading beyond Manhattan Beach to increased rankings in neighboring communities like Redondo Beach. “You’re seeing a strong buyer demand for the other Beach Cities that were not always as sought after as Manhattan Beach has been in the last 10 or 15 years.”
Do Global Buyers Flock to the South Bay?
Education has been a draw for moneyed global buyers, mostly from China, who in recent years have been coming in large numbers to the local area, particularly Palos Verdes. Kaminsky notes this trend has hit a snag of late due to difficulties some of these buyers face moving their funds out of their native country. “It’s slowed the pace down quite a bit.”
Real estate trends that go beyond the South Bay? Connection. Shorter commutes. Walkability.
“People are less interested in commuting very far to work, and having a sense of community—shops, restaurants, coffee places, within a short distance—it’s becoming incredibly important in every community in the U.S. right now,” says Kaminsky. Another tendency in the local luxury market that has Ed Kaminsky “a bit nervous” is the expectation of buyers when it comes to style and design.
Home Selling Challenges
“Buyers are walking into homes expecting a certain look today,” says Ed Kaminsky. It’s an expectation built on television’s flurry of home flipping and real estate programs that show even modest homes as sleek, contemporary hubs packed with the latest bells and whistles.
“Not every house is going to fit that shape and color that television, or friends, are trying to portray,” says Ed Kaminsky, noting that it’s made it a challenge to sell homes that don’t fit this bill aesthetically.
Competition Fires the Idea
Surely Ed Kaminsky will find a way to capitalize.
“I’m constantly looking for problems and creating solutions for the problems. Competitive desire fires the idea. Delivering on the service is what creates the results.”
Case in point: His company SportStar Relocation, which handles moving duty for pro athletes, was initially based on Ed Kaminsky’s desire to have a bigger slice of the burgeoning sports market. How to accomplish it? Provide something that no one else is; in this case, an all-around concierge service.
“Become insanely educated about everything in your marketplace. Deliver more than what is expected from your clients.”
These orient Kaminsky’s work ethic, which he’s driven at a dogged pace for decades, broken for hours devoted to family (Ed Kaminsky is a grandfather of two and a father of two daughters with his wife Cindy) and small pleasures.
“My favorite experience is to drive up to the top of the crest of Manhattan Beach Boulevard,” says Ed Kaminsky, who’s been a Manhattan Beach resident for nearly 20 years.
“You see the downtown district. You see the pier. You see the Pacific Ocean. You see it on a clear day with blue skies and I don’t think there’s anything more beautiful or welcoming than that view.”
Ed Kaminsky
Kaminsky Real Estate Group
440 Pacific Coast Highway, Hermosa Beach, CA, 90254
310.798.1277 | itzsold.com
Team Photography by Kieron McKay
DIGS dives into the stories behind some of the world’s best real estate professionals. Market Influencer weaves a narrative journey about agents, entrepreneurs and influencers—and what drives them to succeed. This week we tell Ed Kaminsky’s story, a top 100 producer in the South Bay.