When he was 18, David Cohen got his real estate license so he could work in his mom’s San Francisco office during summer break from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he studied law.
“It was going to be something that I did until I figured out what I really wanted to do,” he told Homes.com in an interview.
Turns out, "matching people to homes" ended up being exactly what Cohen wanted to do.
For the first seven years of his career, Cohen worked with his mom as her assistant. “In that first year, she probably fired me eight times. I probably quit eight times,” he joked.
“I remember having to apologize to the people who had offices next to us because we’re yelling at each other. But we always ended with hugs,” Cohen added. “It worked out. She was one of the top agents in all of San Francisco, so it gave me instant credibility in a competitive market.”
Starting a new brokerage in San Francisco
Eventually, Cohen and his mom became partners. They worked side by side for some 14 years. That’s when Cohen was approached by Side, an online platform that supports boutique brokerages, with the opportunity to start his own company.
“It’s easy to make moves when things are bad, but I was really happy. I loved it,” Cohen said of the decision to leave his previous brokerage — and his partnership with his mom. “I had to look for the benefit of this. And it was creating something that my kids could inherit one day, theoretically, if they want.”
More than that, Cohen wanted to give something to the city he’d called home for his whole life.
“I’m an only child, and I really, I always thought of the city as like a sibling. I really had a deep connection,” he explained. “I liked the idea of creating something that was long-lasting, a long-lasting San Francisco company.”
That was in 2018. The City Real Estate team has grown from a team of three to a team of nearly 70 agents with $814 million in volume in 2024.
“We are San Francisco. We are the Bay Area. We know the area better than anyone,” Cohen said.
The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.
What's the biggest mistake you've made?
When I started City Real Estate, I was trying to recruit my contemporaries. People that sell on the same level I do. I realized that those people don’t want to work for someone they’re equal to.
So, I started recruiting hungrier agents who wanted to grow their business. The people who were trying to get to the next level. The biggest thing I’ve learned is recruit people that you can help. Not necessarily people who have a huge track record already.
When I hire someone, the first thing I want is ethics. Then you want someone who’s a good person that you can get along with. Then you want a good agent. You can teach someone to be a good agent, you can’t teach them to be a good person.
What can you tell me about your market — San Francisco and the Bay Area?
It does beat to its own drum. We’re very tied to the tech world, because of our proximity to Silicon Valley, and because of that, the trends in that market really affect our business. When Google, Nvidia stock is up, people buy houses, right? It’s as simple as that.
With the AI boom happening, the birthplace is here in San Francisco. There’s a lot of new money, a lot of hope for the city.
We are starting to see confidence in San Francisco again, partly because we have an incredible new mayor. They’re trying to clean up the city. They’re encouraging businesses to come back to San Francisco. All of that is translating to desire for homes.
What's the most bizarre thing you've encountered at work?
As a fresh 21-year-old, there was an opium den in one of the houses that I remember.
Sometimes, tenants want to encourage people not to buy their property, so I’ve walked in, there was a machine gun on the coffee table.
I’ve seen billionaires fighting over $25, $50 on cleaning bills, things like that.
What are your hobbies outside of work?
I probably work too much. But I have two young children: a six-year-old and a three-year-old. I coach my oldest son’s soccer team and baseball team.
And I love the Bay Area sports teams.