JOSHALTMAN
APPRECIATING THE PALOS VERDES PENINSULA
WHAT HE WANTS YOU TO KNOW
Photographed by Tory O’Leary
Along with being known as one of the top producing real estate agents in the country, Josh Altman stars on Million Dollar Listing LA, has a new show, Josh & Josh and is also a best selling author. We had a chance to sit down with Josh at a recent Broker’s Open at 905 Via Del Monte, which is the home he is co-listing with local realtor, Mariam Esfahani. His big personality and infectious smile are no doubt part of what make Josh Altman so successful but after talking to him, we quickly realized that he is much more than a television reality star. He was generous with his time and made it very clear to us that he appreciates and respects the community of Palos Verdes. He wants to bridge the gap between Los Angeles and Palos Verdes by bringing new buyers that may otherwise never know about the area.
Tell us about your motivation to expand and focus more on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
We like to work in areas that we like, not that we feel we need to be in. One of the things we looked at early on in our careers was to branch out to areas that we really liked going to, like Palos Verdes. We can get there in 45 minutes so we can be part of the showings, do the deals and still get home at a reasonable time to be with family. That’s where we are right now and that is what is important to us.
Lots of times, with traffic, it would take us the same amount of time to drive to Malibu to show and sell a house. We began to notice that it was the same type of clientele buying houses in LA that were buying houses in Palos Verdes. They had similar price points and looking for the same things; open space, a great community and good schools.
We had done some deals in the past in Palos Verdes and knew we really liked it. We think it’s a very popular underpriced market and are seeing more of our clients talking about places like Palos Verdes. They want to know more about them. It was an option that we couldn’t ignore. In order to be a complete real estate company, we needed to know and really understand the market in areas like Palos Verdes.
It’s close to LA but you feel like you’re in another world. It’s a totally different view than we’re used to seeing. We look from the Hollywood Hills and see you guys. The way PV is positioned allows for so many different spectacular views from the hilltop and cliffs. I can’t say enough about the views, they are spectacular. My brother actually got married at Terranea, so for the Altman Brothers, the Peninsula is a special place.
"People think we are going to come in and try to take over their turf or that we are a super aggressive team that’s going to try to steal listings. That’s just not who we are."
What do you want the community of Palos Verdes as well as some of the local realtors to know about you?
We love what we do. We are workaholics and love being part of the process. We work all day, every day and enjoy showing houses and seeing the smile on people’s faces when we get them a great deal, if they are a buyer or seller.
Although people know us from being on the television show for almost a decade, coming into any community where we are not super well-known, there’s typically a lot of pushback.
We just like doing deals and getting deals done. We have an opportunity to bridge the gap from Palos Verdes to LA for buyers and sellers. We think people should be happy that we are here because we are bringing in buyers that otherwise might not know about the area and may not see local marketing that typically doesn’t reach us in LA. People shouldn’t be intimidated. It’s going to be good for the market. We have had huge success in Palos Verdes. At the end of the day our job is to get the most money possible for a property. We also love to co-list and have been very fortunate with our co-listings with agents in PV. We are all about working together.
Mariam Esfahani and her brother, Amir Esfahani, were born and raised in Palos Verdes and both are raising their own families here. Mariam shares that her father, Marshall Esfahani, “has been building luxury high-end real estate in Palos Verdes for over sixty years, many of which are some of the most iconic homes on the Peninsula. My brother Amir and I joined our father a little over 20 years ago. Amir has taken over most of the building aspect and I find new properties to develop and then sell the new developments. Amir has expanded beyond developing his own properties and is now building homes for clients. He is currently completing a home in Palos Verdes for one of NBA’s biggest stars.”
“We noticed more people from other areas were discovering Palos Verdes during the pandemic when everything was locked down. The open space, the natural habitat and beautiful views were drawing people from all over Southern California. That resulted in more people becoming interested in moving to the Palos Verdes Peninsula. That’s why we decided to tackle this from two aspects local and global and Josh and his team were the ideal partner.”
