Platinum Properties looks to expand

Five years after starting as a four-person residential rental firm in New York, Platinum Properties has announced its latest expansion: opening offices in Miami and Los Angeles early next year. “We have a lot of our clients [who] own properties in both those locations,” Khashy Eyn, Platinum’s CEO and president, said, adding that Platinum will consider “buy[ing] a firm that’s already started and changing the name.”

Platinum has not picked locations for its offices yet, but Eyn said the firm is targeting luxury strongholds in each city. Miami’s South of Fifth neighborhood and locations near Beverly Hills are on his wish list.

The agency has already expanded to include commercial and residential sales at its existing offices, and has grown by more than 60 agents, according to Eyn. Platinum has offices in New York and Paris.

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Although both cities targeted for expansion are known for having volatile real estate markets at the moment, Eyn said that his company can weather the storm. “We’re in there for the long run. We don’t expect to go in there and start profiting from day one.”

Perhaps the company’s experience surviving the financial crisis could put it in good stead. The firm was just three years old when Lehman Brothers collapsed.

“It’s made us stronger and it’s made us better,” Eyn said. “Before the recession, anybody could sell and anybody could rent.”