About Your Host...Robert Freedman  

I have been selling real estate in the South Bay on a full-time basis for more than twenty years now. When I first started, I was one of those young punks that scared all the old timers in the business, because I didn't listen to all the reasons I couldn't succeed, I just went out and did it. 

Before real estate, I thought I was going to be an architect. I studied architecture while attending Cornell University. I loved the Ivy League education, but I decided that I was not going to be the next Frank Lloyd Wright or I. M. Pei, so I gathered up the skills that I learned and ventured into real estate shortly after moving to California. I have always had a well-balanced brain. The analytical and creative sides work well together. That probably explains why real estate was such a good fir. I get to use my whole brain every day. 

I met my wife, Danielle, on the beach in Manhattan Beach. It is a true California love story that continues after nearly seventeen years. She's the greatest. She is the quintessential mom, and has always held things together on the home front. We met shortly after I got into real estate. If ever two people were destined to be together, we were. 

We have two beautiful daughters who have always been a bit precocious. The older one, Ashun (she's fifteen now), was more of the social butterfly. She has always had an outgoing personality, and has always been athletic, starting first with gymnastics, then moving on to soccer, where she became quite a little star in AYSO. I was fortunate enough to have been her coach for the last seven years, winning her division championship the last two years in a row. I love coaching soccer. I didn't play as a child, but I started to play after I started coaching. Ashun is now a freshman in high school, and made the pep squad for 1999-2000. 

My younger daughter, Taylor, (twelve), is more the artist. She was born with an innate sense of balance, color and proportion. She was making incredible paintings, even in the first grade. Often I would come home and find that she had made a sculpture out of odds and ends that was wonderful, but left me thinking, "Where did that come from?" Taylor loves to ride horses, and loves all animals. She absorbs information like a sponge and always has the keenest philosophical insights into life. Once, when she was about three years old., we saw a homeless man raving on a bus bench. Taylor turned to me and said, "I think he doesn't like his dreams." We call these "Taylorisms". 

Anyway, I love my family, and I love where I live. That is one of the reasons I have devoted so much of my time to the schools in my community. I have served on School Site Councils for two elementary schools and have logged many hours at the District Advisory Board. This gave me a lot of inside knowledge about the school system in general that helps my clients in making buying decisions on homes based on schools. I have personally visited nearly every school campus in the Beach Cities area. 

I love playing my 1895 Steinway Grand piano. It is very therapeutic. I mostly play improvisation, and people seem to like it very well. One day I may try and write some of it down. I used to have a band, somewhere between college and real estate. Music is still a big part of my life. 

I also love to write. I suspect that when I am done with real estate I will pursue my writing with greater fervor. For now, I just collect it as I go, keeping tract of good ideas. 

Not that I have a lot of spare time. I'm up at 5:30 AM, off to the gym. Home by 7:00 AM, then get the kids off to school and have coffee with my wife. I am at the office by 8:30 AM. Occasionally, I get to play golf, but I'm just a hack. I play tennis on Saturday mornings. I'm getting slowly better at that. 

I devote a lot of focused time to my clients. I am not a numbers guy. Most of my business comes from repeat customers and referrals. I am selective about my clients as they are selective about me. I don't believe an agent can provide the kind of service the public deserves while servicing fifty listings. I keep things under control. It's a big benefit to my clients. 

I love this business.