DIGS is the premiere luxury real estate lifestyle magazine serving the most affluent neighborhoods in the South Bay and Westside of Los Angeles, California.
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3.6.2020 | DIGS.NET 39 M A R K E T ne of the most important things to me is balance," says Dan Urbach, "and there's only three things to balance." Number one, says the Westside agent, is family. en work, and finally, time for oneself. Having the discipline to keep one's life in a peaceful state of equilibrium, he adds, "keeps me healthy and makes for a better work environment." It's been over 26 successful years in real estate for Urbach, who nonetheless still considers himself an eager entrepreneur, out there every day, and making things happen. "You have to have that ability to be a self-starter in residential real estate," says the Pacific Palisades father of two. "You have to have that drive and passion that keeps you going." at, and a lot of support. "I've surrounded myself with a great team, including Agent and Associate Candace Fengler," says Urbach, "who's been with me for over 13 years, and Marketing Director Sam Green, who does a great job at promoting our prop- erties and supporting our brand." A love for his career and the people he meets along the way is what motivates Urbach. "I created the tagline, 'I Represent People, Not Properties,'" he says, "because I wanted my buyers and sellers to know that I really care about them. My goal is to create lifelong relationships with my clients." To that end, Urbach functions as an end-to-end support for clients, focused on everything real estate, from helping them prepare their homes for sale, and analyzing market conditions to negotiation. "It's one of the things I love the most about this business," he says of making deals. "I consider myself an all-around resource to our clients," Urbach explains. "ey can rely on me for everything, not just selling or representing buyers." Decades after graduating from UCSB with a degree in business and economics, he still makes it a point to keep studying and learning all aspects of his trade. "It's so important in our industry to not just practice within the business," he points out, "but to be a student of the business." As such, he's recently made some changes to his organization, starting with rebranding to bring his message more into line with his services. "We felt it was time to refresh our image," he notes. Another was a move to Compass from e Agency, where he was managing director of the Pacific Palisades office. "Compass has really taken real estate into the 21st century," he notes. "ey consider themselves a tech- nology company as well as a real estate company." is powerful tech aspect of Compass, he explains, gives him and his team more bandwidth to focus on client relationships, allowing Urbach to spend more time on that which he enjoys, which in turn brings ABOVE 325 Toyopa Drive Pacific Palisades 5 Bed | 6 Bath 6,725 SF | 14,350 SF Lot Offered at $9,195,000 RIGHT 1461 Amalfi Drive Pacific Palisades Riviera 6 Bed | 7 Bath 7,039 SF | 28,197 SF Lot Offered at $9,595,000 LEFT 429 Sherman Canal Venice Canals 3 Bed | 4 Bath | 3,192 SF Offered at $4,295,000 BELOW 279 Mabery Road Santa Monica Canyon 4 Bed | 4 Bath | 2,462 SF Offered at $3,490,000 greater balance to his career. Another is keeping his territory tightly focused on his home turf: primarily Pacific Palisades, with Malibu, Brentwood and Santa Monica also part of the mix. ese are places he knows well, as evidenced in part by the number of properties he has listed. "I was very fortunate to have grown up in Malibu in the '70s when it was a more low-key, blue collar area," he says of Point Dume childhood. ere were lots of horse trails, small homes on big lots, and rarely a fence in sight. As an adult Urbach moved to the Palisades, where he's lived, worked and raised his family for over two decades. "I know and love the city," says this homegrown agent. "Being rooted here gives me an intimate knowledge of the Westside." O