Former Escrow Exec Kim Cohen Savors Her Second Act as a Newport Beach Agent

By David Hay

When Kim Cohen joined Douglas Elliman in December of last year, she and her team of associates arrived with a distinguished reputation, albeit an unusual one for a much-in-demand professional in California’s Newport Beach real estate market.

That’s because Cohen, who began her career more than 15 years ago, had not actually sold a home until 2023.

By then, however, she had long since established herself in another key area of Southern California real estate: the world of escrow. In 2009, Cohen and her husband, Brad, founded the highly successful Granite Escrow and Settlement Services. When the couple sold the business to First American Financial Corporation in 2021, Brad opted to retire. For Kim, retirement was not an option.

“I was way too young!” says the 55-year-old, South African-born mother of three, who also had no desire to leave the world of Pacific beach-side real estate.

And why would she? She knew too many people, knew of so many wonderful homes, and, above all, absolutely loved the business.

“I’d been referring deals to realtors for all these years,” Cohen says, noting that her previous work had required her to be a shrewd negotiator. “I decided I needed to join their ranks.”

A powerful network

As it turned out, all these realtors loved her right back. And those relationships have proven to be the basis of her success in her new role.

Once her career shift was public, Cohen immediately began fielding offers from brokerage firms, large and small. Her first foray was to join EQTY | Forbes Global Properties in 2023, but when Coldwell Banker acquired it the following year, Elliman’s Peter Hernandez reached out and persuaded her to join.

Thanks to the escrow business and her work in the Newport Beach community—particularly with Chapman University, where her husband is on the Board of Governors and their three kids have gone to college—she has a network that any real estate agent would envy. And with her deep understanding of the transactional aspects the course of any deal, she can count on that network to be a rich source of referrals.

“I always say: Who negotiates for you matters,” she adds.

The Cohens live in the prestigious Newport Coast section of this coastal city. Higher up and looking down on the ocean, the relatively new development—perhaps 30 years old—is home to the Pelican Hill Golf Club. New listings are rare here, given homeowners are loathe to leave one of the most sought-after coastline communities in the state. (The area, which borders the City of Laguna, was fully incorporated into Newport Beach only in 2001.)

But if anyone here wants to sell, Cohen is confident she already knows them. Still, she doesn’t confine herself to luxury homes sales. “I am passionate about handling whatever a client needs,” she says.

She credits her philanthropic work, particularly for Breakthrough T1D (formerly known as Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) and the UCI Health Diabetes Research Gala for further extending her range of contacts. “I have chaired so many fundraising events—if there’s ever a way to meet people, it’s from putting on events like these!”

Cohen’s natural flair for these events draws on an early career in entertainment. Long before she made her way to Newport Beach, she was a winning contestant on South Africa’s version of To Catch A Rising Star, a break that led to an album for EMI and a brief career in musical theater. Long since retired, she is now watching her daughter embark on a similar career path.

Reveling in the details

Cohen’s approach to any deal, measured and analytical, is also highly particular, starting with the clientele. “I only work within my network,” she says. “All deals that aren’t in my network I refer to my associates.”

“I love what I do, and when you approach your work with that in mind, it frees you up,” she adds. “And to be honest, both you and your clients know you’ll do a better job.” Her background in the escrow business has left her with a sharp eye for detail. “I love to get into the fine print,” she says. “You have to know everything if you’re going to make it work.”

The same criteria apply to those she’s encouraged to be her associates—former clients whom she now counts as friends and colleagues.  “Each is highly experienced in their own right,” she tells me. “When we work together, it’s like having five sets of eyes strategizing with each other to navigate each sale or issue.”

As she enters the New Year, Cohen is carefully surveying the field of play.

“I have a current listing in North Laguna for $5 million, and one in Valley Village, Los Angeles, for $1.3 million,” she says, along with others in Newport Coast (for roughly $6.5 million) and Anaheim Hills (for $1.6 million). “I’m waiting for market to settle.”

Although the current scarcity of inventory in Newport Coast is frustrating many a covetous buyer, Cohen is optimistic things will shift. And she is undaunted by the broker fee changes introduced last year by National Association of REALTORS®, which sowed confusion among buyers and sellers and contributed to “a big slowdown in 2023.”

“The percentages due both brokers have always been negotiable,” she says. “Now, with buyers inking a separate deal with their brokers, we’ve gotten to real transparency, so everyone knows at the outset.”

The “mansion tax” that was instituted in neighboring LA in 2023 also has encouraged buyers to explore Orange County. And in the wake of the devastating LA County wildfires, Cohen has been helping many of those who have lost their homes to resettle in the area.

Cohen’s preference for transparency and forthright communication is a definite product of her escrow work. It has always seemed second nature for her to master all the numbers and market projections and make confident recommendations about pricing and timing.

“When you work with my associates and me, we’re immediately forthcoming,” she says. “We rarely hesitate.”

David Hay is a well-known architectural writer and playwright. His stories have been featured in The New York Times, Dwell and New York.