DPP founders George Penner, left, and Mike Deasy, right. (Courtesy: DPP)
Longtime Pasadena luxury real estate firm Deasy Penner Podley announced a new partnership with a tech-powered firm Wednesday as it rebranded itself as DPP.
The California-based digital firm Side Inc. will provide tools and data to DPP agents, but the firm will remain under current ownership and management, DPP CEO George Penner said.
“We are doubling down on being independent,” he said. “There is an advantage of continuing to have local ownership and a community-based real estate agency while incorporating Side’s incredible reach, proprietary technology, and innovative approach to moving real estate forward.”
The new relationship results in “the feel of a small boutique real estate firm combined with a $2.5 billion tech company,” DPP representatives said in a written statement.
Of the new company name, Board Chairman Mike Deasy said company leadership was “taking our names off the door to elevate the names of our agents, who are the true authority in their business.
“We are a family and have always worked from the bottom up; everyone can have great ideas and add value,” Deasy added. “Collaboration comes from every corner, and we are ingrained within our local communities, supporting over 150 community organizations and philanthropic efforts.”
DPP was recently named “Most Innovative Brokerage Firm” by the organization Leading Real Estate Companies for its efforts, the company said.
“DPP’s specialized approach to architectural, historic, and luxury properties, including its ‘home as art’ ethos and curated marketing efforts, will be a continued focus for the firm,” according to the statement.
Taking on Side Inc. as a service provider to serve DPP agents, and, by extension, their clients, will only further advance innovation, Penner said.
“Side’s breadth of resources will have impactful results for DPP and its clients,” he said. “We want to create opportunity, and this partnership provides our team with world-class engineers and brainpower to take their business to the next level. Side knows productivity best, and we can equip our existing and future agents with this advantage.”
Side co-founder and CEO Guy Gal said he was looking forward to working alongside DPP.
“We are thrilled to be a partner to a legendary company like DPP and look forward to helping them provide their already extraordinary services to more people throughout the community,” he said.
Side Inc. specializes in providing real estate agents with “proprietary technology, business strategy, and unparalleled marketing platforms,” according to the DPP statement.
“It’s a big deal for us,” Penner said of the new arrangement. “It’s a bigger deal for our agents and our clients.”
DPP is on track to complete about 1,400 transactions by the year’s end, amounting to more than $1.5 billion in sales, he said.
“One of the greatest strengths that DPP has as a real estate brokerage is independence and our local ownership. We’re in the community and we’re local. We wanted to maintain that independence,” Penner said.
“Our agents and the company support over 150 philanthropic organizations. And for us to be a part of a major large brokerage based in some other states is not in the best interest of our clients,” said Penner.
At the same time, “as an independent, it is really difficult to stay on the forefront of technological changes and other important components that drive our business. Side is a Northern California venture-backed company [whose] sole job is to provide the engine for some of these components,” he added.
“They have an incredible technology stack that integrates a lot of the functionality of how we do business marketing,” Penner said. “DPP has a very extensive marketing department that’s based out of our Pasadena office, but Side augments our marketing capabilities by providing tremendous insights into social media, online lead generation and other areas that are constantly evolving because of the internet.”
“Side provides a lot of horsepower for us, but nothing has changed. The ownership is exactly the same,” he continued. “We’ve hired Side, so they are a vendor, but we also consider them a strategic partner because they’ve added so much to our strategic capabilities, both on a short – and long-term basis.”
The partnership between DPP and Side provides clients with “the best of both worlds,” Penner said.
“We have a locally owned, community-centric real estate brokerage that has technological firepower that surpasses any of the big brokerages,” he said.
More information on DPP can be found on the company’s website at dppre.com.
More information on Side is available at sideinc.com.
