The Agency Real Estate

The Agency was founded in 2011 by Mauricio Umansky in Beverly Hills, California. Umansky, whose work was widely publicized through the Bravo television series The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, built the company around a lifestyle brand aesthetic that differentiated it sharply from traditional brokerage formats.

The company's marketing is distinctive: black-and-white visual language, editorial-quality photography, and a focus on design and architecture that positions properties as cultural artifacts rather than financial transactions. This approach has been particularly effective in attracting luxury buyers who are also design-conscious — a significant segment of the California and Florida luxury markets.

Santiago Arana, one of the top-producing agents in the Los Angeles luxury market, operates within The Agency system. The company also became widely known through the Netflix series Buying Beverly Hills, which featured the Umansky family and provided significant brand exposure to a global audience.

The Agency began franchising its model in 2015 and has expanded to more than 75 offices across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Europe. The franchise model has allowed the brand to grow rapidly while maintaining brand standards that smaller boutique brokerages struggle to enforce across multiple offices.