Irene Dazzan-Palmer and Sandro Dazzan: mother/son team. Irene has been selling real estate for over 20 years in Southern California. Her son, Sandro has joined her team and in his first year has closed over $8 million in sales & leases. Irene's Bio By. Alyson Pitarre - Broker/Agent Magazine Celebrities and entertainment execs are not the only ones who call the beachfront community of Malibu “home.” Despite a reputation for attracting Hollywood’s rich and famous, the city’s 27 miles of crystal blue coastline and rugged canyons have inspired everyone from the Chumash Indians and Spanish conquistadors to prosperous business and university educators throughout the centuries. Irene Dazzan-Palmer, a long-time Malibu resident and Previews Estates Director at Coldwell Banker’s Malibu East branch, proudly lives and works in the city she calls, “paradise.” “I live, work and play in paradise, which is Malibu, as far as I’m concerned,” says the beach beauty who lives only five minutes from her office. “It’s such a chic place to live and a great place to raise kids. I always say that Malibu is like Aspen by the water.” Honored as the branch’s top producer for 2000 & 2002 -2007. Dazzan-Palmer specializes in estate properties located throughout the Westside (predominantly Malibu and Pacific Palisades). With offices based in Beverly Hills, Pacific Palisades and Malibu, she has acquired a diverse knowledge of estate properties while achieving a distinctive clientele locally, regionally, nationally and internationally over the last 24 years. It is this knowledge that has led national broadcasts like NBC’s “Today Show” and local publications like Los Angeles Magazine to look to her for commentary on California real estate trends. Also featured on the cover of Malibu Monthly magazine along with her husband Jim Palmer, Dazzan-Palmer is practically a celebrity in her own right. In addition to her well-publicized expertise, Dazzan-Palmer’s commitment to both community and clients has also led to her success for which she has been named a member of the prestigious Society of Excellence, comprised of the top 1% of agents nationally who are affiliated within the highest echelon of Coldwell Banker Previews. Those who know her and work with her attribute these kinds of achievements to her ability to represent a high volume of high-end beach and bluff residences as well as estate leases simultaneously. “Irene offers an incomparable level of professional excellence as exemplified by her exceptional sales performance and inventory acquisition,” says Kim Collen-Ross, manager of the Coldwell Banker/Malibu East office. “Having worked with Irene for over fifteen years, I can state with 100% certainty that she has a unique talent for helping her loyal and prestigious clientele navigate successfully in every kind of marketplace.” Like Collen-Ross, Harlow Sharp praises Dazzan-Palmer for her professionalism, positive spirit and willingness to go the extra mile for her clients. Sharp has worked on Irene’s sales for the last three years. “I’ve learned a lot form her” says sharp, a loan consultant with Washington Mutual, who works in Malibu and the Westside of Los Angeles. “From the beginning to end of her real estate deals, Irene remains positive about her clients and their properties. She believes in giving her listings the maximum exposure possible. Her professionalism and work ethic are impressive to me.” While business relationships with people like Sharp and Collen-Ross continue to be the fuel for Dazzan-Palmer’s success, her lengthy client list-which reads like a “Who’s Who of Hollywood”-has put her legendary career into overdrive. She has the privilege of representing a number of celebrities and high-profile entertainment execs in the area, but when probed about their identities, she retreats to a veil of secrecy. “We’re all celebrities living in our own enclave,” she offers instead. “Nobody bothers anybody here.” Despite understanding her clients’ need for confidentiality, she also concedes that some celebrities take it too far. In her own memory, she humorously recalls a famous diva who bought a piece of prime Malibu property. She forced everybody who worked on the deal to sign confidentiality agreements, but was seen soon after running in the open on Malibu Road. For many Malibu residents like this diva, “solitude is privacy,” but the degree is ultimately “determined by the individual,” says Dazzan-Palmer. Solitude and privacy aside, her clients continue to rave about Dazzan-Palmer long after their deal is done, often sending her cards, letters and e-mails of appreciation and thanks that she keeps neatly tucked away in a special portfolio. One happy couple even sent her a dozen red roses along with a note that read, “To Irene: Not only are you the best agent on the Westside, but also the most beautiful!” For Dazzan-Palmer, the delicate balance of her extensive estate properties is a matter of consistency and constancy. To achieve this, she relies on state-of-the-art technology as well as professional and social activities to enhance her marketing strategies and maximize her networking capabilities. “I meet so many unique people through my business and I would never meet these kind of people otherwise,” she notes. “I’m very fortunate.” She also credits her team; her son Sandro Dazzan and Mary Duquin with helping her juggle everything from marketing to phone calls. They help with Dazzan-Palmer’s advertising and impact marketing, in addition to organizing the digital photographs of homes for her website. They also follow-up on website leads through e-mail. “The technology of the Internet has enabled me with yet another means of servicing my clients,” says Dazzan-Palmer. “It really facilitates my business. I want to be able to have these tools to help my clients,” Undoubtedly, Dazzan-Palmer arms herself with many other tools to generate the approximately $150 million in sales and more than $250 million in inventory that she does for the Coldwell Banker Malibu office. For example, she must be keenly aware of market trends. She makes it a point to be “the eyes and ears” of her beloved Malibu community, seeking out and discovering trends such as the lack of available beachfront properties and pocket listings. She notes that the “strength of the market legitimately empowers both buyers and sellers to expect professional excellence that requires extensive knowledge of comparative sales and market trends to address any unexpected issue that may impact transactions in a timely manner. In other words, IMMEDIATELY!” The immediacy and volatility of such an industry necessitates Irene’s early-to-bed, early-to-rise daily regimen. She usually wakes before 7:00 a.m. to train at the gym with her trainer or to jog along the beach with husband Jim and their red-nosed pit bull, Red. Her quick-paced, jam-packed workday begins at 9:00 a.m., and she juggles typical responsibilities like previewing residences, presenting offers and planning strategies until 7:00 p.m. she is on call seven days a week. Dazzan-Palmer credits much of her strong work ethic, tenacity and ambitious spirit to her Italian grandfather, Anthony Bianco. As Dazzan-Palmer tells it, Bianco arrived in New York from Italy with only 50 cents in his pocket. He began his career by peddling produce from a pushcart and eventually purchased a truck from which to market grapes and fruit. In 1943, he moved his family to California and later, became a successful owner and operator of grape and fruit ranches across the state from Coachella Valley to Fresno. Consequently, it was on one of those ranches that Dazzan-Palmer spent her formative years, developing a love for nature and a passion for learning. It wasn’t until she had graduated from UC Santa Barbara in the late 1970’s that she considered a career in real estate. After obtaining her real estate license in 1980, she began her career as Estate Director for Fred Sands Realtors. In 1989, she moved to the company’s Beverly Hills office and continued there until 1991, when John Douglas recruited her. He offered her two full offices in Pacific Palisades and Malibu. As the John Douglas Company eventually merged with Coldwell Banker and she continued to shuffle between the two offices, she began to fell that she was “spread too thin.” “At the time, Malibu was changing from a small beach community into one of the wealthiest beach resorts in the world,” she recalls. “Real estate in Malibu began to boom, and I was eventually able to work exclusively out of the Malibu office.” With her home base now in Malibu, Dazzan-Palmer continued to serve L.A.’s exclusive Westside neighborhoods from Beverly Hills to Pacific Palisades. Because of her extensive knowledge of the Westside, she offered her clients an unparalleled amount of real estate expertise that went far beyond Malibu’s beach and canyon borders. “My early experience in other locations enabled me to become a more well-rounded real estate agent,” she notes. “I’ve been able to excel in this industry because I am familiar with both Malibu and the entire Westside. And more importantly, my clients are able to benefit from my vast experience.” Dazzan-Palmer eventually became the previews Estates Director for the Malibu office. Although the prosperity that Dazzan-Palmer enjoys is a result of her success in real estate, she is quick to acknowledge that her family and friends play an important a role in her life. “Life does not begin and end with real estate,” she says. “It pales in comparison to the relationships I have with my friends, many of whom I met as clients, and with my family who is my life source. I have a fabulous family and a fabulous career. I think that I’m very well-rounded.” And that’s where her motto, “wife, mother, top producer” plays an important role. She is able to relate to her clients and come from a place of understanding. “I don’t look at real estate like a job,” she says. “I love it. It’s just so much fun.” When she is not previewing estate properties or helping celebrities find their dream home, Dazzan-Palmer can be found at her own dream home overlooking Surfrider Beach or enjoying one of many athletic activities with her husband Jim, her son Sandro and Jim’s teenage son, Jonny. If weather and opportunity permit, the entire family will venture beyond the beauty of Malibu to Aspen, Colorado or their Mammoth Lake residence during ski season for a holiday weekend. “I have a lot to be thankful for,” adds Dazzan-Palmer. “I’ve learned to stop and smell the roses.” Sandro's Bio Sandro, short for Alessandro, was born and raised in Malibu. Sandro attended the Malibu public school system starting with Webster Elementary and continuing to Malibu High School. At MHS Sandro was an honor student and Varsity football star. After completing high school Sandro attended UCLA where he studied Economics. Graduating in 2005 with a B.A. in Economics from UCLA Sandro then joined his mother Irene in real estate. Having been a licensed agent for over a year prior to working full time with Coldwell Banker and growing up always being around real estate with his mother, it came as no surprise that Sandro closed over $8 million in sales and leases during his rookie year with Coldwell Banker. . . . .
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