About PROJECT 2017
A new model.Decades in the making.
PROJECT 2017 brings together two real estate executives who first crossed paths while helping build one of the industry's most ambitious attempts to rethink how residential real estate is sold.
Why 2017?
It started in 2017.
Damon Cohen and Eric Eckardt met in 2017 while building Purplebricks in the United States.
Purplebricks had arrived from the United Kingdom with an ambitious proposition: challenge the traditional economics of residential real estate while using technology to create a more transparent consumer experience.
Damon and Eric approached the business from different sides of the industry, but shared a common belief — consumers could receive exceptional professional representation without blindly accepting the industry's traditional fee structure.
Years later, that idea brings them back together.
PROJECT 2017 is both a reference to where the relationship began and a continuation of the idea that brought them together in the first place.
High-end real estate deserves exceptional representation. It also deserves a better fee model.
We met trying to change real estate.Now we're finishing what we started.
The Founders
Experience matters.
Eric Eckardt
Co-Founder
Eric Eckardt is a real estate executive, entrepreneur and licensed real estate broker whose career has spanned residential brokerage, real estate technology, finance and the development of alternative real estate business models.
Eric previously served as U.S. CEO of Purplebricks, where he led the company's American business as it sought to introduce a fundamentally different real estate model to the U.S. market.
Earlier in his career, Eric spent approximately nine years in investment banking, including leveraged finance and loan syndications, before moving into real estate and entrepreneurship.
He has founded, built and exited multiple real estate businesses, including a brokerage and mortgage platform acquired by a major national real estate company and Dwellowner, a real estate technology company acquired by Blend Labs.
Eric has also held senior executive positions across residential brokerage and real estate technology and has been a licensed real estate broker since 2004.
His career has consistently focused on the intersection of real estate, technology, consumer experience and better economic models.
Damon Cohen
Co-Founder
Damon Cohen is a veteran luxury real estate professional with more than four decades of experience representing buyers, sellers and some of the country's most discerning clientele.
Known throughout his career for integrity, discretion and professionalism, Damon has represented clients ranging from first-time homeowners to high-profile celebrities, executives and business leaders.
He holds the Graduate, REALTOR® Institute (GRI) designation and has owned brokerages and led high-performing real estate teams across many of America's most important luxury markets, including Beverly Hills, Newport Beach, San Diego, Miami, Boca Raton, Las Vegas and New York.
Throughout his career, Damon has advocated for greater transparency in real estate and business models that align exceptional professional representation with better economics for consumers.
His experience spans luxury brokerage, brokerage ownership, team leadership, agent development and national real estate expansion.
Founders' Philosophy
Luxury is a standard of service.Not a percentage.
Between them, Damon Cohen and Eric Eckardt have spent decades inside traditional brokerage, alternative brokerage models, technology companies and real estate businesses.
PROJECT 2017 is the culmination of that experience.
Eric brings experience building, financing and scaling new real estate models. Damon brings decades of experience representing clients in luxury real estate markets. PROJECT 2017 brings those perspectives together.
We believe sophisticated homeowners increasingly expect transparency, exceptional service and intelligent economics.
They shouldn't have to choose between them.
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