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South Florida

New RLTY FL brokerage firm opening in Miami Beach

Emir Bahadir (left) and Yahya Ucbasaran
Emir Bahadir (left) and Yahya Ucbasaran

RLTY INTL, a real estate brokerage, property management and development firm, is opening its first Florida outpost just off Lincoln Road in Miami Beach, The Real Deal has learned.

Called RLTY FL, the local firm, led by partners Emir Bahadir and Yahya Ucbasaran, has leased 1,800 square feet with a 2,000-square-foot terrace at 1680 Michigan Avenue.

It will be the second location in the United States for the company, which has offices in New York, as well as in London and Istanbul.

“What we have in New York is a huge loft. In Miami, our purpose was to create an innovative office for our agents,” Bahadir, CEO of RLTY INTL and RLTY FL told TRD.  “What we are trying to do for our agents is make the working environment more familiar and more casual for agents to come in to the office.”

The partners chose Miami because of steep demand from international and domestic buyers, Bahadir said. “What I am trying to do is create a bridge between all these cities to exchange clients and have more Middle Eastern and European investors coming into the United States,” he said.

RLTY FL has hired Marlene Morejon as the broker in charge of the Miami Beach office, Ucbasaran, RLTY FL’s chief operating officer, told TRD. A former private banker, Morejon had opened her own real estate firm which was later acquired by Berkshire Hathaway. Most recently, she ran Berkshire’s offices in Pinecrest, Ucbasaran said.

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The Miami Beach office will initially have about 12 agents, with recruits from Douglas Elliman, Keller Williams and Brown Harris Stevens | Zilbert, Bahadir said.

RLTY INTL was founded in 2014 by Bahadir and Benjamin Benalloul, a luxury agent in New York.

Bahadir, 24, said he is the fifth generation of the family that owns Turkey’s largest real estate construction and development company. He and Ucbasaran, 28, who has been living in Miami since 2008, were childhood friends in Turkey.

“When they decided to open in Miami and they told me about the business plan and structure, I wanted to invest in it and put my time and money in it,” Ucbasaran told TRD. He said he invested nearly $500,000 into RLTY FL.

The partners even have a 36-foot boat that was custom-made in Turkey to take clients to look at waterfront properties.

“What we are trying to create here is a one-stop shop so we can not just help clients buy property, but also manage the property, and connect them with a network of architects, designers, attorneys, contractors,” Bahadir said. “That has been successful in New York and we can hopefully take it to another level.”