After more than 35 years selling real estate in Los Angeles, Michael Collins has watched nearly everything about the business change.
Markets have risen, fallen and recovered. Interest rates have moved from double digits to historic lows and back again. Technology has transformed how buyers search for homes and how properties are marketed. Los Angeles itself has changed, neighborhood by neighborhood.
But Collins believes the most important part of the job has remained consistent.
“Clients deserve the truth from the beginning, even when it may cost me the business.”
Raised in Beverly Hills and now with Coldwell Banker Realty in Beverly Hills, Collins has completed more than 700 transactions and has been ranked among Coldwell Banker’s Top 100 agents in California. His business spans Los Angeles, particularly Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and surrounding communities.
His clients have ranged from first-time buyers and families to attorneys, executives and people in the entertainment industry. Much of his business today comes from repeat clients and referrals.
For Collins, however, experience matters primarily because of what it teaches you to recognize.
Learning When to Say No
Earlier in his career, Collins sometimes accepted listings at prices he believed were unrealistic. A seller wanted a certain number, he wanted the listing, and there was always the possibility that the market might prove him wrong.
Usually, it didn’t.
“The house would sit, the seller would become frustrated, and eventually we would end up reducing the price anyway,” he said. “I learned that getting the listing isn’t the same thing as doing the right thing for the client.”
Today, he would rather lose an assignment than begin a relationship with advice he does not believe.
That philosophy extends beyond pricing. Sometimes it means telling a buyer that the house they have fallen in love with is not worth pursuing. Other times, it means advising a seller that an offer deserves serious consideration when pride or emotion is getting in the way.
“People don’t hire me to agree with them. They hire me for my judgment.”
A Career That Began With Representing People
Before entering real estate, Collins worked in entertainment management and public relations. The industries were different, but he discovered that many of the skills translated naturally.
“My background taught me how to represent people, understand what they needed and advocate for them. Real estate gave me a way to use those skills in something that became much more personal.”
That background also influenced his approach to discretion and negotiation. Real estate transactions are financial decisions, but Collins believes they are rarely only about money.
A family may be selling a home after decades of ownership. A buyer may be spending more money than they ever imagined spending. An estate or trust may have several people with competing priorities. Even sophisticated clients can become emotional when the decision involves where they live or a property that has been part of their family for years.
Understanding those dynamics is often as important as understanding the comparable sales.
What 35 Years in Los Angeles Teaches You
Los Angeles is not one real estate market.
Beverly Hills can behave differently from West Hollywood. A few blocks can change the character and value of a property. Architecture, lot size, school districts, development potential, neighborhood history and even which side of a street a property sits on can affect how buyers perceive value.
That is one reason Collins is skeptical of broad market predictions.
“The market in front of you is the market that matters. You have to look at what buyers are actually doing now, what has sold, what hasn’t sold and why.”
The same principle applies to buyers. A property that appears expensive based on one metric may be compelling when its location, scarcity or long-term potential is considered. Conversely, a house that looks like a bargain may be inexpensive for a very good reason.
Knowing the difference is where experience becomes useful.
Technology Changes. Judgment Doesn’t.
Collins has watched real estate move from printed listing books and newspaper advertising to online search, social media, digital marketing and artificial intelligence.
He embraces the technology, but does not confuse access to information with expertise.
Consumers today have more real estate information available to them than at any point in his career. They can research neighborhoods, compare recent sales, monitor listings and follow market trends with a few clicks. But information alone does not replace the experience required to understand what that information means in the context of a specific property, neighborhood or client.
For Collins, technology is a tool that can make the process more efficient, but judgment remains at the center of good real estate advice.
After more than 35 years in Los Angeles real estate, his approach remains straightforward: understand the market, know the property, listen to the client and be willing to tell the truth, even when it is not the easiest answer to give.
That, in his view, is what clients deserve from the beginning.
About Michael Collins
Michael Collins is a Los Angeles residential real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Global Luxury in Beverly Hills. A Beverly Hills native with more than 35 years of experience and more than 700 completed transactions, he represents buyers and sellers throughout Los Angeles. He was named a 2026 Los Angeles Business Journal Leader of Influence in Residential Real Estate.
