Jake Malman’s newest hire at his upstart brokerage is one of Denver’s most experienced industry veterans.
“He’s the Phil Jackson of managing brokers,” Malman said.
Evan Kline starts Tuesday at Malman Real Estate as partner and managing broker of the firm after a 16-year stint with NAI Shames Makovsky. The 68-year-old has been in real estate his entire career, starting as a broker at age 22 in 1980.
“I like the challenge of growing a company – I just think it’s fun,” Kline said.
Founded in August 2022, Malman’s firm has grown to eight brokers in its first three years. The business did $80 million in transactions last year and works across asset types. A particular strength has been in the industrial market; the company sold a $21 million warehouse portfolio last year.
Jake Malman
Kline’s objective is to grow the business to between 20 and 25 brokers, with both seasoned veterans and “baby brokers.” It’ll be a similar task to what he did for Shames Makovsky, going from just a handful of brokers when he started to around 30 at its peak.
To secure that growth, Kline and Malman, 32, are dishing out tempting financial incentives to employees.
“Not only are we offering arguably the most competitive splits in the market, or right about there, we are soon to be rolling out a broker acquisition fund where a percentage of the company’s profit is going to be used to purchase real estate owned by the brokers at our company,” Malman said.
“A lot of the big shops have strongly discouraged brokers from owning real estate. I always felt like to hire a broker that doesn’t own real estate, it’s like hiring a marriage counselor that’s never been married,” Kline said.
The firm is also moving into a new office at 300 S. Jackson St., which at 3,200 square feet is double the size of its previous one.
This will be Kline’s fourth job in his career. He started as a broker at Frederick Ross, predecessor to today’s Newmark. Twelve years in, he shifted to a managing broker position there, mentoring the young bucks on the tricks of the trade. Afterward, he briefly worked in the development sector for the Sturm Realty Group, run then by Donald Sturm, before taking the Shames Makovsky job in 2009.
Seven years into that job, a 22-year-old Jake Malman joined the firm.
Evan Kline
“I knew when, very quickly after Jake started, that he was going to be a superstar broker and really one of the best young talents I’ve ever had the opportunity to work with,” Kline said.
The two became fast friends and stayed in touch after Malman left the firm to start his own in 2022.
“When you have eight brokers, and each of them have three questions a day, that’s 24 calls a day, right? And that’s before you’re doing brokerage business, before you’re buying buildings, selling buildings that I own. So, as we grow, I was sort of at this crossroads with my brokerage where I didn’t have the bandwidth to grow without having somebody like Evan,” Malman said.
Malman and Kline are both Denver natives, the former being a graduate of East High School and the latter of George Washington High School. And while Malman has been slowly growing his own brokerage, he’s also been acquiring real estate. His current portfolio spans 20 properties, and he recently sold an industrial building in Lakewood for $7 million.
Despite the current down market for real estate in town, the duo believe they’ll be well positioned when the money comes flowing back.
“We think that during a relatively slow time is the right time to grow, and we’ll be poised when the market turns and velocity picks up,” Kline said.
Jake Malman’s newest hire at his upstart brokerage is one of Denver’s most experienced industry veterans.
“He’s the Phil Jackson of managing brokers,” Malman said.
Evan Kline starts Tuesday at Malman Real Estate as partner and managing broker of the firm after a 16-year stint with NAI Shames Makovsky. The 68-year-old has been in real estate his entire career, starting as a broker at age 22 in 1980.
“I like the challenge of growing a company – I just think it’s fun,” Kline said.
Founded in August 2022, Malman’s firm has grown to eight brokers in its first three years. The business did $80 million in transactions last year and works across asset types. A particular strength has been in the industrial market; the company sold a $21 million warehouse portfolio last year.
Jake Malman
Kline’s objective is to grow the business to between 20 and 25 brokers, with both seasoned veterans and “baby brokers.” It’ll be a similar task to what he did for Shames Makovsky, going from just a handful of brokers when he started to around 30 at its peak.
To secure that growth, Kline and Malman, 32, are dishing out tempting financial incentives to employees.
“Not only are we offering arguably the most competitive splits in the market, or right about there, we are soon to be rolling out a broker acquisition fund where a percentage of the company’s profit is going to be used to purchase real estate owned by the brokers at our company,” Malman said.
“A lot of the big shops have strongly discouraged brokers from owning real estate. I always felt like to hire a broker that doesn’t own real estate, it’s like hiring a marriage counselor that’s never been married,” Kline said.
The firm is also moving into a new office at 300 S. Jackson St., which at 3,200 square feet is double the size of its previous one.
This will be Kline’s fourth job in his career. He started as a broker at Frederick Ross, predecessor to today’s Newmark. Twelve years in, he shifted to a managing broker position there, mentoring the young bucks on the tricks of the trade. Afterward, he briefly worked in the development sector for the Sturm Realty Group, run then by Donald Sturm, before taking the Shames Makovsky job in 2009.
Seven years into that job, a 22-year-old Jake Malman joined the firm.
Evan Kline
“I knew when, very quickly after Jake started, that he was going to be a superstar broker and really one of the best young talents I’ve ever had the opportunity to work with,” Kline said.
The two became fast friends and stayed in touch after Malman left the firm to start his own in 2022.
“When you have eight brokers, and each of them have three questions a day, that’s 24 calls a day, right? And that’s before you’re doing brokerage business, before you’re buying buildings, selling buildings that I own. So, as we grow, I was sort of at this crossroads with my brokerage where I didn’t have the bandwidth to grow without having somebody like Evan,” Malman said.
Malman and Kline are both Denver natives, the former being a graduate of East High School and the latter of George Washington High School. And while Malman has been slowly growing his own brokerage, he’s also been acquiring real estate. His current portfolio spans 20 properties, and he recently sold an industrial building in Lakewood for $7 million.
Despite the current down market for real estate in town, the duo believe they’ll be well positioned when the money comes flowing back.
“We think that during a relatively slow time is the right time to grow, and we’ll be poised when the market turns and velocity picks up,” Kline said.
