The engaging line, “If you are going to try, go all the way,” from the poem, Roll the Dice, by Charles Bukowski, perfectly describes the journey Nurit Coombe and Alex Martinez took to bring them and their local business, The Agency, to where they are today. For each, the journey has been epic in scale, across oceans, and borders, through trials, and against extraordinary odds.
Nurit was born in Kiryat, Israel, at a point when military and political strife were high. Growing up, she found herself in an abusive relationship with her angry father and found peace hiding under the lobby staircase in the apartment building where her family lived. She left home for good at 15 years old, and with a determination beyond her years, she worked cleaning houses to support her way through high school. After graduation, she joined the Israeli Army and quickly rose through the ranks, excelling at dangerous and highly technical explosives work. Her experiences led her from Israel to the Pentagon and the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. While in DC, she went to school at the University of Maryland, where she met her husband and found a permanent home in North Bethesda. Here, she built one of the most influential and successful real estate enterprises on the East Coast. The challenges she faced early in life gave her a unique gift of empathy toward others going through difficult or stressful life experiences, like the process of finding a home.
Alex Martinez grew up learning about the real estate business from his grandparents in Guatemala. He sometimes got to ride along with his grandfather who owned several rental properties. Alex observed that his grandmother frequently admonished his grandfather for being too lenient in rent collections. While he would not know it for many years later, Alex was fortunate to inherit both his grandfather’s sense of generosity and his grandmother’s business savvy. Alex left Guatemala with his twin brother when he was 16 years old. In search of a distant uncle who lived in the U.S., Alex found himself in our area with no English skills and very little hope for a promising future. Determined to build a new life here, he found a sense of community in a local church and learned he could take English classes at Montgomery College. It was at MC that he discovered classes in real estate. Driven to improve himself and help others, he found early success and bought his first home at just 21 years old (a house he still owns). His success built over the years, and he joined forces with Nurit to establish The Agency DC - a real estate business powerhouse that the Wall Street Journal named #1 in Maryland last year and #14 in all of the U.S.
Alex and Nurit took very different roads to find the eventual success they have today. Both worked against terrible odds, overcoming the adversities that usually cripple careers and extinguish dreams. Each has created an unstoppable drive for business success powered by a larger purpose. The engine that drives them is family and community. “Nurit does not hire people”, a member of her team told me. “She adopts them!” What she and Alex have created here is a business that seeks to create community by bringing people together and finding success by helping them reach their goals.
Their efforts to build community reach all of us. Homeownership in our area isn’t always easy, but Nurit and Alex, with the force of The Agency behind them, make the dream possible every single day. Mauricio Umansky, CEO and founder of The Agency is proud of the partnership and the fact that the values they cherish are so obviously reflected in Nurit and Alex.
One of many examples of those values in action is explained here. Fredy Donado started working for Alex when he was 17. “He hired me as an assistant. I was from a lower-income family, just starting, and he gave me a chance. He mentored me, pushed me, and supported me in growing as an individual and a part of the team. Because of him and Nurit, I own my own home and three rental properties and am mentoring other young people eager to find purpose.”
The echoes of Alex and Nurit’s commitment show up throughout our community. Theirs was the first real estate firm ever to partner with Habitat for Humanity. They are widely known for community clean-ups and sponsorships of everything from local swim teams to this very magazine. “The Agency is all about giving back,” Alex told me. “And our efforts have come back to our business in big ways.” Their stories, embedded in the story of The Agency, are now a Netflix series. What a fantastic journey.
One that is reflected beautifully in the Burkowski poem’s final words, “You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It’s the only good fight there is.”
