The 30-Minute Interview - Bruno Ricciotti - NYTimes.com Mr. Ricciotti, 39, is the chief executive and a principal of Bond New York, an independent residential real estate brokerage. The company is involved in both rentals and sales, and represents new developments like the Ellison condominium in Harlem. Mr. Ricciotti, a former broker at Citi Habitats, started Bond in 2000 with Noah Freedman, a childhood friend. Q. Were you always interested in real estate? A. Real estate was never necessarily a dream - or anything like that - that we had. But I think when you come to New York, it's one of the first things you notice that's special about the city. So we both saw it as a good business opportunity. Q. Tell me about how your business partnership came about. A. Noah and I went to Central High School in Philadelphia and we stayed friends through college. I moved to New York. And then he came to New York to do some modeling and called me one day and said, "I'm living in a studio with four other guys - can I stay on your couch for a couple of nights?" I said, "Sure, come over." He stayed on my couch for six months, and I actually convinced him to get into real estate, because the modeling thing was hit and miss, and we worked at another firm together. And then we looked back to our conversations that we had as kids and said, "Let's start our own business!" Q. How do you divide the responsibilities of running Bond? A. We basically did the same thing for awhile, and then slowly we spread out. His expertise is in technology; he's sort of like master of the machines, which is very important nowadays. I'm more of the personnel manager. I do a bit of recruiting as well. Q. Do you broker any more deals these days? We have 450 brokers now. Q. What are your goals for the company? A. Most of the efforts that we're putting into the company now are to strengthen the quality of the sales department. We opened our sales department in 2005. We were probably more a rental-focused company. Our clientele has matured, and so has our agent roster. Our sales department is growing at a much more rapid rate than our rental department. Q. What is the breakdown between sales and rentals? A. We're almost like two companies, in that we have three sales offices and three rental offices that are all managed separately. We have more rental agents - I think we have about 100 sales agents and 300-plus rental agents - but the average sales commission is about five times that of a rental commission. We also do retail leasing and some building sales as well. Q. How is business these days? A. It's been somewhat flat, however in the last couple of months the market has changed a lot. I don't think it's been acknowledged. One of the barometers that I use is office space here in New York. When the recession hit we had seven available floors in my building; now there's nothing. And that lets me know there's been a lot of healing: companies have been hiring, businesses have been upgrading their digs. They're moving here. Q. What about financing? A. Financing has gotten a lot easier. The percentage of deals that go from accepted offer to close is just significantly higher. Volume is higher on all price points in our sales department, but in addition to that, the likelihood of a deal actually going through has changed a lot. I just feel it from the mortgage brokers and everyone I speak to. It's kind of like the big secret that things have really turned around a lot. Q. What are your predictions for the traditionally busy spring selling season? A. I think it's going to be more of what we've had in the last two months. It's contingent upon the continuation of the job numbers, which seem to be forming a pattern. I'll go out on a limb here and say that it feels a little bit like 2005, when we came out of the post-Sept. 11 recession. Everyone overcompensated by being really careful - nobody built. Suddenly there were lines waiting to buy units sight unseen. I hope that's what it is because that was a good market for all of us. Q. Yes, but we all know how that turned out. A. Well, I agree, and that was quite a few years later. I don't know if they're going to swing that far back in the other direction. There's definitely a shortage of supply, and I just can't imagine that's there's not going to be somewhat of a slingshot effect once the confidence hits the streets again. Q. Speaking of supply, are you representing many new developments? A. We are representing the Ellison, a boutique condo in Harlem; it's 50 percent in contract. The units range from $500,000 to around $1 million. We've got something in the works in Williamsburg - 142 North First, a high-end eight-unit condominium development under attorney general review. And two in Greenpoint. I can't provide any further detail. Q. So what do you do for fun? A. I'm a bit of an exercise addict. I have personal trainer that does boxing and mixed martial arts. I ride bikes, do yoga, swim, roller blade, go skiing and snowboarding - when I'm not too busy.