About Rich Cosner
Owner & Broker of Coldwell Banker Southern Realty
Rich Cosner is a Tennessee real estate broker, brokerage owner, and agent-growth leader with more than 45 years of experience building market-leading offices, training real estate agents, and helping professionals create more profitable, predictable careers.
A Career Built Around Agent Growth
Rich Cosner is a Tennessee real estate broker, brokerage owner, and agent-growth leader known for training new, newer, experienced, and top-producing real estate agents.
With more than 45 years in the real estate industry, Rich has built a career around one core focus: helping agents grow. Throughout his career, the offices and companies he has owned, managed, or led have become market leaders by a wide margin — a result he credits to leadership, accountability, training, and a deep commitment to his agents.
Rich is known for staying directly involved with agents at the ground level. Several times a year, he personally leads small-group “action groups,” working with 10–15 agents over a focused four-week period to help them strengthen their activities, improve consistency, and move their businesses to the next level.
In addition to group coaching, Rich regularly shares insights with agents during sales meetings, works one-on-one with top-producing real estate professionals on business planning, and helps new and newer agents build the structure they need to survive and thrive in the business.
Competitive by nature, Rich studies the market closely and teaches his agents how to compete with top producers from other firms. His approach is practical, direct, and focused on helping agents build more profitable, predictable real estate careers.
Rich Cosner at a Glance
- Rich Cosner is the owner and broker of Coldwell Banker Southern Realty.
- He has more than 45 years of experience in real estate leadership, brokerage growth, agent training, and office development.
- Rich works with newly licensed agents, agents in their first two years, highly experienced agents, and top-producing real estate professionals.
- Coldwell Banker Southern Realty is the #1 Coldwell Banker company in Tennessee, with multiple offices across the state and hundreds of agents serving local communities.
- Rich’s leadership focus is helping agents build more profitable, predictable real estate careers through training, accountability, systems, and support.
Rich Cosner’s Real Estate Journey
Rich’s real estate career began after he earned a business degree in Business Administration, Marketing, and Accounting from New Castle Business College in Pennsylvania. He then joined Russell Realty Co. in Cleveland, Ohio, where he quickly proved himself as a standout salesperson, selling more than 125 homes in just two years.
After that early success, Rich was promoted to branch manager. Within one year, his branch became the top office in the company’s seven-office firm, and he went on to become recognized as one of the top real estate managers in Ohio.
Building Market-Leading Offices
In 1982, Rich was hired by Merrill Lynch Realty to manage one of its lowest-performing offices in Mission Viejo, California — an office ranked #31 out of 35. Within two years, he helped move that office to the #2 position in the firm, despite a high-interest-rate recession market.
In late 1983, Rich became District Manager of a five-office district and, within six months, helped make it the #1 district for Merrill Lynch Realty. In 1984, he became Regional Vice President of Orange County for Merrill Lynch Realty and helped lead the region into becoming one of the top regions in the nation over the next three years.
From Franchise Owner to Nationally Recognized Brokerage Leader
In 1987, Rich resigned from Merrill Lynch Realty and started his own firm by purchasing a Century 21 franchise. Within two years, the office ranked 55th out of 7,000 offices in the nation. By the end of the third year, it ranked #10. By the end of the fourth year, it ranked #5. In his final year with the franchise, the office ranked #2 in the country.
As the real estate industry continued to shift, Prudential leaders later convinced Rich to move from the Century 21 brand into the Prudential system. Rich stayed in the Prudential system for the next 25 years. During that time, he built three separate Prudential California Realty firms, all of which became top firms nationally.
His strategy remained consistent: recruit highly experienced agents, bring new people into the business, and show both groups how to become more successful.
Leading Coldwell Banker Southern Realty in Tennessee
In 2019, Rich moved to the Nashville area, where he currently lives. In February 2020, he purchased Coldwell Banker Counce-Hooper and rebranded it as Coldwell Banker Southern Realty.
Under Rich’s leadership, the Lawrence County office became the #1 firm in the market and grew to do more business than the next three firms combined. In 2021, he opened the Spring Hill / Columbia office, which became one of the fastest-growing real estate offices in the market.
Today, Coldwell Banker Southern Realty has grown into the #1 Coldwell Banker company in Tennessee, with multiple offices across the state and hundreds of agents serving local communities. Rich continues to build the company around the same leadership philosophy that has guided his career for decades: help agents grow, build stronger offices, and create the systems, accountability, and support real estate professionals need to succeed.
Frequently Asked Questions About Rich Cosner
Rich Cosner is the owner and broker of Coldwell Banker Southern Realty. He is a Tennessee real estate broker, brokerage leader, and agent-growth coach with more than 45 years of experience training real estate agents and building market-leading offices.
Rich Cosner is known for helping real estate agents grow their businesses through hands-on training, accountability, business planning, small-group coaching, and brokerage leadership.
Rich’s primary role is leading Coldwell Banker Southern Realty and helping agents grow their businesses. His focus is on training, coaching, recruiting, and building strong real estate offices.
Rich Cosner is the owner and broker of Coldwell Banker Southern Realty, the #1 Coldwell Banker company in Tennessee.
Rich works with newly licensed agents, agents in their first two years, highly experienced agents, and top-producing real estate professionals who want stronger systems, better accountability, and a clearer path to growth.
Coldwell Banker Southern Realty serves multiple Tennessee markets through offices across the state, including Middle Tennessee communities such as Nashville, Brentwood, Murfreesboro, Columbia, Spring Hill, Lawrenceburg, and Mt. Juliet.
To learn more about growing your real estate career with Rich Cosner and Coldwell Banker Southern Realty, contact Rich at 615-454-9000 or [email protected].