The Tyberg Duffy Group Bets on a Big Picture Approach to the L.A. Market
by ELLIMAN INSIDER TEAM
July 2025
Hinge bills itself as “the dating app designed to be deleted,” with a “Nobel-Prize-winning algorithm” finely calibrated to match people in search of life partners. But for Rick Tyberg and Lauren Duffy, a Hinge-matched date in 2020 was the doorway to a blossoming business partnership.
Duffy had recently graduated from Occidental College, where the Toronto native double-majored in math and economics and played volleyball. Having just gotten her real estate license, she was eager to talk shop with Tyberg, a residential agent for Douglas Elliman since 2017.
“We talked about real estate the whole time and ended up deciding that we're just going to be friends,” she recalled. “I joined the team he was on at the time, and Rick mentored me.”
“It was really about the way her mind worked,” Tyberg said. “A lot of times, the personality doesn’t line up with all of the other aspects you need for a business to work. With Lauren, I found out early—maybe even on that first date—that, if this person is who I think she might be, I would like to just work with her and mentor her.”
Spoiler alert: The life partnership did eventually come, just not right away.
“We do everything out of order,” Tyberg joked. “We went on a date, then became mentor and mentee, and then we worked together. Then we ended up actually dating, then we bought a house together, and then we started a team together. And then I proposed to her.”
That team is the Tyberg Duffy Group at Douglas Elliman, which the two launched in 2024 with a focus on three main areas of business.
“There’s development, which includes new, ground up development as well as the mom-and-pop remodel folks—the fix-and-flippers,” Tyberg said. “Then we do high-end luxury, which includes sports and entertainment clients. And finally, we have the first-time homebuyers all across the city in the $900,000 to $2.1-million range.”
Their development business includes a number of spec and custom homes for which the Tyberg Duffy Group helps to source lots and provide underwriting before listing and selling the new builds. Apart from retail and commercial leasing, their diverse portfolio has included most every asset class, from student housing to multifamily to buying and selling commercial buildings. Geographically, they cover the breadth of LA neighborhoods.
“We really are all over the place—if you look at a map of all of our sales, we are basically anywhere desirable, from Malibu to East L.A.,” said Tyberg, a lifelong Angelino whose parents had emigrated from Argentina. “A lot of our new construction is in the Valley and on the West Side. We have listings right now in Beverly Hills, Laurel Canyon , Glendale, and we just sold something in Mount Washington. So, we're not specific to one area and don’t intend to.
That range, he adds, is as much philosophical as it is a strategic position.
“We're believers that you need to be proficient in all aspects of the real estate market, locally and regionally, not just hyperlocal in one particular pocket or neighborhood,” he said. “It's important that we be able to understand everything because they're all interconnected in one way or another. I need to know the price per square foot in Eagle Rock, just as much as I need to know what it is in Sherman Oaks.”
Likewise, the team’s approach to marketing is similarly broad-based, drawing heavily on Tyberg’s experience from his pre-real estate career as associate publisher for the industry trade magazines The Hollywood Reporter and Backstage.
“We have a very careful, curated approach in speaking to the different communities we serve,” he said. “Whether its sports and entertainment clients we reach through managers and agents, the developers we speak to, or the first-time homebuyers, they all call for tailored approaches.”
Above, 9031 Hollywood Hills Road, Los Angeles, Calif. | $9,000,000.
Although L.A. has been experiencing “a weird and unique time in the market,” Duffy adds—from the wildfires during the first several weeks of the year to continued economic uncertainty—the two have several new listings they are excited about, including a mid-century post-and-beam compound at the top of Laurel Canyon.
“This property was built by Robert “Boulder” Thorgusen and comprises two separate homes on one lot,” she said. “It’s an actual work of art, in every way.”
Located at 9031 Hollywood Hills Road, it’s currently on market for $9,000,000.
Asked about what makes their partnership work so well, both credit one another’s combination of intellect and personality.
“We have so many similarities in the way that our minds work, in a business sense, and we both like trying and doing new things and exploring,” Duffy said, noting their shared love of venturing on multistate road trips. “That’s one of my favorite things about Rick.”
“She routinely helps me in ways that I never knew I needed, and she's proficient in things that I'm simply not,” Tyberg said. “It’s a good balance. So, when I decided I wanted to go off on my own and start a team, I knew I didn't want to do it without Lauren. That was an easy decision to make.”
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