02/18/2026
Before the wins and the growth, there was a bottle of coins and a lesson in integrity that defines Dominus Commercial to this day.
Here is a look at the "Why" behind our firm from our President & CEO, Stephen LaMure
"I had a broker to pay. Payroll was due. And the only thing in my house with value was a bottle of coins.
Not an investment account.
Not a credit line.
A big Ozarka bottle I’d been tossing loose change into since I was a teenager.
At the time, I was running a commercial real estate firm with one broker on a draw. My wife and I had just had our first child. Deals were slow. Cash was gone.
I remember walking into the house and breaking down. Not frustrated. Not angry. Just embarrassed.
What kind of leader hires someone and can’t pay him?
My wife Dana didn’t hesitate. She said, “Take the coin bottle to Coinstar.”
So I carried it into the grocery store like it weighed a thousand pounds.
Clink.
Clank.
Jam.
Clink.
People stared as I fed years of quarters into that machine.
The draw was $2,000.
The receipt printed: $2,550.
Coinstar took their cut. I took the ticket home. I wrote the check. And we lived on what was left until I could go close a deal.
A couple of weeks later, I did.
But I never forgot the lesson.
When someone chooses to work with you, that’s not a transaction.
When someone chooses to work with you, that is trust. That is groceries. That is rent. That is real life.
We talk a lot in this business about wins, volume, and commissions.
Leadership is simpler than that.
If someone bets on you, you protect them.
Even when it hurts.
What’s a moment in your career that tested your integrity when nobody would’ve blamed you for taking the easy way out?"
