Big is better in this business, boasts Liebman.

This month, as Barbara Corcoran finally cut the apron strings from the baby she watched grow from two to 2,000 brokers, CEO Pamela Liebman was pronouncing 'business as usual' at the Manhattan behemoth.

But as all signs point to even more growth for the Cendant-owned firm, Liebman--who cut her teeth in the business with Corcoran when the snowball she built was but a flake--vowed, "There is a deep rooted culture in the Corcoran group and, no matter how big we get, as long as I'm here, I will always work to maintain that special something that Barbara formed the company with.

"There's a little bit of Barbara in all of us and, even though she is no longer a physical presence in the company, there will always be a part of her that makes us special and my job is to make sure we never lose that."

Corcoran had been increasingly taking a backseat in the business since Cendant named her chairman when they bought her firm in 2001. She officially resigned earlier this month to develop her flourishing television career and has reportedly set up a production office in the Flatiron District.

But if Corcoran was the mother of this Manhattan giant, there is little doubt today that Liebman is very much the big sister and, as the residential juggernaut braces for another growth spurt, the feisty mom-of-two has been busier than ever.

In June, it was announced that the firm would join forces with its sister company, the Sunshine Group (also owned by Cendant) to become the Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group.

It was a move that made sense, according to Liebman, who said, "The Sunshine Group is the preeminent marketing firm for luxury condos in the US and abroad and the brand was growing like crazy.

"Corcoran Group Marketing that handles onsite sales and luxury marketing for new developments was also growing rapidly. Between the two of us, we dominated business in New York.

"Both companies were at a crossroads and a decision was made by NRT [Cendant's residential brokerage division] to put them together. It's a home run. You get all the benefits of the Sunshine Group and all power and expertise of Corcoran combined. This is really a case where synergy is absolutely true."

With Sunshine marketing properties both in the US and abroad--including developments in Tuscany, Italy, the Caribbean and Mexico--the opportunity for growing the Corcoran brand internationally is now well within reach.

However, Liebman is quick to point out that, in traditional Corcoran style, the company has a great commitment to its homegrown clients. "It sounds very exciting and sexy to expand internationally," she said, "But I don't want to get ahead of myself. We never want to over-promise and not deliver, which is why I want to make sure we stay sharp and focused on our core business.

"It's more likely you will see expansion of our business in Florida and Sunshine in Los Angeles rather than the international market at this time, but it's certainly something that will develop in the future."

Right now, the Corcoran Sunshine Group is handling some of the most talked-about new developments in the city, including the Toy Building, Extell's Riverside Yards project and the launch of Downtown Cipriani.

And as new developments go up at a speed not seen in the city since the postwar era, Liebman says she's turning away as much business as she's taking on. "We have a great commitment to our current clients and don't want to diversify to the point where our current clients would be underserved."

With their prime markets in New York, Las Vegas, California and Florida, Liebman said the addition last summer of Citi Habitats to the Corcoran fold allows the firm to cater to customers for life.

"We would like to service the young adults who just graduated from college and need a small one bed rental or share with their friend, and we will then sell them a studio or one bed when they get their first job; when they get married we'll stick with them and we'll also sell their mother a house in the Hamptons and their grandparents a pied-a-tere in Palm Beach. It's all geared to provide full service to a customer no matter what point in their life cycle they are at.

"We hold the record for the largest condo sale in Manhattan [the $45 million Robbie Brown deal at the Time Warner building earlier this summer] and we would also be proud to hold the record for the smallest rental deal.

"The Corcoran Group is so privileged to have the strongest group of high-end brokers anywhere in the city, but we also have a very talented core group of brokers you may never have heard of who are out there making deals every single day."

The firm has also just built a new state-of-the-art office at 57th and 7th overlooking Central Park, where the famed in-house Corcoran massage team makes house calls and brokers can relax in the lounge with flat screen TV and free drinks between sales.

A new Park Avenue training center is also about to open, giving brokers access to the very latest in high-tech training techniques and Corcoran will soon be opening a new office in Chelsea and in Jupiter, Florida. There's also talk that another acquisition is on the cards in the Sunshine State.

"We will continue to look at new opportunities for start-up offices and acquisitions we feel are the right fit for Corcoran," said Liebman. "And we are always in the pursuit of new talent, particularly in the new development area."

Liebman is as proud as Corcoran always was of the firm's reputation of holding onto its top brokers, even as it has grown to its mighty proportions.

"We have a very strong group of managers," she said. "The only way this company stays the way we want it to, as big as it is, is by making sure we have strong leaders in place and that each office works hard to maintain its family-like environment.

"I have always said--and I learned this from Barbara--the Corcoran Group works for its brokers. I have 2,200 bosses. I am serving 2,200 people making sure they have the greatest working environment and best opportunities to make the most money possible.

"As the company has grown, the income of brokers has grown. There are certainly challenges to being owned by a large corporation than a single individual--sometimes decisions take longer and processes to be followed can be frustrating, but there are also a lot of advantages.

"When I took over [as CEO] in 2001, I vowed that no matter how big we are, we will harness the power of the big company while maintaining the heart of the small company and that's always been my mission."

And to the sceptics who believe the bigger you get the harder you fall, she has this: "What does too big mean? We have too many brokers? We get too many listings and too many customers? Big is not bad in this business, it's better.

"We have a great group of talent and the reason we were able to get so big is because we have groomed talent from within the ranks over the past 30 years. Almost all of the management team started as brokers so they understand what it's like to be right in the middle of the action--we know what brokers need and want and do our best to deliver it.

"We offer so many more resources for a broker to operate a business within a business and give them so many tools to differentiate themselves and create their own persona within the industry.

"Corcoran encourages and champions entrepreneurship. It was founded by an entrepreneur and still has that spirit."