Top Los Angeles producer Sally Forster Jones — known for closing multi-million dollar deals in her market, including a $70 million home purchased in 2014 by her client Markus Persson, the Minecraft creator — has left Pacific Union International Southern California to join Compass in Beverly Hills. And she’s bringing her team with her.
The Sally Forster Jones Group was in the top 23 by transaction volume in Real Trends last year, and had a sales volume last year of $370 million. Her team includes a total of 25 — 12 agents and 13 staff — all of whom will join Compass.
The SFJ Group was with John Aaroe Group before it was acquired by Pacific Union at the end of 2016. In her 35 years plus in the industry, Forster has represented a number of landmark homes including the Spelling Manor, listed at a monumental $150 million.
Credit: Sally Forster Jones
In a public statement today Forster Jones said: “The Sally Forster Jones Group continuously strives to surpass real estate records and trends. This move to Compass is a strategic one. Between SFJ Group’s long standing and impressive reputation in the industry and Compass’s passion for changing real estate, we are confident that this unity will create a collective value that is greater than its parts.”
Speaking to Inman today, Forster Jones said that she was forecasting a sales volume of $500 million this year. Forster Jones also said Compass CEO Robert Reffkin and other company leaders came to the Beverly Hills office yesterday to welcome her team to the fold.
“We are thrilled to welcome the Sally Forster Jones Group to the Compass Family. Sally and her team have passion for real estate and commitment to innovation and technology that perfectly aligns with Compass. It is a great moment in our continued growth in Southern California,” said Allison Yazdian, senior vice president and general manager at Compass, in an email to Inman today.
Forster Jones said she had given much thought to her departure from Pacific Union Southern California.
“I had been speaking to them about it. They can’t say that they are surprised and they tried to fight for me,” she said.
But her decision came because she felt Compass’s tech and marketing were superior.
“The opportunities that Compass presented as far as innovation, tech, marketing and support, I thought it was an ideal situation to continue to grow and achieve for myself, my team and my clients,” she said. “It’s just there’s so much excitement there. It’s so forward-thinking — there is a lot of energy which is really extensive and contagious. The entire team is so excited, they couldn’t be happier.”
The top producer and her team was with the John Aaroe Group, recently rebranded as Pacific Union Southern California, for four years and prior to that, Forster Jones was with Coldwell Banker for 14 years.
She said her understanding was that Compass would be building more of a presence in Beverly Hills, which is seen as the company’s second headquarters, and would be opening up in greater Los Angeles.
Compass has been on something of a hiring-and-expansion spree lately, opening offices in Chicago and Dallas. Late last year, CEO Reffkin unveiled a “2020 by 2020” plan in which Compass said it would attempt to achieve 20 percent market share in the largest 20 metropolitan markets across America by 2020 — just two short years from now.
The high-tech brokerage received a record-setting $450 million investment from SoftBank’s Vision Fund back in December 2017, leading many in the industry to ask why does Compass keep winning?
