In the latest salvo of an intensifying rivalry between brokerages, a prominent team in Los Angeles is leaving Compass and forming a new team inside of competitor The Agency, the latter brokerage announced Monday.
Adam Rosenfeld
The team departing Compass includes leader Adam Rosenfeld, as well as his eight agents. A statement Monday from The Agency describes Rosenfeld as specializing in “legacy estates and large-scale development projects throughout the Los Angeles area,” and notes that he has done “more than $1 billion in sales throughout” his career. According to his LinkedIn page, Rosenfeld has been with Compass for nearly two and a half years, before which he was at Douglas Elliman.
At The Agency, Rosenfeld and his team will join forces with Jon Grauman to form the Grauman and Rosenfeld Group. Grauman — who is based in Beverly Hills — has been at The Agency for more than seven years and today serves as the director of the company’s estates division. The statement notes that he has worked as both an agent and a developer and has scored prominent spots on multiple Real Trends agent ranking lists.
In Monday’s statement, Grauman said he and Rosenfeld “share a common vision and business philosophy rooted in integrity, innovation and work ethic.”
Jon Grauman
“Adam is one of the most highly respected and honorable people in our industry,” Grauman added. “I couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with him on this new venture as we continue to disrupt the industry and offer an elevated, world-class service to our clients.”
As a unified group, Grauman and Rosenfeld “plan to establish a presence in new markets,” the statement notes, as well as grow the number of team members they have. Their target markets include California’s Bay Area, Miami, Aspen, Colorado, and Orange County, California.
Los Angeles-based The Agency was founded in 2011 and more recently has embarked on an aggressive expansion plan. Among other things, the firm entered the Washington, D.C., market last fall when it lured a brokerage away from RE/MAX. In May, The Agency added a franchise on New York’s Long Island. The firm expanded into Canada in March.
Monday’s news is notable for being a part of The Agency’s ongoing growth, but it’s also significant because it adds a new chapter to the growing rivalry between the brokerage and Compass. That rivalry came into public focus last fall, when The Agency made a former Compass leader, Rainy Hake Austin, its new president. The situation escalated in April, when The Agency sued Compass for allegedly trying to prevent Austin from soliciting Compass agents.
That lawsuit is still working its way through the courts, but in the meantime recruiting away Rosenfeld and his team shows that The Agency and Compass are increasingly occupying competing spheres.
In any case, Rosenfeld expressed excitment about his new professional chapter, saying in Monday’s statement that he is “delighted to join The Agency and partner with Jon, a long-time friend and esteemed colleague.”
“I am looking forward to a long and prosperous future working alongside Jon,” he added, “who is one of the brightest minds in our business, as we start this new chapter in both of our careers.”