Richard Ferrari, a 30-year real estate industry veteran — including as a broker with Douglas Elliman — has been tapped to return to the New York-based brokerage as CEO of its New York and Northeast divisions.
Brown Harris Stevens
Returning after six years as a broker at Brown Harris Stevens, where he served as the firm’s sales director in the Hamptons from 2015 to 2018, Ferrari will now lead Douglas Elliman’s New York division and work to expand the company’s presence in nearby markets including New Jersey, Westchester, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Throughout the pandemic, markets outside the five boroughs outperformed the city as more people sought to leave dense areas for the suburbs. While sales have picked up steadily (Manhattan sales were up 58 percent and hit a 14-year high in the first quarter), Ferrari’s responsibilities will include navigating consumers’ shifting post-pandemic desires, according to a statement.
“Every agent has the potential to be a super agent,” Ferrari told the Real Deal on Monday. “I’m not going to be advising anyone to change, to reinvent the wheel. … What I am going to do my best to do is grow market share.”
Ferrari’s predecessor Steven James departed Douglas Elliman in April to lead Berkshire Hathaway’s HomeServices of America as executive director of brokerage development. Ferrari, who had served with Douglas Elliman for 15 years before joining BHS, will report to Douglas Elliman’s President and Chief Operating Officer Scott Durkin. While at Brown Harris Stevens, Ferrari reportedly remained in touch with his former Douglas Elliman colleagues, including Executive Chairman Howard Lorber.
When news of Durkin’s move was made public, Durkin said he and Ferrari “both sort of picked up the phone at the same time.”
“We looked far and wide for this position and he always came up as being a great candidate,” Durkin said. “It’s a big growth position.”