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Amid an ever-more intense battle for top talent, Coldwell Banker has won back Laura MacDonald, a St. Louis agent who had previously left the brand for Compass, Inman has learned.
Laura MacDonald
MacDonald will work with Coldwell Banker Realty — Gundaker, the brokerage where she began her career in the mid 1990s, according to an announcement. Over the years, she also did stints at other brokerages, including Keller Williams and RE/MAX, according to her LinkedIn profile. She most recently worked at Coldwell Banker in 2022, at which time she left for Compass.
MacDonald has “earned multiple certifications and designations that help her guide clients and provide the best advice, support and representation in the home-buying process,” according to the announcement. “In 2023, she closed approximately $20 million in sales volume.”
Carole McCabe, regional vice president for Coldwell Banker Realty — Gundaker, described MacDonald in the statement as “a legend in the St. Louis real estate market.”
MacDonald’s move comes as brokerages and franchisors battle it out over agents who know how to close deals even in times, like the present, when sales have slowed. The pressure of a more crowded brokerage landscape and a slower market have been sufficient to shift many brokerages’ strategies away from shear headcounts, and toward top producers such as MacDonald. It has also fueled trends such as “boomeranging,” in which agents leave a brokerage only to return a relatively short time later.
In the statement, MacDonald said she is excited to return to Coldwell Banker and that doing so was “an easy decision for me.”
“I missed the culture and camaraderie of the company,” she added, “and the top-notch marketing tools and services that my clients will be able to take advantage of in their quest to buy or sell a home.”
