Broker boomerang: Browne, Pashby return to Corcoran

Top agents joined Brown Harris Stevens in December 2014

From left: Robby Browne and Maria Pashby
From left: Robby Browne and Maria Pashby

UPDATED: 11:32 a.m., Aug. 5: It turns out, the grass isn’t always greener.

Top residential sales agents Robby Browne and Maria Pashby are returning to the Corcoran Group after a seven-month stint at Brown Harris Stevens, Corcoran told The Real Deal.

The pair, who moved with their respective sales teams to BHS in December, are now working together as part of a single group that also includes Chris Kann, Joanna Pashby and Jennifer Ireland.

Having sold billions of dollars worth of real estate between them, the move is a coup for Corcoran, which last month lost one of its biggest names — top producer Noble Black — to Douglas Elliman.

“We are extremely happy to welcome this group of outstanding, award-winning and nationally-recognized agents back to the Corcoran family,” CEO Pamela Liebman said in a statement. “We offer the best and embrace agents who return when they realize what they’ve been missing. It’s why we always keep the door open. Corcoran is a hard act to follow.”

Browne and Pashby’s return to Corcoran is the most recent installment in a series of broker moves over the past 18 months.

In June, the Browne, Kann and Pashby Team ranked No. 8 among agents nationwide, according to research firm Real Trends, which publishes an annual ranking with the Wall Street Journal. The team sold over $356 million worth of real estate in 2014, while they were still affiliated with Corcoran, according to the ranking. The team also included former Corcoran and BHS agent Louis Buckworth, who is now the exclusive sales agent for Zeckendorf Development’s 520 Park Avenue.

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Browne, who was Corcoran’s top salesperson in 2010, has sold 461 apartments along Central Park West, according to his bio. A Kentucky native and graduate of Harvard Business School, he’s done more than 250 deals at 25 Central Park West, where he owns an apartment.

Maria Pashby was among the top 75 agents on TRD‘s recent ranking of Manhattan residential agents. She had more than $86 million worth of listings as of May 31, according to data pulled from listings portal On-Line Residential.

Browne and Pashby joined BHS last year amid a rough patch for Corcoran, which experienced heavy agent losses to startup brokerage Compass. In welcoming Browne and Pashby at that time, BHS President Hall Willkie feted them as “incredibly productive real estate professionals.”

In a statement Wednesday, Willkie said: “Although Robby and Maria were very successful during their time here, we fully understand that this was not a decision based on dollar and cents. We wish them success and happiness in the future.”

BHS has not been immune to fierce competition in the industry, and last year saw elite agent Kyle Blackmon join Compass while another top producer, Cathy Franklin, jumped to Corcoran.

Meanwhile, Corcoran seems to be recalibrating, and the firm has welcomed back several brokers this year, including Bill Cunningham, who took a job as president of Trump International Realty but returned to Corcoran several months later to be the firm’s general sales manager. Agents Andrea Wohl Lucas and Fabienne Lecole, who temporarily did business at Douglas Elliman and William Raveis NYC, respectively, also returned to Corcoran.