Veteran Manhattan agent Richard Steinberg is joining Compass.
He resigned from rival brokerage Douglass Elliman on Wednesday and will work out of Compass’ office at 851 Madison Avenue. Steinberg’s three team members — Alexander Mignogna, Emanuel Fiore and Carli Levitt — are moving with him.
“We just felt for our personal growth that we wanted to try something slightly different,” said Steinberg in an interview.
Their bank accounts might also grow: Compass has recruited agents with large signing bonuses and wide-ranging incentive packages in the past. Steinberg declined to comment on the terms of the move.
He said Compass’ recent initial public offering was not a factor in his decision and that he was looking forward to using the brokerage’s technology.
“As far as I’m concerned, Compass is the Google of real estate,” he said. “We’re excited about a new adventure. Life is all about reinventing yourself.”
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Steinberg joined Elliman in 2015 after more than 29 years at independent brokerage Warburg Realty. He began as an agent in 1986 and has appeared on HGTV’s “Selling New York” and WLNY-CBS’s real estate show “The American Dream New York City.”
During his time at Elliman, Steinberg was part of the team handling sales at supertall luxury building 432 Park Avenue and his team was among Elliman’s top producers in 2016 and 2017. In The Real Deal’s most recent broker ranking, he was 29th among New York City agents with $109 million in closed sales.
Steinberg called his years at Elliman “absolutely wonderful.”
Referring to Elliman’s executive chairman Howard Lorber, he said, “Howard was the consummate professional and we left absolutely on great terms.”
As a top agent in New York City for years, Steinberg has likely fielded offers from Compass and other rival brokerages many times in the past, though he would not confirm or deny that. When asked what prompted him to move this time, he cited the pandemic.
“I think Covid changes a lot of people,” he said. “I wanted to try something new and something exciting.”
Rory Golod, president of the Tri-State Region for Compass, said in a statement that he “could not be more excited to have Richard as part of the Compass family.” He declined to comment further. A spokesperson for Elliman wished Steinberg well.