A top-producing Chicago agent is jumping back to Berkshire Hathaway, after a brief stint at Compass.
Jim Ziltz, who did more than $20 million in sales volume last year, returned to Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago on March 12. He had been at Compass since July.
A few days later, another top Compass broker, J Maggio, jumped back to @properties, where he had worked for four years. And on Monday, New York-based Compass laid off approximately 375 employees, or 15 percent of its total staff. The Softbank-backed brokerage projected a 50 percent drop in revenue over the next six months as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Ziltz said he hadn’t heard anything about potential layoffs.
He is now working remotely, after Berkshire Hathaway closed its offices because of the virus crisis. When it reopens, Ziltz will work out of the firm’s Lincoln Park office at 1800 North Clybourn Avenue. The state remains under a stay-at-home order that has shuttered nonessential businesses through April 7. Real estate services have been deemed “essential” but most Chicago brokerages have closed their locations. Berkshire Hathaway has nearly 1,300 brokers and staff across 25 offices in the Chicago area.
Ziltz represents both buyers and sellers, with neighborhoods of focus including Old Town, Lincoln Park and Lakeview, along with the western suburbs. He estimates his typical price point for listings is around $500,000.
After becoming a licensed broker in 2010, Ziltz joined Prudential Rubloff Properties, which was acquired by HomeServices of America in late 2013. Several months later, the brokerage became known as Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff Realty Group, followed by another name change in January — this version is slightly shorter.
In 2018, he became vice president and manager of the brokerage’s office in his hometown of Wheaton.
Ziltz said he joined Compass — which entered the Chicago market in late 2017 — to focus more on the sales side of his career and just “to see what it was all about.”
Ziltz said he didn’t receive the same kind of “daily support on the organizational level” at Compass as he had at Berkshire Hathaway, including in accounting, marketing and transaction coordination. Recent leadership changes at Berkshire Hathaway also encouraged him to return, he said.
Compass did not return a request for comment.