Agent Meredith Pierson jumps to Compass from Berkshire

Combining with Missy Jerfita, new pairing has closed more than $300M in deals in last 5 years

Compass' Missy Jerfita and Meredith Pierson (Compass, Getty)
Compass' Missy Jerfita and Meredith Pierson (Compass, Getty)

Chicago’s talent war among residential brokerages has taken hold of suburban Glenview as of late.

Its latest skirmish is marked by the Compass team based in the northern suburb snagging Chicago agent Meredith Pierson, who previously affiliated with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services.

Pierson jumped ship to start a new team at New York-based Compass with the Glenview-based brokerage team headed by Missy Jerfita. The rebranded Jerfita Pierson Team will have five licensed agents and two support staffers across two Compass offices — in Glenview and Lincoln Park.

The new pairing doubles the territory previously serviced by both agents. Both women are second-generation real estate agents, and, combined, closed more than $300 million in sales volume in the last five years, according to Compass. The freshly minted team will have a diverse clientele, covering both first-time homebuyers and luxury sales.

“As one team, we augment marketing, benefit from more resources, and double our expertise to meet the needs of our clients in both the suburbs and the city,” Jerfita said in a release.

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Pierson has closed more than 120 transactions for a total of over $65 million in volume since starting in the industry in 2017. Jerfita has been in the industry since 2003 and is a Compass Glenview founding team member.

While the move marks Compass’ latest acquisition of talent in the Chicago area, it comes on the heels of the brokerage losing one of Glenview’s top agents to @properties, when Brandy Isaac jumped to the Chicago-based firm’s Christie’s International Real Estate brand.

Compass’ gain comes at a difficult period for the brokerage whose financial challenges have captured the attention of the residential real estate industry. The company has responded to setbacks with plans to cut about $320 million, or 20 percent of its operating expenses, by the end of 2022.

Originally billed as a technology company, the firm sought to reinvent the homebuying process, and raised record amounts of capital before struggling over the past year as the residential real estate market slowed. The company last week announced a third round of layoffs, with more than 1,200 workers having been laid off from the firm over the past year. However, Compass still has over 3,000 employees and was the number one residential real estate brokerage in the nation based on 2021 sales volume.

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