Kurt and Courtney are jumping ship.
Real estate’s new kid on the block Compass has poached the Eastside broker duo Kurt Wisner and Courtney Smith from the Beverly Hills-based Nourmand and Associates in a bid to expand its West Coast operations, The Real Deal has learned.
They will join Compass’ Pasadena office at 680 East Colorado Boulevard, a 12,000-square-foot office for which the firm signed a lease last month. Eight additional agents and staff from Nourmand will join Courtney and Kurt in their move.
“My team is thrilled to join Compass and the amazing group of professionals they have assembled in Southern California,” Smith said in a statement, referencing Compass’ technology-oriented approach to the business as one of the reasons for the move.
The Pasadena office is spearheaded by Leah Sternberg. Notable new recruits include mother-and-son duo Linda and Brent Chang and Sabrina Wu, all of whom were poached from Coldwell Banker.
Under the Nourmand umbrella, Smith and Wisner ran their own eponymous Eastside office (Courtney + Kurt) for 13 years, catering to some of L.A.’s hippest neighborhoods — Echo Park, Silver Lake, Los Feliz, as well as Atwater Village, Highland Park and Glassell Park. Last year, they sold more than $120 million in properties in Northeast L.A.
“Real estate is a lot like working in showbiz. You don’t get far doing it as a part-time job. You have to do right by your clients and give it 100 percent of your attention,” Smith told The Real Deal last month.
Just last year, Compass opened its first California office in Beverly Hills. The Pasadena headquarters will serve primarily the San Gabriel Valley and L.A.’s Eastside, according to Sternberg.
“The San Gabriel Valley is a market where a lot of Chinese cash has been placed in the last ten years,” Sternberg said. “It also has a lot of luxury markets: San Marino, Pasadena, La Cañada Flintridge.”