The Compass direction continues pointing toward a rapid expansion.
Sally Forster Jones joined Compass’ Beverly Hills office, the latest in a series of moves by the company to add established talent to its nationwide roster, The Real Deal has learned.
Jones’ departure from Pacific Union International’s LA office, comes shortly after her former firm, John Aaroe Group, was rebranded under the Pacific Union banner. The San Francisco-based company, which has over 900 agents spread among 20 Southern California offices, also rebranded Partners Trust and Gibson International on Jan. 1.
Jones, who will become executive director of luxury estates, is bringing a team of 25 agents and staff to Compass, a company representative confirmed.
In a statement, Jones called her move to Compass, “a strategic one.”
Jones closed about $5 billion in total sales over her entire career, including the headline-grabbing $85 million sale of the Spelling Manor. She was once the top-earner at the John Aaroe Group, bringing in $300 million in business in 2015.
Her switch to Compass follows a series of hires for the New York-based startup. The company recruited eight agents from the troubled Mercer Vine recently, including its co-founder and COO Dominic Labriola. Mercer has since shut down.
It earned a reputation for poaching when it first made a splash into the Los Angeles market, snagging Kim Kardashian’s favorite broker Tomer Friedman and Rob Giem from Ewing & Associates Sotheby’s International Realty, as well as former football player Kofi Nartey and Jackie Smith from the Agency.
On Tuesday, amid its national expansion, Compass was sued in New York by the residential firm Modern Spaces, which accused the startup of targeting its agents and stealing confidential data to gain a foothold in the borough.