Altman Brothers named top team at annual Elliman awards

The stars of "Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles" last month became first LA team to get their own office

The Altman Brothers, Ruth Pugh, Ernie Carswell, and the Pugh-Tomasi & Associates team
The Altman Brothers, Ruth Pugh, Ernie Carswell, and the Pugh-Tomasi & Associates team

The Altman Brothers were Douglas Elliman’s top team in California for the second year in a row.

The brokerage named Josh and Matt Altman — stars of “Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles” — the top team by gross commission income in the state in 2018.

The honors were handed out at the Ellies, Elliman’s annual awards ceremony. Top performers from California included those in L.A., Monterey, Orange, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Riverside counties. Awards went out to top teams and brokers in markets from around the country, including New York and Miami.

The Altman Brothers also took the top team prize at last year’s Ellies and earlier this year, they became the first Douglas Elliman team in Los Angeles to get their own office.

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Nationwide, Douglas Elliman’s 2018 total sales volume was $28.1 billion, up 8 percent from 2017, it reported.

Also honored at Tuesday’s event were three teams working out of Beverly Hills — Ernie Carswell & Associates, the Chad Lund Team and the Tracy Tutor Team — along with San Diego-based Pugh-Tomasi & Associates. In August, Carswell sold the “Brady Bunch” house in Studio City, the 2,500-square-foot home used to film the exterior of the popular television sitcom.

Tracy Tutor’s team nabbed the second place spot at last year’s awards, a few months after signing on to star with her Elliman colleagues on “Million Dollar Listing.”

The top individual agent in California last year was Pegi DiRienzo, based out of Orange County. Following her were Juliette Hohnen, Alissa Cunningham, Leslie Romenesko, and Trevor Schneeberger.

Last year was Elliman’s first full year in California with the weight of around 500 former Teles Properties agents behind it. The brokerage acquired Teles in mid-2017 and previously had around 130 agents in the state.