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Compass’ Courtney + Kurt broker team splits

Courtney Smith and Kurt Wisner had partnered on properties in Northeast LA for 13 years

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Northeast LA real estate team Courtney Smith and Kurt Wisner are breaking up

Courtney Smith and Kurt Wisner, the longstanding Northeast Los Angeles broker team that combined for $170 million in sales volume last year, is separating.

The Compass-based duo known as Courtney and Kurt confirmed to The Real Deal they are phasing out their partnership after 13 years together. Unlike another famous Kurt and Courtney duo, Smith and Wisner’s relationship was strictly professional.

Although Smith will continue to work under the Compass umbrella, she’s stepping back to spend more time with her young children.

“Hey I’m a mom,” she said. “I have an 8-year-old and a 4-year-old. I went back to work when my daughter was 12 days old. I went back to work when my son was three days old.”

Smith added she will be “a major cheerleader and adviser” to the Courtney + Kurt real estate team, which includes a staff of 20 agents and assistants.

During the transition, Smith’s name will still appear along with Wisner’s on signage in their Northeast L.A. stomping ground.

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The pair will also continue to work together to market the 18-home development called The Cliff in Echo Park.

“I do feel that a lot of people have come to recognize the Courtney and Kurt name,” Wisner said. “Until that’s not something of value, we will continue with that name.”

The team generally has listings in the $1 million range, with current homes on the market that include a 1,465-square-foot property in Echo Park and a 1,400-square-foot home in Silver Lake.

Before moving to Compass in 2016, the pair spent years together at Beverly Hills-based Nourmand & Associates.

Wisner is originally from Seattle, making the duo’s play on their famous first names and the grunge movement especially significant.

When Wisner and Smith went into business together, many of the neighborhoods in Northeast L.A. were struggling with crime, and had just begun to receive interest from developers and investors. The couple got in on the ground floor of that real estate transformation, helping first-time buyers get Federal Housing Administration loans for homes whose values have skyrocketed.

Wisner joked that their partnership worked because “we put Courtney first and not Kurt first.”