Top Keller Williams agent bolts to start own Westside brokerage

Jesse Weinberg leaves after 12 years, taking nine agents with him

Jesse Weinberg
Jesse Weinberg

Jesse Weinberg was twice recognized as Keller Williams’ top nationwide sales agent, but he has now struck out on his own and plucked a team of agents to join him.

Weinberg filed papers last week to start Jesse Weinberg and Associates in Playa Del Rey, ending a long career at Keller Williams.

The broker states that he was on Texas-based Keller’s No. 1 nationwide sales team in 2013 and 2014, according to the Weinberg and Associates website, and he has routinely been Keller’s top agent in the seaside community of Marina Del Rey.

Weinberg claimed $170 million in 2019 sales volume when combined with the sales of the agents he is bringing from the brokerage, who are Blake Taylor, Laurie Woolner, Chris Jones, Gabriel Araujo, Jana Jones, Mac Montgomery, Maria Nikitina, Sandra Vazquez, and Victoria Nissen.

Messages left with Keller Williams were not returned.

Keller’s sales volume in Los Angeles County was $5.5 billion in 2018, according to data the company provided to RealTrends. It is the 3rd biggest L.A. brokerage by sales volume after Coldwell Banker and Compass.

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Weinberg joins other west Los Angeles real estate agents such as Ben Bacal who recently left national brokerage giants to start their own shop. But these agents often have a silent broker, in Bacal’s case San Francisco brokerage Side, providing logistical support.

Weinberg, though, said his brokerage will be completely independent.

Weinberg & Associates plans to focus on a developing niche in the west Los Angeles luxury market, the Silicon Beach neighborhoods including Playa Del Rey, Venice, parts of Santa Monica, and increasingly Marina Del Rey that are filled with tech startups including social media company Snap. Google is also leasing space on the Westside.

According to Redfin, the average home sale in Marina Del Rey within the last month was priced at $1.2 million. By comparison, the average home sale in Beverly Hills was $2.1 million, and the average price for all of Los Angeles County during that time was $741,000.

Weinberg’s current listings arguably give a snapshot of the Silicon Beach market with just two homes, both in Marina Del Rey, listed at north of $2 million, but several abodes in Marina Del Rey and Venice listed between $1 and $2 million.