Audrey Ross left EWM Realty International after 17 years to join Compass, The Real Deal has learned.
Ross, a fixture in the Coral Gables community and a top producer in Miami-Dade, made the move to “build her team and be with a firm that could develop her website, Miamirealestate.com,” Compass Florida President Beth Butler said.
She started at the tech-oriented brokerage on Monday and will be based out of the Coconut Grove office until Compass eventually opens in Coral Gables. Butler and Ross go way back to before she sold her company, Ross & Associates, to EWM in 2000. Both also worked together at EWM.
“While I was surprised by her decision to leave, we’ve been appreciative of her work and we wish her the best in her next endeavor,” Shuffield said in a statement to TRD.
Last year, Ross brought in $47.5 million of home sales in Miami-Dade, ranking 10th in TRD‘s list of top residential agents ranked by single-family home sales volume, according to closed sales in the MLS. Ross declined to comment on her sales figures.
“Audrey’s a legend. She’s the first agent I knew who did $100 million in sales,” Butler said. “Long before the team concept was popular she was creating teams.”
Ross told TRD she had been mulling a switch to Compass for a few months, and said it is the only firm she spoke with. Her 11-person team went with her to the tech-oriented brokerage.
“I have been very much attracted to Compass’ strong inclination to be at the forefront of the technology that is really driving real estate at the moment,” she said, adding that mobile is the future. “I just believe that as we move around the community and we see all of our clients on their mobile devices, that that is the trend. That is the movement; that’s where they’re going.”
Compass recently hired Liz Hogan, also of EWM, and Ben Moss from One Sotheby’s International Realty. Butler said the firm now has 159 agents after opening its South Florida office nearly two years ago.