Six Aspen Agents Jump To Compass From Elliman

A group of longtime Aspen agents are jumping to Compass from Douglas Elliman.

Six agents — Marian Lansburgh, Jennifer Engel, Raifie Bass, Wendy Morgan and Julia Herman — have joined the residential giant, following a steady stream of agents that have switched to Compass from Elliman in the past year.

Collectively, the agents represented an annual sales volume of $196 million in the last year. The group has been working together for over two decades, first at boutique brokerage Joshua & Co, which was acquired by Elliman in 2014 for the firm’s debut in the market.

Elliman was the first national residential player to expand into the high-end Colorado enclave, where it now counts four offices, including one taken over from Official Partners after allegations of sexual assault and rape surfaced against founders Oren and Tal Alexander.

Compass first launched operations in 2016 and highlighted the market with the arrival of former Elliman agents Tom Postilio and Mickey Conlon. Known for working with celebrity clients in New York, the brokers said in their move announced last year they would expand their business to Aspen, as well as Nashville and Austin.

Lansburgh said Compass had been after the team for a while and they kept “putting it off, and putting off,” but Engel cited the firm’s technology and marketing offerings as priorities for the move.

“We wish the agents well,” a spokesperson for Elliman said in a statement.

The development adds to a troubling pattern for Elliman, who has lost 134 agents to Compass since 2024, accounting for nearly $3.3 billion in collective sales volume, according to a Compass spokesperson.

Those departures have included some of the largest markets’ most well-known players, like veteran New York and South Florida broker Holly Parker, who had been at Elliman for 24 years before leaving for Compass in February, and “Million Dollar Listing” star and top broker Tracy Tutor who, along with her 18-person team located in Beverly Hills, Dallas and Austin, departed for Compass in January.

Elliman faced significant financial headwinds in recent years and internal turbulence, including the abrupt departure of long-time CEO Howard Lorber.

But the company has seen green shoots this year. Elliman’s first quarter earnings showed the firm narrow its quarterly losses from $42 million last year to $6 million and the company reportedly received a takeover offer from Anywhere Real Estate that would value the firm at $4 per share, double what its stock was trading for at the time.

Since then, its stock has jumped 40 percent and opened Thursday trading at $3.01 per share.