Bay Area Top Resi Real Estate Agents Switch Brokerages

Compass netted two big Bay Area teams over the second quarter — The Fitzpatrick Group and Team Howe in San Francisco — as well as a top agent from Marin. The two San Francisco groups are leaving their Side-affiliated businesses and Marin agent Raquel Newman joins after seven years at Vanguard Properties.

Sherri Howe will be joining Compass’ 16th Street location in the Castro. She has over $688 million in lifetime sales in San Francisco real estate, and brings five agents with her: Savinie Lam, Ceily Landman, Johanna Bernabe, Noel Casey and Michael Faucher. Howe is a former financial analyst and also earned her master’s degree in software systems engineering.

The team brings “an analytical mindset, deep understanding of the San Francisco real estate market and true care and determination to all their clients,” Patrick Barber, managing director for Compass San Francisco and Marin, said in a statement.

Howe said in a statement that the move to Compass would give her team and clients a “competitive advantage,” citing the Compass Concierge service, which provides owners with financing for home improvements, plus the “largest collection of pre-market and off-market listings in the city” and “effortless and transparent” Compass One portal. Howe also said that the firm’s single technology platform would replace the “disparate systems” her team had used previously so they can “spend less time on the logistics and more quality time with clients and family.”

The Fitzpatrick Group, led by Dan Fitzpatrick, will be based at the San Francisco Compass office at 1699 Van Ness but will cover both the city and the East Bay, according to the brokerage. Fitzpatrick comes from a family of developers and worked in development before getting his law degree. He has over $200 million in lifetime sales in San Francisco. Joining Fitzpatrick at Compass are team members Matt Boone, formerly with Compass East Bay agent Dana Green’s team, and Tom Telfer, who also is based in the East Bay.

The group brings an “outstanding track record of success with strong client relationships that make them a perfect fit for Compass,” according to Kevin Patsel, regional vice president of

Compass, in a statement.

“Compass has an impressive agent network as the largest brokerage in the Bay Area,” said

Fitzpatrick, who noted the agency’s “extensive” network and “unique marketing tools” in a statement about why he joined the firm.

In Marin, agent Raquel Newman will join the brokerage’s Tiburon office. The Marin native has more than $250 million in lifetime sales volume. Pastel cited her “deep knowledge of the Marin market, and a great track record of success.”

Newman called the move “strategic” after spending “significant time and money” to build technology and marketing systems to keep up with client expectations. Compass’ “platform, support and tools” are “a game changer for my business and a win for my clients,” she said in a statement.

Joe Velasco moves to Coldwell Banker

Members of the Joe Velasco Group, led by Joe Velasco, have joined Coldwell Banker Realty’s Los Gatos office from Intero Real Estate Services. Before his year and a half at the Cupertino office of the Berkshire Hathaway affiliate, Velasco spent nearly six years as a realtor at Compass’ Palo Alto office, according to his LinkedIn. He founded his eponymous group in 2011, when he was also with Intero.

Velasco became an agent in 2001 and has hit $2 billion in sales volume since then, according to a Coldwell press release. In 2024, he and his team closed over $180 million in sales volume across 90 transactions.

Velasco operates in both Silicon Valley and the Peninsula and told The Real Deal that “joining Coldwell Banker Realty and the Los Gatos office was a clear decision for me” given its “collaborative culture, incredible energy, and unwavering support from leadership.”

In a statement, Kamini Lane, president and CEO of Coldwell Banker Realty, called Velasco’s record “remarkable” and said she was “thrilled” to have the team come aboard.

Christina Khosrowabadi leaves Side for Christie’s Sereno

Silicon Valley agent Christie Khosrowabadi has brought her Side-affiliated Redefine Real Estate firm to Christie’s International Real Estate Sereno. Redefine focuses on real estate representation as well as integrated design and construction management, according to a Sereno press release. Khosrowabadi has had $140 million in sales since 2022. She is a second-generation realtor and a lifelong Silicon Valley resident.

In a statement, Chris Trapani, co-founder and CEO of Christie’s Sereno, called Khosrowabadi “a standout in every sense — sharp, thoughtful and fiercely committed to her clients.”

Khosrowabadi told TRD that, though she valued her experience with Side, she was looking to align with a “more locally rooted” company with a stronger presence in the luxury market.

“Sereno stood out to me for its supportive culture, commitment to the community, and the like-minded agents I’ve had the pleasure of connecting with,” she said.

Vanguard expands in Berkeley with new Northbrae office

Vanguard has expanded its East Bay presence, opening up a nearly 2,000-square-foot office at 1600 Hopkins Street in the Northbrae neighborhood of Berkeley. The new office comes after the San Francisco-based firm opened a Montclair office last summer. The two offices will “operate closely, holding joint meetings and fostering strong collaboration,” Vanguard COO David Chol told TRD.

The latest expansion came after some Vanguard Berkeley agents encouraged Chol to chat with agents Christian and Ali Thede, Chol told TRD. Christian’s late mother, Anita was “a local icon” who worked in the building for decades alongside her son under the Northbrae Properties name.

The location near Monterey Market and Gioia Pizza is among the most desirable in Berkeley, Chol said, as well as “an ideal” spot for Berkeley agents, who often work in nearby areas like El Cerrito, Albany and Kensington.

“After seeing the space and speaking with our agents, it became clear that we couldn’t pass up the opportunity,” Chol said.

The Thedes own the building and will continue to run their private office out of it, with Vanguard signing a lease on 90 percent of the space. After Chol secured the office, he began designing the new digs with a “sophisticated yet comfortable aesthetic that pays homage to its midcentury roots.” It has 14 dedicated desks, six drop-in seats, two communal seating areas, two private conference rooms, and an administrative room. Plans for the 750-square-foot courtyard include two lounge seating areas surrounding gas fire pits, a dining space, and a large TV for agent and community events or “simply a hangout spot on game day,” Chol said.

“We envision this space as much as a community hub as a real estate office,” he said, adding that the new office was packed during the grand opening in May “until the bar ran dry and I flashed the lights,” with about 120 attendees from across different brokerages and the larger community.

In addition to mother-daughter team Norah and Daniella Brower, the office also hosts Berkeley agents Nancy Noman and Adam Hatch, who came over from Compass in December “in anticipation of the new office,” Chol said. More recently, two more Compass agents also came aboard: Ruth Frassetto and Sabrina Iacullo. Chol said there are more new agents to come, but their names could not be made public yet.

San Francisco team opens Latin American office

A San Francisco-headquartered real estate group led by Compass’ Andy Ardila and David Costello is opening a new office focused on premier resort residential and branded development projects across Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. The 15-person ACT group has hit over $8 billion in career sales and specializes in residential sales and urban new development across the Bay Area, according to a press release, as well as high-end resort and private island properties throughout the Americas.

Revolution Places, headed by AOL co-Founder Steve Case, has chosen ACT as the exclusive sales and marketing partner for its Waldorf Astoria Residences Punta Cacique. The move is part of the launch of sales for its fully furnished four- and five-bedroom cliffside Estate Homes with unobstructed water views, priced from the mid-$7 millions. The resort — the Waldorf’s first hotel in Costa Rica — is part of a multiphase master plan for a 600-acre Punta Cacique luxury resort destination on land Case acquired 17 years ago.

The ACT Team’s resort portfolio also includes Four Seasons Peninsula Papagayo, One&Only Mandarina, Rosewood Mayakoba, Six Senses Costa Rica and Mandarin Oriental Residences Las Vegas.