Top Bay Area Luxury Broker Returns to The Agency

Tracy McLaughlin, one of the Bay Area’s top luxury residential agents, has returned to The Agency after nearly a year at German-based Engel & Völkers.

McLaughlin spent eight months with Engel and Völkers primarily to open up an Aspen office with her daughter Whitney McLaughlin. The Aspen office is up and running; therefore Tracy decided to return to The Agency, while Whitney runs operations in Colorado.

“There were some complications being out with The Agency in Colorado and The Agency in Marin, so we went to Engel & Völkers,” Mclaughlin told TRD. “I thought I better grab a brokerage that is in both markets and all the complications would go away. … There’s nothing bad about Engel & Völkers, it’s just that the [Agency’s] brand really works with our family and what we’re trying to do in Aspen with my daughters.”

In 2022, McLaughlin was ranked 18th in the state in terms of sales with $233 million in deals, according to Real Trends. She has also been the number one agent in Marin County since 2005, according to Laura Corrigan from The Agency.

McLaughlin joined The Agency in 2019 after a stint with Compass, which bought Pacific Union, the brokerage she owned since 2009 with her then partner Mark McLaughlin. The brokerage giant paid north of $80 million to acquire Pacific Union.

McLaughlin has been working in the Marin market during her time at Engel & Völkers, and the current state of the market is experiencing a shortage of inventory.

“The problem with the market is not that there is a lack of demand; the problem is that there is a lack of volume and trading in our industry,” McLaughlin said. “When you have that reduced volume, business is just challenging. There’s great sales going on, but the volume is just off. I’m still selling at record prices — there’s just not a lot of homes to sell right now.”

McLaughlin sees the Marin marketing continuing with current trends for the rest of the year.

“I see it a lot like it is now,” she said. “The volume will remain low and the good houses will sell quickly with high prices. Homes that are not Grade A inventory will languish or sell far below their peak COVID prices.”

The Agency has brought new talent to its Northern California operations in recent weeks with the addition of Mark Choi, Helene Barkin, Noah Matthew, Dan & Ellis Clark and The Karen Richardson Group. Combined the agents represent about $200 million in volume.