Team Carte Blanche Leaves The Agency for Compass Return

A three-person team is heading back to Compass after nearly three years.

Team Carte Blanche is returning from a stint with Triplemint and The Agency. Team leader Aaron Seawood said the move was in the interest of expanding into new markets and the company’s back-end platform, which was still under construction when the team left.

Seawood and his team worked at Compass for five years before leaving in January 2020 to join Triplemint, which The Agency acquired one year ago. At the time of their departure, the team was tapped to lead Triplemint’s expansion into Brooklyn.

Seawood is a former entertainment executive who was a founding member of Compass’ sports and entertainment division. The broker said he brings $55 million in listings to Compass, including the loft former NBA player Carmelo Anthony paid $11 million for in 2015 at 508 West 24th Street.

Seawood isn’t the only broker leaving The Agency for another turn at Compass. Genna Skolnik, a Dallas-area broker, recently brought her team back to Compass after just two months at The Agency, as did the Henry Horn Group in Beverly Hills.

Compass last month ended a year-long pause on expansions when it added a 300-broker firm in Scottsdale, Arizona, in a deferred, all-equity deal, and picked up a team in upstate New York.

Compass was ranked the largest brokerage by volume in 2022 — the second year in a row, according to Real Trends. But the firm saw its headcount sputter at the end of last year.

The number of principal agents — defined as a team leader or agent operating independently — was up by 112 in the fourth quarter of last year, while its total number of agents rose by just 58, according to its annual report.

The brokerage, which lost $600 million last year and predicted it will be cash-flow positive in the second quarter, is slated to announce its first quarter results next week.