The W Team Leaves Serhant For Compass

A top-performing Serhant team has departed the two-year-old brokerage for Compass.

Maggie Wu’s The W Team was named 21st most successful small team by volume in New York City with $102 million in self-reported sales last year, according to RealTrends.

Wu was previously attached to a high-profile new development project when Serhant took over sales of the penthouses atop 277 Fifth Avenue in July 2022. The agent, along with brokerage founder Ryan Serhant, bumped Corcoran from its spot marketing the entirety of Victor Group and Lendlease’s Fifth Avenue tower. Wu said her team is not taking those listings to Compass.

The team’s departure marks the second exit by a top performer after broker Tamir Shemesh was terminated from the firm earlier this year for unknown reasons. He later announced he was joining Nest Seekers, marking his fourth brokerage in six years.

The move to Compass is a homecoming for team lead Wu, who started her career there in 2019 before departing just over a year ago to start a team at Serhant.

Wu isn’t the only notable name to return to Compass this week. Former Compass California President Mark McLaughlin returned as its chief real estate strategist, the same title he held before his departure to focus on his eponymous venture capital firm, but a different role.

Wu said her team includes a guaranteed minimum for agents aimed at “eliminating bias” in the sales process.

“I think there’s a little bit of a conflict of interest in the way our compensation is structured,” said Wu. “How can you sell something with no bias and push people to buy something if that’s your next paycheck?”

She’s also recruited outside of real estate: Her most recent hire, Michelle Pinner, was previously an executive director at MAC Cosmetics, and team member Isabelle Van Oppen was a paralegal when she and Wu met at a Thanksgiving dinner party.