Matthew Cohen Returns To BHS From Elliman

The former chief executive of a top-producing team at Douglas Elliman has left the firm for a second stint at Brown Harris Stevens, mere months after his last move.

Matthew Cohen, who joined the Holly Parker Team in November, is heading back to the 150-year-old brokerage to head his own team focused on resales and new development. His new cohort includes two agents from Elliman, Lexy Diamond and Jessica Silver, and another, Traci Guberman, already at BHS.

“Returning feels like coming home,” said Cohen, who was with BHS for more than three years before leaving for Elliman. He also spent a year at Halstead before it merged with BHS in 2020.

While on Parker’s team, Cohen was tasked with overseeing the day-to-day operations, and recruiting agents from New York, the Hamptons and Florida, while continuing to sell real estate.

But Cohen’s time on Parker’s team was short-lived. The two stopped working together in March, a move Cohen chalked up to wanting to lead his own team.

“We tested things out,” Parker said. “But it wasn’t the right fit with the team.”

Both Parker and a spokesperson for Douglas Elliman said they wished Cohen the best.

Last year, the Holly Parker Team placed 24th among top resale brokers in the city with $77 million in sales and 37th among new development brokers with deals totaling $62 million, according to The Real Deal’s annual ranking.

According to Cohen, he closed $60 million in sales last year, including a $3.3 million deal for a two-bedroom condo at 158 Franklin Street in Tribeca.

At BHS, Cohen’s team is slated to lead marketing at The Gild, a 28-unit condo development at 441 West 54th Street, when sales launch in the fall.

“With lowering mortgage rates and softening inflation combining to reactivate the real estate market, Matthew has chosen the best time to return home,” BHS CEO Bess Freedman wrote in a statement.

Cohen is the latest New York-based agent to jump from Elliman in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Lisa Simonsen also left Elliman to join BHS. Also in August, Maggie Marshall, once a member of two top-producing teams at Elliman, went to Compass to lead her own team. The Zweben Team, led by former restaurateur Paul Zweben and his wife Carolyn, also moved to Compass after two decades at Elliman.