Elliman’s Top Team In Connecticut Joins Compass

Douglas Elliman’s top-producing team in Connecticut is moving to Compass.

Jennifer Leahy and her team, known for brokering the eight-figure sale of a private island off the state’s Gold Coast, are switching brokerages after more than a decade at Elliman. The cohort, which primarily works in Fairfield and Westchester counties, includes six other agents, all joining Leahy at her new firm.

The Greenwich native said the move came after Reffkin, Compass’ CEO and founder, reached out to her,

“Robert [Reffkin] was really the impetus behind it,” Leahy said of her departure from Elliman, which she characterized as “not acrimonious.”

Leahy’s move comes as Compass has scooped up a number of brokers from Elliman across key luxury markets. Between January and September last year, 39 former Elliman agents in New York, California, Florida and Texas joined Compass with a self-reported sales volume totaling roughly $1 billion. Compass later told The Real Deal that total rose to 55 by the end of 2024.

Leahy’s team notched more than $165 million in sales in 2023, the latest volume reported by RealTrends. Leahy’s team has held the top spot among Elliman’s teams in Connecticut since 2020, according to a press release announcing her move.

A spokesperson for Elliman said the firm was “proud of the agent Jennifer came to be working for Douglas Elliman, and we wish her nothing but the best in her next endeavor.”

In her new role, Leahy said she plans to do more business by leveraging Compass’ large pool of agents and to continue fostering a “growth mindset.”

She added that she hopes she can teach a meditation class to other Compass agents, something she’d done at her former firm.

Two years ago, Leahy’s team sold a 60-acre peninsula to the town of Darien for $85 million, following more than a year of negotiations. The property, which included a sprawling estate, belonged to descendants of the industrialist William Ziegler, who purchased the land 120 years ago. Ziegler’s granddaughter initially listed it for $175 million in 2016 but later dropped the price to $100 million.

Ahead of Leahy’s departure, her team’s listings on Elliman’s website included an island in Branford asking $35 million and a seven-bedroom mansion in Greenwich asking $11 million. The broker said she’s bringing most of her listings with her to Compass, though she’s still in talks with Elliman.

Leahy is joining Compass on the heels of another major departure from the firm’s West Coast outpost. “Million Dollar Listing” star Tracy Tutor and her team departed for Compass last week, with an active listings pipeline totaling $550 million across Beverly Hills, Dallas and Austin.

Tudor’s exit came after much speculation that she and her 18-person team were planning to leave Elliman after she told the New York Times she “blacked out” after sharing a drink with Oren Alexander in 2014, when he was still a top agent at Douglas Elliman along with his brother Tal. Tudor denied that her leaving was connected to the incident with Oren.

Earlier this week, Compass closed the deal to acquire @properties and Christie’s International Real Estate, a merger it announced last month. The deal was valued at roughly $444 million and included title and mortgage businesses.