Real eState

Josh Flagg Joins Compass Brokerage, Returns Soon for ‘Million Dollar Listing’ Season 15 (Exclusive)

Published

6 months ago

March 12, 2024

Josh Flagg is moving to a new home — a new home brokerage, that is.

The celebrity real estate agent and Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles star is joining Compass in its Beverly Hills Office, as Flagg reveals exclusively to The Hollywood Reporter.

“I made the strategic decision to join the top brokerage in the country. Compass’ sterling reputation, extensive network, cutting-edge agent resources, and unwavering commitment to professionalism align perfectly with my values and business goals,” says Flagg in a statement. “With this new partnership, I am confident I will gain access to new opportunities for growth and deliver exceptional results for my clients.” (In 2022, according to RealTrends, Compass did $228 billion in residential sales in the U.S., placing it at No. 1 in the country by volume.)

Josh Flagg in *Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles*

Nicole Weingart/Bravo

In a phone interview with THR, Flagg says that he’s bringing more than $400 million in residential listings with him over to Compass. His current listings include a prime property that’s just hit the market for $11.495 million, a Wallace Neff-designed mansion in Bel Air that’s the former estate of Judy Garland. “It’s an exquisite traditional home that’s been completely renovated down to the studs,” says Flagg, who’s also selling The Knoll House in Pasadena, a 1916 mansion designed by Myron Hunt and Gordon Kaufman. “It’s the most expensive house in Pasadena,” he says. “It’s also the biggest house. It’s 32,000 square feet with a 20,000-square-foot art gallery.”

Flagg was long a star agent at Rodeo Realty before moving in 2021 to Douglas Elliman, which remains home to his Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles co-stars Josh and Matt Altman and Tracy Tutor. “While I am grateful for my years at Douglas Elliman, especially my colleagues who are like family, I look forward to my next venture. I love Elliman and wish everyone at the firm my very best,” says Flagg, adding that he doesn’t think his move will affect the Bravo show. “We all have amazing relationships and do business together, I don’t see this changing our dynamic in any way whatsoever.”

As for what to expect in the season 15 of Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles, Flagg says he’s not yet at liberty to discuss the upcoming season. “We don’t have a date yet but it’s coming out very shortly,” is all he would say.

Last year, Flagg got into the media business, launching Estate Media, which focuses on real estate content including video, newsletters and podcasts — former Million Dollar Listing stars James Harris and David Parnes recently joined Estate Media’s talent roster — and he published his third book, The Deal: Secrets for Mastering the Art of Negotiation in late 2022.

He’s also firmly committed to living full-time in Los Angeles, despite buying a house in Miami last summer. “I’ve only been there once for 45 minutes,” says Flagg of the vacation home, which he purchased for $4.25 million along with business partners Adam Rubin and Andrew Shanfeld of private equity and real estate investment firm Carolwood LP.

Flagg lives in Beverly Hills, where he bought a new residence in 2022, a 1926 Italian villa that was listed for $9.2 million and boasts seven bedrooms and more than 7,100 square feet of living space.

Judy Garland’s former Bel Air estate, designed by architect Wallace Neff and completed in 1938, sits on nearly 2.9 acres and includes five bedrooms with 5,513-square-feet of living space.

Paul Barnaby

Flagg, who regularly makes THR‘s list of Hollywood’s Top Real Estate Agents, specializes in luxury properties in Beverly Hills, Holmby Hills and Bel Air and regularly sets records in the flats of Beverly Hills. He’s repped such clients as UTA’s Tracey Jacobs, Universal Music Publishing Group chairman and CEO Jody Gerson and Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen.

“We’re excited to officially welcome Josh to Compass,” said Compass founder and CEO Robert Reffkin in a statement. “With Josh’s experience and forward-looking approach to his business, I am excited for what he will achieve at Compass.”

In the fall of 2023, the brokerage also unveiled Compass AI, designed to help its agents with creating listing descriptions among other marketing strategies.

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Real eState

Mortgage rule changes will help spark demand, but supply is ‘core’ issue: economist

Published

2 days ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.

The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.

The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.

CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.

However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.

Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.

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Real eState

National housing market in ‘holding pattern’ as buyers patient for lower rates: CREA

Published

3 days ago

September 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.

The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.

On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.

CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”

The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.

The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.

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Real eState

Two Quebec real estate brokers suspended for using fake bids to drive up prices

Published

1 week ago

September 11, 2024

Anne Joseph

MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.

Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.

She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.

The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.

One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.

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