Just days after the Corcoran Group announced that it is terminating franchise agreements with Corcoran Global Living offices in the Southern California region, five offices and an estimated 70 agents in the Sierra Nevada region made the decision to walk over to Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Drysdale Properties, according to Gretchen Pearson, the broker-owner of BHHS Drysdale.
“It was an 80 to 90 person region up there for Corcoran Global Living, so we got the bulk of them,” Pearson said. “To try and keep as much consistency and calm and peace for the agents involved, we moved in and secured the spaces they are in. It seems like a good fit for us. They are nimble and were able to move quick enough as they work to protect their client’s transactions.”
The offices making the move to BHHS Drysdale from Corcoran Global Living include those in South Lake Tahoe, California; Tahoe City, California; Incline Village, Nevada; Minden, Nevada; and Truckee, California.
The Incline Village office will be BHHS Drysdale’s second in the city, but all other offices are the first for the firm in those locations.
“These were a perfect fit because we entered Northern Nevada about seven years ago, so we are still filling in some holes strategically,” Pearson said. “In those newer markets for us, it helps us really get more credibility and substance.”
Among the agents making the move are many top performers, including Michael Oliver and Theresa Souers.
“It isn’t a walkover; we are literally running over,” Souers, a Lake Tahoe-based owner-broker, said.
Until the fall of 2020, Souers’ firm was an independent brokerage. She said they considered going back to being an independent, but ultimately decided to join forces with BHHS Drysdale and Pearson.
“Gretchen’s company offered everything we are looking for — the ability to run the company still as a local company and yet have the backing of and wonderful reputation of Berkshire Hathaway and the tool they can offer our agents,” Souers said. “It was pretty much a win-win for us.”
Another top performer who made the move to BHHS is Alison Elder.
“We feel extraordinarily lucky to be part of Dan and Gretchen’s organization,” Elder said. “I am a brands person. I like good brands and large organizations. When Corcoran cancelled the franchise agreements, we were looking for a new home and then Gretchen reached out and she and Dan took a big step forward to transitioning the Corcoran franchise to BHHS Drysdale and it just seemed like a natural fit.”
In 2021, Elder recorded $138.87 million in sales volume, good enough for 229th place nationwide in the RealTrends Tom Ferry The Thousand Individual producer rankings. In addition, the 124 transaction sides she closed helped her land the ranking of No. 30 in the state of California for the 2022 RealTrends America’s Best rankings.
In November, three separate lawsuits filed by former Corcoran Global Living agents alleged fraudulent behavior and breach of contract from Mahon. Several agents told Inman News in November that they didn’t receive commission checks for closed deals. Corcoran Global Living was Corcoran’s largest franchise before the franchise agreements were terminated this week.
This story had been updated to include commentary from Alison Elder.
