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Leading LA luxury agent Ernie Carswell and his team have departed Douglas Elliman and joined Sotheby’s International Realty – Beverly Hills Brokerage, Inman has learned exclusively.
The Kendra Sells Hollywood star had been affiliated with Douglas Elliman for the past eight years, and his team, Ernie Carswell & Associates, was the top medium Douglas Elliman team in California in 2024 by gross commission income (GCI), volume and transactions, according to the firm’s Ellie Awards announced in March. In 2023 and 2024, the team closed more than $300 million in total sales volume.
Carswell told Inman he was attracted to Sotheby’s International Realty’s reputable luxury brand, which has been a consistent fixture in the industry.
Ernie Carswell
“It’s a company that has held my fascination and respect since I became an agent 30 years ago or more,” Carswell told Inman.
“It’s basically a [nearly] 300-year-old brand name that has withstood the test of time, changing governments, changing economies, changing markets, and they still sustain, so they have my respect.”
The luxury star said that kind of brand stability has become increasingly important to him over the last three years as the industry has withstood intense upheaval between leadership scandals at the National Association of Realtors and commission lawsuits that have shaken consumer confidence in agents.
“We’ve really had it from all sides in the industry, and I am here to build back the understanding between our profession and the public trust,” Carswell said. “That is what needs to happen, and it also needs to happen between the agents and their companies because a lot of trust has been broken.”
Carswell also pointed to recent rumors swirling around about major firms being acquired by others — like talk of an alleged Compass/Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices deal and an alleged Anywhere/Douglas Elliman deal — and how insecure that can make agents feel, which hinders them from doing their daily jobs.
On top of those issues, Carswell acknowledged that while he has nothing but good things to say about the service he received at Douglas Elliman, recent leadership shakeups at the firm that spun out of mounting quarterly losses and the shocking revelation last summer that two of the firm’s long-time top agents, Tal and Oren Alexander, had been accused by dozens of women of sexual assault, proved at a minimum distracting for a busy agent trying to deliver for his clients. The Alexander brothers were later imprisoned on federal charges of sex trafficking and conspiring to commit sex trafficking, and are scheduled for trial in January.
“When I talked with executives at Douglas Elliman about my decision, I let them know that I have had nothing but great support from Douglas Elliman, the ability to produce and craft my work for my clients with no interruption,” Carswell said. “I try not to look at all of that that’s going on elsewhere, maybe in the company or in the business — however, yes, it’s a distraction.”
“I’m a very favorable Douglas Elliman-departing agent,” Carswell continued, “but the Alexander scandal — oh my god, I mean, it’s sort of like Watergate. It just consumes the industry, the press and the agents. It’s hard to ignore that when you’re working and that’s being thrown at you every day, so you have to keep your head down and focus extra hard to ignore what’s being said.”
Philip White | Sotheby’s International Realty
A representative for Douglas Elliman told Inman they wished Carswell and his team “all the best.”
Carswell joined Douglas Elliman in 2017 when he sold a brokerage he cofounded, Teles Properties, to the firm. Fifteen agents will be joining Carswell in the move from Elliman to Sotheby’s International Realty.
“We are thrilled to welcome Carswell & Associates to Sotheby’s International Realty,” Sotheby’s International Realty President and CEO Philip White said in a statement. “Ernie and his team are deeply respected in the Los Angeles real estate community, and we look forward to supporting their continued success as they bring their extraordinary market expertise and client service to our global network.”
Carswell’s team specializes in the neighborhoods of Beverly Hills, Bel Air, the Sunset Strip, Hollywood Hills, Brentwood, Encino and Pasadena. One of their top sales included the $25 million sale of the University of Southern California president’s mansion, which set a new price record for Pasadena in 2021.
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