Tri-state agents dominate BHS rankings

Call her the Tom Brady of Brown Harris Stevens. 

Lisa K. Lippman was named the firm’s top grossing broker for the seventh straight year, giving her as many in-house nods as Brady has Super Bowl rings — though Lippman’s titles have all come in a row.

Lippman, who was also named the firm’s top agent in Manhattan, could be in a good position to make it eight: she recently listed George Soros’ ex-wife’s Upper West Side apartment for $27.5 million. 

The broker was just one of dozens named by Brown Harris Stevens in the brokerage’s awards for the top company-wide and regional deals, teams and brokers for 2022. 

The firm’s top sale went to Vivian Dimond and Jeff Cohen, who represented Dubai developer Damac Properties in their $120 million purchase of the site of the deadly Surfside condo collapse, where 98 people died.

“We took action and moved fast,” Damac owner Hussain Sajwani told TRD of the deal. 

John Burger, who finished 12th in TRD’s 2021 Manhattan broker rankings, came in second among the firm’s individual agents. Christopher Burnside, who was sued last year by a client who claimed he used their listed home to engage in a “sex-capade” with an associate, finished as BHS’ top Hamptons broker and third overall.

Nine of the firm’s 10 highest-grossing agents last year were in New York City, the Hamptons or Connecticut. 

The top team in Manhattan was the Harkov Lewis Team and the top team in Brooklyn was the Cappi Colegrove Team. The top Brooklyn agent was Nancy Giddins. 

The only broker operating outside of the tri-state area to crack the top 10 was Josie Wang, based in Miami, who finished 10th. 

Wang in December represented the seller who Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro paid a record $10.5 million purchase of an eight-bedroom mansion in the South Florida city — narrowly beating a Pinecrest mansion that became the area’s priciest sale earlier that month. 

The top Miami team was the Keith & Sonia Team. Husband-and-wife duo Keith Marks and Sonia Toth joined BHS from Douglas Elliman in 2017. 

BHS counted a total of just under $3.6 billion in sell-side transactions in New York City last year, earning the firm fourth in The Real Deal’s ranking of Manhattan residential brokerages in 2022.  

CEO Bess Freedman said the brokerage was “optimistic as buyers and sellers adjust to our new reality.”

“After a record-breaking 2021 and first half of 2022, the 2023 housing market is shaping up to be a bit of a transition year as an improving economy and lower rates take hold,” Freedman said.