Reality television and real estate star Ryan Serhant is expanding his rapidly growing brokerage into another major market with the opening of a Chicago office.
The national brokerage has grown rapidly in 2026, stepping into Massachusetts, Texas, California, and Colorado. Now, it will take on the Chicago metro and North Shore markets with a team of experienced agents and a proprietary AI platform dubbed S.MPLE.
Serhant’s Chicago team is composed of four founding agents and 18 additional agents representing more than $600 million in trailing 12-month sales volume throughout Chicagoland, according to a press release shared with Realtor.com.
Expanding into Chicago was a natural move to meet growing demand, Serhant told Realtor.com.
“The way we operate, the way our agents operate, and the value that we provide our customers is in such demand across the country that we are now opening in Chicago,” Serhant said. “It’s not due to the time of year or the weather, it’s that there’s so much demand for what we do. I’m just really excited to bring SERHANT. to this incredible market.”
The real estate tycoon said he has spent a lot of time in Chicago and has a deep appreciation for the agents and entrepreneurs in the city. He said he is excited to “align forces and provide Chicago with a new option for a way forward” in the housing market.
Chicago has a significant personal meaning to Serhant, which makes this milestone extra impactful. He recalls visiting museums in the city with his grandmother, who was an art teacher at a school in Kenosha, WI. As a kid growing up in Texas, Chicago felt like “the big city,” to Serhant.
“I remember my grandfather talking about how Chicago defined the great American city. And I had no idea what that meant at the time, but I am reminded of that now so deeply because I want to help define what Chicago’s next generation of real estate looks like,” he shared. “It has the architecture, it has the waterfront, the neighborhoods. The job of a firm like ours is to put those homes in front of the largest qualified buyer audience on the planet.”
SERHANT. agents are able to succeed in that task with the help of the company’s AI operating system, S.MPLE. The tool handles administrative tasks in order to save the average user between three and five hours per week, allowing them to spend more time doing what they do best: selling homes.
And they are good at selling homes.
The Chicago expansion continues SERHANT.’s trend of recruiting top-performing agents in each market. Junior agents with the company must have a minimum of $10 million in sales per year, and the minimum for principal agents increases to $25 million in sales per year. However, Serhant points out that most founding agents do over $50 million per year.
Chicago native Melissa Siegal, who has $650 million in career sales under her belt, wanted to join the brokerage as a founding agent because in the years that she’s followed Serhant, his approach to selling has intrigued her.
“I’m drawn to SERHANT. because the brand feels young, fresh, and forward-thinking. Its approach to AI, technology, and creative marketing reflects where I see real estate heading,” said Siegal in the press release. “I’m excited for a new opportunity to grow, bring that energy to my business, and find creative ways to help my clients stand out.”
Among the founding agents are also Bobby Grilli, who has $130 million in career sales, Brendan Murphy, with $250 million in career sales, and Jennifer Mills-Klatt, who boasts over $1 billion in sales over her nearly 40-year career.
“SERHANT. has an energetic trajectory that is continually enhancing people’s lives,” said Mills-Klatt. “After 37 years in this business, I know the difference between a brokerage that’s maintaining and one that’s building. SERHANT. is building, and I’m proud to bring that energy to Chicago.”
Serhant’s ultimate goal is to reduce friction in the home buying and selling process, which he describes as “a fragmented transaction.” By assembling top-performing teams paired with technology like S.MPLE, he is sure he can help create more movement and more mobility.
“My mission in life is to help the housing market,” Serhant said. “To do that, we need to help the world move forward.”
