Ryan Serhant Announces Major Expansion Across California—and Reveals How He Plans To Navigate Wildfire Fallout and Billionaire Tax Backlash

Real estate tycoon Ryan Serhant is making his biggest move yet—expanding his eponymous brokerage into California, where he believes his business will find its greatest opportunities for success, even amid a time of great volatility in the wake of the 2025 wildfires and fallout from a proposed billionaire tax on the state's wealthiest residents.

The 41-year-old founder of Serhant has officially launched across Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, San Francisco, and Lake Tahoe, with an agent roster responsible for more than $2 billion in annual sales volume, according to a press release shared with Realtor.com®. 

Serhant is launching in California with 16 founding agents, including former “Buying Beverly Hills” star Ben Belack, who will serve as one of the founding agents and executive vice president of Serhant’s California headquarters. 

The move marks the company’s largest market debut to date and its 16th state since expanding beyond New York, underscoring the firm’s rapid national growth.

It is a milestone moment for Serhant and one that has taken years of careful planning. Yet, at the same time, the real estate mogul says it also feels completely inevitable.

“I mean, it’s pretty clear for one, in the United States, to truly be a national company, California is not optional, I think it’s foundational,” he tells Realtor.com. “If you're building a national platform to empower the next generation of salespeople, yes, but also homebuyers and home sellers, you have to be in California.”

He adds: “I believe it’s where brand culture, media, technology, and real estate really collide, and it’s one of the most important real estate markets in the world.”

The expansion continues a pattern that has defined Serhant’s career—launching during moments of uncertainty.

His decision to launch in California comes at a tricky time for the housing market, which was heavily impacted by the 2025 wildfires and is now seeing an exodus of its wealthiest residents fleeing a proposed billionaire tax.

The proposed legislation, which would apply a one-time 5% tax to any billionaire who was a full-time resident in the Golden State as of Jan. 1, 2026, has already seen several of California's wealthiest residents moving their homes, businesses, and personal wealth to other states—and has faced furious backlash from critics, including Gov. Gavin Newsom.

For many, choosing this moment to expand a real estate business to the Golden State might seem risky. But Serhant says he's never shied away from taking the risks that others fear.

“I like to do things against the grain,” he says, recalling how he started his brokerage in September 2020, during the height of the pandemic.

“I remember doing interviews … and the first thing everyone would ask me is, ‘Are you sick? Are you OK? Why would you start a company right now? New York is dead, real estate is over, we’re all gonna die.’ That didn’t happen, and it was the best decision we could have made.

“The demand for Serhant in California is the most we've ever seen it from any market."

Despite the tax proposal and the backlash to it, Serhant still sees this moment as one of opportunity, not least because it has thrust California's policies and the corresponding ramifications into the spotlight.

“I think for right now, the opportunity is great—I think because there’s a lot of pressure on policy in the state," he says.

Still, the real estate mogul believes that the proposed tax bill will only serve to discourage financial growth in the state—insisting that policy should not punish residents, but rather empower and inspire them to achieve new heights.

“Policy should never create punishment. It should create prizes. You want to incentivize your constituents," he says. "Every state is a company. Creating a tax on wealth disincentivizes not just the wealthy, but anyone who was hoping to become wealthy.

“People will gladly pay more taxes if they're earning more … but until you can show people what you've done with the money we've already given to you, you can't ask for more!"

The company’s expansion also comes after a year of navigating real-world crises, including assisting clients impacted by devastating California wildfires.

“We were very active during those fires. They're devastating,” Serhant says.

“We have family, friends, and clients who are, throughout Greater Los Angeles, who lost homes in the Palisades, and we created a hotline to help move people. We created a toll-free hotline that anyone could call where we could help them with housing, so that people didn't feel, you know, lost,” he says.

“We had partners in every state. It was super helpful. We moved people immediately because the rental market went through the roof, but it is what it is, and so we brought a lot of people to Connecticut and Florida and South Carolina, specifically.”

Even as he expands into one of the country’s most expensive housing markets, Serhant is pushing back on the widely cited narrative of a national housing shortage.

“I don't believe that there is a housing crisis. I believe that everyone who wants a house has one. It just might not be the house they thought they wanted," he states.

Indeed, California has seen a steady increase in its overall median sales price, which hit a six-year peak in 2025 at $745,417, according to Realtor.com data. Additionally, the current median listing price of $734,500—though not quite as high as it was in 2024, when it reached $756,099—is still well above the national figure of $415,450.

The state's luxury markets are also among the priciest across the U.S., something that Serhant, as an expert in marketing some of Manhattan's most expensive properties, will no doubt be hoping to leverage.

Summerland, for example, currently has a median listing price of $17.7 million, according to Realtor.com data, while Atherton's is $14 million. Newport Coast, where Serhant plans to focus at least some of his efforts, currently has a median listing price of $11.9 million.

But while there will be a focus on these areas, the businessman notes that his expansion into California will be anything but stereotypical.

Unlike many legacy brokerages, Serhant is not scaling through acquisitions. Instead, the firm builds markets organically by recruiting top-performing agents and equipping them with its in-house technology and media engine.

“We grow completely organically. We’re a content-to-community to platform, to commerce business,” he says.

“The $2 [billion] to $2.5 billion in sales volume that is joining us from San Francisco, San Diego, the OC, Beverly Hills, and Tahoe—it’s all coming organically.

“We buy no one, we buy nothing.”

That strategy is reflected in the firm’s California rollout, which includes a roster of high-profile agents across key luxury markets. 

In Los Angeles, top-producing broker Belack joins as Executive Vice President and founding member, bringing more than $1 billion in career sales. He said joining the firm felt like a natural fit.

“I’ve admired Ryan and what he’s built with Serhant for years, joining Serhant feels like a natural alignment,” he says in the press release. “I’m incredibly excited to help build California alongside Ryan and the Serhant team.” 

Also in Los Angeles, Courtney Poulos, founder of ACME Real Estate, joins as a founding member after more than two decades in the industry.

“The future belongs to the AI-enabled, media savvy and visible agent,” she adds in a press release. “The Serhant platform was irresistible.” 

In Orange County, Annie Clougherty joins as a founding member, bringing nearly $1 billion in career sales.

"Serhant’s identity as a media and marketing company first … immediately resonated with me,” she says. “It reflects a commitment to authentic relationships, now amplified on a global stage.” 

Meanwhile in San Diego, Malena Boetel and Amber Welch join as co-leaders of Serhant's Exclusive Group.

“Serhant is a media and tech-driven marketing platform that delivers results,” Boetel says. “Now, Serhant allows me to deliver at the highest level for my clients.” 

Welch adds: “Serhant is built for that evolution—combining elite sales strategy with unmatched media power to a global audience.” 

In Northern California, Lisa Smith joins to lead her team, citing the firm’s innovation-driven approach.

“Approaching the real estate industry from a media perspective … combined with amazing technology is what I believe to be the winning formula,” she says. 

At the core of the company’s strategy is its proprietary AI platform, S.MPLE, along with its in-house creative and media arms, which allow agents to amplify listings and reach global audiences. 

Serhant explains that this strategy has helped make it easier for foreign buyers to become customers as an influx of foreigners head to California.

“We can put our properties in front of all those people in the palm of their hand in 10 seconds,” Serhant tells Realtor.com. “We sell properties faster and for more money because we can create marketplaces."

Beyond business, Serhant, who previously confessed that he struggled balancing being a parent with being a CEO in "Owning Manhattan," also opened up about how his personal life has become intertwined with his work.

In September, Serhant's wife, Emilia, with whom he shares a daughter, Zena, announced that she had joined his New York brokerage—and has thus far proven herself to be a dab hand in the real estate business.

“I brought my wife to work. It’s unfair; my first deal was for like $700. Her first deal was for like $16 million," Serhant shares. "She’s a broker, but she’s an incredible culture champion here, especially for women and women in business.

“Zena’s now 7, and she’s very aware of what we do. She asks me about deals, and the company, and what states we are in. She’s like, ‘Oh great, do I live in California now?’ I’m like, no, not yet, and I’m like, ‘Just go back to being 3. It was much better.'”