Alexandra Kerr is a real estate agent with Compass in the greater Los Angeles area. She was born in New Hampshire. Her mother and father met in New York, her mother immigrated from Germany back in the early sixties. She was working for believe it or not Ferrari in the sixties. She had a lot of famous people come in to the store, from Miles Davis to Steve McQueen. One of the rules in the company was you can never date any of the clients. They're all going to ask you out for coffee or drinks and you’re not allowed to accept. Relentless request after request, she just said, “Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope, can't do it.” When her dad came in, this salt-of-the-earth guy who just happened to have a little thing for cars. He occasionally would buy a car as they weren't expensive at the time. He said, “Can I buy you a cup of coffee?” And she said, “Absolutely.”
That was the beginning of her parents' relationship. Sadly, it didn't last, after a few years they divorced and Alexandra and her mother then moved to Boston for a short time. While her mom was at work, Alexandra then became the quasi ninth child of a family that lived on the first level of their triple-apartment home. This family of eight lived in a two bedroom apartment were some of the happiest people she could ever possibly describe, nothing ever phased them. Alexandra became the ninth O'Brien. That was a very pivotal chapter in her life because there was a lot of very positive influence from that family, very Irish Catholic, also salt of the earth, really, really wonderful people.
At nine years old, Alexandra and her mother moved back to her mother’s home country of Germany and enrolled her into a boarding school. This was an extremely positive experience in an idyllic setting on a lake. They had den mothers as they were called that took the best care of the children. Alexandra’s mom was working full-time, and without the boarding school would have otherwise made her a latchkey kid. Two years into boarding school, Alexandra’s mother married a CEO of a major Fortune 500 company based in Connecticut, though the company moved both him and her mom to Paris which Alexandra would visit during vacation time from school.
After boarding school, Alexandra went to Columbia University in New York and really developed a passion for filmmaking and thought she would be the next great film producer. After attending grad school at Syracuse, she was lucky enough to get a job in Germany with a company to work alongside European filmmakers and a consortium of three producers, one French, one German and one British.
Working in Munich in the early nineties was a really incredible time because there was just a whole new movement for, towards independent filmmaking, both in Europe and in the United States. She was able to work with a lot of amazing film directors, including Louis Malle, a very famous French film director. As time went on, they asked Alexandra to move to Los Angeles as they were setting up a company there. Mystified by the prospect of moving to LA because it was almost like moving to Mars in terms of how different the culture was. Her then boyfriend, now husband, was the one who said, "Let's give it a shot. Why not?” After landing in LA and setting up that branch of the company, she ended up producing a number of indie films including the Usual Suspects, which was really such an incredible experience on so many levels. They went on to do a couple of other great films such as Paul Thomas Anderson's first movie called Hard Eight. After that the burnout started to set in and Alexandra decided to go off and be an independent producer, which was much different than her mother’s preferred career for her - real estate.
After a while, the burnout set in again and she was looking for more flexibility and not continuing the grind that she had been so accustomed to. Rather than going into real estate at this point, she became a relocation consultant for a really wonderful boutique company in LA called Quest Relocation that was founded, started, and still to this day operated all by women. They welcomed her with open arms and began an incredible journey. All the while, she had her mother gently whispering in her ear, “You know, you really should get into real estate”. Which is when that career transition began.
Alexandra then started off with Berkshire Hathaway where she worked on a team that she admired, beginning with assisting their lease clients. She states this was a perfect way to not only grow her business, but to become more savvy in the trade. Leasers become buyers there are a lot of real estate agents don't touch the idea of a lease because they don’t look past the commission to see the amount of good that it will bring. With all of these different chapters in her life, they have all served her very well when it comes to her business. In the context of flexibility and always having the need and desire to meet people from all walks of life.
Alexandra then started off with Berkshire Hathaway where she worked on a team that she admired, beginning with assisting their lease clients. She states this was a perfect way to not only grow her business, but to become more savvy in the trade. Leasers become buyers there are a lot of real estate agents don't touch the idea of a lease because they don’t look past the commission to see the amount of good that it will bring.
After being sought out multiple times from the recruiters at Compass asking to sit down for coffee, and Alexandra replying that she was happy where she was currently at with no interest in leaving, Compass finally won her over with their culture. It resonated with her because of her own similar values and her own professional approach on how she conducts business. She signed a contract within a matter of days and has not looked back since.