Such thinking has led to a plethora of high-end sales across the country, with Sotheby’s International Realty even receiving several qualified offers on a $155 million ranch near Santa Barbara on the California coast. The offers came as a result of innovative marketing strategies that featured helicopter rides over the property’s expanse with a break for champagne-assisted picnic lunches. The company ensured that buyers were qualified on the front end by asking them to finance the private helicopter tour of the 24,000-acre holding. Similar strategies led to successful sales at the Four Seasons Resort Jackson Hole. Korte formally introduced the elite Wyoming property to a New York audience with a wine tasting in the boardroom of Sotheby’s auction house, inviting one hundred of Sotheby’s best auction and realty clients. The networking evening was a success, hosting some of the biggest names in New York real estate, and generating several qualified leads. With Sotheby’s International Realty’s Jackson Hole office managing the local marketing and sales effort, all available units in the resort quickly sold out. The firm is now handling resales.
Korte has in fact prepared for her role as President and CEO since day one. From the beginning, she has known what is expected of the company: “Our brand is venerable and our legacy is service – premium service and expertise in the valuation of property, and in the marketing skills that secure the best price for any kind of treasured asset, whether it’s a work of art or a real estate offering. The most important part of my job is to uphold the integrity and quality that the Sotheby’s brand promises and that we continue to provide that every day.”
Korte describes a two-fold vision, one based on growth in new markets and also targeting a new generation that might not be as familiar with the Sotheby’s name. “We’re always assessing opportunities to open new offices- new frontiers where our brand and premium service can make a difference,” Korte says. “At the same time, we realize that even in our most successful markets, we have to freshen our approach, making the Sotheby’s name as meaningful to younger buyers as it has been to longstanding clients who we’ve worked with for decades.” To that end, Korte was very involved in the recent revamping of the Sotheby’s International Realty website and all related “e-marketing” initiatives currently in place and planned for weeks, months, and years ahead.
“Sotheby’s works across all levels,” she explains. “Our idea of luxury service is based on who we are, rather than what a client’s budget may be. We deliver premium service and expertise at any price category, whether it’s the $155 million ranch in California or a $700,000 condominium.” Korte is still very much involved in the field, and names her current favorite Sotheby’s properties as Donald Trump’s $125 million home in Palm Beach, as well as a 200-year-old authentic barn in Bridgehampton, listed for $16.3 million. “This barn has all the old world charm of a Tuscany farmhouse, with a huge, magnificent loft with cathedral beam ceilings, fast-forwarded into modern times with an entertainment center and every possible amenity,” she says. “It’s timeless and contemporary, a mix of the old and the new.”
This powerful combination of old and new is something that Korte creates every day, combining the traditional values of the Sotheby’s brand with the technology of a new century. In the end, Korte is ready for whatever the marketplace has in store. “It’s been an amazing ride for me, and the journey continues.”
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