Picture: Michael Ostuni/Patrick McMullan by way of Getty Picture
Kelly Killoren Bensimon, former mannequin, Actual Housewife of New York Metropolis, and creator of Assouline books about bikinis and the Hamptons, has spent the previous few years carving out a profession as a real-estate agent. Because it seems, she’s fairly good at it. Bensimon bought $110 million in actual property final yr, which included a $41 million off-market deal, and was declared Douglas Elliman’s Rookie of the 12 months. Now Bensimon, who joined Douglas Elliman’s Holly Parker crew in 2019, is launching her personal six-person crew. The place did she come from, how did she rise within the real-estate trade, and what (and the way) is she promoting?
Why was Bensimon on the Actual Housewives? Bensimon, whose first modeling job as a youngster was for Tyson rooster, got here from a affluent midwestern household. After transferring to New York, she labored as a home mannequin for Donna Karan, as a reporter for high-end way of life publications similar to Gotham and Hamptons, edited Elle Equipment, and in 1997 married Elle photographer–artistic director Gilles Bensimon; the couple divorced a decade later. “As a jet-set energy couple, the Bensimons traveled between the capitals of trend, between a loft in Soho and a Hamptons unfold on Additional Lane overflowing with Hermès seaside towels,” in line with a New York Instances article about their breakup. Just a few years after the divorce, Bensimon appeared as a forged member on two seasons of The Actual Housewives of New York Metropolis, on which she famously and epically clashed with Bethenny Frankel, culminating within the “Scary Island” episode. Bensimon joined after just one season of the present, earlier than it grew to become an enormous, multicity franchise identified for its spectacularly messy fights, nevertheless it was nonetheless clear on the time that anybody providing up their life to a reality-TV present was cannon fodder. Why join that? “I needed to place my title up there,” she informed Harper’s Bazaar (which famous that her sofa was cluttered with pillows constituted of Hermès scarves) in 2009. “I used to be like, it’s not sufficient for New York to know me. I needed the remainder of America to know me. I’ve an incredible life. I’ve quite a lot of enjoyable. I’ve carried out wonderful books.”
How did she find yourself as a real-estate agent? She determined to get her real-estate license in 2017, after her mom grew to become in poor health they usually determined to promote the household’s house in Rockford, Illinois. “I needed to supervise issues. After I bought my home within the Hamptons, I wasn’t actually proud of the best way the sale was dealt with,” she informed me, however she wouldn’t go into the specifics about what she wasn’t proud of. (Maybe it was the worth: The 6,000-square-foot Additional Lane home listed for $12 million in January 2012 however went into contract for lower than half of that in October.) Bensimon spent about two weeks getting her real-estate license by way of an accelerated course. “Normally, it takes so much longer than that, nevertheless it’s a testomony to how I work,” she stated. “Go in and get it.” She began with Dolly Lenz Actual Property that very same yr. She then went on to work at Warburg Realty, however in social media, not gross sales. “I didn’t actually make the most of my license till Douglas Elliman,” she stated. “After which my first week at Douglas Elliman, I bought [an apartment at] 11 Seashore for $8 million. It feels like bragging, nevertheless it’s being on the proper place. They perceive my model, the best way to maximize and make the most of my contacts. Similar to how I do know who my shoppers are and converse their language.”
Who’re her shoppers? “Titans of the world.” That’s, folks Bensimon is aware of from her “multi-hyphenate” profession and life. “My shoppers have respect for me. They belief me; I defend them. They’ve identified me for therefore lengthy, have seen how exhausting I’ve labored all through my life.”
What sort of listings does Bensimon have? Up to now, Bensimon has primarily targeted on New York Metropolis, the Hamptons, and South Florida. “I attempt to give attention to areas I do know effectively. I quarantined in Palm Seashore, and I spent hours strolling by way of West Palm Seashore, so I do know it rather well. I’ve spent quite a lot of time in Miami as a result of I used to be a mannequin within the Ice Age. The Hamptons, I’ve been going there since I used to be 15. New York, clearly,” she stated. “Understanding the approach to life is basically, actually vital. Somebody isn’t going to drop $40 million in the event that they don’t know the place they’re going.” By means of Douglas Elliman’s Knight Frank community, she additionally has a list in Paris and one other in London.
Her crew’s present listings on the Douglas Elliman web site vary from a $7.75 million townhouse in Brooklyn Heights to a $530,000 two-bedroom on Beekman Place. (Which might appear to be an unbelievably whole lot, however the $4,795 month-to-month upkeep explains it.) There are additionally a number of two-bedrooms in Lengthy Island Metropolis. However these aren’t the true off-market whales or, within the Bensimon–crew terminology, a part of the “KKB reserve” listings — not for public consumption — that appear to make up a major chunk of her gross sales. Final yr, she brokered a $41 million deal at 150 Charles Avenue, connecting a shopper with a good friend who determined to promote his five-bedroom condominium there.
How does she promote it? “I smile so much, and I’ve quite a lot of power, and I feel that hopefully my enthusiasm shall be contagious and folks will reply to how a lot I really like New York,” Bensimon informed the Actual Deal in 2019. Additionally, like many profitable real-estate brokers, she has quite a lot of wealthy mates: “She’s very effectively related, and he or she is aware of New York,” Fredrik Eklund stated in a Bravo interview. “Superhard employee and has insane connections,” one other real-estate insider wrote to me. “I’m used to promoting one of the best of one of the best, and that’s what I’m doing,” Bensimon stated. “I’m additionally a very good listener. I take heed to what my shoppers need and what my sellers want.”
She says folks additionally discover her by way of social media. “I work with lots of people from Instagram. Look, Instagram is actual. At one level, I put up a pair of mink slippers — it was for an occasion at my daughter’s faculty; I needed to make one thing for the opposite moms and wives that was enjoyable — and I bought a thousand pairs in a number of weeks,” she stated. (The slippers had been made by Pologeorgis.) “4 years later, I’ve a shearling outerwear line with them. It’s about mining your database, being related with folks you recognize, informing them they’re nice, and congratulating them on issues they do which can be nice. I spend quite a lot of time on Instagram liking what folks do, as a result of I actually like what they do.”
Properties she focuses on: Bensimon claims to not have a distinct segment, though clearly serving to the titans of the world store for properties in New York, the Hamptons, and Palm Seashore is its personal area of interest. “If I’ve a shopper that has a million-dollar condominium as a result of her grandmother handed away, I’ll assist them. I prefer it all,” she stated. “I’m not a kind of individuals who say, ‘I solely work with one of the best of one of the best.’ I’m going in there and do every part. I’ve damaged fingernails, I’ve cleaned bathrooms, I stage, I work with photographers. The world of actual property isn’t like TV; it’s a very grueling enterprise. You don’t have your weekends. Touring all around the world, getting the suitable deal to your shopper — it’s actually tough. You suppose one thing goes to occur, the customer comes up, however then the vendor doesn’t need to go, the board doesn’t need to settle for them. There are such a lot of dynamics.”