Dream Team: Familiar agents flock to luxury-focused Christie's brokerage
August 2025
Meet the new agents at Christie's: Molly Buttleman, Shannon Beia, Ken Kleinrichert, Lydia Wiley, Ryan Craig, Jenni Craig and Erika Nita.
Real estate agents change brokerages all the time. No big deal. You might even argue that where they are is irrelevant, especially considering how much of their work is built on personal branding and individual relationships.
Still, more than a few heads turned when a new office managed to attract several familiar and high-performing local agents in a matter of months. It helps that this office will be located in the heart of downtown in a prominent building that’s in the process of getting one heck of a facelift.
The full, formal name of this office is somewhat of a mouthful: @properties REMI Christie’s International Real Estate. Those tied to it are fond of just saying Christie’s, the very same brand known around the world for its high-end auction house.
It was a chain reaction of sorts that took a brand known around the world and plopped it right at Union and State streets in the former Cousin Jenny’s building. The TCBN takes a look at this new office and its agents as they settle in.
London to Union Street
Not long after the COVID pandemic, Traverse City native Lydia Wiley came back home after time spent in Chicago’s bustling real estate market.
While in Chicago, however, she became familiar with a Chicago-bred brokerage known as @properties, which grew in a few short years to dominate that market. Though she didn’t work for this company, she was consistently impressed with its operations.
“They were always very tech-forward, and they always had the very best reputation,” she said. “Agents were very happy there, and I always respected them as a brokerage.”
Back in Traverse City, she joined RE/MAX for a little while, though she hoped to eventually open a “boutique luxury brokerage” in Traverse City. Even though “luxury” can
A rendering of the soon to be completed building. be such a cliché in the real estate world, she felt the local market was missing the high-end firms she was familiar with in Chicago.
“It doesn’t even necessarily have to do with price point,” she said. “It’s just that extra touch.”
Meanwhile, @properties purchased Christie's International Real Estate (which has 10,000 agents across more than 100 brokerages and at least 50 countries) in 2021. That led to a Michigan-based affiliate, @properties REMI Christie’s International Real Estate, which opened several offices in metro Detroit before deciding to branch north.
Wiley joined the new company in 2023 and was the brand’s only Traverse City representative, though there was an office in Petoskey. When it was clear that a Traverse City office was in the cards, she kept an eye out for the right partnership to make it happen.
This partnership eventually materialized with luxury real estate development firm Freshwater Development. The company, founded by New York developer Andrew McCarthy in 2021, has made a name for itself quickly, thanks to high-profile redevelopment projects like the former Cousin Jenny’s building or what used to be the Dingeman & Dancer law offices on Park Street.
Both buildings are being redeveloped into luxury condos, with ground-floor space reserved in the former Cousin Jenny’s for the new @properties REMI Christie’s office. Finishing touches are underway and the team expects to move in this month.
Spreading the word
Meanwhile, Wiley spread the word looking to attract agents to the new office. Not just any agents – the cream of the crop.
“I wanted to curate an office with the best agents,” she said. “Start with great people and let it work out naturally from there.”
This is in line with a model the company has stuck to as it has opened its 11 offices across the state.
“We have a similar approach in every market we go into where we look at the top agents production-wise, but also who’s really involved in the community,” owner Eric Walstrom said. “Who are going to be the people who are going to turn some heads and are great individuals who can lead the charge?”
Walstrom is thrilled with the Traverse City team so far, which combined has more than 70 years of experience and $100 million in sales in 2024 alone. Beyond that, they are the familiar faces that the brand craves.
“In terms of people, it’s probably one of the best markets we’ve opened in the past four or five years,” he said.
Agents that have come to Christie’s tell the TCBN that a variety of factors led them to make the jump to the new company. The technology and tech support is fantastic, for one, something that @properties has always focused heavily on.
“I’m in luxury, and I need forward-thinking when it comes to technology. I use tools. And I needed a brokerage that was going to support the level of client I have,” said Molly Buttleman, a perennial top agent who left Coldwell Banker Schmidt to join Christie’s.
And then there’s that name. That brand.
“When you get a brokerage like Christie’s that emulates luxury, that elevates whatever you’re doing with your own brand,” she said. “It helps me elevate myself.”
This is a sentiment shared by fellow Coldwell Banker expat Shannon Beia.
“I think it’s a huge [boost] for us when someone is looking and they see we’re an agent with Christie’s,” she said. “[The company] saw enough to want to put their name next to our name. Clients will hopefully feel comforted and know that we’re going to take care of them.”
Ken Kleinrichert, who also joined Christie’s after many years at Coldwell Banker, has similar thoughts. @properies combining with Christie’s made for a very enticing company to work for, he says.
“You get that great technology brand out of Chicago combined with the luxury brand [of Christie’s], and it married the best of both worlds,” he said. “So now you’ve got the high-end properties, but you still have that back office with the technology, the energy, the systems.”
But he also feels that Christie’s steps to bring on quality agents also amounts to “attraction marketing” in its own right, as good agents want to work with good agents.
“[Owners Walstrom and Alex Irrer] are about building relationships, and their model is to do it with experienced agents, quality agents,” he said. “They want to build a homogeneous office where everybody has passion.”
Beia agrees. More than anything else, she says, it’s about the people.
“It's a group of people that really makes a luxury brokerage,” she said. “[You want to be] with like-minded people that provide a certain level of service, a certain level of experience. They follow through. They’re conscientious. They have character. They’re doing extra things.”
“Collectively, we’ve all worked at a certain level, we’re selling at a certain price range and certain caliber, and now we’re all at the right office,” Beia added.
Not all agents are cut out for Christie's, these agents stressed. There’s definitely an invite-only vibe.
“We want people who think long-term. It’s not just transaction, transaction, transaction,” Wiley said. “It’s, ‘How is this helping or hurting my reputation? How can I help the community? How can I retain this level of client?’”
Ultimately, all agents said (in one way or another) that the new company’s energy, drive and momentum are the biggest factors in their decision to sign on.
“Christie’s level is just [higher] in terms of tools, technology, luxury, and frankly keeping the eyes on the prize with a very supportive, young and forward-thinking staff,” Buttleman said. “All of that was important to me for my final years, whatever that might be. At the end of the day, it’s all about the energy of this company.”
Kleinrichert and Beia (who calls Christie’s a “breath of fresh air) both spoke about rediscovering their passion for real estate at Christie's after becoming jaded over time.
“Having worked with Ken Schmidt over the years, I knew what it was like working with someone who really had their heart in it, and I saw in these guys what Ken had,” Kleinrichert said. “The elephant in the room is I didn’t feel like that anymore where I was at ... and I saw something in this company that reminded me of why I was in real estate.”
The team as assembled is not likely to grow a whole lot larger anytime soon, but growth is definitely part of the game plan over time.
“We want to build out northern Michigan just like we have metro Detroit,” Walstrom said. “As the Traverse City office continues to grow, we may get a secondary location that is more of an office feel than the showcase feel we have on State Street.”
Craig Manning contributed to this story. Cover photo by Megan Renae Studios.
