SALISBURY - The merging last week of Borden Realtors and Sotheby's International Realty brings together a small, local business with deep roots and a real estate power broker with reach into affluent markets around the world.
John Borden and his staff will remain in their Main Street office but the sign outside will now say Sotheby's instead of Borden Realtors.
The staff from the Lakeville office of Sotheby's (on Route 41/44, in the National Iron Bank building) will move into the former Borden office. The acquisition of the smaller agency was announced Feb. 10 by Alan DiStasio, vice president and manager of the Sotheby's offices in Kent and Washington Depot (and now Salisbury).
Borden transformed the market
The Lakeville firm was opened in 1950 by Albert Borden, a former New York City resident who was, in a sense, returning to his roots when he moved to the Northwest Corner. Borden was the great-grandson of Gail Borden, the inventor of condensed milk, which was produced here, in Torrington, in its early days.
Gail Borden was originally from ChenangoCounty, N.Y., but spent much of his life in Texas, where he was posthumously honored by the House of Representatives in 1930 as "one of the most conspicuous characters in Texas history."
Likewise, Albert Borden was a "conspicuous character" in Salisbury, where he moved with his wife and six children in 1950.
"Maybe it was the familiar way Al Borden tipped his head as he smiled and said, 'good morning,' to one and all that set him apart," said one article in a local newspaper when Borden died in 1998. "Maybe it was his firm but honest handshake. Whatever it was, Borden couldn't be mistaken for anyone else. He was the personification of chivalry and never departed from the gentlemanly manners he learned as a child growing up in a well-to-do New York City family."
A graduate of the Choate preparatory school in Wallingford, Conn., and of Rollins College in Florida, he tried his hand at several businesses before deciding to try his hand at property sales.
He and Virginia Borden opened a real estate agency in their home in the Twin Lakes section of Salisbury (the village of Taconic) - and were successful enough by 1954 to into a real office, on Main Street, in the white clapboard house that is still the agency's home.
Their son John joined the firm in the 1970s and took over its management when his father (who passed away in 1998) retired.
He understood the top tier
Albert Borden is credited with changing the way that real estate was sold in this part of Litchfield County. Prior to his arrival here, houses were sold for the most part as full-time residences.
Borden began to market the area to second-home buyers seeking country properties.
"He was used to large farms and estates, so he was comfortable with the properties in the Litchfield County and Dutchess County areas," his son, John, said in a 1998 interview. "He was able to understand that kind of lifestyle."
The agency has continued to service primarily top-tier properties.
"We had a record $6-million sale in Salisbury,' Borden said in an interview this week. However, he noted, competition has become fierce in the Northwest Corner. For one thing, there are more companies to choose from.
"There were only five brokerage houses in the four area towns when my father started his business," Borden said. "Now ther are eight just in Salisbury."
Becoming a part of the Sotheby's empire will offer him several advantages, Borden noted. He is particularly keen on taking advantage of the company's Internet site, for example. Make no mistake, the white clapboard building on Main Street remains an important asset, and one that made the acquisition of Borden an attractive proposition for Sotheby's. But a strong Web presence is essential for agencies now, Borden said.
Nonetheless, Sotheby's was particularly keen to get hold of the Borden location.
"Our existing office in Lakeville is sort of hidden," Alan DiStasio explained. "We wanted more of a presence in town. Our office now is in one of the two town centers. If people don't know you're there, it's difficult to pick us out if you're going by at 45, 50 miles per hour. In Lakeville, John's is the first office you see."
And, ever the realtor, he added enthusiastically, "John has beautiful parking."
Walk-ins are a small part of the Sotheby's marketing plan, though. Both Borden and DiStasio stressed that in real estate today, having a far reach is of the utmost importance. A small, well-known local firm is fine for shoppers who already know that they want to live in Litchfield County. But for buyers who are as far away as Palm Beach or Buenos Aires, it's important to have a name they trust, such as Sotheby's - and a global Web site that allows them to click on any region of the United States and find properties there. Yes, it's finally happened: the world is now a global village.
A chance to sell, not manage
Todd Cole, a broker with an office in Kent, was already feeling the impact of this trend two years ago - and sought out the Sotheby's connection himself.
"I heard they were looking for a place to locate in Kent a couple years ago," Cole recalled in an interview this week. "And I said, 'Have I got a place for you!'"
Becoming a part of Sotheby's has been a boon for him personally and for his business. DiStasio said that sales are up at that office. And Cole, who opened his Kent office 15 years ago and was acquired by Sotheby's last year, said the venture has allowed him to return to doing what he does best, which is to sell properties.
"I'm still working seven days a week but I'm doing less administration, less management and more selling. I get to do what I do best, which is talk to people and sell houses."
Borden agreed that what he likes best is "selling, working with people." He is also looking forward to bringing new vitality to his business.
"It's the next level up, it's a logical progression that builds more stamina into the industry," he said.
For Sotheby's, the gain is in linking up with a respected seller whose name embodies high-end Litchfield County real estate.
"John has history and local connections, which are hard to find and hard to replace," DiStasio said. "Albert Borden was one of the original guys who started the second-home market up here, and John is a very successful real estate agent with a track record of high-end sales."
And what does the community get out of all this?
"When Sotheby's comes into an area, the perception is that it's a high-end market," Cole said. "And I think that helps people's property values."
