Nest Seekers International has launched an art brokerage, the latest diversification and service add-on effort that the luxury real estate brokerage says is a “natural extension of our client base.”
Nest Collections will curate, sell and purchase art and other assets, such as precious gems and cars. It’s not an exclusive service for real estate clients, though the brokerage predicts most of its business will come from buyers and sellers. Nest Seekers has launched a handful of service-based divisions in the past year, from hospitality to travel.
“It’s truly a natural step forward into really becoming a full, well-rounded lifestyle brand,” Nest Seekers CEO Eddie Shapiro said in an interview. “It’s a missing piece and we needed to do it.”
The art arm of the brokerage will be run by curator Joshua Kasper, who opened his art firm Studio Kasa in 2018.
Art and real estate have been intertwined since well-known auction house Sotheby’s expanded into real estate in 1976, followed by fine art auction house Christie’s expanding to Christie’s International Real Estate in 1987. More recently, The Agency, a luxury brokerage led by Mauricio Umansky, launched a partnership with art advisor Arushi Kapoor to start The Agency Art House in December.
Shapiro recalled showing clients a Beverly Hills mansion where the art on the walls was also for sale. The sales sheet showed prices that were higher than the home itself, with commissions higher than any real estate agent would receive, said Shapiro.
“Obviously, we immediately got very excited about the prospect of selling the art just as much as the real estate, so it's really a natural progression that just led us into this evolution of our business and the next organization,” he said.
Quest began with expansion into luxury travel
Becoming that “well-rounded lifestyle brand” that Shapiro strives toward began with Nest Seekers’ foray into luxury travel. The brokerage opened Nest Jets and Nest Yachts in 2023 to help clients buy, sell or charter private jets and yachts.
Last month, it launched Tribe, a vacation planning arm that curates pricey vacations, including high-end resorts, dining, experiences and travel for high-net-worth individuals. Think front-row Paris Fashion Week and dining at hard-to-secure Michelin-starred restaurants. Or a $2 million stay in the Hamptons for four months, said Shapiro.
Nest Seekers also last month expanded into the Bahamas and opened an office in Barcelona the same week. New services and extensions of the brokerage are expected on a near-weekly basis, said Shapiro, including another television show in the works.
“We can’t help ourselves,” he said.
The brokerage has 70 offices and 2,100 agents, who have been featured in several reality shows: HGTV’s “Selling the Hamptons,” Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing,” BBC’s “Crazy Rich Agents” and Netflix’s “Million Dollar Beach House.”
The growth aligns with Shapiro’s mission to diversify and protect the business from the ebbs and flows of the housing market, especially amid a flurry of merger and acquisition activity among brokerages and continued challenges from changes to the agent commission system.
Earlier this year, Compass closed a deal to pick up @properties and Christie’s International Real Estate in a deal valued at $444 million. Compass also expanded its footprint in Washington, D.C., and added a team in Atlanta. EXp Realty, too, has been on a growth kick, acquiring smaller teams, and lender Rocket Cos. has agreed to buy online brokerage Redfin.
“What's happening with antitrust and all that, we're not focused on that. We're just focusing on how we make this the best lifestyle brand company in this space, where real estate brokerage is the core foundation of it, but it's not the sole driver of our business,” said Shapiro. “I think that, any organization, whether you're in real estate or another business, that diversification is critical for survival and growth.”