Husband and wife team Daniel Douglas and Eileen LaMorte have spent a good deal of time finding the right home for their customers and selling prime properties up and down the East and West sides of Manhattan with record-setting sales in the Central Park West, Fifth and Park Avenues, West End and Riverside Drive corridors. For decades, they have loyally represented clients running the gamut of notable New York society and celebrity from the worlds of entertainment, finance, publishing, and politics. These include, to name a few, the Editor of the New York Times, the CEO of the Washington Post, the owner of Wall Street’s leading hedge fund, a sitting federal judge, the American ambassador to a major European country as well as the most recognizable fashion designer on Madison Avenue and in Milano. Co-founder of Corcorans Westside office at Barbara Corcoran’s invitation, Dan is the top producer of Westside sales at Corcoran and in the New York residential market overall, with transactions running the gamut from large prewar apartments to historic townhouses to triplex Tribeca lofts. Routinely setting and breaking his own sales records, Dan continues to obtain the highest-ever $/SF for his listings. Doing so, he is one of the companys highest-grossing brokers, perennially acclaimed as Salesperson of the Year until he was promoted to the Superstar Circle of three members, the Corcoran Groups highest honor. A cum laude graduate of Princeton in Art and Architectural History, which informs his comprehensive knowledge of Manhattan residential architecture, Dan wrote his thesis under the aegis of Robert Rosenblum, the celebrated art historian, teacher and later curator of 20th-century art at the Guggenheim Museum, who viewed the birth of modern art as a progressive synthesis and chain of esthetic contributions extending back to antiquity. “Thanks to Bob, art history has become a smorgasbord, so to speak, rather than the table d’hôte of strictly Gallic dishes it had been for generations,” the chairman of the undergraduate department of art history at N.Y.U. said of Mr. Rosenblum. Dan proceeded to Harvard where he was a graduate student in the English Department for a year and then took a degree with high honors at the Harvard School of Education majoring in art education and studying photography at the Carpenter Center with Len Gittelman, a disciple of the great Harry Callahan. Having sold all forms of residential real estate in Manhattan for 27 years in every quarter of the City, though markets high and low, to a broad spectrum of personalities, Dan believes that the home selects the buyer rather than the other way around. Whether it is a $50M townhouse on the Park or a $400K studio in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, when potential purchasers enter, the ambiance or spirit of the dwelling greets them, despite any effort on the part of the broker. The objective of the seller’s agent is to identify the salient virtues of the residence not only though its architectural elements but also as a reflection of its provenance and social context, communicate these features far and wide, locate the best buyers and (more importantly) their representatives, induce them to visit the property and provide the optimum environment for the chemistry to take place, infusing the buyer with the desire to be at home in the space. Dan’s background is diverse, the various parts of it adding up to a whole, ideal for selling real estate, which is the art of architecture before it is anything else. Forms of art have their similarities. Dan acted with and directed Tommy Lee Jones at Harvard where he portrayed a character who won the Ames Moot Court Competition in a film for Harvard Law School. He played Angelo in Measure for Measure opposite Stockard Channing as Isabella. James Woods tortured him (in character). After Harvard, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the London Academy of Dramatic Art with John Lithgow to whom he later sold an apt on CPW. A professional actor, Dan was in the original Broadway cast of Grease and he was blessed with a mother gifted as a real estate investor who amassed a portfolio of significant commercial buildings which he developed and sold, leading to his present activities. Dan pays close attention to every detail and possesses strong negotiating skills. He creatively and capably guides his clients and customers through the sales process. Nothing surprises me, he says. I like coming to the plate well prepared but with an open mind, ready to address any pitch.” In addition to his technical expertise and in-depth knowledge of the marketplace, Dans solid interpersonal skills are a significant strength. He cares about each of his sales, whether small or large, and enjoys working with a diverse group of clients. Listening is the most important, as well as respecting the parameters of the buyer or seller and then doing what it takes to achieve their goals. Dan is also a published photographer. His portraits appear on the book jackets of Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm, Michael Lewis’ Liars Poker, Coach, The New New Thing, MoneyBall, and Blind Side, Fareed Zakarias The Post American World, Fred Rich’s “Christian Nation” and The Price of Inequality by Joseph Stiglitz and “End This Depression Now!” by Paul Krugman, the latter two authors having won the Nobel Prize for Economics. Photography of Dan’s properties is therefore carefully wrought. The sale or purchase of one’s home is the most consequential of actions for most people, unifying a myriad of parts, all of which Dan has encountered one time or another. Assisting them to progress to a closing is the most gratifying aspect of this enterprise to Dan. Eileen LaMorte prefers to find someone a home rather than sell real estate. A graduate of Suny-Purchase College in English Literature and a post-graduate, pre-medical student at Columbia University, she brings a pragmatic, level-headed sensibility to the sales process. Having acquired and marketed her own properties, Eileen is familiar with the stress involved in buying, selling and moving, thereby helping to make the event run smoother. Having evolved her personal esthetics from extensive travels and years involved in the fashion and arts-related industries, she surveys a living space and sees not just what is there, but easily imagines and conveys how it can be adapted to her clients needs. She earns many referrals by maintaining a sanguine perspective, understanding and respecting the requirements of the buyer and seller and keeping up-to-the-minute on all available properties in order to make the right match. Eileens achievements are a direct result of her ease and delight in communicating with her clients. For this reason, she also enjoys productive relationships with other brokers and colleagues. One satisfied seller who also found a new home through Eileen explains her success as deriving from an especially well-tuned ability to listen, to process and then to know when to go the extra mile to make a deal happen. In addition to her real estate activity, she is an accomplished athlete (star sprinter, basketball forward and avid cyclist) and a talented cartoonist. Eileen cares deeply about her clients and customers, which is why she has become friends with many of them after the closing was over.
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 00:44:01 +0000
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