Beth Louden has long been an admirer of Leland Little Auctions and how the company operates, even drawing comparisons to the care and attention she has shown clients throughout her decades-long career in the residential real estate industry.
“I’ve watched them (Leland Little Auctions) approach the products and services they auction with a granular understanding of the market and the customers that are part of this business,” Louden said. “In my opinion, this is how you have to work with clients who buy and sell real estate: very closely, very sensitively and with experience.”
So one day she approached Leland Little, the president of the Hillsborough firm, and asked if he had ever thought of starting a real estate division. had little, and he and Louden began discussing how best to pursue this new venture in a way that made sense for the company.
“I’ve had my brokerage license for 20 years, so I’ve tried as they say, but given the focus and growth of our art and antiques auction business, I’ve never been able to get into it over time,” said Little, who started the company in the late 1990s years founded. “We’ve auctioned off a few properties over the years, but not with full focus. On Beth’s point, when she called me and said, “Hey, have you ever thought about a real estate company?” It’s like, ‘Yeah, I’ve been thinking about this for 20 years.’ It just took the right person at the right time, and Beth is the right person at the right time. She is experienced in our market, focuses on the attributes that fit our product and brand, she is just lovely.”
Leland Little Properties officially launched on March 17th. It has since issued a press release detailing its first public listing, which is the home at 176 W. King St. in historic Hillsborough, near downtown. Louden said there has already been interest in the home.
According to Louden, who will be a director and broker for the new division, Leland Little Properties will operate as a boutique real estate division, meaning the offerings will be distinctive. This means that the houses can be historic or new with a distinctive meaning. She said the historic home at 176 W. King St., which had part of the home renovated by renowned local architect Fred Stewart, is a good example of the type of properties that will be in the company’s portfolio.
She also said the listings are not limited to Orange County. Prices start at $1 million and are focused on North Carolina properties.
Little made it clear that the properties listed at Leland Little Properties would not be auctioned. “We want to list them in the traditional sense,” he said. “We look for homes, whether they are historic, whether they are farms, whether they are custom and new, they will all be distinctive. And we can serve these customers at a boutique level.”
For now and the immediate future, Louden will be the sole employee of Leland Little Properties and she will have an office in the new building on the Leland Little Auctions campus at 620 Cornerstone Court. But she thinks the department could grow.
“The energy that the people who work here and the things that happen here have is contagious. It wouldn’t surprise me if it grows in people and wealth,” she said.
Leland Little has specialized in selling fine, high-end collectibles for more than 20 years, with sales exceeding $17 million per year and growing.
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