The Real Deal: The Closing—Scott Durkin

Scott Durkin doesn’t mind playing second (or third) fiddle. The president and COO of one of New York’s largest brokerages doesn’t bask in his title. Instead, he operates with a light touch, favoring delegation and deference. Durkin credits his outlook to his upbringing in rural upstate New York. “I always think, ‘Thank God I’m a country boy,’ because look at what we’re doing,” he said from the perch of a plush white sofa in a $44 million listing overlooking Central Park on Manhattan’s Billionaires’ Row. Today’s real estate agent, and we’re proud to have a lot of them, advises the family office on where their New York home will be; where their Palm Beach home will be; their Aspen ski house; their Hamptons beach house. It’s a much different role now. It’s not transactional, like it was. It’s a much more elevated position.” — Scott Durkin  Douglas Elliman President and COO Durkin worked at the Pierre Hotel before joining the Corcoran Group as an agent in the early ’90s, before moving into management to work alongside Barbara Corcoran. He briefly became COO after Realogy bought the company. In 2016, he joined Elliman to lead the firm’s national expansion. Within a year, he was named president, a new position at the firm that prompted speculation he was being groomed to replace Elliman CEO Dottie Herman (Durkin denied that then, as he does now, though he reports directly to Elliman Chair Howard Lorber). At Elliman, Durkin has overseen the acquisition of Los Angeles-based Teles Properties, expansion into Texas and other national markets and an overhaul of the firm’s digital (and physical) presence. He’s also begun to dabble in New York politics, launching a coalition with two rival firms to persuade lawmakers to forgo additional taxes on luxury homes. Read the full article written by Erin Hudson here.