SPON S O RED HOUSE FEAT U RE
HUDSON J VALLEY DREAM TEAM Jason Karadus and Marie-Claire Gladstone Are the Duo Behind New Real Estate Agency Corcoran Country Living
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ason Karadus and Marie-Claire Gladstone had been trying to convince a New York Citybased real estate firm to invest in the Hudson Valley market when Corcoran, the renowned agency founded by “Shark Tank” star Barbara Corcoran, announced in January of 2019 that it was ready to start its first franchises. The timing could not have been better. Karadus and Gladstone were top producing real estate agents who had worked together for years in New York City and both lived part-time in Dutchess County. They had seen firsthand how popular the Mid-Hudson Valley had become for second home buyers and those looking to relocate upstate from the city full-time. Gladstone, a Corcoran agent of 13 years, reached out to Karadus, a 20-year veteran of the industry who was then working for another city-based agency, Brown Harris Stevens. They quickly got to work on creating a plan for a Rhinebeck-based Corcoran franchise. Instead of starting a new agency from scratch, however, Corcoran wanted Karadus and Gladstone to acquire an established brokerage that already had a team of experienced local agents. “They were very selective about where they were expanding the Corcoran brand,” says Karadus.
In June of 2020, Corcoran Country Living announced its launch with the acquisition of Rhinebeck and Millbrook-based Paula Redmond Real Estate. “Paula said that she needed to get to know us both before she was ready to pass the baton though, so I actually worked as one of her agents for about five months before the acquisition,” says Karadus. “It gave me the opportunity to get to know the agents, because our priority was to maintain the same, close-knit family culture while giving the agents entirely new tools to market to buyers and sellers.” “We’re very proud of the fact that we didn’t lose any agents or listings during the first transition,” says Gladstone. “The Corcoran name actually helped the agency keep listings that were expiring and convince sellers who were previously on the fence to relist with us.” In their first six months, fueled in part by the pandemic’s supercharged market and Corcoran’s strong New York City presence, Corcoran Country Living closed so many deals that they rose to number six of 253 offices in the Mid-Hudson Multiple Listing Service’s total sales volume. “People from the city already knew the Corcoran brand and local residents were reacting so
