Ex-Elliman Exec Returns To Corcoran As An Agent

The former CEO of Douglas Elliman’s brokerage division is returning to his roots.

Scott Durkin is joining the Corcoran Group, where he started as an agent in the 1990s and later served as chief operating officer, The Real Deal has learned.

In his new role, Durkin will be working as a broker, this time with a focus on serving clients in the equestrian world from the firm’s office on the East Side. He’s currently licensed in New York and will add a license in Florida.

Durkin’s return to Corcoran comes almost one year after he was terminated from Elliman amid an executive shakeup sparked by the abrupt retirement of longtime chairman and CEO Howard Lorber. Durkin was let go days after board member Michael Liebowitz took over Lorber’s post.

“Scott and I have been friends for more than 30 years,” said Corcoran CEO Pam Liebman. “We’ve always stayed in touch.”

After Durkin’s departure from Elliman, Liebman said she asked him if he would ever consider turning back to sales.

“He said, ‘funny you should ask, that’s the direction I want to go in,’” Liebman said. “‘When the time is right, trust me, I’ll call you,’” she recalled him replying.

Durkin owns his own equestrian farm in Saugerties, a town in the Hudson Valley counted among the nation’s top equestrian hubs alongside Wellington in Florida. He’s also been a competitive dressage rider for 15 years.

“When you’re in this milieu, you’re exposed to some of the most beautiful properties in the world,” Durkin said. “Most of these owners have four to six homes,” he added. “It’s luxury way beyond your imagination.

Durkin said he’s betting on his experience in and around the sport as Corcoran’s lead equestrian specialist, working alongside other brokers at the firm who trade in these properties.

Equestrian properties “aren’t just farms with stalls,” Durkin said. “A jumper client needs something completely different than a dressage client.”

Durkin left Corcoran to join Elliman as an executive in 2015. He served as the brokerage’s president and oversaw its national expansion before taking over Dottie Herman’s post as chief executive in 2021.

Durkin’s latest stint at Corcoran is starting on the heels of several of Elliman’s top producers also returning to the firm, including Noble Black, who left Elliman in September, and Steven Cohen, who announced his departure last week.

“I know that our agents will be very excited to have Scott back with the firm,” Liebman said. “It’ll be a big welcome.”

Katherine Kallergis contributed reporting.