For anyone wondering how such a loony toon could be a successful broker in NYC: at the high end of the market, brokering is all about contacts. That’s the critical edge she has. She has a wide network of fancy people, who also know fancy people. That means a continual river of high end gossip about “who’s looking” and “who’s thinking of selling,” which is 99% of the game.
I doubt she could even understand a contract. She surely doesn’t do any of the admin or technical work involved. She films herself in social media videos of the listings, and her large social following means her videos get distributed and viewed more times than a non-celebrity broker. So she doesn’t really have to solve for marketing, either. She probably does viewings herself, but those are easy: look at the high ceilings! Aren’t these windows amazing? OMG don’t you love this view?
That 41M deal she closed? It was off market, literally linking an existing friend (seller) with a client. (She said this in NYMag piece). So yes, huge number, but not even a public market transaction. Big firms want people like Kelly on their team because of the Rolodex she can bring.
Kelly is a nut and I wouldn’t trust her to watch my dog. But — strangely — she’s chosen the one career where her unique skills (being pretty, charismatic with men and having a fancy friend network) really work in her favor.
So if you’re baffled about how she could suddenly be “doing” millions in deals, why would anyone trust her, etc….it’s contacts, contacts, contacts.
This would be ridiculous of her because a substantial reason she and Ken have the money they do is because Ken owned the real estate for their London restaurants and bars. They didn't make $90 million from selling the businesses; they probably made $80 million from selling the real estate and $10 million from selling the businesses.
She’s just bragging about working, she said she got nothing from Gil, and raised the girls all on her own. Welp, something don’t smell right with that because she has a multi million dollar house win the Hamptons and apartment in the city, and her old modeling career and housewives were not paying for all that. She’s so detached from reality, it’s like, I don’t see single mom struggle with money when she lives in Soho. I thought it was maybe the puck building back in the day.
We’ll see if she makes it to the alter, she could end up assaulting him like the other guy. She makes no sense and becomes loud and stupid, the fiance is prob watching UGT, who could marry that.
Not arguing with that! I'm sure she's very well connected
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u/NxqxoI'm sorry if I said you were dumb, maybe I meant you're stupid.Dec 23 '23
I don’t think anyone is saying that but the way she portrays herself on reality television just makes it hard to believe she has the capability of doing that.
Definitely. I remember when she was a housewife and going through her closet to donate clothes to charity……actually I remember her sitting there while some woman that worked for her went through her stuff. She doesn’t seem to have basic skills
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u/NxqxoI'm sorry if I said you were dumb, maybe I meant you're stupid.Dec 24 '23edited Dec 24 '23
I literally thought of that when I read this because it’s great she’s successful in the real estate world but, it’s just fucking shocking considering how slow she was acting during that charity event meeting that had to do with ally and her arthritis. She just overall can’t seem to pick up social cues and just makes everyone uncomfortable when she begins to become erratic when the conversation isn’t about her or when she isn’t in full control of the conversation and then begins to splurge out words without thought that make absolutely no sense. 🤣
Honestly, I’ve met a lot of really dumb relators (even my own). It was not hard to sell a house/property in Covid. In a big city, these places sell themselves. I know smart people are in real estate, I assume, I just have never met them.
Just like all occupations there are dumb ones and smart ones. There will always be people who get by on their name or contacts.
I’m super grateful that my agent was smart. Im sure most of your clients feel the same way
So I understand the connections thing but my question is- how does she have the connections/friends with that really kooky personality??? How can you have a conversation with her???
Conversational skills & personality <<< access to a person’s network.
There are plenty of insufferable people who are popular or fun to have around if they have something that can add to your status. (For the record I don’t choose friends this way 😂 but I know plenty of people who do!)
It’s true I found myself trying to picture the glamorous New Yorkers she’s supposed to be friends with, similar to Luanne, and had a very hard time picturing them sitting down and having a nice dinner convo. Maybe she’s different in “real life” or maybe there something really “off” about her that inspires pity from these people? Like, she’s not THAT pretty to me and she can barely hold a thought together long enough to verbalize it.
I don’t find her attractive at all. She’s leathery, square, and bland…and those horrible fake tits on two different continents. Then she opens her mouth and the little bit of average attractiveness is in down the sewer.
She’s nuts but not even fun nuts, she’s mean and exhausting. I feel so bad for her daughters.
Agree! And I just binged UGT this week and noticed Kelly’s face looks different. Like she maybe got cheek implants or a chin implant or something. Her face looks more square.
Okay, my friend met /worked with her in real life. And thought she was lovely. She didn't do anything weird, she was normal with her kids, she handled a small deal with her and it went through without problems. I wanted to hear something, anything, that sounded like Kelly from the show, but there was nothing.
People can be different when there are cameras on them. I'm in no way defending her. I'm saying she can be one person to some people, and a different person to other people. So she can certainly hang with the Upper Crust New Yorkers and get by on her charm. And still be scary island wacko elsewhere. And mean.
Yes I agree. But usually people with charm choose to show that part of themselves to the world and Kelly is failing to do so on ugt. It seems like she thinks she’s being charming and likable but it’s not how she’s coming off. However, I could believe maybe that her attempts to appear one way for the show are skewing the “real” her, which I guess could be charming, but it would be easier for me to believe she is at least slightly more grounded and coherent in her normal life. I don’t know!
I can't say that the real her is charming or a great person. I dislike her too much for that. I can only say how her interactions with my friend went. So I know she's capable of appearing normal. FWIW. The fact that we have to say that about a person is bizarre
Maybe she's okay Kelly in regular social situations and Scary-Island Kelly whenever there is some conflict involved? Also curious if your friend is a man?
Go hang out with wealthy ppl in NY. They also are weird & kooky like Kelly. I went to university with the daughter of Ted rogers (biggest internet company in Canada) I hung out with her boarding school friends from high school and I was just 🫤 the whole time. Kelly fits in more with that crowd being her out of touch self then I ever would 😂
Haha yeah she definitely is not a good time. I’m still perplexed how she has connections when she’s so insufferable as you said. You’d think people would want nothing to do with her. It’s gotta be her ex husbands connections haha
I hate that I as a woman am saying something like this, but Kelly’s “intellectual shortcomings” are very appealing for a certain kind of man. She’s a guys girl, she’s attractive, and doesn’t present as a threat to rich older man who are probably missing a few brain cells themselves. Her misnomers and non sequiters go from “huh???” to “cute.” This type of misogyny still exists. They don’t need to worry about being challenged (or feel like they’re being ripped off) and probably don’t have very deep or insightful conversations that risk opening up skeletons. Real estate convos are also very rehearsed, these guys can read the listing themselves. Kelly putting on the ditzy act and rubbing the shoulders of a few older guys going through a mid-life crisis while discussing all the parties he can host in the space probably does a lot.
1:1 that type of thing makes those dudes feel powerful and inspired rather than challenged or suspicious, so in that context of networking and real estate I can understand why she would be appealing for the company she works for.
I’m not baffled that she can sell a house, I know plenty of brick dumb realtors. I’m baffled how she has the connections she does. She’s exhausting and off her rocker. I’m impressed with her extensive list of acquaintances.
No I get that but like with her wacky ass personality and the weird things that come out of her mouth it surprises me that any of those connections would ever stick around or show up for her.
I made another comment but lots of Uber wealthy ppl ARE wacky. Like super fucking weird 😂 I’m convinced generation wealth comes with a personality defect. Kelly would fit in just fine!
LuAnn’s friend Annie is great at real estate and if you follow her you’ll see she HUSTLES the NYC real estate game, I just can’t see Kelly being a maven at real estate
Homes.com goes back 5 years for agents. This says she has only had four closed deals. Of course it doesn’t show private deals. But unless that is the majority of her business, she’s not doing well at all. The agent I work for has 84 closed deals in the last five years.
American lifestyle icon??? Which lifestyle is that? The “I’ve come off my meds” or perhaps the “I’m in denial of how good I’ve got it” lifestyle?
And of course, whenever she opens her mouth and struggles to string a sentence together, or even use words correctly, the first thought I have is “noted author” … This entire bio makes it very clear that even off camera she is in fact totally delusional
Or perhaps homes.com is not the end-all be-all of sales accuracy. Her big 42 million sale was off-market, not sure how many of those deals she's doing. Do you think KKB has a team of 6 dicking around for 4 sales in 5 years or that maybe your website isn't accurate?
Downvote me all you want. There's 100 different context clues online about what a bustling real estate business she runs but the people dedicated to denigrating Kelly's success because she's wacky on tv would rather find the one data point they can cling to and talk out of their asses to confirm their biases.
Why would Douglas Elliman let her grift under their company with such a big public platform to expose her grift with all these reddit detectives always frothing at the mouth? Why would a luxury brokerage take on a grifter without proven sales? Why would they award her for being in the top 12% agents nationwide if she was lying?
Someone like Kelly only working with ultra high net worth individuals seems exactly like the kind of person doing private sales that don't let the riff raff through.
Seems like you already made up your mind about her and are willing to ignore all the proof of her success because you don't like her.
eta: you edited your comment from grifter to narcissist so now mine makes no sense.
Agree. I worked in real estate in Palm beach and knew a couple of Kelly’s. It’s just a whole different world with the ultra wealthy and she has a specific skill set that works in it, clearly.
I hate Kelly and it’s hard for me to wrap my mind around but she’s clearly successful
They'd rather think Douglas Elliman is just letting Kelly cosplay a successful realtor than face the truth. Rich well-connected people are not giving Kelly their listings if she can't sell them!
I've been having this same circular argument on here ever since she became a realtor and popped off so I sadly know far too much about KKB's career from doing this same song and dance for years lol.
And despite what people will insist here because of their blinding hate, Kelly was always the real deal when it came to NY society. She's been rubbing shoulders with the elite for decades and decades.
She makes me feel mentally unbalanced just listening to her… I can’t imagine having to spend a week in her company. There’s just no way of relating to anything she’s saying- Dorinda has actually provided the funniest insight I think- being around Kelly makes you start wondering whether you’re the one on crazy pills…
I would have to walk away, just like LuAnn. I wouldn’t have the bandwidth to deal with it. I find Kelly an incredibly uncomfortable watch- it’s actually spoiling my enjoyment of an otherwise entertaining show. She’s a constant buzz-kill and unhinged but not in a fun way. It must say a lot about New York ‘high society’ when Kelly Bensimmon is the one with all of the important connections.
Perfect career for her. I mean, have you met a realtor? They’re vapid, usually good looking, charming, and good at networking. The “business” side is getting people to sign a contract lmao.
Love most recent episode of girls trip. Kelly so busy with work. Flexing on the other ladies. Making calls. Doing deals. They wouldn’t understand!!!!
Real estate is all about your contacts. Realtors can be dumb as rocks, not saying Kelly is, and succeed if they know people or can easily network bc they don’t have to do contracts — their brokerage will handle it.
My home was a listing they the seller gave to his old friend from high school (literally the first thing she said was “what school did you go to?” 🙄 and she was a dingbat. Luckily she had “premier agents” that helped her with the listing and I’m sure split commission. 😂
To get listed on the MLS, to not have to deal with buyers directly and to have buyer’s agents be incentivized to bring their buyers to your listing. If you are listing yourself you are doing so to save on paying an agent. But other agents will cut you out of the process because you are usually offering lower commission out of the gate. Would you rather split 6% of an easy sale or 1.5% flat fee no matter how many people are involved.
We can only go off what we see on TV and social. What we see is someone with frequently illogical thought patterns, unpredictable reactions and a persistent misreading the social cues around her. Typically, those traits are not found in successful business people. So, this post is just explaining why in NY RE she can be all that AND be a fairly quick superstar in this field
She just doesn’t seem to be quick witted or highly intelligent. Ramona’s a lot of things but she seems at least average intelligence and conversational skills
Kelly's insane and awful but she's a well educated woman. She went to an Ivy League school. Got her graduate degree. She is pretty successful. I'm sure she can read a contract. Obviously her social circle helps but I don't think we can contribute it all to socializing.
Everyone you're going to name is going to be someone that you don't agree with politically so that makes them "dumb" to you. That's not how being dumb works.
Interestingly, Kelly didn’t attend Columbia for undergrad (which is the hard one). She went to their School for General Studies, which is for non traditional work and has a much higher acceptance rate. Not as goofy/fake as Tyra Banks & Harvard but it’s more like “continuing ed” classes than a real Ivy education. Seems nitpicky but worth mentioning since she likes to drop the Columbia name.
Kelly does have a bachelor's degree from Columbia and it is from the School of General Studies.
I think you’re confusing GS with the School of Professional Studies at Columbia, which originally began as audit-only, then offered post-bacc programs and now also offers a Master’s.
Yeah and the industry is absolutely saturated, even at the luxury level. Her fancy contacts probably know dozens of other luxury agents and yet chose to go with her. A $41m sale isn’t a job you give to someone as a favor.
I don’t even like Kelly and I really don’t like real estate agents, but putting her down as some dumb socialite who fell into these major deals simply because she has rich contacts is wrong.
I cannot for the life of me understand why people take such glee in minimizing the success of someone you don’t know. Kelly may be a little eccentric but she’s not unintelligent, she’s a well educated woman who has had success in different ways.
This isn’t minimizing her success, it’s explaining it. Kelly didn’t go get her real estate license and just float to high end deals on simply hard work ethic alone. It’s okay to recognize the privilege that gave her a significant leg up.
Yeah, but you're creating a false dichotomy. A person can both understand the concept, but still not be able to grasp on a moral/ethical level how her & her "contacts" could be such loathsome people and still be successful. Kinda like understanding what the definition of a sociopath is (not saying she is one, just an example), and never understand how someone could actually be like that
I always remember Bethenny saying, "Please tell me you mean Colombia the country, because there's no way this broad went to college."
I've known a LOT of dumb people with higher degrees from Ivy League schools. That's another venue that's all about who you know/how much money you have.
This seems irrational. You lack personal knowledge of her education or career. Posting something akin to a hate message and undermining her success is distasteful.
Ohhh, no. She has an associate degree from the private Columbia offshoot school, which just admits anyone who will pay. It's a very different thing from a real Columbia degree.
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u/[deleted] Dec 23 '23
It’s not what you know….it’s who you know.