By
Jonathan Shia

Photography by Alessandro Simonetti.

Esteban Gomez Finds Creatives a Home


Most real estate agents will tell you that the first rule for apartment hunting is ‘location, location, location.’ But Esteban Gomez, who recently established himself as the “Creatives Agent” at the nationwide firm Compass, takes a different approach to helping his clients find their next homes. “Creatives like history, they like provenance, they like patina, character, charisma,” he explains about the designers, photographers, stylists, models, and other fashion- and art-world habitués he has made a specialty of catering to. “They’re driven by emotion, not just practicality in terms of living close to the office or a subway station.”

After fifteen years of working in the fashion industry, Gomez transitioned into real estate about six years ago with the intent of offering people like himself a new option after his own “jarring experience” working with an agent. “As nice as this gentleman was, he didn’t really have any grasp on who I was as a person or what I did for a living,” he recalls. “He was showing me properties, but not necessarily based on my personality traits and characteristics or looking behind the individual and not just at a price point.”

In rebranding himself as the Creatives Agent, Gomez is looking to establish himself as a one-stop shop for anyone with an artistic bent who may be looking for a new place to live in or around New York. He views his work as more holistic than that of a typical agent. An apartment tour may include, along with the typical viewings, a stop for lunch at Mexican hotspot Atla or an excursion to the SoHo furniture store BDDW. “It’s more than the typical experience,” he explains. “I’m trying to show something completely new and give more meaning to the service.”

This high-touch approach is, Gomez says, a legacy of his time working in fashion, alongside people who are known to carefully curate every detail of their lives. “When I transitioned to real estate, the parallels were very, very similar in the sense that you work with a luxury product,” he elaborates. “I transitioned to working with another luxury product, which is where the handbag, the shoes, the dress, the credenza, the rug, the lighting fixtures all go within. It’s basically the box, those four walls, which is a big reflection of the individual. Everything is not by accident—it’s chosen, it’s considered, there’s a thoughtfulness behind it.”




By
Jonathan Shia

Photography by Alessandro Simonetti.

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