In 1986, Frederick Warburg Peters was in the sixth year of his luxury real estate career and took the opportunity to join the management team at Ashforth Company. Five years later, he bought the New York City brokerage arm of the company, leading to the founding of Warburg Realty in 1991.
Over the following decades, Frederick's people-first approach to managing his best-in-class boutique real estate firm has allowed the founder and president to build something more meaningful than a successful business: a lasting community.
"What we [at the firm] value most is the fact that we are an intimate shop. Many of my agents have been with me for 20, 30, even 35 years,” Peters says. “They’re family to me."
The feeling is mutual among his agents, brokers, and staff – and for some, the company’s familial culture is quite literal. Agent Steven Gottlieb was inspired to join Warburg Realty by his mother, June, he explains, who had been with the firm for decades.
“My mother was a real estate agent with Warburg Realty and its earlier iterations for over 30 years,” Gottlieb recalls. “When I decided to go into the business, it was a no-brainer that I would work at Warburg, as well.”
With an aim of taking the business to the next level, Warburg Realty joined forces with a top international real estate brokerage, Coldwell Banker, in October 2021. This created a dynamic new entity: Coldwell Banker Warburg.
Fusing Warburg Realty’s storied reputation and unmatched New York City real estate market expertise with Coldwell Banker’s vast worldwide network and industry-leading resources, Coldwell Banker Warburg became the first firm to be fully branded under Coldwell Banker Global Luxury, the high-end division of the company.
New York agents continue to look to Coldwell Banker Warburg for opportunities to advance their long-term careers. Agents are granted unfettered access to a global network of more than 100,000 affiliated sales professionals in thousands of offices across 40 countries, as well as local leadership teams, full-service listing tools, and an evolving suite of tech products.
“At Coldwell Banker Warburg, we believe in diversity, and we believe in creating a path for every employee and agent,” Chief Operating Officer, Kevelyn Guzman, notes. “With the acquisition, we’ve been able to create many opportunities and offer many more benefits.”
Despite the large-scale expansion, Coldwell Banker Warburg has retained the close-knit culture that was at the heart of the Warburg Realty brand for more than 40 years and which has been a significant draw when recruiting top talent.
“I'm a firm believer that bigger isn't always better,” says broker Susan Abrams. “A large part of what made me choose the firm was that it’s synonymous with luxury; it’s not too big, yet not too small; and it has an amazing brand behind it. It was just the kind of environment I felt I would succeed in.”
With challenging economic conditions continuing in 2023, a heritage firm like Coldwell Banker Warburg offers agents and their clients an additional layer of trust, comfort, and stability. The scale and resources available to Coldwell Banker Warburg agents allow them to deliver consistent, unparalleled service to luxury buyers and sellers alike, especially during moments of uncertainty. This is the reason why the firm continues to solidify its standing as one of the most formidable boutique real estate firms in New York City.
For Frederick Warburg Peters, the future is nothing but bright. “I’m looking forward to all of the years ahead in which Warburg is a Coldwell Banker company,” he says.
For more about Coldwell Banker Warburg and the brokerage's luxury listings, visit CBWarburg.com.
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