How To Sell Jackson Hole Real Estate To Billionaires

There’s a cocktail bar in the wilderness, ready and waiting right before dusk.

An old-fashioned or two later with the sun sinking below the horizon, everything is ready for the star of the show of Wyoming elk, off in the distance, enjoying their favorite meadow.

All Latham Jenkins could do as the sun set was to cross his fingers behind his back and hope. Some things money can’t buy. And so it is with elk, appearing on cue, bugling as the sun slips from the sky.

This time, Jenkins was in luck. The elk came just as he’d hoped, right on cue for his guests.

“I knew the elk would probably come out there and bugle at sunset,”  Jenkins said. “So, I set up the cocktail bar and it was like an African safari scene. And when the elk came out, bugling on cue, the couple literally turned to me and said, ‘How did you do that?’”

Jenkins just smiled. 

“That’s just what happens on the property in the fall every evening,” Jenkins said. “It’s this great display of nature, right in front of you.”

The cocktail bar in the wilderness wasn’t a safari or a date, though it might sound like it was.

It was actually a real estate showing, one that ended quite successfully. The couple took all kinds of videos of the bugling elk, and Jenkins made a multimillion-dollar sale. 

Jenkins is one of Jackson Hole’s go-to brokers. 

The scene he staged for that property is just par for the course. It’s the type of thing he always does when he’s selling a property to the 1%, and it’s why he was a finalist for best sales and marketing campaign for the Inman Golden I Club. There is no higher honor in the industry.

Selling To Billionaires

Selling to billionaires requires next-level homework, Jenkins said. And he’s not just talking about the months spent researching a property’s history, doing title searches, and learning about the location’s unique story and its place in history.

He’s also talking about the time he spends walking the properties, looking for places where magic can happen — if he’s smart about timing, and if fortune happens to favor his bold idea.

It takes that kind of next-level marketing to make multimillion-dollar real estate listings pop and impress wealthy buyers.

“I have to be able to point to the hole where a big fish is in the river,” he said. “I need to be able to show them the game trails where they’ll see wildlife coming out to graze in the evenings, or the places where elk will come out to bugle in the evenings.”

Timing is everything, Jenkins said.

Magic doesn’t just happen when someone snaps their fingers. Elks bugle when elks bugle, and fish live where they want. Things also happen according to the season.

In winter, a showing might mean an itinerary like this one for the Red Hills Ranch: Riding in on horseback for lunch on the ranch, followed by fireside chat with the ranch manager. Then a nice sleigh ride caps off the afternoon.

To show the recently sold Granite Creek Ranch, which was ultimately bought by billionaire Joe Ricketts, Latham came up with an itinerary that started with a snowmobile ride in and a dip in the nearby Hot Spring.

“We really stepped into what a day in the life of owning a property of this magnitude is like,” Jenkins said. “And I really refer to a lot of my showings as nature tours. Having them on the property during the most emotional moments really helps them understand first that this is real. And that this is a property that’s going to really enhance their lives.”

A Passion For Wyoming

Latham didn’t set out to be a real estate broker growing up. 

His first job out of high school was as an interpretive river guide for Grand Teton National Park. It was his job to share stories about the park, the wildlife, the flora, fauna and wildlife, and the geology.

“It developed into a great passion for where I live,” he said. “Which started transitioning into photography and storytelling via the publications that I produce and still publish to this day, as a means of sharing where I am so fortunate to live with others in hopes they, too, develop an appreciation for it.”

That brought other opportunities. Realtors were asking him to take pictures of properties for him, but they were always so focused on the buildings themselves.

“In many cases, my ideas to market the property exceeded the budget or the interest of the realtors,” Jenkins said. “And out of that frustration of wanting to do more, I became licensed and started selling real estate myself.”

That’s worked out better than he could have ever imagined.

“A lot of realtors are very sales focused,” Jenkins said. “But I believe you have to have a very balanced approach to marketing and selling. And if you market the property correctly, you are not really selling. You’re guiding someone through the experience of what it would be to own a property of this magnitude and how it will bring value to their lives.” 

Drift Boats And Bear Mace

One of his most nerve-wracking showings was the time he showed a property that could only be reached by drift boat.

“Two thirds of that property was river bottoms of private deeded land,” Jenkins recalled. “So, I was walking them through river bottoms that were full of elk calves and that grizzly bears were interested in dining. Not only would I row the client across the river, but I gave them a can of bear mace, and we’d discuss how to use it and tour the property.”

That whole time, all Jenkins could really do was hope that they would not bump into any grizzly bears. 

“It was early spring or early summer,” he said. “And everything was just starting to green up. Wildflowers were coming out and it was absolutely beautiful. And what I wanted was for them to understand what it would be like to enjoy mornings out, having a walk like this through the property.”

Fortunately, Jenkins’ timing was always good, and no grizzly bears were ever encountered.

Another of his most memorable showings was the time an avalanche almost ended the trip prematurely. 

“We were snowmobiling 8 miles into a property,” Jenkins said. “And along the way, we encountered an avalanche that was blocking our path.”

Jenkins, after inspecting the area, could see that the slide had ripped down to bare ground, so he wasn’t worried it would run again.

“My clients were determined to see the property, so we worked together to dig a path through the avalanche debris,” Jenkins said. “After some effort, we managed to clear a way through and cross the slide to reach the property.

“It turned into a high-adventure experience,” Jenkins continued. “And everyone had a blast. The story of that day has lived on, creating memories none of us will ever forget.”

Elaborate, But Also Simple

Magic doesn’t always happen at every showing, despite all the best preparation and effort. Sometimes, Mother Nature has other ideas.

Like the time he dug a quarter mile pathway out to a building envelope in the winter, where he staged a big fire pit with Adirondack chairs draped with animal furs. He set up a hot chocolate and croissant bar for a famous couple to sit and see the view from their front porch.

“In the morning, they came out to see it, but the clouds were so low, you could not even see the Tetons,” Jenkins said. 

The guests still appreciated Jenkins’ effort though, and thanked him for it, even if what he’d hoped to show them remained stubbornly shrouded in mystery. 

Despite that, Jenkins believed the couple still saw what he hoped to share, and that’s just the continuing allure of Jackson Hole.

“It’s all part of getting back to the basics in life,” Jenkins said. “We find a lot of value in just the simple things. When you buy a property in Wyoming, you can’t sit there and look at your phone. You’re engaged. You’re looking around at the beauty of the mountains. You’re riding horses. You’re fishing int he river and sitting around campfires.

“You’re doing what matters in life,” Jenkins said. “And that’s having a human connection while you’re in such an engaged environment. You just can’t get that in a lot of other places.”

Contact Renee Jean at renee@cowboystatedaily.com

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.