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April 6, 2026
DOOR COUNTY – Christie’s International Real Estate is creating ripples in Door County’s real estate market with a new local presence through REALTOR® Erika Skogg.
As the first Door County-based agent affiliated with the globally recognized brand, Skogg said she brings exposure to a market known for waterfront estates, generational cottages and high-demand shoreline, drawing more attention than ever before.
A natural next step for agent, market
Skogg said her affiliation with Christie’s did not come as a sudden pivot, but rather as a response to what she was already seeing in her business.
“Questions I am always asked are, ‘How are you reaching buyers outside Door County?’ and, ‘How are you getting this [listing on the market]?’” she said. “Now, I feel like I have the answer to that, which is Christie’s.”
As her client base has expanded beyond Northeast Wisconsin into major metropolitan areas, Skogg said the limitations of a local network became more apparent, particularly in the luxury segment.
Working in a market where discretion is often required, she said she frequently facilitates off-market transactions, connecting buyers and sellers privately without listing properties publicly.
“A large percentage of my sales are off-market,” she said. “But now, with Christie’s, I can access hundreds of agents.”
Skogg said the expanded network allows her to maintain the privacy many high-end clients require, while dramatically increasing the pool of qualified buyers within that network, an advantage that can be critical when representing unique or legacy properties.
“It’s a big catalyst moving to Christie’s with a bigger reach off market,” she said. “We can do even more for them.”
Skogg said the move also reflects a broader shift in Door County itself.
“Door County is growing pretty quickly,” she said. “We’ve always had homeowners from outside the area, of course, but we are seeing more from California and Florida – people are flocking to Door County from a much wider area.”
A global brand meets a deeply local expert
Though the Christie’s name brings international recognition, Skogg said her strength lies in her deep-rooted connection to the region she serves – built on a foundation spanning three generations in Northeast Wisconsin.
Skogg said her grandfather, Tom, founded The Skogg Company, Inc., and her father, Rick, built a career in the industry as well, exposing her to the business from an early age.
“It was hard to move around Green Bay with my dad without running into people, and I admired his work and the relationships the firm built in the community,” she said. “I was attracted to this type of career [because of its role] in the community.”
Skogg said her connection to Door County is equally personal.
“I grew up going to my maternal grandmother’s cottage on Clark Lake north of Sturgeon Bay,” she said. “I definitely spent summers in Door County, and now I’m doing the same thing with my kids.”
Skogg said that connection deepened over time.
After working on the East Coast as a freelance travel photographer for National Geographic, Skogg said she and her husband decided to return to Wisconsin.
Pregnancy and in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, she said the timing prompted a reassessment of their next steps.
Though they initially considered the Green Bay area, Skogg said they ultimately chose Sturgeon Bay.
“Being based in Sturgeon Bay, I can get to any area of the county super easily,” she said. “I can get from Sturgeon Bay to Gills Rock in about an hour.”
Skogg said that mobility allows her to serve the full spectrum of Door County communities, from Washington Island to the southern reaches of the peninsula, while maintaining a strong presence in the local market.
Luxury defined broadly: properties and service
Though she specializes in high-end real estate, Skogg said she is intentional about how she defines “luxury,” not simply by the price tag but also by the level of service and representation a client receives.
“I specialize in luxury real estate, but that’s not always defined by price point,” she said. “It’s both a luxury market and a luxury service.”
In Door County, Skogg said that distinction matters.
Though the region is home to multi-million-dollar waterfront estates, she said it also includes a wide range of properties, from vacant land to condominiums to year-round residences that she also represents.
Skogg said for her, luxury is as much about how a property is represented and how a client is served as it is about price.
“I come in, and I’m the full package,” she said. “I don’t just take some photos on my phone and throw [the listing] on MLS[.com]. I walk through all the steps and explain things in detail.”
That full-service approach, Skogg said, includes everything from professional photography and drone work to staging, logistics and strategic marketing – often tailored to the specific needs of the property and the goals of the client.
“It’s luxury service in the sense that there is an opportunity and the property requires it,” she said.
For sellers, Skogg said that may mean coordinating staging crews, arranging for items to be moved or refreshed and developing a marketing plan that extends far beyond local exposure.
“In addition, if a home needs staging…, I can help with that and will help hire movers and find people to move items out,” she said.
Skogg said those efforts are now amplified through her affiliation with Christie’s.
“I am most excited about the opportunity Christie’s has with outreach and marketing,” she said. “They have an incredible marketing team, so it doesn’t have to be just me putting together ads and materials for properties.”
A visual storyteller in a digital-first industry
Skogg said her background in journalism and photography provides a distinct advantage, particularly in an industry increasingly driven by digital presentation.
“Everything in real estate is digital these days,” she said. “Gone are the days when you went into a real estate office and couldn’t see a home until you stepped foot in it.”
Skogg said her years as a freelance travel photographer for National Geographic continue to influence how she presents her listings.
“Right away, when I started in the field, I could tell where my strong suit was,” she said. “I was new, but came from a photography background and was doing my own photography, dronework and editing.”
Skogg said that visual expertise allows her to go beyond documenting a property to telling its story.
For a 40-acre Egg Harbor listing currently on the market, she said she focused on capturing the full experience of the land itself, from the light filtering through the trees to the wildlife that moves through the property.
Skogg said her approach has delivered results, including a $2.8 million off-market sale in January of a generational property near Whitefish Dunes.
The transaction, she said, connected a Chicago seller with a Milwaukee buyer attracted to its shoreline and access to nearby trails.
Even as her business has grown and she now works with professional photographers, Skogg said she remains closely involved in the visual process.
“I still have that visual eye to edit and give feedback,” she said. “Even if it’s someone else’s photographs, I can curate them [for the listing]. Just the order of photos on a listing is important.”
Skogg said that attention to detail is critical in shaping first impressions and ultimately, driving buyer interest.
Buyers, sellers and the power of connection
Skogg said she works with both buyers and sellers, often maintaining an active list of clients searching for the right property, sometimes for years.
That network, she said, becomes especially valuable in off-market transactions, where she can match buyers and sellers directly.
“I have people who come to me to list their house, but they don’t want to go public with it,” she said.
Skogg said she regularly handles transactions of this kind, particularly involving high-end waterfront properties, including the Whitefish Dunes property earlier this year.
“[The owner] wanted to see if we could do the sale off market, and I had a great buyer looking for waterfront, access to hiking,” she said. “It all came together, and the seller got the price she wanted.”
For sellers, Skogg said off-market strategies can serve as both a discreet solution and a testing ground.
“I tend to go off market first, and it’s a good way to test pricing,” she said. “And if we don’t find a buyer within two months, then we can [switch tactics].”
At the same time, Skogg said she is quick to point out the upside of broader exposure to her sellers.
“But if the client is willing to pay ‘X’ off market, can you imagine what you could get on the market?” she said.
Skogg said her affiliation with Christie’s allows her to maintain discretion while expanding reach.
An evolving, accelerating market
Door County’s appeal, Skogg said, has long been tied to its natural beauty and waterfront access.
Today, she said those qualities are resonating with a broader audience.
“We’re seeing more buyers in Door County coming from California and Florida,” she said. “They often associate Door County with a ‘safe haven.’ We have intense winters but not the fires, floods or natural disasters [experienced elsewhere].”
At the same time, Skogg said buyers from closer markets, including Chicago’s North Shore, Milwaukee, Madison, Minnesota and Lake Geneva, continue to drive demand.
The result, she said, is a competitive environment, particularly in the luxury segment.
Though “waterfront is always going to be expensive,” Skogg said values vary across the peninsula, with a concentration between Egg Harbor and Sister Bay.
Even so, she said Door County remains relatively affordable compared to coastal markets.
“If you take Door County homes and waterfront opportunities and place them anywhere else in the country, you’ll see quickly how incredibly affordable Door County is,” she said.
Because many transactions are cash, Skogg said the market is less affected by interest rates, contributing to strong competition for desirable properties.
A new era for Door County real estate
For years, Skogg said the idea of a globally recognized luxury brand establishing a presence in Door County was more speculation than reality.
“Last year, several of us local agents were talking about how one of these days there would be a luxury firm coming to Door County and wondering who it would be,” she said.
Now, Skogg said that moment has arrived, and with it, an opportunity for her to bridge a globally recognized brand with the local market.
“Door County is an exciting market to practice real estate in,” she said. “It’s fast-paced with high expectations from both buyers and sellers, and more of them are coming from all over the country. Every transaction is a learning experience that has given me exceptional growth that serves the next client.”
