Mike Golden is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of @properties | Christie’s International Real Estate. Golden and his business partner, Thad Wong, have successfully built a portfolio of companies that includes real estate brokerage, prop-tech, mortgage lending, and title services, creating one of the fastest growing and most innovative real estate brands in the industry.
Golden started selling real estate part time in the mid-1990s to earn money for graduate school. However, the immediate success he had selling loft conversions and new construction in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood forced a change of plans. He teamed up with Wong, his office mate, and the pair quickly became the city's top selling REALTORS®.
In 2000, recognizing a need among fellow agents for better service and support, Golden and Wong established @properties, and in less than two decades, they grew the firm into one of the top 10 brokerages in the nation. Among their chief innovations is pl@tform™, @properties’ proprietary brokerage-tech solution that offers a fully integrated system for agents to manage all aspects of the client relationship and real estate transaction.
In recent years, Golden and Wong have led the acquisition of billion-dollar brokerage firms Ansley Real Estate in Atlanta and Sereno Real Estate in the San Francisco Bay Area. They also launched Proper Title, now Illinois’ 2nd largest independent title agency, and formed a joint venture with Guaranteed Rate to establish national mortgage lender, Proper Rate.
In 2021, Golden and Wong acquired Christie’s International Real Estate, the world’s leading luxury real estate brand, with affiliates in nearly 50 countries and territories, generating average annual sales volume of $100 billion. Golden focuses on the brand’s international operations and has overseen master licensing agreements and new affiliate launches in Japan, Estonia, Italy, Malta and the Caribbean.
Golden is a past president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS®; recipient of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Midwest; and winner of the Lincoln Park Builders Club Impact Award and the Merrick Momentum Award from the Chicago Entrepreneurial Center at 1871. He is also on the board of directors for Maryville Academy.
Golden grew up in the Boston area and graduated from Bates College with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and economics. He and his wife, also a successful entrepreneur, live in Chicago’s northern suburbs with their three children.
