Chris Webster

Chris Webster is the founder of Webster Estates, a Senior Real Estate Advisor and Associate Broker with Sotheby’s International Realty in Santa Fe, and the CEO and Publisher of Leading Estates of the World. His professional life has connected real estate, business development, fine art, publishing, and philanthropy for more than five decades.

Chris began working from the west side of Santa Fe’s historic Plaza in 1972. In 1976, he established the brokerage and consulting practice that became Webster Estates, operating as Christopher Webster Real Estate. Patti Webster joined the family business as a principal in 1977 and became a licensed broker in 1979. Together they built a Santa Fe practice grounded in long-term relationships, local knowledge, and the representation of distinctive properties.

Christopher Webster Real Estate became the exclusive Sotheby’s International Realty affiliate for New Mexico and Mexico. Chris was named Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliate of the Year for 1994–1995 and served for 15 years on the company’s advisory board, contributing to the growth of the affiliate network in the United States and internationally. In 1998, Sotheby’s Holdings acquired Christopher Webster Real Estate—the first-ever acquisition of an affiliate company in Sotheby’s International Realty history.

Across his real estate career, Chris has represented residential estates, historic homes, ranches, land, development opportunities, and commercial properties in Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico. His work has also included coastal estates and historic haciendas in Mexico and distinctive residential and resort properties in Hawai’i, Western Europe, and other international markets. That range has given him an unusually broad view of how architecture, cultural significance, land, and market position shape lasting value.

Chris’s relationship with the international estate-property community began in 1984 as an invited member of The Estates Network. In 2015, he acquired Leading Estates of the World, an international network and publication founded in 1969, and became its CEO and Publisher. He also helped create the Certified Historic Property Specialist program and designation awarded by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and served on the Recreation and Development Council of the Urban Land Institute.

Beyond brokerage, Chris founded Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company in 1982 and participated in its sale to Reynolds Tobacco in 2002. He has also worked as an art dealer and collector, publisher, business consultant, and director of for-profit and nonprofit organizations—experience that continues to inform his understanding of stewardship, negotiation, entrepreneurship, and significant assets.

Today, Chris remains the founder and senior advisor of Webster Estates, working alongside Patti Webster, Christopher Webster III, Paisley Mason Webster, and the broader Webster Estates team at Sotheby’s International Realty. Chris Webster is the father of Christopher Webster III, a separate New Mexico Associate Broker and second-generation member of the family practice. Chris holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Duke University.