luxury market. now we re sealing people luckeurious homes like that. reporter: she loves the small town world of aspen real estate. these are amazing houses and you can see the gond lain the background. what do you think this costs? which one? the one we re in would probably sell for 9 million, 10 million. across the street, 15 million to 20 million. reporter: with millions of dollars at strike and a agreeing international client el its there ano surprise big companies took notice. b.j. s b.j. adams and company and dale s peak properties of aspen now face stiff competition from big-time brokers like sotheby s and kald wall banker. how do they compete?
donette smith is bill s partnership she loves the small-town world of real estate. standing on the porch and looking around these houses are gorgeous enormous and they re on this amazing hill. you can see the gondola in the background. what does something like this cost? which one? the one we re in it would probably sell for about 9 million, 10 million. the one across the street 15 million to 20 million. with millions of dollars at stake, and a growing international clientele, it s no surprise that big companies took notice. local independents like bill s stir ling homes, bj s and dale s peak properties of aspen face stiff competition from christie s sotheby s and coldwell broker. i got the price reduction. for bill sterling and donette smith from stir ling homes and
40 years ago, aspen, colorado was a hard-to-reach back water, far way from the world of big business and international tourism. it was much smaller, much more intimate. the businesses were all small, the shops were small. it had a wonderful scale and feeling. that s when bill sterling first arrived and opened up his own independent real estate business called sterling homes incorporated. i started it with a borrowed loan from the bank of about $5,000. that s how it all began in 1978. b.j. adams is a long-i time aspen-based independent real estate company owner. i thought, well, i m going to strike out. i was young enough naive enough to think i could do it and i just started off on my own thinking i could do this better. dale came to aspen for the ski slopes. he started selling property on the side more than three decades ago. it s evolved. it s become a luxury market. we re selling people luxurious homes like this.
but for now, they both feel everything they have to do is worth it. just to be out there. i can get up at 5:00 in the morning and go to bed late at night. it s my way of getting back. and i think it s successful because we are so passionate about it and willing to work hard for it. and it s our life. it doesn t feel like work when you love what you do. for a lot of owners the sharks taking a bite out of their business is their competition. the great white sharks of competitors for small businesses are often the corporate giants. whether you re selling a product or a service, it takes something extra to get someone to come to your business instead of a well-known big brand. that challenge can be particularly daunting in a small community, one like aspen, colorado. once a small rural enclave, it s now a glamorous ski resort with a booming luxury market. for some of the town s small independent real estate companies, there was only one way to compete against the biggies of their indus