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Dennis Wolf, Hall Hunter’s CEO, believes the affiliation with Christie’s brings amazing business. Ten months ago, the owner of 300 acres on Lake Michigan picked up a Christie’s brochure that led to listing the property with Hall Hunter for $34 million.

Don’t expect Wolf to divulge his client roster — which has included automotive executives, business owners and professional athletes. “We deal discreetly with the clientele.”

The brokerage, founded in 1954, has always sold upper-end real estate. It was affiliated with Great Estates, a network of luxury realtors based in Santa Fe, N.M.

Christie’s ventured into residential real estate in 1995 and purchased Great Estates.

“What Christie’s brings to the table is obvious,” Wolf said. “What they brought to the table is the ability for us to market the properties not just locally but internationally.”

Christie’s real estate affiliates pay annual fees and then pay to advertise their properties in the Christie’s glossy magazine in which a full-page ad costs $3,400 and includes a listing on the Christie’s International Real Estate Web site, www.christiesrealestate.com .

Nearly 90% of the houses listed on the site are priced at $1 million and up, said Gregg Antonsen, senior vice president of Christie’s International Real Estate. And affiliates can join the Christie’s network by invitation only.

Christie’s International had sales at auction of $5 billion in 2010. Sotheby’s had sales of $4.8 billion from auctions last year. Neither reports residential real estate sales.

J. Bradley Wolf, vice president and associate broker for Hall Hunter, said roughly 5% of the firm’s clients use its full services, which can include auctioning some of a home’s contents.

“One of the services we offer for clients with a lot of art work or jewelry is we can have someone come out from the auction house in New York to appraise things,” he said.

The image of the auction houses suffered as a price-fixing scandal sent A. Alfred Taubman, founder of Bloomfield Hills-based Taubman Centers, to prison in 2002. In addition to Taubman starting the shopping center company, his family had a controlling stake in Sotheby’s, which he sold in 2005 amid the controversy.

Still, Christie’s and Sotheby’s still have enormous clout among the wealthy, said Robert Passikoff, president of Brand Keys, a New York-based consulting firm.

But those luxury brands don’t necessarily impress the masses.

Mike Bernacchi, a University of Detroit Mercy marketing professor, said the auction house names rub off only on the well-heeled consumers and homes.

“It is a good demarcation for anyone who is interested … that is not everybody,” Bernacchi said.