Luxury Real Estate

CUPERTINO, SILICON VALLEY, USA - December 20, 2010 -- Real Estate and Relocation veteran Kevin Garty teams with Intero Real Estate Services to manage and expand the company’s strategic relationships with relocation companies. Mr. Garty will work directly with established corporations as well as emerging startup companies to assist in their relocation and real estate needs.

Over the course of his 25 year career involving real estate and relocation, Garty has earned a reputation for excellence. A native New Zealander, Garty began his career in the mid 1980's by creating the very first relocation network in New Zealand and Australia as a direct response to the lack of specialized assistance available to relocating transferees to the region. After relocating to the Bay Area in 1992, Garty was called upon by Bob Moles to put his industry expertise to work by developing the relocation channel for Contempo Realty. After the company was sold, Garty went on to establish and build the relocation division for Cashin Company into one of the bay area’s most respected providers of relocation and real estate services.

DENVER – Kentwood City Properties, one of three strategically located offices that comprise Kentwood Real Estate, has announced a partnership with Denver B-cycle, an organization that offers residents of and visitors to downtown Denver and surrounding neighborhoods an alternative form of public transportation. In addition to branded B-cycles and annual memberships for employees, Kentwood City Properties will also have the capabilities to utilize B-cycles when showing properties in downtown Denver and many the cities most historic and desirable neighborhoods.

Kentwood City Properties’ sponsorship support of Denver B-cycle arrives as the bike sharing system closes down for the winter in its inaugural season. Denver B-cycle will reopen in March 2011.

“We are thrilled to have created this partnership with Denver B-cycle,” said Dee Chirafisi, broker and founding partner of Kentwood City Properties. “Our employees, brokers and clients will have the opportunity to commute and see real estate on two wheels rather than four via a B-cycle. Our company is very supportive of the bike sharing program. We will be launching some fun events this coming spring in and around downtown, so watch for the Kentwood City Properties bikes on the streets.”

“We are excited that Kentwood City Properties stepped up to help support Denver B-cycle and biking,” said Parry Burnap, executive director of Denver Bike Sharing, the non-profit that owns and operates the Denver B-cycle system. “Not only are they a valuable sponsor, but they are also promoting an increase of daily activity, saving money and reducing unhealthy air toxics and carbon emissions.”

In addition to 20 branded B-cycles with the Kentwood logo on the baskets and memberships for Kentwood City’s staff, the two-year sponsorship includes 70 helmets for Kentwood employees, demo cards for Kentwood City’s brokers to use when showing properties, an online social media and newsletter listing, and more.

By: Juliet Chung and Candace Jackson of the Wall Street Journal

Courtesy of: Joshua & Company

Ringo Starr and his wife, Barbara, are asking $4.5 million for their three-bedroom vacation home near Aspen, Colo.

The 70-year-old Beatles drummer, who continues to tour with his All Starr Band, bought the home in 1990. The wood cabin sits on about 16 flat acres in Woody Creek and has frontage on Roaring Fork River. The roughly 3,200-square-foot cabin was built in 1987 and is surrounded by unused horse paddocks.

"It's like a ranch-ette on the Roaring Fork," says Joshua Saslove of Joshua & Co., a Christie's Great Estates affiliate, who represents the sellers. He said his clients have been using the home less frequently in the last few years. Hunter S. Thompson and musician Don Henley have had homes in Woody Creek.

The 9th edition of the Millionaire Fair (Miljonair Fair), held in Amsterdam between the 9th and the 13th of this month, has proved to be a total success, with a record number of visitors and sales. Over 53.000 people attended the exhibition of luxury items and the media turnout was also high: more that 400 Dutch and international television and radio stations, magazines, newspapers and internet sites broadcast news of the event as it took place.

Over 5 days, the RAI exhibition centre in Amsterdam became the home of luxury goods from exclusive international brands. The latest models of Mercedes, Jaguar, Mini, Land Rover and Jeep were on show for the visitors to experience first hand, along with many works of art, including paintings and sculptures with a limited production which are collector’s items. Boats and yachts, the latest hi-fi equipment by Bang and Olufsen, furniture and accessories, …, the list and choice of luxury products was endless.

Gassan Diamonds had the biggest stand: 850 square meters worth of very expensive jewellery and watches, by prestigious brands like Chopard, Cartier, Chanel, Omega, Tag Heuer, Rolex, Jaeger LeCoultre, Breitling and many many more.

Going to Madrid? This beautiful city features thousands of high quality bars, cafés and restaurants, but none has quite the history of Restaurante Botin. Since 1725 this culinary phenomenon has been serving traditional Spanish cuisine to millions of happy customers. It even won a nod from The Guinness Book of Records as the oldest restaurant in the world.

Located conveniently close to Plaza Mayor, Restaurante Botin is one of those tourist experiences that should not be missed, ordinary madrileños also choose to dine there.

The menu comprises traditional Spanish fare, shunning the tiny, fussy chemical experiments so beloved of chefs de nouvelle cuisine in favour of good, hearty dishes.

We recommend the garlic soup with egg (sopa de ajo con huevo) or scrambled egg with black pudding and potato (revuelto de la casa) followed – providing you’re not a dedicated vegetarian - by one of the restaurant’s signature dishes, roast suckling pig (cochinillo asado) which is carved and served at your table, or the equally delicious roast lamb (cordero asado).

December, 2010.

Ah...end of year "market thoughts" time....

My "thoughts" are not meant to be a stats report or a hard market analysis.

That kind of statistical analysis can be found elsewhere, such as with mls statistics or other such "numbers reporting" venues.

My thoughts are exactly that...impressions, and based on 20 + years in the real estate business, all on Salt Spring Island and on the Southern Gulf Islands, and on Southern Vancouver Island.

My impressions/thoughts, then:

** Salt Spring and the Southern Gulf Islands have evolved into secondary home/discretionary marketplaces, perhaps since 1999. No one "has to" purchase on a Gulf Island; it's always by choice. Thus, regardless of market trend in play, at any given moment, it takes time to sell an Island property. It often takes 2 and probably 3 visits, before a buyer will "act".

The internet erased time and geography. Between 2000 and 2006, a low Canadian Dollar against the U.S. Dollar and the Euro, also made us very attractive to an investor/buyer from afar.

The first visit is usually the "discovery time" of the specific island itself. The second visit, the buyer has "chosen for" that particular island, and is now looking seriously at specific properties. If they don't see what they "imagine", they will come back a third time, and might even end up buying vacant land/building.

Since the buyers are not "local", in the main, there are significant time lags between visits. It can take one to three years to sell a property, on any Gulf Island, and this kind of time pause is also a marker of all discretionary areas, and globally so.

Time lags, then, are involved in every sale, no matter the market trend. This is the marker of all discretionary marketplaces, and in such a marketplace the buyer is always in charge of the process.

** The impact of the internet revolution has changed forever the way all business is conducted, and this is the case in sales oriented businesses, especially.

I think real estate was late to the table of change. The car industry and the stock market side of investing were totally changed by the internet's delivery, to consumers, of easy access to information, and their shift happened five or so years before real estate noted this. The real estate industry thought it was still business as usual, for some substantial timeframe.

Now, the shift from a company or agent-centric business model, to a consumer-centric style, has profoundly affected real estate marketing choices, too.

Approximately 98 percent of property searching apparently now begins on the internet, and a good 14 months before a buyer is ready to "act". All pertinent information can be found, on regions of interest to a buyer, via the internet, and so the role of a real estate agent has profoundly changed.

The way of introducing oneself as an agent, and of marketing listings, has made an internet presence totally necessary. Specialty print media might still have a place, marginally, but less and less so...print apparently only delivers one percent of buyers, today.

If there was a transition period in marketing between 2000 and 2009, which allowed a blend of responses, it is now over. Print media no longer delivers the buyer. To use it as one's premier means of trying to attract a buyer means that one's efforts are doomed. The buyer isn't "there".

Gloria Nilson, REALTORS®, Real Living is pleased to announce that Dick Schlott, Chairman and CEO of Gloria Nilson, REALTORS®, Real Living and RLS, REALTORS®, Real Living, served as one of the panelists for RISMedia’s 15th Annual Power Broker Forum during the recent REALTORS® Conference & Expo in New Orleans.

“We assembled one of the finest panels we had ever seen at this year’s Power Broker Forum,” says RISMedia President & CEO John Featherston. “It is hard not to notice how much consumers want information. Now, as we move toward 2011, as an industry, we really have to figure out how to harness our knowledge and provide it in the best possible manner to consumers—that is what will bring clients back to you. This panel offered key strategies on moving your business ahead and bringing that information to the forefront.”

Courtesy of Diana Tuman, Content Manager, Zillow.com

Two Luxury Real Estate members have been included in Yahoo Real Estate’s Guides and Advice column for the 10 Most Spectacular Ski Homes for Sale.

Listed at $15.9 million by Slifer Smith and Frampton Real Estate, the 8,308 square foot, 6 bedroom and 6.5 bathroom Norwegian Lodge-style home sits at the base of Vail, the largest ski resort in the U.S. The property features imported Hawaiian Koa wood paneling and French lithograph wallpaper, an indoor swimming pool, cobblestone driveway, heated decks and patios surrounding home, caretaker's quarters, separate guest house and dining gazebo.

Courtesy of Garrett McGuire of Ewing and Clark

Downtown Seattle's historic Rainier Club hosts a monthly Real Estate Roundtable. The guest speaker for November's Roundtable was John Brian Losh, Designated Broker of Ewing & Clark Inc. and Chairman/Publisher of LuxuryRealEstate.com, the most viewed Luxury Real Estate website in the world. Recognized as one of the "25 Most Influential People in Real Estate" by Realtor Magazine, Brian began his real estate career when he joined Ewing & Clark nearly 40 years ago in 1971. 

Courtesy of Jon Wade of Colorado Group Realty

It has been a fantastic start to the Steamboat Springs Ski season. We took this morning off to enjoy the beautiful new snow on Mt. Werner and got in a few great turns. Eleven Inches was reported at 5am this morning, helping bring this year's snow total over 100 inches, the second most snow ever in November in Steamboat. We put together a short video from this morning's adventures! Enjoy the powder shots and hope to ski with you soon!!

Steamboat is an amazing place to live because of the great people it attracts, the ease of living a healthy lifestyle afforded by all of our recreational amenities and the quality time you get with family and friends. At The Steamboat Group, we share traditional small town values yet strive to stay ahead of the changing markets to give you the best possible results. It's about much more than real estate, we are here to help you realize your dream of owning and enjoying life in Steamboat. We make an extra effort to help you make the most of your time in Steamboat and keep the process as smooth as possible for you.