Luxury Real Estate

By Michael Edlund

The Luxury Lounge is an exciting project we’ve been busy working on over here at Luxury Real Estate.

The Luxury Lounge is a gated social-networking community for professionals within the LuxuryRealEstate.com affiliate network to make connections with quality peers all over the world. Initially, you will be able to search and connect to people, send private messages and write public comments to others, write and comment on blog posts and discuss topics in forums.

We’ve also implemented online purchasing of Luxury Real Estate conference tickets and the Luxury Lounge will over time grow in to a hub for everything related to Luxury Real Estate. From managing your listings and exposure on LuxuryRealEstate.com to tracking your leads and much more. Rain or shine, noon or midnight. In the lounge, luxury professionals can utilize the full power of their Luxury Real Estate affiliation at the time and convenience of their choosing.

We have already started sending out invitations to a limited number of members, but will expand their reach over the coming weeks to the whole LuxuryRealEstate.com network. When you see an email with the subject “Invitation to Luxury Real Estate’s VIP Lounge” you know what it is all about. It is about embracing and empowering your interaction with the global Luxury Real Estate network.

Thank you for your participation!


Editor’s Note:
Michael Edlund is the Director of Technology with LuxuryRealEstate.com. He is in charge of all of LuxuryRealEstate.com’s Web projects, including website creation, software updates and implementation, and much more. Big changes are afoot here at Luxury Real Estate. The Luxury Real Estate Blog is gaining in popularity on Google, Yahoo and MSN searches, and now the Luxury Lounge is gaining momentum! With the rise of social-networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Naymz, many people are starting to see the possibilities opened up through them. This is a great chance to build relationships in creative ways online. Happy networking!

By Brian Langhorst

As in luxury real estate, sometimes selling and parting with something close to your family is tough. This example easily extends over to the situation of the Seattle Supersonics, a National Basketball Association team, being sold and now moving to Oklahoma City, as you can read in this Seattle Times article.

Unfortunately a deal has been struck and the Seattle Supersonics are no longer going to be playing in Seattle. The former Sonics ownership group sold the team a few years ago to another group based out of Oklahoma City. The new ownership group has decided to move the team to Oklahoma City to play as a new team.

It is frustrating to see something that has been a large part of the Seattle culture and community just packed up and shipped to the Midwest. The final decision came yesterday as the City of Seattle agreed to settle out of court with the new ownership group on the move to Oklahoma City. The city did receive a substantial payout, but money does not replace what is being lost.

R.I.P. Sonics Basketball


Editor’s Note:
Brian Langhorst is LuxuryRealEstate.com’s Membership Manager. He meets members’ unique needs through the dynamic services LuxuryRealEstate.com provides. This whole situation is quite silly, in my opinion. It could have been easily avoided if everyone involved had simply been honest about their intentions from the start. The photo above is from www.flickr.com/photos/yannickcarer/426046468 and it is the copyright of Yannick Carer

By Bob Melvin

Dear Friends,

There was a very important vote before the Charlotte County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday, April 8, 2008. This vote decided whether Charlotte County will be either OPEN for Business or will continue to be CLOSED for Business. In short, the vote will allow developers, on a case-by-case basis, to increase heights of buildings up to 65 feet, from the current 35 feet.

No quality developer will come to Charlotte County without this flexibility. For each 10 feet a developer raises a building, a community enhancement “public access” has to happen on-site. The County staff and County Commissioners will make these decisions, based on merit, with lots of public input!

This flexibility is absolutely necessary for the economic development of Charlotte County. For example, I am currently working with several world-class hotel companies to bring an eco-tourism resort hotel to West Charlotte County. In turn, I believe that this type of development will also bring upscale retailers and upscale marinas, in particular, to West Charlotte County. In my opinion this is exactly the type of economic development we need.

I would like to encourage you to send an email to our County Commissioners, hopefully in support of this Planned Development amendment change. Make no mistake, change is coming to Charlotte County. This change will allow for higher-quality development… especially now that we have lots of rooftops, and a lot more that have been approved and not yet built… this is a “window of opportunity” for hotel and commercial development.

For example, did you know Charlotte County has the most waterfront in Florida with the least amount of hotel rooms? These are the types of businesses we need, and I hope you agree.

All the best,

Bob Melvin
Owner/Broker/Realtor

Gasparilla Properties, Inc.
P.O. Box 1364
411 Park Ave.
Boca Grande, FL 33921
941-380-8891 Cell
941-964-5650 Office
941-964-5654 Fax
bmelvin@GasparillaProperties.com
www.GasparillaProperties.com

Bob Melvin Properties LLC
1861 Placida Road, Suite 203
Englewood, FL 34223
941-473-5444
941-473-5447 Fax
bmelvin@bobmelvin.com
www.bobmelvin.com


Editor’s Note
Bob Melvin is the Broker, Owner and REALTOR® of Gasparilla Properties and he and his company are considered the “go to” experts for real-estate sales in the Boca Grande, Fla. area. Issues like this are very important for luxury brokers and agents to be aware of and take an active part in shaping. I hope that we will follow Bob’s wonderful example and do our best to improve our communities through positive public policies. Here’s to Charlotte County’s future as a luxury community.