Luxury Real Estate

By Brian Langhorst

Each year some of the best tennis players in the region and country come to the Seattle Tennis Club on the shores of Lake Washington for the 118th Washington State Open.

John Brian Losh and the Ewing & Clark – Our Distinctive Home Shop team have been one of the headline sponsors for this notable event for over 10 years. Jane Powers, Betsy Losh and John Brian Losh all very much enjoy being a part of the Seattle and Madison Park communities. Together, they sponsor several key events throughout the year.

Editor’s Note:
Brian Langhorst is LuxuryRealEstate.com’s Membership Manager. He meets members’ unique needs through the dynamic services LuxuryRealEstate.com provides. There are so many positive events like this going on and I’m pleased to hear about all of them. Philanthropy should be an important part of every business that hopes to succeed. People recognize true kindness when they see it and I think it builds trust just as much trust and goodwill as successful track records and financial performance. Be sure to show how much you care!

By Robert Lockard

I hope this doesn’t sound too prideful, but I really like what I write. And I do a lot of writing as the Public Relations & Media Specialist for LuxuryRealEstate.com.

While my blogs on ActiveRain and the LuxuryRealEstate.com Blog are sometimes quickly written and they don’t have the benefit of as much outside editing as I usually receive for my other work, I think they give you a taste of my writing skill and style.

My mind is constantly working before, during and after the writing process. I think about what is interesting about the story I am currently writing about. I ponder why my target readers would bother to read what I’ve written. I try to decide which points are most important and how best to convey them. I only have a limited amount of time to create my news releases, newsletters, magazine articles and other works, so I need to make quick decisions.

For the Week in Review newsletter I create each week, I receive a lot of news releases from members of the LuxuryRealEstate.com network. I am very grateful for that fact because it helps me keep our newsletters filled with great material. Many of the stories I receive are really interesting while others are about new employees, anniversaries and other topics that don’t seem too interesting at first. However, once I go through a news story, I can usually find something remarkable in it and I usually rewrite the headline so it’s much more eye-catching.

With these thoughts in mind, I’d like to talk about my recent experience writing a news release on a seemingly average topic: a Ewing & Clark, Inc. broker celebrating her 20^th anniversary. I don’t mean that the broker, Jane Powers, is average; I’m just saying that I’ve read many stories similar to hers. As I approached this story I tried to remember that this is an important moment for her, and she has many great stories to tell after 20 successful years in the Seattle luxury market.

So I sat down to write about her story. Many times when I write I have a sudden inspiration that I know did not come from me. This time was no different. I suddenly had a thought that I should look up remarkable events that occurred in July 1988, when Powers started with her company. As it turned out, I discovered that a little movie called “Die Hard” debuted in theaters the same day that Powers began working at Ewing & Clark.

I was ecstatic by the creative opportunities opened up by this coincidence.

I am a big movie buff and I couldn’t pass up this chance to add some really unique flavor to Powers’ story. So that’s exactly what I did. You can see the final product here. I wrote the first and second-to-last paragraphs first and then worked on the rest of it. I had a blast writing this story.

I got butterflies of nervous excitement when I showed it to Powers herself for approval. Luckily, she liked my take on her story and I got to distribute it through my usual PR sources.

I believe any story can be interesting to read. I could have written Powers’ news release in a really boring, run-of-the-mill way, but I found that little something special that turned it into a great story. I hope that you can find the greatness in your stories and, as long as you’re a LuxuryRealEstate.com member, I’d love to post them in the Week in Review!


Editor’s Note:
Robert Lockard is the Public Relations & Media Specialist with LuxuryRealEstate.com. I am Robert. I create all of Luxury Real Estate’s newsletters, write the editorials in LuxuryRealEstate.com Magazine and much more. By the way, John Brian Losh is the Chairman/CEO of Ewing & Clark, which is a member of the Luxury Real Estate Board of Regents. The copy of the “Die Hard” movie poster is from www.flickr.com/photos/nickslidepics/442646618 and it is the copyright of Nick Slide.

By Robert Lockard

On Friday, June 13, 2008, Ewing & Clark, Inc. closed on the sale of a Lake Washington waterfront home in Seattle for $13,300,000, marking the second-highest Seattle real-estate sale in the past eight years. John Brian Losh, Betsy Terry and Jane Powers were the listing agents of the property. This home includes 6,000 square feet of living space, a tennis court and boathouse on a 20,000-square-foot lot with 146 feet of shoreline.

In February, they closed on a home at 1620 Washington Blvd. on Lake Washington for $15,800,000. These are the second- and third-highest sales in Seattle history and the two highest sales in Seattle in eight years. Congratulations!


Editor’s Note:
Robert Lockard is the Public Relations & Media Specialist with LuxuryRealEstate.com. I am Robert. I create all of Luxury Real Estate’s newsletters, write the editorials in LuxuryRealEstate.com Magazine and much more. Ewing & Clark is a member of the Board of Regents.

By John Brian Losh

John Brian Losh is very pleased to introduce his newest grandson John Xavier Losh, born March 29th at 5:23pm, weighing in at 7 lbs. 15 oz. Congrats to his mom Kristine and dad Casey Losh.

John Xavier carries the Irish blood line of his Great Grandfather John Harvey Losh, 91 years young.


Editor’s Note:
John Brian Losh is the CEO/Publisher of Luxury Real Estate and the President, CEO and Broker of Ewing & Clark, Inc. in Seattle. He tirelessly trots the globe meeting with members of LuxuryRealEstate.com and getting the scoop on industry trends. In recent weeks, he visited brokers and agents across Texas and Florida. You can catch up with him at the 6th Annual Luxury Real Estate Spring Retreat on April 16-18, 2008 in San Diego. Check it out!

By John Brian Losh

Meghan Barry and I just did a 5-day sweep through Central Florida, visiting several of our prominent members on both the Gulf Coast and the Atlantic Coast. The prevailing feeling is that prices have stabilized and there are, at this time, homes in all categories to be purchased. If you or any of your customers have ever even thought of owning a home in Florida, the time to visit and purchase is now. I believe that the next selling season will bring increased prices and less inventory. I cannot emphasize enough that the time to view and purchase real estate in Florida is now. We are in a very unique time in history where we have low prices, low interest rate and diverse inventory. The perfect opportunity. Visit the Florida Regional Section (www.luxuryrealestate.com/florida) to view property.

Editor’s Note:
John Brian Losh is the CEO/Publisher of LuxuryRealEstate.com and the President, CEO and Broker of Ewing & Clark, Inc. in Seattle. He tirelessly trots the globe meeting with members of LuxuryRealEstate.com and getting the scoop on industry trends. Great stuff.

By Joey Pauley

I figure after three years in Seattle, it is about time to settle down. There are a good many reasons to buy a house now, but the main reason is freedom. Right now I rent a huge house in the Capitol Hill Area of Seattle but there is nowhere outside for a dog to run. The yard is just too small. Not just for the dog but for me.

A home of my own would defiantly keep me in the area, taking away my freedom to move at will, but I would have the freedom to do what I want with it. I could get a dog; build a rock wall in the backyard, get the hot tub I have always wanted… These are all freedoms of space – a space of my own; the house, the yard, the location, the freedom to do with it what I wish.

This is going to be a scary process, buying my first home. But it is a great challenge and looks like a lot of fun. I've set up email alerts on Ewing and Clark's new website to keep myself abreast of the market. I get a number of listings in my email that match my search criteria. It is like a present in my email box every week. You can set up your clients to have similar email alerts on Luxury Real Estate. It is a great tool for shoppers like me.


Editor’s Note:
As a Technical Account Manager with LuxuryRealEstate.com, Joey Pauley helps members with their Web and technology needs. He does a phenomenal job in all of his projects, as you can see by visiting the many websites he has helped design. Does anyone else remember those fun “Schoolhouse Rock” cartoons on Saturday mornings? There was one called “Elbow room,” talking about the expansion of the United States from sea to shining sea, and this blog entry totally reminds me of that. We all need a little elbow room!

By Meghan Barry

Ewing & Clark, Inc. is pleased to announce the recent closing of 1620 Lake Washington Boulevard in Seattle, Washington for $15,800,000. This is the highest residential sale in King County in the past two years.

The 9,000-square-foot Santa Barbara-style residence sits on 120 feet of Lake Washington waterfront in the heart of Seattle’s renowned Denny Blaine neighborhood. The home was originally designed by William Blaine. The reconstruction was designed by Stuart Silk and built by Reed Construction, and the interiors were designed by Michael McQuiston Designs. Betsy Q. Terry brokered both the purchase and resale of the property, also serving as a consultant on the rebuild.

View the property here: www.luxuryrealestate.com/748661.


Editor’s Note:
Meghan Barry is the Executive Vice President of LuxuryRealEstate.com. She works closely with CEO John Brian Losh to organize a variety of Luxury Real Estate programs, events and services. Mr. Losh is also the owner and broker of Ewing & Clark, which is Seattle’s oldest brokerage. This is wonderful news, and I hope that you also have great news to share.

By Joey Pauley

At Luxury Real Estate, we do not only produce the most-viewed luxury real estate website in the world, LuxuryRealEstate.com, we also produce award-winning websites for our clients. Over the last three weeks we have launched three websites that are as distinct as the companies they represent: MiamiRealEstate.com, EwingandClark.com, and TheFloridaAuthority.com.

Each website has had its own challenges. But I think the biggest challenge is trying to launch the site. There is a fear to launch a new website. It is a huge change and naturally a time for stress.

I find it ironic that three people in our Web department are also expecting children: Michael, Dustin and Eric. I know how tough it is for our clients to adapt to the change of a website. I can only imagine how our lucky fathers are going to adapt to having a newborn. Good luck to them all.

And you thought this post was going to be about websites, didn’t you?


Editor’s Note:
As a Technical Account Manager with LuxuryRealEstate.com, Joey Pauley helps members with their Web and technology needs. He does a phenomenal job in all of his projects, as you can see by visiting the many websites he has helped design. What a wonderful analogy Joey has given us. Bringing forth these new websites, with all their inherent stress and relief, is an experience very much like parenthood. Everyone in our web department has had three children this month, I suppose.