Luxury Real Estate

Courtesy of Stephen Udoff of Pritchett-Rapf & Associates

Jack Pritchett and Jim Rapf of Prichett-Rapf & Associates in Malibu, California are proud to represent Malibu's Newest Luxury Community Development.

The showcase "MariSol Estate," masterfully designed by Barry Berkus, A.I.A., recognized for decades as one of the Country's most influential and innovative residential architects, sets the benchmark of design excellence for the entire community.Located on a spectacularly landscaped one-acre oceanfront estate site in the middle of MariSol's private bluff with 360° pristine white water, island and mountain views, it is an extraordinary example of Malibu living.

Incorporating Berkus' dramatic and contemporary design aesthetic as well as his penchant for sustainable design principles and materials, the estate presents an exceptionally healthy and eco-friendly living environment. With nearly 10,000 square feet of single story indoor-outdoor living space, the home features a 60-foot-wide great room with 14-foot-high ceilings, a fully equipped wet bar, twin master bedrooms with towering oak ceilings and views of surfers right below, two spacious other bedrooms with mountain views, a state-of-the-art theater, open chef's kitchen, a breakfast room, a refrigerated wine cellar, a gym, an office and beautifully landscaped grounds with an infinity-edge lap pool, 3 patios, a state of the art barbeque and outdoor dining pavilion, an ironwood deck on a 4,000 square foot bluff top "beach," a water wall of rock quarried from the site set in a magical fern and oak garden and a driveway of cobblestone hand hewn from native rock and parking on site for 10 cars (3 garaged).

 All electronics are centrally controlled by a Crestron smart system; 10 video cameras (including an HD rooftop controllable zoom camera directed at the point break) and other systems provide optimum security; window coverings are electronically controlled Lutron black out and sunshades.

Interiors were superbly designed by William Heffner, AIA, whose revered sense of style is repeated in the elegant designer furnishings and the exotic finishes from Beverly Hills' finest proprietors. In every exceptional detail, from its rare Brazilian slate roof tiles and exquisite French limestone floors and rift-sawn oak ceilings and floors, to the impeccably designed landscaping, the MariSol Estate is an entertainer's delight.

The MariSol Showcase Estate is priced at $17 million.

By Michael Marquette
From his blog: Should I Buy a Franchise or Go It Alone?

How much is a brand worth when deciding whether to join a franchise? Throughout Australia there are plenty of agencies willing to sell their letterhead and designs to almost anyone willing to pay the money to get it. Real estate names like LJ Hooker, Ray White, Richardson & Wrench, Laing+Simmons, First National, Hocking Stuart and now McGrath are all competing with many others to get the agent-come-entrepreneur’s buck.

To secure the franchise there are a number of requirements – an office in a prominent position is usually one of them. This, in itself, is cause for alarm in a world where the Internet is a part of life and online searches are an everyday thing. Most of us use Google some or most of the time as an Internet search engine, yet how many of us have been to the Google office? Where is their office?

The answer is probably not one person reading this blog has visited a Google office, yet the Google brand is massive worldwide and is a shining light indicating how business will be run, won and lost in years to come.

As you might be able to tell by now, I am not a fan of outdated business models with high fixed costs that hinder innovation. Real estate is becoming more and more an online industry where agents and brokers visit clients or meet at properties – not the real estate office of old. It’s estimated that spending on newspaper property advertising will decrease by around 18 percent this year and the trend is expected to continue.

Our world is changing quickly and it is essential to look forward to how the world might look in five years time before committing to a franchise that might not allow you to best keep pace with the changes necessary to be successful – one of them is to keep fixed costs low!


Editor’s Note:
Michael Marquette is the co-Founder and Director of Marquette Turner Luxury Homes, a member of Luxury Real Estate in East Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded on Australia Day 2007 by Marquette and Simon Turner, Marquette Turner is a property consultancy company covering the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria. Marquette has a background in medicine and a large retail and wholesale business. Michael makes some excellent points about the current market. We definitely need to be flexible as luxury markets change. The photo above is from www.flickr.com/photos/danielbroche/2258988806 and it is the copyright of danielbroche.

By Michael Edlund

LuxuryRealEstate.com is the #1 place to go to find a multimillion-dollar luxury property on the Internet. But we also allow our members to put the entire Luxury Real Estate collection of tens of thousands of listings on their own website and make them searchable right there, in a way that you control. Instead of potentially losing a valued client to another broker, you gain the referral fee and retain the client’s business.

This is the LRE Global Broker Reciprocity, and it comes in two flavors: generic and custom.

Generic is included with Luxury Real Estate membership, and has a set template that looks the same on every site. Custom reciprocity has an additional fee but is customized to blend in with the design of each website so that it gives a more consistent user experience for customers.

Examples of custom reciprocities:
www.miamirealestate.com/listings/global_property_search
www.ewingandclark.com/properties/global_property_search

If you haven’t put the LuxuryRealEstate.com listing search on your website, send an email to reciprocity (at) luxuryrealestate.com to learn more.


Editor’s Note:
Michael Edlund is the Director of Technology with Luxury Real Estate. He is in charge of all of Luxury Real Estate’s Web projects, including website creation, software updates and implementation, and much more. You should definitely take advantage of this great opportunity to give people more reasons to visit your site and to potentially gain more referrals. Check it out! The photo of the bee and the flower is from www.flickr.com/photos/chefranden/199057327 and it is the copyright of chefranden.

By Brian Langhorst

Photosynth is one of the latest projects from Microsoft to come out of their Live Labs group and development business.

This unique program will take photos that you specify from your camera or computer desktop and find the similarities in each photo and create a visual presentation piecing these photos together. It might be hard to see what the big deal is based on this short description, but I encourage you to visit the Photosynth site and you will better understand just how fascinating this new tool is.

I feel this tool will be great for luxury real estate agent and brokerages. How many times have homebuyers or sellers commented that photos do not properly capture a unique or special high-end listing? This new tool from Microsoft could be a great way to create more eye-catching presentations to allow potential buyers to see the luxury property in its true form.

Our team here will be sure to continue to present our members with the most innovative tools and opportunities, such as Photosynth, for their business.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback on this new tool!


Editor’s Note:
Brian Langhorst is LuxuryRealEstate.com’s Membership Manager. He meets members’ unique needs through the dynamic services LuxuryRealEstate.com provides. It seems like there are endless possibilities and new technologies being created all the time. It will be very exciting to keep an eye on this Photosynth program and other innovative Web tools coming out. Thanks for the heads-up, Brian! The photo above is from www.flickr.com/photos/tommybart2000/2688931093 and it is the copyright of Thomas Barthelet.