Luxury Real Estate

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 Brian Langhorst

Referrals can create more consistency in your business, even in a down market. Businesses are always on the move and so are their employees. There are boundless opportunities to create a vast, dynamic referral network for yourself. I would start by attending our conferences – any and all of them (the Spring Retreat in San Diego is rapidly approaching, April 15-18, 2008).

The Luxury Real Estate membership is the best of the best of REALTORS® and real-estate professionals. By operating and referring business with the best, you capture the best opportunities, as well.

There are other great opportunities locally. If you have the infrastructure to support it, you can gain the referral business of local sports teams and businesses. For example, Real Living (our Regent member in Ohio) is the exclusive referral provider for the Cleveland Cavaliers (NBA Team).

I would love to hear other success stories. Please share them with us.

Hope to see you in San Diego and discuss more referral opportunities and ideas!


Editor’s Note:
Brian Langhorst is an Account Manager with LuxuryRealEstate.com. He meets members’ unique needs through the dynamic services LuxuryRealEstate.com provides. Indeed, when times are tough, it’s very wise to focus on the aspects of your business that you can directly control. You can’t control the market, but you can control your relationships and connections with other firms that can drive referrals to you. And what better place to network with the world’s finest brokers than at Luxury Real Estate conferences?