Luxury Real Estate

By Patrick Randi Real Estate

Patrick Randi opened his real-estate agency on the left bank of Paris in 1989. Since that date, our office has been playing an important part in the sales on the left bank, which includes the famous V, VI and VII districts and arrondissements of Paris.

While the V district is the oldest, it features many XVI-century buildings, made out of stones and beamed ceilings. It is a colorful district, attracting many students (the Sorbonne), and the apartments are generally smaller and charming.

The VI district is a mixture between the V and the VII centuries, with different periods of construction going from the charming little place to the more exclusive residences.

The VII district is prestigious since, historically, in the XVII, XVIII and XIX centuries enormous mansions with unbelievable gardens were built. Most of them are occupied by French government institutions (Hotel Matignon, house of our Prime Minister), therefore leaving less space for privately owned properties. It is divided in two different areas: St Germain, which is busy with hotels, restaurants and high-end shopping, and the Champs de Mars (Eiffel Tower), which is more residential and quiet. Foreigners adore these three districts, the entire world enjoy walking their attractive streets, where watching is an endless game to play. The Marais is quite similar to the left bank, very active and intriguing.

We also sell many properties on the right bank, the most exclusive being the VIII-century (Avenue Montaigne) and the XVI district (Etoile). These areas are glamorous and we have for sale there a choice group of XIX district apartments. Foreigners also find there the Museums (Grand Palais, etc.), the restaurants and shopping, they are attracted by wider avenues and very large flats (10,000 square feet on Avenue Foch or Avenue d’Iéna), suitable for clients from Russia, the Persian Gulf and United States. In Neuilly, the exclusive suburb of Paris, we handle sales of large mansions with enormous gardens, it is a greener space.

Old prominent French families(most of them a client) live in all these privileged arrondissements, in secluded and amazing properties, featuring the parquet floors, fireplaces and moldings, marvelous showcases for precious family antiques.

The attraction of Paris all over the world is always growing and therefore it may take some time finding the property of one’s dream. Private individuals, as well as investors, are willing to place their money on an ever-increasing market and take advantage of a unique lifestyle.

In Paris, the supply has never been able to keep up with demand, and the prices increase accordingly.

Our most important sales have been to French tycoons, Europeans, Americans, Persian Gulf residents and now we start to welcome Russians and Asians, all of whom are looking for a typically Parisian apartment.

We are lucky enough to be confronted each day with this diversity and vast history. It is fun to encourage and help our foreign clients to «play the French», showing them the open air-markets, the quaint unknown areas, all the little «codes» that make up the French mind or way of life. If we take good care of our long-time French families, we enjoy very much meeting and helping clients from all over the world to settle in Paris for a while or why not forever?


Editor’s Note:
Patrick Randi is the Founder and President of Patrick Randi Real Estate in Paris, France. He is a distinguished member of Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate. This is a great blog entry, giving us a taste of the French luxury market and Parisian delights. By the way, Paris is where the 4^th Annual Luxury Real Estate International Conference will be hosted. Be sure to sign up for it! The photo is from www.flickr.com/photos/tangysd/2139262874 and it is the copyright of skinnydiver.

By Jean-Yves Piton

With a devalued U.S. dollar against many other foreign currencies (i.e. Euro, Pound Sterling, etc.), now is the best time to invest in luxury real estate in the United States.

Whether this initiative is part of your diversification strategy or not, your property investment(s) in the United States will pay off in both the short and long term. Namely, your purchasing power is greater today in the United States and your ability to create greater returns in the future is increased tremendously.

To further exemplify present investment trends, I recently came across the following article “U.S. Real Estate Tops Foreign Investors’ List, Interest in Asia Grows” posted in the July 7, 2008 issue of www.Bostonsf.com.

The commentary reveals that, based on the results of the recent 16th Annual AFIRE Foreign Investment Survey, the U.S. real-estate market is at the top of global investors’ list.

Furthermore, “with 56% of the votes, the U.S. again emerged as the most stable and secure country for real-estate investment. No other country has ever come close to this number-one position. The second-ranking country has historically been the U.K., but this year Germany, with 10.5% of the votes, took that honor; Australia and the U.K., with nearly 9% of the votes, tied for third place.”

Agreeably, “this year, New York City and Washington, D.C. were named foreign investors’ top global cities. New York City leaped ahead by a substantial margin to be named the top global city, followed by Washington, D.C. and London in a tie for second place. Last year, New York City was ranked second globally and Washington was ranked fourth. Paris fell from second to fourth rank.”

Directly involved with global real estate on a day-to-day basis, I find such figures and trend eye-opening.


Editor’s Note:
Jean-Yves Piton is the Global Services Membership Manager for LuxuryRealEstate.com. He assists Bente Madtsen, the Director of Global Services, in expanding the LuxuryRealEstate.com brand into even more countries around the world. There are some wonderful opportunities available for U.S. buyers and sellers. One person’s downturn is another person’s bargain, so be sure to look for the good out there. The photo of the U.S. flag is from www.flickr.com/photos/tomsaint/2525886032 and it is the copyright of tomsaint11.

By Bente Madtsen

Did you know Luxury Real Estate will host the 4th Annual Luxury Real Estate International Conference in Paris, France January 21st – 23rd, 2009?

The conference will be held at Hotel du Louvre in one of Paris’ finest districts. This is the one conference you cannot afford to miss, whether you are located in the United States, Australia, Thailand, Brazil, United Kingdom, France, Spain or any other country in the network.

Meet your peers from other parts of the world, connect with them and expand your business. See the sights, partake in the shopping and feel the luxury of the most romantic city in the world.

If you are interested in more information please feel free to contact me at 206.695.4802.

We look forward to seeing you in Paris!


Editor’s Note:
Bente Madtsen is the Director of Global Services with LuxuryRealEstate.com. She works closely with a number of brokers around the world to ensure that our members benefit from our international reach. Our next conference is the 13th Annual Fall Conference in Philadelphia on October 11-14, 2008. Don’t miss out on either of these upcoming events because they can be quite helpful in unexpected ways.