Luxury Real Estate

By Yvonne Harvey

LuxuryRealEstate.com is planning a post-conference networking trip to New York for those attending the 13th Annual Luxury Real Estate Fall Conference, October 11-14, 2008. This trip is not just any networking trip … oh no. We have added some great entertainment!

Of my years in event planning, one of my most memorable trips was to New York City. Since the group I was taking included sports advertisers and die-hard Seattle Mariners fans, we went to Yankee Stadium to see the Mariners womp the Yankees! Hopefully there aren’t too many Yankee fans out there!

I decided in their trip package to add a Broadway musical … Tarzan. I got everyone together to go to the play, and I felt it was like pulling teeth from some of these sports fanatics to go to a musical. It never came to mind that it may not be cool to see a musical! So picture this, as we are leaving the play, I have all these people saying this was the highlight of the whole trip! Well hello! I’m guessing it’s cool now!

That’s why it wasn’t even a second thought … I had to add a Broadway musical into the post trip to New York, October 14-16, 2008. The play is Billy Elliot and it is getting RAVE reviews! An unprecedented smash in the West End, where it has won 9 Best Musical awards, broken U.K. box office records and continues to sell out nightly. Among the creative team is the music legend Elton John. You will not want to miss this play!

To confirm your participation, please contact Luxury Real Estate at 1.800.488.4066. Join us!


Editor’s Note:
Yvonne Harvey is the Events Coordinator for Luxury Real Estate. So when you come and enjoy the wonderful presentations, discussions and networking opportunities at Luxury Real Estate conferences, you know who to thank. You definitely don’t want to miss out on the Fall Conference or the networking trip.

By Robert Lockard

A while ago I stepped back from writing about luxury real estate to discuss a terribly destructive force that threatens to destroy families and make people miserable: debt. I would like to discuss something that I find to be just as dangerous as addiction to debt – the illogically high cost of earning a college degree.

I read a potentially explosive story on CNN yesterday about a bubble in the cost of higher education that makes the real-estate bubble or the tech crash in 2000 look tame in comparison.

I’d like to start by talking about my experience in college. When I attended college not too long ago, tuition and book costs were already getting out of hand, although they were manageable. I attended a community college in Washington state for my first two years to obtain my Associate’s degree. I had hoped to transfer to the University of Washington to complete my Bachelor of Arts in Communications, but the cost was prohibitive and, even though I graduated with honors and on the Dean’s list, I still had to wait a long time to enter that college.

Instead, I decided to accept a scholarship at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah and that turned out to be a very smart decision. In addition to the positive environment that beautiful campus offered, the cost of attending there was relatively low compared to my other options and I was able to pay for my entire education without going into hardly any debt. I am one of nine children, and my parents wisely told me that I would have to find a way to pay for my education by myself. Through a great deal of hard work and tight budgeting, I made it through without having to burden my family members.

During my time in college, I kept my mind focused on why I was there. I wasn’t there to waste time or take frivolous classes; I was there to finish my degree as quickly and as meaningfully as possible so that I could put my skills to use. I am grateful for the opportunities my college degree has opened for me. However, education costs are rising so fast that there might not be much reason for people to attend college in the future.

I would probably be sympathetic to colleges if the reason for the rise in education costs was because they were improving their education techniques or doing other things that would warrant such cost increases. But the truth is that this is not the case. Many colleges are increasing tuition costs for no other reason than because they want more students to apply. It seems to defy logic, but it’s true. Colleges appear to be playing a game that they will eventually lose. When they raise prices, people assume that they must have done so because they are more prestigious or offer better learning opportunities and so the colleges usually receive an increase in applications. This pattern cannot last forever.


Education is extremely important. It allows people to rise from humble circumstances and it also helps them make informed decisions about where they want to go in life. By making education worthless, colleges are doing a great disservice to their students. By worthless, I mean that the cost far exceeds the rewards. Greater cost does not always mean greater return on investment.

Increases in healthcare, energy and real-estate costs don’t even come close to touching the rise in education costs, as you can see in the graph in the CNN article. Knowledge is power, and if the cost of education becomes so high that that the benefits of earning it become small in comparison then we will be in big trouble. I am not suggesting that college degrees be easier to obtain or that unqualified people should receive an education without working hard. I am suggesting that colleges are in danger. They spend much of their increasing amount of money on frivolous amenities that do not improve their educational services or make their students’ diplomas any more valuable. Posh restaurants, nicer dorms and other foolish perks are unimportant for students who are simply hoping to receive the education they need to progress in life.

At some point people are going to realize that an education is not worth living under such an extreme amount of debt to obtain. When that day comes and colleges must cut their tuitions drastically, many cherished institutions will most certainly be unable to cope with this dramatic shift and they will come crashing down. Destroyed by their own pride and haughtiness. They will discover that they have spent their money on things that have no value and they are unable to offer students what they promised: an honest education.

I dislike focusing on something so negative as this, but I think it deserves special attention. Thank you very much for your comments. Feel free to let me know what you think of the state of higher education.


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. I apologize again for sounding so negative. I am a very hopeful person and I trust that things will turn out right in the end. The photo of the bleeding wallet is from www.flickr.com/photos/adobemac/161319144 and it is the copyright of adobemac. The photo of the door is from www.flickr.com/photos/ben-zvan-photography/468487548 and it is the copyright of Ben Zvan.

By Yvonne Harvey

I was surprised to see a copy of US Airways Magazine on my desk this week with a sticky note on it saying “Info for Conference.” I was perplexed on what that would have to do with our conference in Philadelphia. Then I saw it. In the top right-hand corner in small letters are the words “Philly’s Best-Kept Secrets.” Well, hello!

I thought I would list them out for you, and maybe you can guess which one really jumped out at me.

1) Center City – It’s dynamic and diverse, but also compact and walkable – offering something for everyone.

2) America’s Most Historic Square Mile – The Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, The National Constitution Center.

3) A Lively Arts Scene – Music, dance, theater – whatever calls to you, Philadelphia has it.

4) Tax-Free Shopping for Apparel and Shoes – Enough said.

5) Entertainment & Nightlife – With dozens of trendy nightclubs and other up-to-the-minute hot spots, you’ll be able to party ‘til the wee hours.

6) Great Eats – From cheese steaks to five-star dining, Philadelphia has culinary offerings to satisfy every palette.

7) Room to Roam – Even though Philadelphia is a big city, it also has some great outdoors. Run wild in one of America’s largest urban parks.

8) Easy Access – Philadelphia is a quick Amtrak train ride from Washington, D.C. and New York. The airport offers 1,600 daily departures and arrivals to 122 domestic and international destinations.

9) Rooms for Everyone – We have lots of hotel rooms, meeting spaces, and the Convention Center all in the heart of Center City.

10) Historic Service – The Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau sales and service team is one of the most critically acclaimed in the industry.

So, did you guess which one jumped out at me? Wait for it …. TAX-FREE SHOPPING! Can we say Neiman Marcus, Coach, Tommy Hilfiger, Michael Kors and Juicy Couture!

As it says above… enough said.

See you in Philly!


Editor’s Note:
Yvonne Harvey is the Events Coordinator for LuxuryRealEstate.com. So when you come and enjoy the wonderful presentations, discussions and networking opportunities at Luxury Real Estate conferences, you know who to thank. It looks like there are now 13 great reasons to attend the Fall Conference in Philadelphia – besides, of course, the networking opportunities, knowledge waiting to be shared, etc. The photo above is from www.flickr.com/photos/vic15/15082596 and it is the copyright of vic15.

By John Brian Losh

I am currently watching John Adams on DVD, it is a seven-part biopic miniseries about John Adams and the story of the first fifty years of the United States. The miniseries is based on the book “John Adams” by American historian David McCullough. It is one of best history films I have ever seen, and has received lots of critical acclaim.

It has given me a whole new appreciation for our founding fathers, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States of America. Many of the scenes from this miniseries were filmed in historical sites throughout Philadelphia, like Constitution Hall. Join us this fall in Philadelphia for our conference in October, and see for yourself! It’s a real-life history lesson!


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. The Founding Fathers are some of the best people who ever lived. They are some of my biggest heroes, especially George Washington. There’s a great movie about the creation of the Constitution called “A More Perfect Union,” which I highly recommend.

By Brian Langhorst

LuxuryRealEstate.com is the most-viewed and most-visited luxury real estate website in the world. For this reason we opt not to capture the visitors of our website right away to search properties around the world.

We realize many of our visitors are of very high net worth and have very limited time, thus the idea of creating restrictions does not make sense. On the other hand, I see many websites who capture their visitor traffic right away.

I personally prefer not being captured right away on websites and opt to view websites where the capture of data does not occur until later.

What are your thoughts?


Editor’s Note:
Brian Langhorst is LuxuryRealEstate.com’s Membership Manager. He meets members’ unique needs through the dynamic services LuxuryRealEstate.com provides. This is an interesting topic because the Internet is all about letting customers remain anonymous until they want to identify themselves to take advantage of offers and other things online. Is it better to ask people for information sooner or later? It’s hard to tell. I smell a great discussion brewing…

By Robert Lockard

I recently read a wonderful story I would like to share. It’s about a 70-year-old Cora Bett Thomas Realty sales associate named Nash McIntosh, who swam for five hours from Tybee Island, Ga. to Hilton Head Island, S.C. I’m about one-third of his age and I can’t imagine swimming that kind of distance. In May, I ran for a little over two hours in my first half-marathon and that left me sore and unable to walk for several days. So five hours of physical exertion seems nearly impossible to me.

I found this story on the Cora Bett Thomas Realty Blog, and they got the story from an article in Savannah Now in the Savannah Morning News entitled “’Forrest Gump’ swims from Tybee to Hilton Head Island.”

The reason why they used Forrest Gump in the title of the article is because McIntosh compared himself to that fictional character who kept working at everything he did, even when it seemed hopeless. McIntosh is just as dedicated and he actually attempted this long swim three times before he finally accomplished it last week. He turned 70 in May, and that apparently motivated him to finally take the plunge and make it the whole way.

He had quite a few adventures along the way, as you can imagine. He bumped into a few not-so-friendly animals during his swim, including a small shark. Yikes! Luckily, nothing bad came of that dangerous encounter. Check out the full story for all of the amazing details about his journey.

To follow my own blogging advice, I’ll point out that the photo of McIntosh above is the copyright of Cora Bett Thomas Realty.


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. This story is also found in the July 8, 2008 Week in Review. Cora Bett Thomas Realty is a member of the Luxury Real Estate Board of Regents.

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 Robert Lockard

“Do you ever stop smiling?” One of my neighbors asked me that question on Monday, June 2, 2008 while I was walking back home from my mailbox after I got home from my job at Luxury Real Estate. I was pleasantly startled by the question because it was asked by the young woman before me in a slightly exasperated way, as though it had been building inside of her for some time. She said that she has seen me on numerous occasions walking nearby and I always have a smile on my face. She found herself worrying that I was either hiding something or crazy.

I assured her that neither is the case and that I most assuredly do stop smiling from time to time. Looking back, I wish that next I would have pointed out that I find much to smile about in life and I try to just prepare for hard times and then not let bad things or hurtful words cause me to be unhappy, bitter or unforgiving. But what actually came out of my mouth was, “I guess I’m just a happy-go-lucky kind of guy.” That’s not strictly true because I do strive to plan and live wisely instead of just throwing caution to the wind, but I am most certainly happy.

Despite my less-than-profound answer, the young woman said that she was glad that I was happy because when she sees me smiling she often feels a desire to smile, as well. I like sharing happiness with other people, even if it’s completely by accident, so I was filled with joy to hear that and I smiled even more. I thanked her for stopping me and telling me all of this. Then I introduced myself so I wouldn’t be a stranger and she introduced herself. I love making new friends.

I bring this up because I read an interesting article in CNN on the same day as this experience, entitled “Want to be rich? Don’t get too happy.” I was fascinated by this article because, according to its findings, people who claim to be perfectly happy and content are not usually as successful as people who are somewhat less happy. I personally find it a bit questionable to try to quantify happiness since everyone’s definition is probably slightly different and there’s no clear way to delineate between the different numbers on a 1-10 scale. Also, I’m sure that a person’s answer would change on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis.

For the purposes at hand, though, I’ll just push these objections aside for the moment and talk about something interesting I find from the results. People who rated their happiness as 10 out of 10 on the scale were less likely to be as successful as moderately happy people. Also, perfectly happy people were less likely to save money or plan ahead for hard times, while less-happy people exercised a bit more protectiveness and foresightedness. I think that if the survey takers were to check up in the next few months or years on the people who claimed to be perfectly happy, they would find that their happiness wouldn’t always last.

Life has a way of pulling the rug out from under us when we get too comfortable. I apologize if I sound too pessimistic. I just want people to be wise and not be too unhappy all the time or too happy if their happiness is based upon a false hope. I recommend living wisely so that we can be very happy but never perfectly content to stay the way we are. I want to always grow and so I do not intend to be perfectly happy in my current state. However, if I worry too much about my imperfections or desire to grow too quickly, I will probably waste time and energy being miserable or sorry for myself. I prefer being happy for a long period of time by making small improvements each day. Out of small and simple things are great things brought to pass.

Do I ever stop smiling? Of course I do. But the trick is that I start smiling again and again.


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. Feel free to let me know what you think of this story and how you feel about your success and happiness.

By Robert Lockard

I’m going to talk about something a little off-topic from my usual discussion of luxury real estate, but which I find compelling and interesting.

On Saturday, May 10, 2008, I ran my first half-marathon at the 2nd Annual Tacoma City Half-Marathon. That was 13.1 miles of pain and unique discovery. I had never run more than 10 miles in one stretch before and so I pushed through some barriers and found some amazing truths on the other side.

I ran the race with one of my sisters, Nicole. She was actually the one who invited me to run this race in the first place. You see, back in October 2007, my left knee began causing me a great deal of pain so I went to a Physical Therapist for two months and did some exercises to get the joint realigned. A few days after Christmas, the pain in my knee disappeared. I went to my Physical Therapist and she was as amazed as I was by this. She counseled me not to get carried away and start running again just because there was no pain at the moment.

However, a month later, my sister Nicole told me that she was running a half-marathon in May and asked me if I would like to join her. Everything seemed to be screaming at me not to do this, and I was sure that if I said yes that I would just injure myself. But something else in my mind felt perfectly at peace with the idea of doing something difficult with my sister, and I decided to trust that feeling instead of giving into my fear.

For the next three months, I trained hard to prepare for the half-marathon. I tried running on a treadmill, but that felt uncomfortable and awkward, so I mostly rode an exercise bike for nearly an hour each day. Like an ominous harbinger, the pain in my knee began to return when I tried to run, but I simply bought a knee brace and tried not to focus on the pain. I dropped about 15 pounds in the month leading up to the half-marathon, not that I was particularly heavy to begin with, but it felt good to get leaner.

The day of the race came, and I had to wake up at 4:30 a.m. to travel down to Tacoma for the race’s start at 7:30 a.m. I forgot to eat breakfast that morning. I met up with my sister and her family who were there to cheer us on. I noticed one of the runners was dressed like Elvis Presley, with a giant black wig, white jumpsuit and sunglasses. I’m sorry I didn’t get a picture of him.

The first three miles went quite well. I had run many Cross Country races in high school, and so running 3.1-mile races came naturally. However, as the race stretched longer and longer I began to worry. Both of my knees began to hurt, my legs began to burn and I began to wonder if I could finish the race. When I saw the 11-mile mark, I was ready to surrender to oblivion. My strength was fading fast and I was losing hope that the race would ever end. Luckily, my sister Nicole was running next to me and she was able to encourage me to keep going. Seeing her continuing to go strong and hearing her comforting words helped me push through the walls that threatened to keep me from completing the race, and I was able to endure to the end.

Once I triumphantly crossed the finish line, I could barely walk. My knees and legs seemed to stiffen so that they became almost impossible to walk on. I hobbled around for a while with Nicole and her family and then drove home to lie down for the rest of the weekend. I could hardly move on Saturday and Sunday, but the pain gradually lessened and I was able to exercise for 40 minutes on Monday.

Whew! That’s a long story. Now that I’ve let it out, I can see several applications to other aspects of life, and I’ll try to focus on just one.

Long-distance running has appealed to me for many years, as opposed to short-distance sprinting. I like the consistent discipline and prolonged amount of time that goes into long races. You can take little mistakes or problems in stride, while in a short race one mistake can cost you precious tenths of a second that can ultimately lead to your defeat.

Likewise, our success in the real-estate industry is not based upon our short-term sprint to the finish line, but a concerted, long-term effort to grow and perform better each day. Small mistakes along the way can be taken in stride if we have the right perspective and realize that we have miles to go and needn’t sweat the small things along the way.

I was able to push through my fears, limitations and pain to accomplish something I hadn’t thought possible. May we all strive to do the same thing as we face personal and professional challenges.


Editor’s Note:
Robert Lockard is the Public Relations & Media Specialist with LuxuryRealEstate.com. I am Robert. I create all of LuxuryRealEstate.com’s newsletters, write the editorials in LuxuryRealEstate.com Magazine and much more. I hope you enjoy the pictures of me before and during the half-marathon.

By Staci Colville

In trying to find my voice and really thinking I am too old to blog, I have decided to write about something that I live every day. Part of why I enjoy working at Luxury Real Estate as an Account Manager so much is because of my darling members. I am passionate about helping them become the most successful they can be. It really hit home last night when my beautiful 11-year-old daughter was telling me about her research project on Egypt and how rehearsal went for the school play, and I was vacant. She said, “Mom are you listening to me?” and I said, “No, honey, I was thinking about work and some of my members.” She gave me one of her patented Exasperated Daughter Looks™, and said, “Why? You are not at work,” (Terrific work ethic for the future there, I can tell!) and I replied, “Honey, these members are always on my mind.”

On my ride home from work I will think “Did Ralph Randall sell that beautiful home in Dallas, yet?” or “Did I give Randy Wojcik all the information he needed to please his sellers?” or “I haven’t talked to Karen Foley in a week.” I guess what I realized is I am passionate about providing the best service I can to my members…sometimes maybe to a fault, but it is only because I care! Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about them, which is quite frightening, and believe me I need all the beauty sleep I can get, as my daughter will happily tell you!

I actually love the fact that I am so passionate about everything I do. I hope my passion comes across to my members. Having passion for life, love, career, family, friends…well, it is the only way I choose to live, and I’m proud of it! I know many of you reading this feel the same way…so cheers to passion!

So my weekly blogs will be about some of my favorite, super cute members.

COMING SOON… “Don’t mess with Texas.”


Editor’s Note:
Staci Colville is an Account Manager with LuxuryRealEstate.com. She helps members take advantage of the various services of LuxuryRealEstate.com. She’s definitely not too old to blog! I said it before and I’ll say it again – Staci has an amazing sense of humor, and she’s very warm and kind to everyone. Luxury Real Estate members who work with her are sure to emerge feeling better about themselves and the world, in general. She’s that nice.