Luxury Real Estate

By Janice Ridge

As a member of Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate, you have the opportunity to be included in the referral opportunities that come through our network. We have seasoned staff working with our members to provide value through this unique network of the best of the best in luxury real estate. I also want to remind everyone in our community that we have excellent referral opportunities coming through daily from all over the world for you. In our membership we are happy to help with broker-to-broker, relocation and need-an-agent referrals. We only refer within our network to our members.

As those of you who work with referrals on a daily basis can attest, it is important to know who you can count on to handle the various types of requests that come into a referral department. In that regard, I am calling out to all Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate members to contact me if you are interested in either receiving or placing referrals. To speak more about our referral program and how you can gain value from your investment through LuxuryRealEstate.com, please either email me at JRidge at LuxuryRealEstate.com or call me directly at 206.838.7728 with questions or ideas!

My bio: Janice Ridge is our Director of Membership and Relocation. She is a licensed REALTOR® in California and Washington. She has previously served as a director of relocation in the San Francisco Bay Area for a major residential real-estate brokerage, as well as managed sales and leads for one of the largest online real-estate marketing solutions providers.


Editor’s Note:
Since Janice already introduced herself quite nicely, I will simply comment on her blog entry. Janice is certainly an expert on the subject of referrals and relocation, so I’m grateful to hear her views on this matter. Referrals are extremely useful tools to building your business in ways you might not be able to see on your own. In fact, I wrote an article touching on the subject of relocation and referrals in the winter 2008 issue of LuxuryRealEstate.com Magazine.

By Brian Langhorst

Every year more and more young athletes are getting very large signing bonuses and contracts right out of high school and college. These young men are usually looking at buying two things quickly: real estate and automobiles. Are you reaching out to these up-and-coming luxury buyers and sellers?

Most athletes move several times during their careers. I cannot help but think that the referral opportunities for qualified real-estate agents are rather large. These athletes/real-estate investors can provide you with a large pipeline of referrals and business as their peer and teammate network is large and always growing with trades and acquisitions.

As a network with representation in every major market, Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate and LuxuryRealEstate.com can be an excellent resource for you to use for such clients.


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 definitely a great market to go after, since professional athletes are certainly wealthy, affluent and looking for the finer things in life.

By Joey Pauley

As many of you know, I was on the Technology Panel at the 6th Annual Luxury Real Estate Spring Retreat. One of the websites we talked about was the social-networking site LinkedIn of which I and many of our colleagues are members of. Here is my profile: www.linkedin.com/in/joeypauley.

I have to say it looks like a lot of people were listening because I have had a plethora of members contacting me via Linked In since the conference. We have even started a group for Members of Who’s Who of Luxury Real Estate so you can chat with fellow members of LinkedIn and LuxuryRealEstate.com. This is an excellent way to pose questions for the entire group to respond to.

LinkedIn has many useful features. I use LinkedIn to keep in contact with all of my previous colleagues, business partners and so on. I also find it useful to find people that I would like to be connected with. There is also a way to check up on industry news.

For brokers and agents, it would be advantageous to get recommendations from their clients. Once you receive a recommendation, everyone in the recommender’s network is notified of the superior work you provide. The people in your network are reminded of the high-quality work you provided to them previously. This keeps you in the mind of potential clients.

This is just one helpful social-networking hint. Who out there uses LinkedIn or another social networking service to their advantage?


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. This reminds me of Brian Langhorst’s March 10, 2008 blog entry entitled “Are you LinkedIn?” I also highly recommend joining our Luxury Real Estate group on LinkedIn because it’s a great way to easily connect with other top professionals in the high-end industry. Happy networking!

By Brian Langhorst

Many websites provide networking opportunities to connect with colleagues, business partners, friends, etc. LinkedIn is my current frontrunner among the crowd to showcase a truly professional network. It is easy to use and very efficient to maintain.

I highly encourage all of our members to use this website to showcase their business and reach. We even have a Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate group for you to join. Imagine the possibilities for referrals (incoming and outbound) if you were to really show the vast scope of your business network. Just thinking of the referral opportunities makes me excited for you.

Clients looking for professional representation from a REALTOR® need to easily see just how well-connected you are. I believe LinkedIn to be the best way to do just that. 

Log on today and see just what I am talking about!


Editor’s Note:
Brian Langhorst is an Account Manager with LuxuryRealEstate.com. He meets members’ unique needs through the dynamic services LuxuryRealEstate.com provides. I’m also a member of LinkedIn, and I recommend it, as well. It doesn’t take a whole lot of effort, and it allows you to stay connected with people you’ve known in the past as well as your current associates. Be sure to find other members of LuxuryRealEstate.com by searching with both "Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate" and "LuxuryRealEstate.com." Some members use one or the other, so it’s best to search both names for our network.

By Allyson Metters

I was recently speaking with my brother, who is in the market for a new home in Santa Cruz, CA. I immediately offered my services to help with the process, but, being the independent 28-year-old that he is, he told me that he’s got it all under control. As an artist/plumber who specializes in custom copper piping, he has created his own referral network that serves him well.

He learned from a master – our father. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s he owned two successful foreign auto-repair businesses. He managed to create a network of individuals who would refer business to him. He became pretty well-known in the area as the man to see in Pittsburgh about your Rolls Royce, Mercedes Benz, Porsche, etc. Not only did his network provide him with continued business, but it also gave him the resources he needed to keep that business going. Our family barbecues often included doctors, bankers, and real-estate agents that he had developed strong working relationships with.

At an early age, my siblings and I learned the importance of building those relationships – making those connections. Everyone in our business has some sort of network that they rely on. At this time of year, it is important for those in real estate to re-examine their networks, see what is working for them, identify what is not, and work on making some new connections that may take their business to a more profitable level. Never underestimate the value of a referral network – the return on this investment can be seen for many years in the future.

My dad is still a great example of this. He now has a new business completely unrelated to automobiles, and the same connections he has had for over 30 years are still referring people his way.


Editor’s Note:
Allyson Metters is the Relocation Manager for LuxuryRealEstate.com. She helps people who are moving to find a perfect broker to meet their needs in their new area. Parents are wonderful. Their example can make lasting impressions on their children, for better or worse. In this case, it is definitely for the better. Having gained referral and networking skills from the best, Allyson is well-equipped to help you with your relocation needs. You can contact her at AMetters@luxuryrealestate.com. You can also come to the 6th Annual Luxury Real Estate Spring Retreat in San Diego this April to build your own network of the best luxury brokers in the world.

By Allyson Metters

Relocation is something I know a bit about. I have spent more than 10 years working with transferees, their employers, and real-estate professionals. Like many in my profession, I have moved a bit myself – three times in my professional adult life. The first time with a 45-pound dog and about 60 pairs of shoes, the second time with a husband and two children under the age of 2 (I would not recommend this, although the empty boxes did make for hours of fun for them), and the final time with one more child and a house full of things, including those never-played-with toys that my two oldest could not bear to part with.

Each move I made was different, and each time presented different challenges for me and my family. I’ve discovered that the same is true for everyone. Each relocation is unique. Everyone has their own story and their own distinct needs. The retiring couple selling their family home in Pennsylvania and looking for a waterfront property in Costa Rica, the urban professional relocating to a new city and looking for a loft in a trendy area, the expat on an assignment in Tokyo – no two are alike.

That is what I love about the relocation profession – getting to know my clients and identifying their unique needs and finding the right professionals to assist them. There is no textbook scenario, no one-size-fits-all solution. When working with relocating clients, we, as the professionals, need to understand that we need to listen to each client, ask the right questions – and find what their unique needs are. After that, all we have to do is watch out for their 45-pound dog or 30-pound 2-year-old.


Editor’s Note:
Allyson Metters is the Relocation Manager for LuxuryRealEstate.com. As you can tell from her blog entry, she helps people who are moving to find a perfect broker to meet their needs in their new area. Allyson’s discussion of relocation reminds me of article on this topic in the Winter 2008 issue of LuxuryRealEstate.com Magazine. The article is entitled “Smooth Moves: Relocation tips from industry pros.” Clever, huh?

By Kimberly Fulwyler

At the prospect of writing another blog entry, I was drawing a big blank. So I decided to search the Web for interesting real-estate trends. I then stumbled upon an article on RealEstateJournal.com entitled “I’ll Buy Your House If You Buy Mine.” I found this story both interesting and unsettling. This article was about the small, but burgeoning, trend of trading houses. Basically, there are Web sites where sellers go and look for suitable trades. For instance, if you’re in Arizona and you want to move to Florida, then you post your house in Arizona, and in your profile you mention that you’re willing to trade for a home in Florida.

This trend is rather disturbing to me for a myriad of reasons. First of all, where has the America’s optimism gone? I realize that the market is going through a rough patch, but a little bit of patience and hope goes a long way. Secondly, haven’t you ever heard of the phrase, “A man’s home is his castle”? A home is a deeply personalized thing, and to buy a house that isn’t what you really want will almost certainly be a mistake in the end. When the market does turn around, there will be quite a few people out there who will regret their choices. So until your house sells, keep thinking positive.


Editor’s Note:
Kimberly Fulwyler is an Account Manager with LuxuryRealEstate.com, so she provides customer service and marketing materials to a variety of LuxuryRealEstate.com members. When I was a child, my family was trying to move from Texas to Washington, and I remember asking my mother why we couldn’t just trade houses with the people who were selling us their home in Washington. My mother just smiled and said, “No one ever does that.” I guess that’s not always the case. Hopefully, people won’t be too desperate to find a home that they’ll be willing to take something that doesn’t meet their needs. This is a buyer’s market! You can always find a great broker in a new area through Luxury Referral Services. Contact Allyson Metters, the Relocation Manager with LuxuryRealEstate.com, for more information: ametters@luxuryrealestate.com.