Luxury Real Estate

By Simon Turner
From his blog: How Google Maps can be used to make solar power decisions for your home

As energy prices continue to climb, the idea of utilizing solar energy is common sense. The process of getting solar panels installed, however, is quite the opposite.

RoofRay, a new Californian business, aims to give homeowners better information to enable them to make more-informed environmental decisions for their luxury home. Using the site’s modeling tools, consumers can estimate how much solar energy a home could capture and how that would affect their monthly bills.

The data provided is based upon historical weather conditions, current power usage charges, the gradient of the property, and the maximum amount of solar paneling the roof can hold. One tool uses Google Maps to let users calculate the size of their roof and build virtual panels. RoofRay then estimates the output potential of the solar panels as well as financial considerations like costs of installation, upkeep and return on investment.

Whilst not yet available in Australia, such a tool would be a welcome addition to our growing eco-conscience and our excessive reliance on fossil fuels. Furthermore, it would be useful for would-be real-estate buyers in making purchase decisions, something that the Marquette Turner team is increasingly finding is a factor in how and where buyers buy.

To find out the latest information available in Australia, a good start is the federal government’s portal www.climatechange.gov.au and Marquette Turner’s Clear the Air site


Editor’s Note:
Simon Turner 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 Turner and Michael Marquette, Marquette Turner is a property consultancy company covering the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria. Born in England, Turner traveled much as a child, finally settling in Australia. He joined the Australian Defence Force Academy and graduated with a degree in Politics and History as an Intelligence Officer in the Royal Australian Air Force. This is a very fascinating topic. Jean-Yves Piton actually wrote a blog entry on “green” luxury real estate a little while ago, too. I just finished writing an article on “green” luxury properties for the winter 2009 issue of LuxuryRealEstate.com Magazine.

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.

By Grant Hermes

“Information is a source of learning. But unless it is organized, processed, and available to the right people in a format for decision making, it is a burden, not a benefit.”
~ William Pollard

Nowadays, information spreads and multiplies exponentially throughout the Internet. Who has time to spend hours a day sifting and sorting through endless websites in search of useful and, more importantly, up-to-date news? I know I certainly do not. This is where RSS feeds are a lifesaver for me.

When you see the  icon all you have to do is click on it and add it as a bookmark or to a reader of your choice. Try it out by clicking on the “Articles” RSS feed on this blog page (just look for the  icon to find it). Now you have a current look at the most-recent posts to the LuxuryRealEstate.com Blog. I personally place all my feeds in my bookmarks toolbar so they’re right in front of me. Another useful RSS feed I use is from RISMedia.com (they have dozens of feeds but I use the Real Estate-specific feed as well as a few others – check them out).

I always saw links for RSS feeds before, but just never clicked on them until this past week. Let me tell you, it is the greatest addition to my Internet browser. In one click, I get a snapshot of a site’s blog posts or articles and, most importantly, if any new ones have been posted. I feel more informed than ever on world news by being able to quickly and effortlessly scan through headlines, and if I want more detailed information it’s just a click away.

Hopefully this will help you narrow down and sort through the overwhelming amount of information out there that’s important to you but which you just don’t have time to sort through.

If you need it…RSS picture is complements of http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA102200751033.aspx


Editor’s Note:
Grant Hermes is the Staff Accountant for LuxuryRealEstate.com. He assists Controller James Hughes with all of the necessary paperwork and accounting to keep LuxuryRealEstate.com running smoothly. This is the first blog entry I’ve received from Grant, and it’s quite a smashing one. RSS feeds are quite helpful in our information-saturated environment, like the quote at the start of this blog entry notes. It doesn’t help to have a huge library if none of the books are correctly ordered or easily accessible to readers. Thank goodness for RSS feeds, which are kind of like a high-tech Dewey Decimal System. And thanks for the explanation, Grant!

By Robert Lockard

As a follow-up to my last blog entry, I’d like to report on the interview LuxuryRealEstate.com Publisher/CEO John Brian Losh enjoyed on Lakefront Radio on Friday, June 20, 2008. It went very well, and I have to give a lot of credit to hosts Mary Thompson, Chuck Thompson and Lee Kantor for asking great questions and being a lot of fun on air. They sound like they really enjoy their work.

You can listen to the full 38-minute radio show online.

Mr. Losh discussed the recent sale of Donald Trump’s $100 million estate and some other great news items. He also went into great detail about LuxuryRealEstate.com, the most-viewed luxury real estate website in the world, and several aspects of the Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate network, including membership requirements. He specifically focused on Atlanta, naming Harry Norman, Realtors, the Board of Regents member in Atlanta, and Jenny Pruitt & Associates, REALTORS® as two prominent members in the area.

As I mentioned earlier, I was really impressed by Lakefront Radio hosts Mary, Chuck and Lee. They were all so easygoing and patient in their approach at the microphone, something I found very refreshing in talk radio. Some shows sound like the speakers are constantly interrupting each other, but these hosts found a great balance in their style. Great job!

Mr. Losh said that some of the finest luxury locations in the world are in South America and East Europe. He also mentioned that his favorite city in the world is Venice, Italy because it’s so quiet, with no cars or motorbikes to disrupt the peace. His favorite city in the United States (besides his hometown of Seattle, of course) is Carmel, Calif., near Pebble Beach, because it’s “popular, but not too popular” and very relaxing.

All in all, it was a great radio show. I hope you’ll enjoy listening to it if you have the time. Be sure to check it out every Friday because the hosts are dedicated to talking about positive real-estate news that can sometimes fall by the way when large media outlets focus so much on negative news. Truly an admirable endeavor!


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. Be sure to visit the Lakefront Radio website to hear the whole program. It was very nice.

By Robert Lockard

I have some fun news to share about John Brian Losh, Publisher/CEO of LuxuryRealEstate.com and Broker/CEO of Ewing & Clark, Inc., Seattle's oldest real-estate brokerage.

Mr. Losh will appear on Lakefront Radio, an Atlanta radio show on Friday, June 20, 2008. He will discuss the luxury real estate market and high-tech trends with hosts Mary Thompson, Chuck Thompson and Lee Kantor.

The radio show is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Pacific Time. You can listen to the show live by visiting the Lakefront Radio website. That will be great. I’m sure Mr. Losh will have some great insights to share.

In addition to this radio show, Mr. Losh also appeared in the April/May issue of Unique Homes magazine. He was the focus of Ken Weingartner’s “Unique Personalities” section. Nick Antonicello, Director of Sales at Unique Homes, gave Mr. Losh a copy of that magazine issue at the 13th Annual Luxury Real Estate Spring Retreat this past April.


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 is very exciting stuff. I can’t wait to listen to this radio show tomorrow.

By Michael Edlund

Being in charge of the technology department within Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate, I am often asked about whether we can build some particular kind of real estate-related Web service or not.

Basically, we have enough competent staff to create pretty much anything. We have a strong web team consisting of a dozen top-of-the-line Graphic Designers, Programmers, Account Managers and more. The team covers everything from our award-winning aesthetic Graphic Designers on one side of the spectrum to the Programmers on the other side of the spectrum that used to program mine-detecting robots for the U.S. Defense Department.

Skills within design, style and technology are crucial. However, there is another skill that is equally important to possess when setting out to create tools and websites that support a particular trade. That is a deep understanding not only of technology but also of the trade in question.

That is why I signed up this week for the Rockwell Institute real-estate license training course.

It is very likely that I will never use my real-estate license as a real-estate agent, but I do want to complete the course in order to better understand the daily work and challenges for agents within the LuxuryRealEstate.com network. I hope that this improved knowledge and understanding will lead to even better Luxury Real Estate products and services online.

I will keep you posted on the progress…


Editor’s Note:
Michael Edlund is the Director of Technology with LuxuryRealEstate.com. He is in charge of all of LuxuryRealEstate.com’s Web projects, including website creation, software updates and implementation, and much more. Michael is absolutely right about the need to not only be an expert at using and creating technology, but also to develop an understanding of the purpose of that technology. I am very impressed by Michael’s ability to seek knowledge that will help him serve luxury real estate agents better in the future. What a great example.

By Jean-Yves Piton

Today’s real estate marketplace is most definitely more technology-driven worldwide. This fact became even more evident during the Technology Roundtable held at the 6th Annual Luxury Real Estate Spring Retreat in San Diego. Top brokers in the luxury real estate industry are now seeking for more tools to become more productive and effective vis-à-vis their top competitors.

Here is an example: You never stepped into the agency today. You have already received many text messages from prospective buyers you need to follow up with this morning. Your property buyers located your ads on LuxuryRealEstate.com. They were able to view both photos and virtual tours of the properties they saw and liked. They also connected with you a few times via LiveChat on your PDA.

You have already called your clients back and all of your appointments are scheduled on your PDA phone. You are bringing along with you both your laptop and a data card to ensure you are able to share all the needed electronic documents, in case you need them. You have completed numerous successful property visits today. You are calling your 1-800 line to check any voicemails left at the office by any possible home buyers. Luckily, your Bluetooth headset allows you to do so while driving your car to another property.

You beat traffic since you are guided by your GPS. Before your client arrives, you have plenty of time to check the latest industry news on the LuxuryRealEstate.com Webzine, read blog entries on the LuxuryRealEstate.com Blog and educate consumers about market news on your blog. Time to see if you have received any signed contracts via your efax in your email inbox. While at it, you might as well update your customer database regarding today’s activities and before you forget.

Does this sound familiar?

Clearly, in order to gain a competitive edge and increase sales, it is critical to embrace new technologies in the new real-estate era.


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. Indeed, technology is bringing us new capabilities and expectations. We need to react quicker, think faster and be ready to meet clients’ changing needs. This is a time of incredible challenges and opportunities. The picture above is from www.dougbelshaw.com/tag/meetings.

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 Joey Pauley

Like everyone who attended the 6th Annual Luxury Real Estate Spring Retreat, I am still buzzing about from the conference last week. Buzzing, inspired, catching up – the whole gamut of after-conference thoughts.

Willis Allen Real Estate gave us a property tour in which I had the privilege to discuss the homes with Patricia Choi. Pat had some wonderful insights into the potential buyers of these homes. I felt as if I was talking to the Horatio Caine (CSI: Miami) of Luxury Real Estate. She could gain key insights into the buyers for these homes the instant she walked in the door. There is no wonder she is the Queen of Real Estate in Oahu.

Special thanks to Derek Overbey, Scott Lawrence, and David Abernathy for their help in Technology Roundtable Discussion. The only thing that would have made me happier was if Steve Eckhardt of Cornerstone Properties & Investments, Inc. was able to make it. Not only do I consider Steve a friend, but I think his voice would have resonated with the other brokers in the office.

There were other members who were notably missing. You know who you are. You better not miss Philadelphia (my home town) or I will take it as a personal insult.


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. “In West Philadelphia, born and raised…” The fact that Joey is from Philadelphia reminded me of Will Smith singing the theme song of his TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.” Anyway, this Spring Retreat was a great opportunity to learn from these amazing technology experts and many others. Don’t miss the 13th Annual Fall Conference!

By Joey Pauley

Today, Michael Edlund and I finalized our topics for the Technology Roundtable Discussion at the 6^th Annual Luxury Real Estate Spring Retreat. We will be discussing…

- Social Networking
- Marketing Tools
- Listing Services
- Home Valuation

Do you have any questions regarding these topics? Then sign up for the Spring Retreat where you can discuss them with us and our expert panel in-person.


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. Indeed, the Spring Retreat is a great chance for you to ask questions and receive expert answers from people like Joey and Michael. Don’t miss out!