Blog contributions are provided exclusively from Luxury Real Estate members throughout the world.
Courtesy of Garrett McGuire of Ewing and Clark
Downtown Seattle's historic Rainier Club hosts a monthly Real Estate Roundtable. The guest speaker for November's Roundtable was John Brian Losh, Designated Broker of Ewing & Clark Inc. and Chairman/Publisher of LuxuryRealEstate.com, the most viewed Luxury Real Estate website in the world. Recognized as one of the "25 Most Influential People in Real Estate" by Realtor Magazine, Brian began his real estate career when he joined Ewing & Clark nearly 40 years ago in 1971.
John Brian Losh spoke about the luxury real estate market in the Greater Seattle area and the histories of different neighborhoods including those of West Seattle, Downtown, Belltown, Madison Park, Broadmoor, Capitol Hill, Queen Anne, Laurelhurst, The Highlands, Bellevue and Mercer Island. Brian drew from his experiences as well as his knowledge of the local history to give insight on the luxury market in Seattle. For example, he showed illustrations of how the opening of the canal dropped the level of Lake Washington, significantly adding waterfront real estate to Lake Washington. For those of you that weren't as privileged as I was to have the chance to listen to John Brian Losh speak, then you may want to read about some of the things he discussed in his republished book Seattle Memories. The book is available for purchase on Amazon.com.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Patricia Choi – Choi International
The list of nominees are….
Best Brand Integration
Gulf Coast International Properties
Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty
Best Industry Networking
Diane Turton – Diane Turton, Realtors
Ann Chiasson - Sea to Sky Premier Properties
Bob Nathan – Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty
Jim Walberg – Keller Williams Danville
Tim Murray – Alain Pinel Realtors
Bonnie Smith – Exclusive Mountain Retreats Real Estate
Liane (Li) Read – Sea to Sky Premier Properties (Salt Spring)
Rollie Jordan – Kentwood Company
Antonio & Jose Ribes – Rimontgo
Karen Bigos – Towne Realty Group, LLC
Best New Community
Devonshire House
One Hanson Place
Best Overall Marketing Package
Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty
Slifer, Smith & Frampton Real Estate
Hammond Residential Real Estate, LLC
Best Print Marketing
Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty
Shawn Elliott Luxury Homes & Estates
Hammond Residential Real Estate, LLC
Best Website Design
Hammond Residential Real Estate, LLC
Best Website Innovation
Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty
Billionaire’s Club
Elizabeth Stribling - Stribling & Associates
Vicki & Bill Mitchell - Carmel Realty
Glennis Beacham - Beacham & Company, REALTORS
Patricia Choi - Choi International
Extraordinary Philanthropist
Jack Cotton – Sotheby’s International Realty
Travis Reed – Harry Norman, Realtors
Jim Walberg – Keller Williams Danville
Saul Cohen – Hammond Residential Real Estate, LLC
Most Impressive Listing
Diane Turton – Diane Turton, Realtors
Dixi Applegate - Slifer, Smith & Frampton Real Estate
Manyee Lui - Macdonald Realty Group Inc.
Elizabeth Stribling - Stribling & Associates
Brian Hazen - Mason Morse Real Estate
Kelly Drum – Drum Realty
Peter Butler – Carmel Realty Company
Lynn Brown Knoop – Carmel Realty Company
Most Innovative Marketing Technique
Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty
Jack Cotton – Sotheby’s International Realty
Shawn Elliott Luxury Homes & Estate
Luxury Real Estate New Zealand
Outstanding Rookie
Courtney Jones – Carmel Realty Company
Outstanding Social Media Savvy
Courtesy of: Melody Brown of Zephyr Real Estate
SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(April 28, 2010) - Zephyr Real Estate's new website is a perfect example of savvy marketing teamed with innovative technology. Users can navigate beyond the crisp, clean, easy-to-use home page to find a wealth of data not readily available elsewhere. The new website ensures that visitors will quickly find all the information needed, and wanted, in their real estate search all in one location.
"Our previous website was a consumer favorite when it launched in 2003," said Randall Kostick, Chief Operating Officer, Zephyr Real Estate. "With all the advances since then, we wanted to maintain -- and surpass -- that precedent, to provide our agents and their clients with the best tools available."
Zephyr began the process about 15 months ago with the goal of creating a new website with a simple design, intuitive user interface and meaningful content that would be a useful, relevant real estate and community resource. Months were spent analyzing peer websites as well as those of other industry leaders, attending conferences and assembling a team to build the vision.
"The top three things most visitors seek when they visit a real estate site are a comprehensive property search, neighborhood information and market trends," stated Melody Foster-Brown, Director of Marketing.
"Even more important than having that information is making sure it's accurate and relevant to the marketplace. San Francisco has very nuanced neighborhood and school data, so rather than licensing from a third party with no understanding of the area, we took painstaking care to ensure our content was both well presented and hyper-local."
Most sites offer market trends by zip code (there are 30 in San Francisco), which is less helpful in a city where there are 89 neighborhoods. Zephyr has fine-tuned the data so that the information is pertinent and genuinely valuable.
"We use the MLS neighborhoods designated and used by the San Francisco Association of REALTORS® and by property appraisers to generate our market data, not zip codes," said Matthew Borland, Managing Broker/Partner. "Our neighborhood-level market trends take you inside the real numbers to give our clients the insight needed to make informed decisions."
The new www.zephyrsf.com offers unprecedented and in-depth coverage of the 89 neighborhoods of San Francisco, featuring profiles, videos, maps, market trends, demographics, available properties and open homes. In addition, visitors who register have access to Multiple Listing Service (MLS) information previously unavailable to the general public. Visitors with a MyZephyr account can search sold properties, save favorites, track the value of their own property and receive email alerts on new matches and price changes.
"The site is built to be expanded and enhanced as new technologies and resources become available," stated Hud Bixler, Director of Technology. "We've launched it, but that doesn't mean we're finished. We are able to integrate new applications and content seamlessly into this dynamic site."
For example, public school selection in San Francisco is not determined geographically but by using a complex lottery system, which is organized, explained and made searchable on the Zephyr website. As the school district's system evolves, Zephyr's website will continue to provide the updated information to its visitors in a user-friendly environment.
"Our team set out to create a new site that positions Zephyr well ahead of anything else out there. We contracted with Marker Seven and put together an incredible in-house team to work together to build our vision," said Borland. "It's been a challenging, yet rewarding project."
About Zephyr Real Estate
Founded in 1978, Zephyr Real Estate is San Francisco's largest independent real estate firm with approximately $1 billion in annual gross sales in 2009 and a current roster of more than 200 full-time agents. Zephyr has six offices strategically located in San Francisco and serves a large customer base throughout the City. For information, visit www.zephyrsf.com.
By Meghan Barry
We recently hosted a Webinar for the members of our network; this opportunity was led by our partners Ron & Alexandra Seigel of Napa Consultants, International. Here is a video summarizing what was discussed in the Webinar:
Buzz-Worthy Luxury Real Estate Website Design from The Language of Luxury on Vimeo.
Ron & Alexandra Seigel are the managing partners of Napa Consultants, International and the Community Founders of Language of Luxury, the fastest growing luxury real estate professional networking community on Linkedln. The Seigels help luxury real estate professionals out-think (not out-spend) their competition and become the "breakaway" brand in their marketplace. With a 20 year background as broker/owners of a commercial real estate firm in Beverly Hills, CA, their expertise is providing strategic insight, creative instinct, and artistic flair to those professionals who are interested in gaining or sustaining market leadership. Their services include: Personal & Company Branding, Web Design, & Social Media Marketing.
Courtesy of: Patricia W. Murray of J. Barrett & Company
BEVERLY, MA: Finding the most up-to-the-minute local, regional, and national real estate news and information is now only a quick mouse click away.
J. Barrett & Company has unveiled its newly enhanced website with access to the most current real estate news and information in the industry. It is continually updated from leading real estate publications, newswires, and industry authority blogs, such as Banker and Tradesman, RISMedia, Inman News, Realtor, Boston Business Journal, the Real Estate Marketing Blog, Boston.com, the Boston Globe, DSNews.com, CNBC, MarketWatch , Barron’s, and the Wall Street Journal to name but a few.
“We are very excited about offering this unique capability,” says Jon Gray, president. “No other real estate firm on the North Shore, in the state or in the country can provide the most up-to-date information clients need as fast as we can. In fact, we have that information as soon as the news sources create it. We worked closely with Northern Light, a provider of business news solutions for major corporations, creating the perfect subset of relevant real estate news.”
“But it’s not just about speed,” continues Gray. “Today, information drives every industry and real estate is no exception. The market is constantly changing and as representatives of that market, we need access to the most current data and to ever-evolving trends to help our clients achieve the best possible results. The ability to share access to that information with our clients is a bonus and we’re delighted to do that.”
Featuring a fresh new user-friendly design, the J. Barrett & Company website allows for faster and easier home searches including information on newly listed properties, current listings, upcoming open houses and rentals. Most searches involve only a single click.
“We worked diligently to make certain our website produces results quickly, is easy to understand and, most of all, is easy to use,” says Gray. “Research proves that 87% of buyers are currently searching the internet to shop for a new home or to research a community. Sellers, on the other hand, are using the web to find information about listing their homes including which company to use. Internet use continues, but not all websites are easily accessible. This one is.”
Northern Light Group LLC
Northern Light provides strategic research portals for market research, competitive intelligence, business analysis, product development, and technology research to the largest, most research-driven, most demanding and sophisticated companies in the world. Clients include global organizations like HP and Sprint. Based in Cambridge, MA, Northern Light also provides consulting in the area of strategic research portals including best-practices advice, brand reputation tracking, and custom editorially-populated portals to track competitors, industries, and product markets.
J. Barrett & Company
Only three years old, J Barrett & Company is among the most successful real estate firms on the North Shore. The firm, which serves the North Shore and Cape Ann areas, has three offices: 3 Oak Street in Beverly, 67 Main Street in Gloucester, and 38 Union Street in Manchester.
Tuesday January 12th (Seattle, WA): LuxuryRealEstate.com unveils the new face of its award-winning website - the #1 online portal for global luxury properties and the professionals representing them.
The redesigned home page is the first phase of a complete re-launch of LuxuryRealEstate.com. The new website will include a completely revamped property, agent, broker and luxury community search, along with better international coverage of luxury communities and property listings around the world.
Beyond the more polished and improved look and feel of LuxuryRealEstate.com, the redesign introduces under-the-hood improvements that might not be obvious to the casual visitor, but will improve the user experience and increase exposure of luxury homes listed on the site. Features include - faster page loading, more search engine friendly, and more future safe with upgraded web browsers. Utilization of Twitter posts and Microformats as well as RSS and Atom feeds will allow for easier user subscriptions and syndication of editorial content.
“LuxuryRealEstate.com is the original - it sets that standard for websites directed at high net-worth real estate consumers. Our new website will take the user experience to a whole new level”, states CEO/Publisher John Brian Losh.
LuxuryRealEstate.com, a 2009 Webby Award Honoree, has been voted ‘Best of the Web’ by Forbes magazine multiple times, praised by the International Herald Tribune, Town & Country, the Wall Street Journal and has been ranked ‘Best Website’ by consumers according to surveys by the Luxury Institute. Since its debut in 1995, LuxuryRealEstate.com has remained the #1 portal for luxury properties on the internet, consistently driving more traffic to member websites and generating more qualified inquiries than any other website. LuxuryRealEstate.com has several times more $1,000,000+ content of any near-peer.
Also known in the industry as the Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate network, a global collection of the finest luxury real estate brokers in the world, this group of more than 1000 brokerage firms and 95,000 professionals in more than 65 countries collectively sells in excess of $190 billion of real estate annually, with an average sale price of $2,450,000. Members sell homes for record prices and handle transactions of incredible complexity and magnitude with complete discretion. Every member is carefully selected by CEO/Publisher John Brian Losh, one of REALTOR Magazine’s 25 Most Influential People in Real Estate and broker of fine properties and estates through his Seattle-based brokerage firm, Ewing & Clark, Inc.
By Michel Cruz of Rimontgó
Rimontgó already hosts Spanish and English websites and now it has gone one step further and launched a German site, which will help clients from Hamburg to Munich to find their perfect ‘Luxus Immobilien.'
Rimontgó prides itself on its international focus: Rimontgó’s Managing Director, José Ribes Bas, says “We see Germany as one of the world’s leading markets and it is definitely a key area of interest for us in terms of a growing German clientele.”
The new product offers exactly the same features as the English and original Spanish sites, allowing visitors to find the exact property they require by country, area, price, property type and facilities such as bedrooms and bathrooms.
Traditionally Rimontgó has serviced many German clients, but it is anticipated that the new site will help the company to raise its profile within Europe’s largest economy, while providing a first-class service to customers in Germany and to those German speaking clients living overseas.
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Damianos Sotheby's International Realty Brand Web Site Offers Language Translation Capability
By Janine Carey of Damianos Sotheby's International Realty
NASSAU, Bahamas (Feb 19, 2009)—Damianos Sotheby’s International Realty, a luxury real estate firm based in Nassau, today announced that its brand Web site, www.sothebysrealty.com, soon will be multi-lingual with the addition of seven new languages.
All functional and static information on the Web site were translated into Spanish and Portuguese this month. It also will be translated into French, Italian, German, Russian and traditional Chinese within the next few weeks. Translations will be done by professional translators based in each respective country, not by machine translation methods.
The brand added a currency conversion to the Web site earlier this year.
“The translations will be done by professional translators in each respective country, not by machine translation methods, and the Web site will be search engine optimized for each language,” said George Damianos, President of Damianos Sotheby’s International Realty. “Our customers around the globe will be able to search our inventory of Bahamian properties in their native language with just the click of a button.”
Damianos Sotheby’s International Realty, serves the entire Bahamas and is headquartered in downtown Nassau with offices in Lyford Cay; Governor's Harbour and Spanish Wells Eleuthera; Marsh Harbour, Hope Town and Elbow Cay, Abaco; with associates in Treasure Cay, Abaco; Indigo Island, Exuma, and Freeport. The Bahamas, offers exclusive Sotheby’s International Realty marketing, advertising and referral services designed to attract well-qualified buyers to the firm’s property listings. In addition, the firm and its clients benefit from an association with the Sotheby’s auction house, which promotes real estate referral opportunities with auction house clientele.
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Good things come in threes
By Joey Pauley
At Luxury Real Estate, we do not only produce the most-viewed luxury real estate website in the world, LuxuryRealEstate.com, we also produce award-winning websites for our clients. Over the last three weeks we have launched three websites that are as distinct as the companies they represent: MiamiRealEstate.com, EwingandClark.com, and TheFloridaAuthority.com.
Each website has had its own challenges. But I think the biggest challenge is trying to launch the site. There is a fear to launch a new website. It is a huge change and naturally a time for stress.
I find it ironic that three people in our Web department are also expecting children: Michael, Dustin and Eric. I know how tough it is for our clients to adapt to the change of a website. I can only imagine how our lucky fathers are going to adapt to having a newborn. Good luck to them all.
And you thought this post was going to be about websites, didn’t you?
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. What a wonderful analogy Joey has given us. Bringing forth these new websites, with all their inherent stress and relief, is an experience very much like parenthood. Everyone in our web department has had three children this month, I suppose.
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