Flying below the radar
Spare a thought for super-rich property hunters. When the budget is north of Dh50 million ($13.6m), it’s not quite as easy as logging on to findaproperty.com or scanning the ads in the window of the neighbourhood estate agent.
Helping the very wealthy scour the world for their property trophies – and there are only a handful of such homes available globally at any one time – is a small band of super-agents operating outside the regular parameters of the industry. Very often they crave the same privacy as their wealthy clients. Unlisted phone numbers are the least of it.
Combining, as it must, the roles of confidant, friend and business-savvy adviser to the financial elite, the job reaps a handsome reward – upwards of Dh1m in commission on a single sale –the agents insist is money well earned.
“The ability to communicate at every level is the key attribute,” declares Alexander Kraft, the chairman of Sotheby’s International Realty in France and Monaco. “A top agent must possess charm, be multilingual [minimum four languages] and be happy to give their all to the job – return calls and answer emails at any time, on any day of the week.”
Kraft holds degrees in law from Berlin, Cambridge and San Diego universities. He joined Sotheby’s as a management trainee in 1996 and now oversees 40 offices. For the most part he says his job is that of a high-level manager. But when those top-notch clients come around – no more than three to five a year – he has to know how to clinch the deal. “The clients I deal with will be our very wealthiest, usually those who are active buyers in our art and auction side of the business,” he explains. “Generally, they will be looking for properties between €10m (Dh48.9m) and €100m.”
Initially, Kraft’s team deals with the client’s PAs, bankers or lawyers – often all three. “At the stage we are presented with the client’s identity I will personally get in touch as they usually request someone on their eye level.” Several conversations will have taken place between Kraft’s people and his client’s to match key requirements with any suitable properties. “They usually select two or three for viewing and that’s when things really hot up,” says Kraft.
The viewing for very high-net worth clients can prove a logistical challenge. When clients fly in on their private jets, it is up to the agents to ensure adequate landing facilities close to the properties and obtain the necessary landing permits, as well as providing the expected, and often some unexpected, VIP services for the client and his family.
Pandering to clients’ whims is a large part of a top agent’s remit and it’s not surprising they are reluctant to speak on the record about their least favourite experiences. It was a brave but foolhardy broker who allowed a British newspaper to accompany her on a house-hunting trip aboard a private jet with Yuki Oshima-Wilpon, the socialite daughter of a Korean-Japanese entrepreneur (whose worth Forbes estimates at $1.4 billion). While viewing a property in the South of France, Oshima-Wilpon, a fervent animal-rights activist, came across a sick dog belonging to the owner. She instructed her agent to procure the services of an off-duty vet and animal ambulance and attempted a dognap, until the property’s housekeeper intervened and a fight ensued – all before lunch.
Are the über-rich really so tricky to deal with? “On the whole, no,” says William Montgomery, Sotheby’s representative in Ireland. “Generally people who love beautiful things and places have a soft side so we share an interest from the start. In fact, we often become friends.” Hardly a feat of social mountaineering in Montgomery’s case. A member of the Irish aristocracy, he conducts his business from the 400-year-old family seat, Grey Abbey, in County Down and often comes across potential clients in the rarefied social circles he moves in.
Kraft says that it’s crucial for the top agents to be well-versed in cultural and social mores as well as in the cutting-edge side of the business: “Entrepreneurs tend to talk numbers very quickly so that’s why our top people have a background in law, finance or may be former CEOs of large companies.” Socially, they also need to be seen in the places their clients frequent, such as Art Basel in both Switzerland and Miami. “Not that our top clients need entertaining and they certainly aren’t looking for a free dinner,” explains Kraft, “but agents need to assure the clients that they are very much one of them.” Indeed, Montgomery met his first billionaire Greek client while they were both swimming in the sea off Corinth.
Roger Willoughby, of the London-based Prestige Property, deals primarily in French chateaux and estates in Monaco and often has to ensure that his clients are the right profile for the properties they want to purchase: “In Monaco at the level we work at, over €50m, it involves setting up a meeting with the Prince and his associates to make sure the prospective buyer is suitable for residency.” What equates to suitability? “If they have a reasonably transparent background they are usually accepted,” he says.
A close bond with a trusted agent is just as important on the vendor’s side of the bargain. More often than not, seller and buyer won’t know each other’s identity until the deal is sealed. “If the buyer is high-profile there is the temptation to bump the price up a notch,” acknowledges Montgomery.
For Prestige Property’s château sales there is generally a team of two; one side deals with buyers, the other looks after the owner, answering queries about potential buyers and making sure they are comfortable with strangers checking out their priceless art and antiques. “They are distinctly different departments but work very closely together to ensure a smooth sale,” explains Willoughby.
“Often both the buyer and seller have big egos and they can collide spectacularly so you have to tread carefully,” confirms Kraft. It comes as no surprise to learn that some of Kraft’s key château agents are also ex-diplomats.
“Vendors need discretion for many reasons, especially in the current climate,” says Montgomery. “If you are a captain of industry and people learn you are putting your home on the market for €90m, yet planning to make 10 per cent of your workforce redundant, it doesn’t look very good.”
When both sellers and buyers need the consummate middleman to broker a deal, many turn to Quintessentially Estates, the property arm of the worldwide concierge company. “A lot of our clients are time-poor and since our service goes beyond that of a traditional agent, they feel it is more efficient to take advantage of our one-stop service.” explains Lucy Russell, the managing director. “Ideally, we’ll first meet the client at their home to get an idea of their taste. We’ll take a detailed brief and then find properties to shortlist – many that are completely off the real estate radar.”
Ed Rigg, a multimillionaire in the drinks industry, recently turned to the company when, with the odd £7m to spend, he sought a second home in the country that had scope for renovation. “I have a very busy life so spending weeks trekking around the Cotswolds simply wasn’t possible,” says Rigg. After a thorough briefing, Quintessentially found an estate that ticked all the boxes for Rigg – it hadn’t been advertised or marketed anywhere else. “It really took the headache out of the search, even though I’m not sure we bought at the best time,” he says. “At this level however, it isn’t a house that we will be getting rid of in a couple of years. It’s a house for life.”
Understandably, security is a major issue for the extremely wealthy. Montgomery has had requests for the installation of panic rooms in properties he’s sold and many clients make good use of Sotheby’s in-house architects and interiors people. “We had one client transform a 14-bedroom mansion into a four-bed,” he recalls. “He then went on to build several new buildings away from the main property for his guests.”
The trailblazers in high security tend to be Russian clients but generally, say the agents, they are out of the market at the moment – as are clients from the Middle East. “Not even one last year,” confirms Willoughby. “It was the year of the Americans.”
Wealthy Americans – and in particular Hollywood’s movers and shakers – seem never to tire of the multimillion dollar move and there’s one person they go to when they get itchy feet: Joyce Rey. “Even after 35 years in the business I still really love my work,” she says. “My clients are always on my mind and it really is a lifestyle rather than a job.” Presently, Rey is marketing Fleur de Lys – a mansion in the rarefied neighbourhood of Holmby Hills, tucked between Bel Air and Beverly Hills. At $125m it is the most expensive property ever marketed in the US. A potential buyer has just slipped through Rey’s fingers but she feels confident it will move this year. “Fleur de Lys has been marketed very discreetly but in LA it is very difficult to keep the buying and selling of top properties under wraps – word always seems to get out.”
Given the massive swings in the global property and currency markets, agents report a lot of strategic selling at the top of the property ladder. “If they are strong in Euros, clients are very keen to buy at the moment,” reveals Willoughby. “Undoubtedly very rich people have an eye on what is going on and they know the market is soft at the moment and there are bargains to be had,” says Montgomery, “although I don’t know whether you would call a €130m property down to €90m a bargain exactly.”
Source Reference:
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090117/HOUSE_HOME/881183497/1196
