Halstead Property

Leading Real Estate Companies Of The World Launches New Luxury Homes Program

By Stephanie Andre

RISMEDIA, Sept. 27, 2005 — Leading Real

Estate Companies of the World has launched a new marketing program that

will offer consumers one convenient place to view luxury homes—Luxury

Portfolio (www.LuxuryPortfolio.com).

The

new program features an annual Fine Broker Collection sourcebook,

marketing collateral support, training and retreats for luxury

specialists, consumer advertising, and a luxury homes tips e-newsletter

for participating agents. The Web site will go live in early October.

“This

program makes it easier for consumers to find luxury homes,” says Paul

Boomsma, executive vice president of Leading Real Estate Companies of

the World. “When we researched the luxury home sale activity of our

members, it became obvious that this network was home to the highest

concentration of luxury brokers in the world. Collectively, they

generated nearly 23,000 transactions totaling almost $43 billion in

sales of homes priced at $1 million or above in 2004—20% more than our

closest national competitor.”

In addition, Luxury Portfolio

has teamed with Fodor’s, which will review luxury hotels and

restaurants that surround the homes listed on the Web site. Also, the

Web site features homes in an interactive online “Luxury Property

Gallery,” with abundant photography and virtual tours, comprehensive

property information and search criteria, home design and lifestyle

trends information.

“The luxury home market used to be about

the size of the home,” says Pam O’Connor, president and CEO of Leading

Real Estate Companies of the World. “Now, it’s much more about

substance—what’s inside the home. Our property gallery will offer

consumers a glimpse into what these homes are really about.”

And

for the broker, it offers a chance to showcase their homes on a much

larger scale, she says. “This new initiative fills a void in the market

for the independent broker,” says O’Connor.

Leading Real Estate Companies of the World’s Chairman of the Board, Michael Saunders, agrees.

“The

independent broker needs someone to speak for them,” she says. “If you

are a large company, you have a voice. If you don’t, you struggle. This

now gives them that voice.”

The network’s roster of members

involves many movers and shakers of the luxury market, including such

well-known luxury icons as Allan M. Schneider, Brown Harris Stevens, Halstead Property,

Houlihan/Lawrence, and Julia B. Fee in the metropolitan New York

market; Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell, John R. Wood, and Michael Saunders in

Florida; and Alain Pinel, Long Realty, Russ Lyon Company, and Willis

Allen in the West.

Leading Real Estate Companies of the

World’s luxury-oriented members include both boutique firms focused

almost solely on the high end like Lois Schneider Realtors in Summit,

New Jersey, and Realty Seven in Wilton, Connecticut, as well as large

brokers such as Long & Foster, which sold 1,600 homes over $1

million in 2004.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: editorial@rismedia.com.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005