As I mentioned in previous communications, it is my privilege to be a member of Market Leaders, a hand-selected collection of 52 of the top Sotheby’s Realtors who represent the most affluent communities in the U.S. and Canada. This dynamic group convenes regularly to discuss “Best Practices”, share market intelligence and “cross-market” their exclusive listings. Our members’ collaborative efforts have resulted in creating proprietary marketing initiatives and providing greater exposure of our listings to world-class feeder markets and qualified buyers. I am proud of the fact that in 2019 the Market Leaders represented a staggering $5 billion in residential real estate transactions.
Our most recent 2-day “ZOOM” conference featured guest speakers John Payne, President of Realogy, Inc., a publicly held company comprised of several real estate brands, of which Sotheby’s International Realty is its Crown Jewel; Phillip White, President of Sotheby’s International Realty, who oversees 1,000 Sotheby’s offices worldwide; and Brad Nelson, Chief Marketing Officer of Sotheby’s International Realty, who is responsible for brand marketing on an international level.
The “Take Away” from that meeting was that within the past several weeks, many of us were enlightened by the ease and efficiency of conducting business meetings via ZOOM. In addition to adapting to the “new normal” of virtual home tours and FACETIME showings, working remotely from home has given our team, K. Ann Brizolis and Associates, the opportunity to sharpen our sales and marketing strategies with particular emphasis in developing social media campaigns to address the needs of “online real estate buyers”. Through the efforts of Nicole Pleskow, our team’s new Director of Marketing, since the middle of March, we have had in excess of 200,000 visitors view our Instagram and Facebook campaigns. Since that time, it is no coincidence that we have closed $20.5 million in sales, opened 5 new escrows and signed 4 new listings! The attached Sales Statistics for San Diego County, equally impressive, speaks for itself. As far as we can see, the local real estate market seems to be on a positive trajectory as homebuyers continue to take advantage of historically low mortgage rates and sellers react positively to a robust market.
Finally, we are excited to announce that Sotheby’s International Realty has formed an exclusive collaboration with Mexico’s leading business publication, EXPANSIÓN, to showcase approximately 45,000 of Sotheby's listings to prospective homebuyers on EXPANSIÓN'S new, multi-lingual real estate portal, in both digital and print formats. According to Brad Nelson, Sotheby’s Chief Marketing Officer, this affiliation with EXPANSIÓN not only promotes Sotheby’s exciting properties to a Mexican luxury and business audience, but also builds on Sotheby’s history of promoting technology in the real estate industry in global markets. With a readership of over 15 million affluent Mexican Nationals, this is yet another opportunity to showcase our clients’ homes to an international audience of well qualified buyers. It is noteworthy that our team has seen an increase in the influx of Mexican National homebuyers in Rancho Santa Fe. In fact, we have sold 2 of our “high profile” listings to Mexican Nationals in the past 12 months. Sotheby’s collaboration with EXPANSIÓN is a proud addition to its existing affiliation with other top-tier global portals such as Bloomberg, Mansion Global, The Financial Times/Europe and NIKKEI/Asia.
In closing, although we realize that Technology has positively transformed our day-to-day real estate practice, we are steadfastly convinced that it will never replace “Personology”, the HUMAN interaction that is the fundamental, core component that drives our business and shapes our success. And it is to you, our Clients, that we make our unwavering commitment to adhere to this basic principle.
