The Boutique Real Estate Group

Luxury listing: Pinnacle House in Yorba Linda

via inmanLA

More than 8,000 square feet of modern beauty

This beautiful hillside estate in Yorba Linda is minutes from the esteemed Black Gold Golf Course, but with a stunning backyard and infinity pool, wine cellar and in-home theater, you might never want to leave.

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The five-bedroom, seven-bathroom home is listed at $10 million by Raj Qsar and Christina Boladian with The Boutique Real Estate Group.

 

What to look for in a Luxury home

via David Glenn

Nothing quite defines the American dream like homeownership, and that’s true for homes of all shapes and sizes. For those of you who want to really invest in your abode, the luxury market might be for you. Luxury homes are currently defined as homes with a multi-million dollar price tag. Though that qualification does not always need to be met if the home is possessed of certain features such as location, amenities, etc. Luxury homes are always homes that are unique and original, and they include amenities such as a Home Theater, private elevators and car lifts, cutting edge technology and more.

What is especially important in the luxury market is the ability to adjust the home to a particular homeowner’s individual needs. There’s a big difference between what’s considered luxury in Los Angeles and in Houston,
and the market responds to that. Many luxury homes are focused on security, with gated entrances, motion detectors, and secure buildings to make homeowners feel safe and secure, as well as grant peace of mind. Aside from practicalities, there are a few standard features that most luxury home buyers look for.

Firstly, location. As with any real estate purchase, location is perhaps the most important consideration. Most luxury homes abide in gated communities or closed buildings, in what are considered elite neighborhoods. Luxury apartment buildings are equipped with incredible views, a full time staff, and concierge service. Luxury homes are equipped with private locations, stunning vistas, and plenty of room to grow.

Depending on where the home is located, outside can be just as important as inside, with decks and pools playing a big part of a luxury lifestyle. Californians are more likely to be drawn to a house with a pool, while New York residents and other city dwellers are more interested in a room with a view.

Quality is also key. Luxury homeowners want quality in everything, from the floors to the walls. Many choose exotic or imported woods and tiles to finish with, and that alone can bump up a price tag. In the kitchen especially, custom cabinetry is a must, and homeowners want the install to be perfect.

Another amenity that appeals to most luxury buyers is a Home Theater. These rooms often come equipped with a large screen, custom lighting and sound, a mini-kitchen or refrigerator, and often a popcorn maker, to lend that movie atmosphere to your home.

Homeowners are also beginning to embrace an entire wet room instead of a simple shower or bathtub. Many of these rooms have multiple shower heads, as well as a place for seating and luxurious flooring. They are considered one of the most popular luxury features, for the relaxation value alone.

Open floor plans are also a must, just like in the suburban real estate market. However, luxury homes often have extremely high ceilings of twenty feet or more, along with the use of counters or cabinetry to separate the living and eating areas. The floor plans are fully customized as well.

Wine cellars are also becoming a more usable space, with room for entertaining and serving guests directly in the cellar itself. This use of smaller space is creative and whimsical, and allows hosts and their guests to be more focused on the current conversation then perhaps they would be in the rest of the home.

There’s also a focus on technology in the home, especially in the kitchen, where smart appliances are quickly gaining popularity. Many homes can be fully synced to a mobile device, like your ipad, that you can use to control everything.

So what’s most important in a luxury home? Real estate always focuses on location first, but after that, most of the requirements are left to homeowner’s individual taste. With the luxury market expanding as it is today, there are no shortages of opportunities to fully customize a home and make it yours. It’s said that “A man’s home is his palace”, and the luxury market provides the chance to make that statement very true indeed.

 

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Inman Innovator Awards 2016 Nomination

via Inman

The Inman Innovator Awards are given each year to recognize and celebrate industry innovation and accomplishments.

Who qualifies?

In some cases, a specific app, technology or business process qualifies someone for consideration. In other cases, the company as a whole consistently tries new things, adopts new technology or creates a new culture or approach to real estate.

How does the selection process work — and who decides?

The process for selection begins with identifying companies and individuals who meet these standards. A list of prospects is culled from input from the Inman editorial team and leaders in the industry.

The final decision on finalists and winners is made by editor Amber Taufen and publisher Brad Inman, and the Inman editorial team gives feedback throughout the process.

Innovator Bash

This year for the first time, Inman will be announcing one winner in each category plus two runners-up — for a total of three noteworthy names.

The winners will be announced when the red carpet is rolled out for the Innovator Bash. Do not miss this one-of-a-kind industry event, August 4, 2016, at 8 p.m. at Inman Connect. Dress up, walk down the red carpet, drink, eat, dance and celebrate industry innovation.

 

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Inman Teams with Lab Coat Agents for Learning Lab at Connect

via inman SF

Focus on agent advice and easy-to-implement business building tactics

Inman and Lab Coat Agent founders Nick Baldwin and Tristan Ahumada have announced a new collaboration with Inman for Connect San Francisco. The Learning Lab at Connect is a two-hour hands on session featuring advice and insights popular on the Lab Coat Agents Facebook group.

Designed specifically for agents who are looking for practical, business building skills, the learning lab will be on Tuesday, August 2nd at Inman Connect San Francisco. Tuesday at Connect is free for Select members and included with a Connect registration. Non-Select members can purchase a Tuesday-only pass for $29. Register for Connect here or Tuesday only here.

Baldwin and Ahumada will host the lab and will cover tech and marketing topics including: video marketing, leveraging client reviews, branding and luxury listing marketing and, of course, using Facebook to build your business. Confirmed speakers include Steve Pacinelli, Laura Monroe, Raj Qsar, Sergio Gonzalez, Amanda Todd, Terry Waggoner, Jason Walters, and Travis Thom.

“Inman and Lab Coat Agents share the same vision: bringing together the best in the business to collaborate, network and share the latest, successful strategies,” said Brad Inman, publisher.

“Lab Coat Agents is thrilled to bring our hands on approach to discovering what works for today’s agent to Connect San Francisco. It’s the perfect platform to share and learn with the best of the best,” said Nick Baldwin, Lab Coat Agents.

The Learn Lab will be Tuesday, August 2, from 12 to 2 p.m. at the Hilton Union Square. Save your spot now here.

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Raj Qsar and team use RealScout for personalized lead conversion

via inman Los Angeles

RealScout could save you time and energy in converting leads

Key Takeaways

  • RealScout notifies the agent in real-time as buyers search for properties.
  • The Boutique Real Estate Group has been using RealScout instead of the MLS portal since March.
  • RealScout personalizes the platform to the agent and office according to needs.

When it comes to lead conversion, The Boutique Real Estate Group in Orange County has moved on from MLS to RealScout, a San Francisco-based software company that makes connecting with buyers as simple as a text message.

“I can do anything I want standing in line at Starbucks if it has to do with a real estate transaction,” said Raj Qsar, owner of The Boutique Real Estate Group. “Contracts, social media, technology.”

“I can do anything I want standing in line at Starbucks if it has to do with a real estate…”

Qsar referred to the current MLS as archaic in its ways of communicating directly with clients. The process of logging in and checking messages only through the MLS portal became a tether, he says, prohibiting engagement. With RealScout, agents are notified immediately of interested parties.

 

 

What is RealScout to the buyer?

How it benefits different offices depends on the location. For Los Angeles, and more specifically The Boutique Real Estate Group, the criteria chosen caters to the demographic. In learning what buyers are looking for, RealScout is able to build a profile and inform them of other homes that offer similar amenities.

Once buyers find what they are looking for, they are then able to narrow down the search through the criteria: high ceilings, floor plans, and other details unique to each buyer. This information is also passed along to the agent, helping them secure the relationship.

“The common use cases are when the agent invites the client to use RealScout,” Andrew Flachner, president, and co-founder of RealScout, said. Another entryway is through Zillow, which Qsar said has a direct impact on building a relationship.

Through API integration with Zillow, buyers can connect directly with agents. If during the search they click on a page featuring The Boutique Real Estate Group, users are automatically entered into the agency’s RealScout database and begin receiving notifications according to their search criteria.

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What is RealScout to the agent?

Converting leads from online sources is not easy. It’s hard enough getting your face and name seen, much less turning someone’s query into a sale. Through the buyer notifications, which are property listings based on prioritized criteria, RealScout helps to bridge the trust between agent and client.

“They can count on the info from RealScout and your happy, smiling face is what they’ve seen all the time,” said Erica Boisvert, realtor and operations manager at Boutique. “You’ve already got that trust.”

Flachner, who used to be a real estate agent, said that RealScout was developed out of necessity. When he was showing houses, he says his clients wouldn’t demand something like an exact square footage number because they are not robots. Instead, they describe how a cul-de-sac would be a safe place or how a backyard for the kids would nice, which is the criteria that he wanted to implement in RealScout.

“I wanted software that emulated what a good real estate agent is and helps me, almost like a superpower,” Flachner said.

The criteria for each location is different. Flachner said he has come across a buyer searching for a beachfront property that was able to see the surf break, which is not a common criterion in Seattle. Instead, criteria there features options for vicinity to Microsoft’s bus station.

“The answer is, agents, helped us form these criteria,” he said. “We don’t normalize across the country.”

World Class Luxury Estate Home/ Yorba Linda / Coming Soon

Offered by The Boutique Real Estate Group

Presented by Raj Qsar & Christina Boladian

Coming Soon to Yorba Linda. World Class Luxury Estate Home.

Designed by David Streshinsky of DKY Architects

For more information please call//text Raj Qsar at 714-412-5019 for all inquiries.

All square footages are estimated:
1st Floor Living: 6,238 sq ft
2nd Floor Living: 1,909 sq ft
Garage: 1,029 sq ft
Outdoor Bathroom: 173 sq ft
Total square footage = 9,349 sq ft

Lot Size = 132,794 square feet

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Photos used with permission.

Raising the Real Estate Bar with Raj Qsar

via PLACESTER

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Years ago, real estate agents were the gatekeepers. If you as a consumer wanted to know what was on the market, you had to go through an agent. But those gates are gone. Real estate consumers now have access to all the property data they could ever want. Today, you need to give them something unique, something they can’t Google—and Raj Qsar has a few ideas about how to do it.

Raj is truly on the cutting edge of the real estate business. In 2015, Inman News named him one of the 33 People Who Are Changing The Real Estate Industry. As principal of The Boutique Real Estate Group in Orange County, California, Raj has led the charge to create content and experiences that provide value for real estate consumers far beyond the MLS.

“I wanted to do something that was different,” Raj explained. So, in 2009, Raj worked with a local filmmaker to produce an emotional short film about one of his listings. “Not only did we sell a price record on that home, we got like every listing for the next three years in that neighborhood.” Today, The Boutique Real Estate Group continues to produce high-quality videos that offer prospective buyers a beautiful, intimate look at their clients’ listings.

Whether it’s through video or some other avenue, Raj says, today’s agents need to focus on adding more value for their clients. “Give them something they don’t know,” Raj told us. “‘Hey, did you know that this neighborhood on the 4th of July actually shut down the streets? There’s a live band, a taco cart, and the local fire department comes up and does a parade with all the kids?’ [That’s] the stuff that…provides value to these people who wanna spend a couple million bucks on a home.”

Of course, it’s not just the agent’s responsibility to add value: brokers also need to step up and provide for their agents. “They need to create value within the brokerage to be able to push it to their agents, so the agents can push it to their clients, and give [them] the opportunity for success,” Raj explained. That value consists not just of modern tools and great design, but also intensive, one-on-one training in how to use these resources effectively.

“Most of the agents [we hire] are at these big brokerages with 500, 600, 800 agents,” Raj told us. “They feel like a fish. They feel like they have a number. They come here and they’re like, ‘I can’t believe how much one-on-one time I got. I can’t believe that you sat down for three hours and didn’t look at your phone one time.’”

In this interview, Raj explains how video can tell powerful stories around your listings and neighborhoods, and describes how today’s brokers should be investing in each of their agents.

Listen to the Podcast here.

– Matt & Seth

Luxury listing: dream house overlooking Laguna Beach

via inman LOS ANGELES

Professional recording studio, wine room and pool with swim-up bar are just some of the amazing features

This immaculate property above Laguna Beach sits on almost a full acre and was inspired by luxury resorts with five-start ratings. Featuring a professional recording studio, wine room, tasting room, panoramic ocean and canyon views and a saline pool with a swim-up bar, the beautiful features seem to never end.

The five-bedroom, nine-bathroom home is listed at $19,888,888 by Tracy Glass and Kelly Enciso with The Boutique Real Estate Group.

THE BOUTIQUE REAL ESTATE GROUP EXTENDS TECHNOLOGY ADVANTAGE WITH REALSCOUT

Solution Leverages Data-Driven Insights, Collaborative Tools To Identify Best Homes for Each Client

Corona del Mar, California – May 5, 2016 – The Boutique Real Estate Group, Inc. (www.TheBoutiqueRE.com), a luxury residential real estate brokerage focused on brilliant design, beautiful marketing and luxury services, has extended its tech-forward business advantage with RealScout, a powerful solution that empowers brokers and agents to generate more offers in less time.

The Boutique Founder Raj Qsar said the addition of RealScout to the firm’s already extensive technology portfolio has empowered agents to generate more business and build stronger relationships through a variety of innovative features that foster collaboration and client engagement.

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“RealScout takes the guesswork out of the real estate experience by providing critical, timely market intelligence that uncovers the best opportunities for each customer,” he said. “It offers uniquely targeted, data-driven insights and other tools that help our agents and clients work together in identifying the best homes based on lifestyle and feature preferences.”

Tech-enabled collaboration and marketing are at the core of The Boutique’s value proposition. Founded in 2013 and with agents serving Orange, Los Angeles and Riverside counties, the brokerage has mastered virtually every element of the luxury real estate buying and selling listing experience, with in-house creative design services, professional staging, architectural photography, cinematography and film production, world class social media, internet optimization, cloud-based transaction management, and global listing syndication. The firm was a finalist for the 2014 Inman News Innovator Award for “Most Innovative Real Estate Agent” and the 2015 Innovator Award for “Most Innovative Technology.” Furthermore, Qsar was named to the prestigious SP200 recognizing the “200 Most Powerful People in Residential Real Estate for 2016.”

RealScout is an agent and broker-branded web and mobile platform that has facilitated billions of dollars in residential real estate sales by empowering agents and their clients to find the right homes through the use of highly detailed information extending well beyond MLS data. In addition, unlike conventional, third-party Web portals – which often disengage consumers from their agents – RealScout facilitates collaborative search within a broker and agent-branded environment.

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“We were introduced to RealScout through a group demonstration and our agents were so enthusiastic about its capabilities that we decided to jump onboard almost immediately,” Qsar said. “It allows you to have an ongoing conversation with your client through the platform, and it is exceptionally easy to use for all parties.”

“Many real estate technology companies have tried to replace the role of the real estate agent, but RealScout is built around the exact opposite philosophy,” said RealScout Founder and CEO Andrew Flachner. “Everything we do at RealScout is based on the belief that agents’ local neighborhood knowledge and residential real estate transaction expertise, augmented with the right technology, provide clients the best advantage when making the most important financial decision of their lives. Raj and his team immediately understood the value RealScout could bring to their organization, and it is rewarding to see The Boutique build upon its success through our solution’s innovative features which help their agents generate more offers in less time.”

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About The Boutique Real Estate Group

The Boutique Real Estate Group (TheBoutiqueRE.com) is a boutique real estate brokerage founded in Orange County, California, that focuses on brilliant design, beautiful marketing and luxury services. The Boutique has created a culture that spurs collaboration, technology and social media with a unique marketing approach. This design and tech-forward approach has earned The Boutique Real Estate Group accolades and awards worldwide: 2016 SP 200 “Most Powerful People in Residential Real Estate,” 2015 Inman News Innovator Award Finalist nominee for “Most Innovative Real Estate Agent,” 2015 “Top 33 People Changing The Real Estate Industry,” 2014 “Next Generation Real Estate Brokerage,” 2013 and 2014 “Top 100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders in the USA,” and 2014 “Real Estate Video of The Year.”

About RealScout

RealScout (realscout.com) is the brokerage and agent-branded home search platform that empowers agents and their clients to find the right home faster. RealScout supports the competitive needs of brokerages and agents by helping them work in concert with their clients throughout their property hunt. Home buyers receive exclusive personalized property matches based on their specific lifestyle and feature preferences. Agents have visibility into buyer activities to best meet evolving client preferences, boosting client loyalty and facilitating informed, data-driven decisions that generate more offers in less time.

Life in Laguna Beach: 1000 Flamingo Road

via Leverage

Soaring over Laguna Beach on its own promontory, this contemporary estate encompasses approximately 10,200 square feet of living space and sits on nearly one acre, leaving room to build a guest home.

Inspired by luxury 5-star island resorts, this truly magnificent home offers an indoor-outdoor open floor plan and unrivaled panoramic ocean and canyon views from virtually every room. The entire home is showcased with custom designer details.

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The Foyer boasts white limestone imported from Paraguay, with a custom sculptural light fixture. A glass enclosed wine room has capacity for 1000 bottles with an anti humidity cooling system. Floor to ceiling automated pocket doors open to the outdoors in both the living and dining area, with walnut wood-beam ceiling detail. The bar area includes multiple TVs, custom retractable windows leading to the outdoor dining area, holds a Perlick 3 spigot beer tap, wine cooler, bar refrigerator, and lighted glass display. The main level guest suite and bath hosts a private entrance and ocean view from bed, along with switchable privacy glass. An oversized island in the kitchen is accompanied by a Wolf Double wall oven, Fischer&Paykel Double Dishwasher drawer, and a built in butcher block. A separate catering kitchen holds a Bosch dishwasher, Capital Range, and Wolf warming drawer; all leading to the service hallway connecting to dining room.

The grand staircase of glass, polished steel and walnut wood leads to the media room with surround sound and built in beverage bar and bar refrigerator. A private foyer opens to the master suite, which includes an In-suite office with wet bar and refrigerator, TV/video projection with automated drop-down screen and automated blinds. The private balcony hosts unobstructed 180 degree ocean views. In addition, all secondary bedrooms have their own private ocean view balcony. For easy access to the upper level, don’t miss the designer glass elevator.

The serene, tropical resort ambiance transitions seamlessly to the outdoors with amenities including a custom saline pool with swim-up bar, 10-person spa, large entertaining cabana, and pool house with shower/steam room, making this the ultimate entertaining compound. The private, gated entry and driveway leads to the 7-car garage with turn around to accommodate 8 additional vehicles.

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The home is ideally located above The Village in Laguna Beach, displaying continually breathtaking views, including glowing city lights after dusk. Art galleries are scattered throughout the tight-knit community, supporting local and international artists alike. The city hosts The Pageant of the Masters and The Festival of Arts annually. It is also home to some of the worlds best hotels, including The Montage Laguna Beach, and is a short distance from The Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel and The St. Regis Monarch Beach. Local beaches, boutiques, and coffee shops create a beautifully unique landscape.