Simply an amazing night with our Boutique Family. A soft opening to our new headquarters in Corona Del Mar. What started of as a whim many years ago has truly changed all our lives forever. Thank you. We are truly speechless. www.TheBoutiqueRE.com
206 N Madrona Ave #108 is a Gorgeous Model Perfect End-Unit Townhome in The Heart of Brea. Located On A Peaceful Cul-De-Sac This Home Boasts Approximately 1,400 sq. ft. of Living Space with 3 Bedrooms & 2.5 Bathrooms. Open Concept Kitchen with views to Family Room. The Home Lays Out Perfectly into an Open Floor Plan and is Anchored by a Cozy Fireplace In The Family Room. Great Natural Light Beam Throughout This Home. Opulent Master Bedroom & Bathroom with Dual Vanities with Solid Surface Countertops, Custom Paint, Upgraded Floors and Walk-In Closet. Inside Laundry Room, Two Car Attached Garage with your own private Driveway. Great Entertainers Backyard with Plenty Of Room for Friends & Family to Enjoy. Walk to Downtown Brea, Birch Street Promenade, Movies, Improv, Fabulous Restaurants, Nightlife and Award Winning Schools. Low HOA and No Mello Roos.
By:
Walk us through a typical day in your life.
My day typically starts at 5 a.m., sometimes a bit earlier. I just get up out of bed. No alarm. I grab my phone and head downstairs. I am totally a morning person. I make a protein shake and jump on my laptop and scroll through emails, Twitter, Instagram and then Facebook. I usually check analytics on our website and social channels, and look at ad campaign results.
On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, I am at the Crossfit gym by 6 a.m. After the gym, I am at home helping get the kiddos—Hannah, Emma, and Cooper—get ready for school. Breakfast, clothes, homework review, and they are off to school by 8:30 a.m., and I am off to one of our offices. At 8 p.m. or so, I start shutting down.
Phone / tablet / laptop / desktop of choice?
iPhone 5S, iPad Air, MacBook Pro with Retina Display, iMac 27″ on my desk. We are an Apple company.
Apps you can’t live without?
DocuSign, DocuSign Transaction Room, DropBox, Facebook, Instagram, and recently I have been using Refresh as I am meeting with so many people.
Emails sent per day? Received?
My Google app business account said I received 7,000 emails last month, and I sent out 1,400.
Tell us about your market.
We tend to market homes above $1 million. It was not intentional, but our services are considered luxury and tend to attract those types of buyers and sellers.
Real estate marketing has truly evolved over the last 10 years. We have developed a comprehensive strategy which showcases our client’s home through real-life video—actual movies—amazing photography, 360 HD V-tours, individual property websites for each home, staging and interior design, custom graphics and design, and a social media content strategy that reaches people on a global scale.
We have complete control over our designs, feel and strategy when marketing luxury real estate. When surfing the web for real estate, our listings stand out: they have a unique look and feel, and buyers recognize our listings as being “boutique-ivied”—and we believe every home has a story.
Total number of transactions you worked on last year? Expected this year?
I personally did about 40 transactions last year with an average sales price of about $2 million. I will do about the same this year, but our price point has moved up. Look for our new office in the beach city of Corona Del Mar in Newport Beach as we launch into the coastal Orange County real estate market.
What made you choose a career in real estate?
After watching an agent “sell” our first home, I knew there had to be a better way. I personally held the open houses, I printed the flyers, I wrote the content. That was all pre-social.
It was so massively complicated, and we were so in the dark the whole way through. I had an “Ah, ha!” moment back in 2008 as technology and social media found real estate. We knew there had to be a better way of not only marketing real estate but also of managing the mountain of paperwork and people involved in a real estate transaction.
So in a sense, our team has digitized the real estate experience. You will never find our clients running to a fax machine and most likely never even pick up a pen to sign anything. We are a paperless office, completely mobile and can run an entire real estate transaction from our iPads and phones. Our technology does not require our clients to be tech savvy—it only requires our agents to understand the benefits of technology and to implement that technology with our clients.
What’s the biggest challenge the real estate industry faces today?
One of the biggest challenges in real estate today is that everyone seems to be swimming in the same pool. There is no original creative. Nobody wants to tell a story. There is an old quote, “Those who tell the stories rule the world.” What I love is when I meet someone, and they just instantly pick up with a story. We believe this type of mindset is so needed in our industry.
What advice would you give to new agents?
The advice I would give to a new agent entering into the world of real estate would be to join an amazing team. And I do not just mean a busy team, but an amazing, highly-respected team where you can learn, experience and absorb everything and anything that is real estate. That includes not only all the “beautiful and shiny” things that real estate offers, but also all the challenges that real estate brings each and everyday: from contracts, lender guidelines and appraisals to staging, photography, pre- and post-processing of photos, editing video, print campaigns and the entire social media and web content strategy.
Who inspires you the most?
Jesus Christ because he changed my heart.
Previous “A Day In The Life” articles:
Great memories of a fabulous listing we actually sold twice within a 1 year time span. #tbt
The villas dotting the hilltops in Andalusia, Spain provided the stimulus for this custom built residence nestled into the Northeast Slope of this Southern California coastal foothill known as Shady Canyon in Irvine. A thoughtful compilation of simple horizontal white washed building forms, brick elements, pointed arches, and moorish tile accents are evocative of an unintended complex of buildings evolved over multiple generations. This private & gated 1.15 acre site is punctuated with several natural rock outcroppings that the floor plan layout playfully incorporates as focal design points.
Designed by reknown local Orange County Architect, R. Douglas Mansfield, this Andalusian masterpiece sits on a private 1.15 Acre Flat Plot Tucked into the hillside of Shady Canyon at the end of a Cul-De-Sac and backing up to Bommer Canyon. Approximatley 6,300 sq ft of Living, Six Bedrooms, 7 Bathrooms, 4 Car Attached Garage, Dual Wine Cellars, Professional Grade Appliances & Whole Home Lutron Automation highlight this Private Retreat. The outdoor space capitalizes on the massive flat lot by incorporating a gated circular driveway, fruit orchard, perfectly manicured landscape, Salt-Water Pool & Spa, Fire-Pit & massive grassy area for entertaining family & friends.
Shady Canyon is Orange County’s premier, guard-gated golf course community located in beautiful Irvine. Surrounded by 16,000 acres of natural sanctuary, Shady Canyon has approximately 400 luxury homes and home sites that exhibit stunning architectural designs, luxurious landscapes, abundant space and natural attributes.
Search All Shady Canyon Homes Here.
Connect with a Boutique Agent Today.
Please call 949-612-2535 for a private showing of this home.
32 Bell Chime is a Fully Upgraded Executive Home in The Portola Springs Community of Bougainvillea in Irvine. This Home Boasts Approximately 2,300 square feet of Living Space with 4 Bedrooms + Office (Optional 4th Bedroom) + Loft (Optional 5th Bedroom) & 3.5 Baths. Gourmet Chefs Kitchen with Granite Slab Countertops & Backsplash, Stainless Steel Appliances, Huge Center Island with Breakfast Bar. Beautiful Artisan Laid Travertine Tile Floors Downstairs with Coordinating Upgraded Carpet & Custom Paint Throughout. Media Niche in Living Room with In-Ceiling Speakers, Fireplace, Ceiling Fan, Custom Window Coverings & Whole Home Intercom. Opulent Master Bedroom with Balcony & Master Bathroom with Dual Vanities, Custom Backsplash, Spa Tub with Custom Tile Surround, Upgraded Tile Floors & Dual Walk-In Closets with Built-Ins. Second Level Office (Optional 4th Bedroom) with In-Ceiling Speakers & Media Center Built-Ins & 3rd Level Loft (Optional 5th Bedroom with Custom Built In Three Person Workstation and Private Bath. Great Entertainers Backyard with BBQ Island, Stainless Steel BBQ & Plenty of Room to Entertain. Two Car Attached Garage with Custom Built-Ins & Overhead Storage. Community Features include Clubhouse, Swimming Pool, Spa, Basketball & Tennis Courts, Playgrounds and Lush Parks. Minutes Away From The Irvine Spectrum, The Great Park, Fabulous Schools, Shopping, Dining, Entertainment & Easy Freeway Access.
By: The Boutique Real Estate Group
It’s been two years since I started my journey in the Real Estate Industry. InMan Connect San Francisco is the first big real estate conference I have been to, the other being a workshop in Las Vegas with Mike Ferry. The conference was a full 2.5 days of speakers, workshops, and networking. It was like a wonderful smashup of those who are at the top of the Real Estate Industry, trading info on the newest apps, innovative concepts, tips and crazy ideas.
1. On buyer experience- What is more important to a buyer: Relationship or Convenience? When Redfin CEO, Glenn Kelman took the stage on Day 1, my love/hate relationship with Redfin deepened with a new reality check. Kelman’s team found that when browsing properties online, buyers value the convenience more than the relationship of an agent- every time. The invention of the 4G mobile device allows us the instant gratification of getting what we want at the touch of a screen/button/app. Today’s savvy homebuyer will prefer the agent who can show them the property at that very instant instead of the one who they may have been communicating with on and off.
2. Be efficient or be extinct! Don’t reinvent the wheel- simplify your workflow, and improve your system. By 12 noon each day of the conference, there would be at least 5-10 new apps downloaded on my iPad. In fact, there was a room FULL of little booths set up with the newest apps and goodies available for the world of real estate. A few that definitely stood out to me were Refresh, Twilio, Tempo, HouseCall, Updater, Lenda, and Lumentus.
3. Information asymmetry only helps the sellers with the lemons. In the used car market, people used to have no way in telling if they were going to end up with a bad car since the only person who knew was the person selling it. This resulted in low-baller buyers who factored in repair costs when haggling while sellers with the good cars end up never selling because it wouldn’t be worth it. So the only cars that ended up selling were the bad ones at average used car prices. When purchasing anything of value, people love information. With the largest purchase decision of their life, people want to know everything and anything that may alter their decision about purchasing the home. The Internet is a beautiful thing, but misinformation can be a huge problem. Sometimes things are simply just not true, and at that moment, you need to be the professional who can clarify between fact and myth. Therefore, give your clients all the information they need, give them the resources, and be a trusted filter. A consumer who is educated in the market are becomes the fastest transaction. No one wants a lemon.
4. Uber-fying the real estate transaction. The term “uberfy” started trending at ICSF from the very start and is basically used to describe anything that is able to help bridge the gap between consumer and services. How can we leverage that in real estate? Have an awesome online presence! Be on ZTR (Zillow/Trulia/Realtor.com), have a social network, and answer your phone. Embrace the advances in our industry through technology and make it work for your business. A great agent encompasses a combination of professionalism, local expertise, and a great online presence. There is no point having a great product that no one knows about.
5. Work your angle. There are three types of brokerages out there: Corporate firms (REMAX, Century 21, etc), boutique firms (The Boutique Real Estate Group), and discount firms. Know your advantages and disadvantages when working at each type of firm and make sure it is aligned with how you want to operate your business. As Charles Moore put it, “Safeway can be our neighbor, but my wife shops at Whole Foods.”
6. Rich people like free stuff. Ok, so who doesn’t? There are many new things I’ve learned at ICSF and quite a few I already practice (which makes feel great about myself). Then, there are the things that other top agents do that make my practices look like child’s play. Alex Wang, for example practices vacation stalking where he finds out where his clients go on vacation and literally calls the hotel to make sure they receive an awesome care package upon their arrival. In a big transaction, the little things matter.
7. Take it from the top! Many of us take referrals for granted. So your best friend’s sister needs to buy a home. Instead of assuming the sale, you have to win them over again and again. Start from the top and give them the top service their friend or family promised them!
8. Bake, don’t eat! Guy Kawasaki shares with us on Enchantment: Eaters see that there’s only one cake, the more they eat, the less everyone else gets. A baker says they can make another pie, and everyone can have dessert. The best way to get what you want is to make sure the other person gets what they want first! Bakers are also innovative; they can bake cakes, cookies, or brownies and make everyone feel like they have been taken care of. So if you don’t mind my version: Bake, Serve, then Eat!
9. Build an ecosystem. Often times as real estate professionals, we see ourselves becoming unlicensed counselors, therapists, movers, gardeners, maids, and the list goes on. Have a great list of professionals to offer your clients and focus on your own job- helping your clients buy/sell their home.
10. Put yourself in their shoes. If you were about to move to a brand new country, state, community, what would be the first thing you do? In the Global Luxury Connect session, Gary Gold talked about making a YouTube video helping buyers understand the process of buying a home. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in all of the details of a transaction that we forget to remind our clients of the big picture. Being able to really understand a client’s challenges and actually help them solve it will change everything. Helpful is the new viral!
If there was a #11, it would be to NETWORK! My only regret after the conference was that I didn’t network enough. I got a little too excited that I was going to be visiting NorCal and I jam-packed my after conference schedule with other dinners and social events. I highly recommend ICSF to any agent who hasn’t yet experienced it. Many thanks to Raj Qsar for always encouraging and challenging us with the industry’s best opportunities and innovations.
Find the full schedule of ICSF 2014 here.
This week’s “Mobile Agent TV” is a special episode was LIVE from INMAN CONNECT SAN FRANCISCO.
Our guest is Mark Fitzpatrick who is the CEO at RUHM, which is a full-service “Destination Marketing Agency” of marketers, real estate consultants, and artists that promote the world’s finest destinations.
We will also be joined by, friend of the show, RAJ QSAR who is a finalist for Inman’s “MOST INNOVATIVE REAL ESTATE AGENT” award and is owner of THE BOUTIQUE REAL ESTATE GROUP IN ORANGE COUNTY.
Watch the Google + Hangout Here.
Raj Qsar, Principal/Owner of The Boutique Real Estate Group, part of Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate‘s Beta Brokerage Project. Read on as Raj answers ten questions with Clean Slate, and talks about digital and social engagement, buying a piece of dirt and Walt Disney.
Passion: This is truly at the root of who we are and what we stand for. There is a quote that our team references at meetings, on social and even in some of our marketing material, and it is by Walt Disney. “Whatever you do, do it well. Do it so well that when people see you do it they will want to come back and see you do it again and they will bring others and show them how well you do what you do.” We take such time and effort into the smallest of details when it comes to marketing, social, systems and execution that the final outcome is a culmination of multiple passionate minds at work and the results bring success to our agents and our clients.
One of our favorite qualities in a customer is their ability to instantly trust us. Many of our clients meet us in real life after watching, sharing and engaging with us online and when they meet us they say, “you are all exactly who you seem you would be.” We know trust is built one block at a time and when you are building relationships, it is so important to realize that our clients are entrusting their largest worldly asset to our hands and our minds. But trust is so much more than an online to offline relationship, it is making and keeping promises to our clients and our agents as well. This enables a culture built on earned trust and respect for one another.
The one characteristic that has helped me in my career is the ability to keep asking questions. We keep asking questions because we are just curious people. And when you are curious about something you tend to search until you find the answer. Albert Einstein said, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has it own reason for existing.”
The last book I read was Peoplework by Chris Smith and Austin Allison with a forward written by Gary Vaynerchuk. We have become so digital in all we do. Everyone is head down and focused. And they are focused on their phone. So we forget sometimes that there is a person in that phone. A real, live, living, breathing individual. So it becomes increasingly important to almost have to remind yourself how to run a people-first business in a digital-first world, and that people communicate with people.
If I were not in real estate I would most likely move to Napa, buy a piece of dirt, and build a winery.
“Exit” by U2 from the album Joshua Tree.
My real life hero is Jesus Christ because he changed my heart.
One of my favorite mottos is by Steven Covery from his book The 8th Habitand has to do with leadership. He says, “The 8th Habit Leader has the mindset and the skill set to constantly look for the potential in people. This kind of leadership communicates to people their own worth so clearly that they come to see it in themselves.”
It would be really fun to tell the story of an estate home in Italy on a Tuscan vineyard that has been passed down from generation to generation. The dirt, the grapes, the building and the people would be a wonderful opportunity to share with the world.
The advice I would give to a new agent entering into the world of real estate would be to join an amazing team. And I do not just mean a busy team. But an amazingly highly respected team where you can learn, experience and absorb everything and anything that is real estate. That includes not only all the “beautiful and shiny” things that real estate offers, but also all the challenges that real estate brings each and everyday. From contracts, lender guidelines and appraisals to staging, photography, pre- and post-processing of photos, editing video, print campaigns and the entire social media and web content strategy.
This team would have to have systems in place that are actually used every single day…from lead generation to lead conversion to lead nurturing. From digital transaction management to eSigning and being 100% location independent by using your iPhone/iPad to manage the entire transaction. And finally, this team would need a culture that is pure, genuine and intentional by giving back to their hyper-local community.
Is this too much to ask for? I do not think so. I have met so many truly amazing people in this industry and I am re-affirmed each day that these people do exist.
This week’s “Mobile Agent TV” is a special episode, Thursday July 17th at 5pm PST, from Inman Connect San Francisco.
Our guest is Mark Fitzpatrick who is the CEO at RUHM, which is a full-service “Destination Marketing Agency” of marketers, real estate consultants, and artists that promote the world’s finest destinations.
We will also be joined by, friend of the show, Raj Qsar who is a finalist for Inman’s “Most Innovative Real Estate Agent” award and is owner of The Boutique Real Estate Group in Orange County.
You can interact with us during the show using the #MATVlivehashtag on Twitter.
By: Raj Qsar
This will be my 4th Real Estate Connect hosted by Inman News in San Francisco and it is the one event I look forward to year in & year out. I remember my first Connect like it was yesterday and it really helped me connect with people & solidify connections I had made online over the years. So for all you first time or repeat attendees here is a simple Top 5 list for you before you head to #icsf:
1. Make a list of the people you want to meet “in real life (IRL).” Connect is an amazing time for me personally to connect with people who I admire and respect and make that true IRL connection. Some of the connections I have made at Connect have become life long friends on mine! Remember this quote from GaryV, “People are not addicted to social media. People are addicted to people.” Some of my friends I met at #icsf: @chris_smth @katielance @lauramonroe @tericonrad @debra11 @kellymitchell @nobuhata @topbrokeroc @kendyl @jefflobb @tkjellander @lisaarcher @lauriewdavis @jimmymackin @sethstuff
2. Attend the sessions that are a must attend for you! Look for the sessions that pull you out of your comfort zone and will challenge you on a professional level. See the full schedule here. For me I always get something new from “The New Kids On The Block” session which this year is on Wednesday July 16th at 10:10am and these “KIDS” are the startups that are changing the real estate game. Also of note this year is “The Uberification of Real Estate” session which is on Wednesday at 10:30am (sounds killer)! Did someone say Luxury? The session called Luxury Power Players will be off the kilt! Connect Here.
3. Meet the 2014 Inman Connect Ambassadors. Talk about a fab list of people! If you could create a memory with each of these rockstars at Connect it would truly be epic! Meet them here –> Real Estate Connect Ambassadors. Secret hint….They are having a mixer and you can meet them all there —> Click Here. Also, connect with everyone in the Real Estate Connect facebook group.
4. The Party after the Party! Do I need to say anymore? We all know the real fun starts after 10pm! So just ask around, jump in an Uber Cab (download app here) and find out where the action is!! Check your email for last minute invites to all the happening VIP parties and events. If you do not know where the party is just ask my friend @JeremyLehman!! Check out the video we made from ICSF2012.
5. Get out into the city! San Francisco is truly a gorgeous city with sights, sounds and killer food!!! Check out this drone fly over the city just in case you needed a visual! Click Here. And since our team at The Boutique Real Estate Group are total foodies check out this list of The 38 Essential San Francisco Restaurants.
If you made it this far here is my Top Secret List of must meets. Shhhhh, do not tell anyone. I am really shy and do not want anyone to know! =)
@avhellman
