Contenders for Phuketwan Innovation of the Year and Business of the Year 2008
THE EUREKA moment came for Andrew Hunter as he sat in Shanghai watching a television news report from the Caribbean. A well-known musician had just bought a house for $45 million.
Hunter cannot remember the name of the fabulously rich entertainer. But he can remember the name of the real estate sales firm.
Sotheby's International Realty.
''I thought, if we are going to do it, that's the brand we have to have,'' Hunter says.
Fast-forward to Phuket in 2008 and the real estate combination of Hunter Sotheby's is in its second year and well and truly up and running, based at a stylish office near the entrance to Laguna Phuket.
Some onlookers go so far as to say Sotheby's is already setting the pace for high-end property sales on the island, and multi-million-dollar deals are no rarity.
As a venerable British auction house, Sotheby's renown extends back to 1744. Their expertise once lay exclusively with fine art, wine, and other collectibles.
More importantly for Andrew Hunter and his wife Krista, as a modern blue-chip brand, Sotheby's now also stands for a network of 499 property offices across 30 countries.
That's impact, worldwide. Yet the Phuket office is Sotheby's first realty venture in Thailand, and in Asia.
Somewhat surprisingly, the top-drawer firm selected the Hunters, a couple with no background in property, to open it.
''It was a leap of faith on their part to proceed with a couple who had no real estate experience,'' Hunter says. ''I suppose we brought the raw energy.''
Raw energy indeed, plus the brilliant idea to make the first approach.
Before letting the Hunters tell their own story, let's flick a little indulgently through the pages of Reside, a 136-page magazine that Sotheby's International Realty fills with descriptions of sumptuous residences.
Consider the appropriately remarkable architecture of the Pokapu homestead, near The Remarkables in New Zealand, a snip at $7.1 million; the Segel Residence in Malibu, California, $33.5 million; the Sugar Bay Estate in Florida, $20 million; the oceanfront Kealia Kai Estate in Hawaii, $15 million; Deer Creek Ranch in Montana, $15.5 million; Singer Castle, on an island all its own off New York, $22 million; a grand 14-room apartment on Fifth Avenue, $40 million.
Most continents are covered. We particularly fancied the closing line for the entry on a $17.5 million chateau in Virginia: ''Just minutes from the White House and two airports.''
In the hip parlance of today, even though it is 260 years old, this Sotheby's brand rocks.
Andrew Hunter's eureka moment in Shanghai was just the beginning of 12 months in which the global giant and the resourceful young couple sized each other up.
''Krista is from an advertising background and I had sales experience,'' Hunter says. ''I worked as an investment banker.
''My own exposure was to properties that Krista and I had bought for ourselves and also my previous life in wealth management, having positioned properties into individuals portfolios.''
Their broad experience over 19 years together included stints in Saigon, Hong Kong and Sydney plus time in ''wealth management in Central Europe, where we had 35 plus consultants dealing with the expat populations.''
A little later, from Shanghai, realising that a sprawling metropolis of 20 million people was never going to be a healthy place to raise a young son, they began looking at destinations in Asia to call home. And brands.
Having visited Thailand on recreational breaks when they were based in Saigon in the 1990s, an unhappy brush with a real estate agent in Hua Hin helped the Hunters to conclude that Phuket was the best choice.
''We'd used Phuket for R&R in the past,'' Hunter says. ''Since we opened, there are now Sotheby's offices in Singapore, Vietnam and Japan. Coming on-stream soon are Mainland China, Hong Kong and South Korea.''
The affiliation with Sotheby's pays because of the doors it opens to affluent people from around the world, especially in the US where Sotheby's International Realty has the vast majority of its offices.
The full benefit of that US connection is yet to come.
''Most of our customers so far are regional expats. About 50 percent are from Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai, with a smattering from Europe and the US,'' Hunter says.
''We've closed only one sale from the 'States so far. He was somebody who came to us through the Sotheby's brand, from Las Vegas of all places.
''He had never been to Phuket before. He bought a very handsome estate and will be building a bespoke property on Jumeirah Phuket Private Island.''
Real estate on Jumeirah starts at 83 million baht and heads north from there. Indeed, the Sotheby's world is a heady environment of northerly numbers.
''A lady I was dealing with last week has nine properties,'' Hunter says. ''She's just bought something in Telluride, Colorado, for $9.75 million and she's talking about buying something on Lake Como for $25 million.''
The woman and her husband are both independently wealthy. ''I spent two and a half days with her,'' Hunter says.
He eventually asked the woman what sparked her interest in properties.
''My grandfather, when he died, left 35 estates to my grandmother,'' she said. And so it goes.
''Some of the people we are dealing with have multiple homes and one of the tag lines we use is 'Collectors of Life'. Our clients are collectors of life. Art, fine wines, classic cars, watches . . . and property.''
For the Hunters, Andrew as managing director and Krista as a director, the Sotheby's brand represents integrity.
''People expect a certain level of service, a certain degree of profesionalism,'' Andrew Hunter says.
''If they are true Sotheby's people, it's a cradle to grave partnership. And we can't abrogate that responsibility.''
Confidentiality clauses sometimes prevent the Hunters from revealing so much as a purchase price, let alone a client's name.
But they are extremely content with progress since the Phuket office, with its entryway fishpool and statuary, opened in mid-2006.
''We have surpassed our first full trading year targets for 2007,'' Hunter says, although for many other island property firms, it was not a memorable year.
''Right the way through, we had consistent activity and we're quite happy with what we've achieved.
'The targets that we have set in 2008 are 30 percent in excess of 2007 and I'll think that we'll do it.''
Krista adds: ''We have a very good conversion rate. But sometimes there isn't enough finished product to show people.
''It's a nightmare if you have a client who is waiting to buy, and there isn't a selection of properties.''
Fortunately, Krista says, ''In two years there will be a lot of finished property at two million dollars-plus.''
The Hunters believe the industry outlook will change as the resale market becomes established on Phuket. ''I think the resale market can only get more interesting,'' Hunter says.
What's more, having made the decision to live on the island themselves, the Hunters believe most purchasers are buying for lifestyle, not for investment, even if some of those buyers only spend a few months of the year on the island.
''I think the product is there. Whatever price point you pay, I think you can find products with integrity on Phuket,'' Andrew Hunter says.
And what do people of a certain standing, Sotheby's people, look for in a property?
Security, sea views, sunsets. Even on the east coast, people enjoy watching golden light dapple and drench nearby islands as the sun goes down.
''People usually want something in a gated community and yet private and not too big . . . boutiqueing, let's call it.
''Beaches don't necessarily count, and that's why you can encourage people to buy on the east coast.
''They are usually quickly enamoured with the hospitality and the general demeanor of Thai people.
''Thai hospitality is something people comment on, especially if they are first-time visitors.''
Already the Hunter Sotheby's own magazine, The Selection, makes some telling points about the rapid rise of Phuket in the collectible world of lifestyle destinations.
A beachfront villa in Naithon, $8 million; private island residence, Ao Po, $2.8 million; sea view villa, Cape Yamu, $1.4 million; spectacular ocean view villa, Cape Panwa, $2.8 million; stunning clifftop villa, Kamala, $6.5 million; elegant panoramic villa, Surin, $5.25 million.
It is unlikely to be long before all this is going, going, gone, and more quality properties will be required.
For the Hunters, the Sotheby's connection means that business is done in a mutually respectful fashion.
''We are not at the beck and whim of some developer who wants his product portrayed the way he wants it portrayed,'' Hunter says.
''If we have a resale property, we manage that property, we position it, we portray it how we want to do so. What we need is more very high-end resale property.''
Hunter Sotheby's International Realty, 43/1, Baan Don-Cherngtalay Road, Cherngtalay.
Telephone: +66 (0) 76 324614
E: andrew.hunter@sothebysrealty.com krista.hunter@sothebysrealty.com
www.huntersothebysrealty.com
THE EUREKA moment came for Andrew Hunter as he sat in Shanghai watching a television news report from the Caribbean. A well-known musician had just bought a house for $45 million.
Hunter cannot remember the name of the fabulously rich entertainer. But he can remember the name of the real estate sales firm.
Sotheby's International Realty.
''I thought, if we are going to do it, that's the brand we have to have,'' Hunter says.
Fast-forward to Phuket in 2008 and the real estate combination of Hunter Sotheby's is in its second year and well and truly up and running, based at a stylish office near the entrance to Laguna Phuket.
Some onlookers go so far as to say Sotheby's is already setting the pace for high-end property sales on the island, and multi-million-dollar deals are no rarity.
As a venerable British auction house, Sotheby's renown extends back to 1744. Their expertise once lay exclusively with fine art, wine, and other collectibles.
More importantly for Andrew Hunter and his wife Krista, as a modern blue-chip brand, Sotheby's now also stands for a network of 499 property offices across 30 countries.
That's impact, worldwide. Yet the Phuket office is Sotheby's first realty venture in Thailand, and in Asia.
Somewhat surprisingly, the top-drawer firm selected the Hunters, a couple with no background in property, to open it.
''It was a leap of faith on their part to proceed with a couple who had no real estate experience,'' Hunter says. ''I suppose we brought the raw energy.''
Raw energy indeed, plus the brilliant idea to make the first approach.
Before letting the Hunters tell their own story, let's flick a little indulgently through the pages of Reside, a 136-page magazine that Sotheby's International Realty fills with descriptions of sumptuous residences.
Consider the appropriately remarkable architecture of the Pokapu homestead, near The Remarkables in New Zealand, a snip at $7.1 million; the Segel Residence in Malibu, California, $33.5 million; the Sugar Bay Estate in Florida, $20 million; the oceanfront Kealia Kai Estate in Hawaii, $15 million; Deer Creek Ranch in Montana, $15.5 million; Singer Castle, on an island all its own off New York, $22 million; a grand 14-room apartment on Fifth Avenue, $40 million.
Most continents are covered. We particularly fancied the closing line for the entry on a $17.5 million chateau in Virginia: ''Just minutes from the White House and two airports.''
In the hip parlance of today, even though it is 260 years old, this Sotheby's brand rocks.
Andrew Hunter's eureka moment in Shanghai was just the beginning of 12 months in which the global giant and the resourceful young couple sized each other up.
''Krista is from an advertising background and I had sales experience,'' Hunter says. ''I worked as an investment banker.
''My own exposure was to properties that Krista and I had bought for ourselves and also my previous life in wealth management, having positioned properties into individuals portfolios.''
Their broad experience over 19 years together included stints in Saigon, Hong Kong and Sydney plus time in ''wealth management in Central Europe, where we had 35 plus consultants dealing with the expat populations.''
A little later, from Shanghai, realising that a sprawling metropolis of 20 million people was never going to be a healthy place to raise a young son, they began looking at destinations in Asia to call home. And brands.
Having visited Thailand on recreational breaks when they were based in Saigon in the 1990s, an unhappy brush with a real estate agent in Hua Hin helped the Hunters to conclude that Phuket was the best choice.
''We'd used Phuket for R&R in the past,'' Hunter says. ''Since we opened, there are now Sotheby's offices in Singapore, Vietnam and Japan. Coming on-stream soon are Mainland China, Hong Kong and South Korea.''
The affiliation with Sotheby's pays because of the doors it opens to affluent people from around the world, especially in the US where Sotheby's International Realty has the vast majority of its offices.
The full benefit of that US connection is yet to come.
''Most of our customers so far are regional expats. About 50 percent are from Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai, with a smattering from Europe and the US,'' Hunter says.
''We've closed only one sale from the 'States so far. He was somebody who came to us through the Sotheby's brand, from Las Vegas of all places.
''He had never been to Phuket before. He bought a very handsome estate and will be building a bespoke property on Jumeirah Phuket Private Island.''
Real estate on Jumeirah starts at 83 million baht and heads north from there. Indeed, the Sotheby's world is a heady environment of northerly numbers.
''A lady I was dealing with last week has nine properties,'' Hunter says. ''She's just bought something in Telluride, Colorado, for $9.75 million and she's talking about buying something on Lake Como for $25 million.''
The woman and her husband are both independently wealthy. ''I spent two and a half days with her,'' Hunter says.
He eventually asked the woman what sparked her interest in properties.
''My grandfather, when he died, left 35 estates to my grandmother,'' she said. And so it goes.
''Some of the people we are dealing with have multiple homes and one of the tag lines we use is 'Collectors of Life'. Our clients are collectors of life. Art, fine wines, classic cars, watches . . . and property.''
For the Hunters, Andrew as managing director and Krista as a director, the Sotheby's brand represents integrity.
''People expect a certain level of service, a certain degree of profesionalism,'' Andrew Hunter says.
''If they are true Sotheby's people, it's a cradle to grave partnership. And we can't abrogate that responsibility.''
Confidentiality clauses sometimes prevent the Hunters from revealing so much as a purchase price, let alone a client's name.
But they are extremely content with progress since the Phuket office, with its entryway fishpool and statuary, opened in mid-2006.
''We have surpassed our first full trading year targets for 2007,'' Hunter says, although for many other island property firms, it was not a memorable year.
''Right the way through, we had consistent activity and we're quite happy with what we've achieved.
'The targets that we have set in 2008 are 30 percent in excess of 2007 and I'll think that we'll do it.''
Krista adds: ''We have a very good conversion rate. But sometimes there isn't enough finished product to show people.
''It's a nightmare if you have a client who is waiting to buy, and there isn't a selection of properties.''
Fortunately, Krista says, ''In two years there will be a lot of finished property at two million dollars-plus.''
The Hunters believe the industry outlook will change as the resale market becomes established on Phuket. ''I think the resale market can only get more interesting,'' Hunter says.
What's more, having made the decision to live on the island themselves, the Hunters believe most purchasers are buying for lifestyle, not for investment, even if some of those buyers only spend a few months of the year on the island.
''I think the product is there. Whatever price point you pay, I think you can find products with integrity on Phuket,'' Andrew Hunter says.
And what do people of a certain standing, Sotheby's people, look for in a property?
Security, sea views, sunsets. Even on the east coast, people enjoy watching golden light dapple and drench nearby islands as the sun goes down.
''People usually want something in a gated community and yet private and not too big . . . boutiqueing, let's call it.
''Beaches don't necessarily count, and that's why you can encourage people to buy on the east coast.
''They are usually quickly enamoured with the hospitality and the general demeanor of Thai people.
''Thai hospitality is something people comment on, especially if they are first-time visitors.''
Already the Hunter Sotheby's own magazine, The Selection, makes some telling points about the rapid rise of Phuket in the collectible world of lifestyle destinations.
A beachfront villa in Naithon, $8 million; private island residence, Ao Po, $2.8 million; sea view villa, Cape Yamu, $1.4 million; spectacular ocean view villa, Cape Panwa, $2.8 million; stunning clifftop villa, Kamala, $6.5 million; elegant panoramic villa, Surin, $5.25 million.
It is unlikely to be long before all this is going, going, gone, and more quality properties will be required.
For the Hunters, the Sotheby's connection means that business is done in a mutually respectful fashion.
''We are not at the beck and whim of some developer who wants his product portrayed the way he wants it portrayed,'' Hunter says.
''If we have a resale property, we manage that property, we position it, we portray it how we want to do so. What we need is more very high-end resale property.''
Hunter Sotheby's International Realty, 43/1, Baan Don-Cherngtalay Road, Cherngtalay.
Telephone: +66 (0) 76 324614
E: andrew.hunter@sothebysrealty.com krista.hunter@sothebysrealty.com
www.huntersothebysrealty.com
