Reports are coming in that California Fitness founder, Eric Levine has sold his huge beachfront home to an undisclosed Russian purchaser for US$24 million, the asking price was originally US$27.5 million, according to Property Report Asia. The property covered some 6500m2 and was situated in Natai Beach within Thailand's Phang Nga region.
Interestingly, the property had been up for sale for over two years and had extensive coverage from agents, including features in publications like the New York Times. I bring this up as there are several schools of thought regarding the marketing of this level of property. Many people feel super wealthy want to find out about exclusive properties in a discrete manner and the fact that there is any kind of marketing means the property isn´t that exclusive.
Then, of course there is the "super saturation" theory. Get the house out with as many agents as possible. hoping that the right buyer catches a glimpse of the property. This, it seems, is what happened in the above example.
From my perspective I feel it should be somewhere in the middle. IE. there does need to be an element of marketing, plus some networking. In a nutshell the super luxury property does need to be put "out there" in some way.
