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Realtor Sophie Bielefeld is the founder of the Luxury Property Network, a group of 20 local real estate brokers that specializes in selling homes priced at $1 million or more. Bielefeld also is a developer and is shown here standing in the kitchen of a million-dollar home she and her husband developed in west Bend.
Anthony Dimaano / The Bulletin
An alliance formed in the name of luxury
By Andrew Moore / The Bulletin
Published: June 14. 2008 4:00AM PSTLast fall, fed up with poorly attended open houses and a deteriorating real estate market, Realtor Sophie Bielefeld hit upon an idea to better market her luxury home listings: a networking group.
Bielefeld decided to limit its ranks to real estate brokers who specialize in homes priced at $1 million or more, and invited 19 of them to join. To her surprise, they did, and the Luxury Property Network was born.
The group meets monthly, and its members share information about listings and clients — and occasionally let off some steam. They also discuss ways to drum up interest in their listings, one of which is today’s inaugural luxury home tour in and around Bend (see box).
“There are people looking and buying right now, but no one in the group is saying the glass is half full because we’re all taking it in the shorts,” Bielefeld said. “But we all want to market our properties more effectively.”
Since its first get-together in October, the group has yet to directly produce a sale based on information shared in its meetings, said Bielefeld, who’s affiliated with Meridian Realty in Bend. Bielefeld also builds luxury homes with her husband, Jeff Garren, through their company, JM Garren Inc.
She’s confident that it’s only a matter of time before the group produces a sale, as successfully selling real estate is all about recruiting “allies, partners and friends,” she said.
“Million-dollar properties are sold more via broker to broker, and that’s the essence of this group,” she said. “It’s being able to tell someone working in the same price (range) what you need.”
The number of luxury homes or properties worth $1 million or more has increased in Central Oregon in the past decade due to rising property values, rising construction costs and demand from new residents and second-home owners, Bielefeld said.
It’s not just sprawling homes or 10-acre properties with spectacular mountain views that are rising in value, however. Bielefeld said the cost of land in some areas has risen so much that even large homes without luxury upgrades may reach $1 million in valuation by the time construction concludes.
Bielefeld said there are approximately 165 properties on the Central Oregon Multiple Listing Service for homes, or homes with acreage, worth $1 million or more. Sales of those homes jumped in 2004 during the housing boom and reached a high of 95 last year, according to the Central Oregon Association of Realtors.
Bielefeld isn’t surprised so many luxury homes sold last year, even though the real estate market was starting its decline.
“People come here and buy luxury and second homes,” Bielefeld said. “In the 1990s, they paid $500,000 for those homes. Now, they cost a million (dollars).”
Sales of million-dollar homes have slackened this year, however. According to the June 6 Bratton Report, released monthly by the Bratton Appraisal Group in Bend, there were 104 single-family homes (without acreage) worth more than $1 million listed in Bend. Based on sales of 39 such homes in the previous 12 months, there is roughly a 30-month supply of million-dollar homes in the city. A six-month supply of housing is considered normal.
For the month of May, the report listed one sale in the city in the million-dollar price range.
Patrick Hill, a real estate broker with Brooks Resources Realty and a member of the network, said the group “is just one more tool we have that allows us to do our job a little better.”
For one, it allows the members to share information about their listings that isn’t easy to find, Hill said. As an example, Hill said real estate brokers often run MLS reports that show comparative data that brokers use to get a better sense of a home’s value. For homes priced at $1 million or more, though, comparative MLS data are hard to come by since there are fewer such homes, Hill said.
“It’s a very positive thing for sellers and buyers because they are getting their properties or desires networked with some of the best Realtors in Central Oregon,” Hill said. “I may be in contract with one buyer, but (the buyer) is getting cooperative focus from agents in an array of offices.”
Bielefeld said she and the group’s members know the real estate market can seem bleak to outsiders. But there is activity, she said, even if it’s from buyers still on the fence. People who buy million-dollar homes often have cash supplies that make financing easier, Bielefeld said. Instead, they seem more concerned about buying the right home at the right time, she said.
Bielefeld said she and her group’s members want to be positioned to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.
“We’re not ignoring the elephant in the living room,” she said, referring to the sagging real estate market. “We are acknowledging it.”
Andrew Moore can be reached at 617-7820 or amoore@bendbulletin.com.
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