Selling high-octane homes
Real estate agents are pairing two upscale obsessions — houses and horsepower — to drive sales.
Sports cars are in the driver’s seat in the competitive westside real estate market.
In the race to drawa moneyed home buyer to a trophy home for sale, the latest in oneupmanship involves the blending of two high-end obsessions: houses and horsepower. At a recent broker preview in Hollywood Hills West, the star of the party was a compound built on part of the old Errol Flynn estate, but the understudies featured four wheels.
To reach the main house, visitors passed by nine garages with glass doors where the owner keeps his ferrari collection on display.
A local bmw dealer was persuaded to get in on the act too. The latest model BMWS spilled out of the driveway, and a weekend test drive of a bmw alpina B7 was the raffle prize, according to sibling listing agent team Josh and Matt Altman of Hilton & Hyland/
Christie’s International Real Estate.
Platters of sushi kept attendees sustained throughout the evening as they toured the garages, contemporary-style house and guesthouse, which total five bedrooms, seven bathrooms and 7,641 square feet of living space.
A swimming pool and other water features sit on nearly an acre with a lawn and mature trees.
The asking price, without the autos, is $7.9 million. But, as they say in real estate, everything is negotiable.
The Agency in Beverly Hills hosted a Lamborghini event last week at a newly built Hagy Belzberg-designed home in Hollywood Hills West.
The preview party — the compound officially comes on the market this month — drew a crowd who toured the 10,500-square-foot main house, 1,750-square-foot guesthouse and 725-squarefoot gym/wellness center above the garage.
Encompassing more than an acre just above the Sunset Strip, the Modernstyle estate has city views, multiple balconies and an infinity pool.
There are eight bedrooms and nine bathrooms in the resort-like residence. Blair Chang, Billy Rose and Mauricio Umansky of the Agency and Drew Fenton of Hilton & Hyland/Christie’s International Real Estate are marketing the property at $28.8 million.
Chef Michael Voltaggio of Ink in L.A. prepared small plates, and a string of Lam- borghinis lined the driveway.
Sports car parties are part of the tools of the trade at Deasy/Penner & Partners.
The architecturally oriented real estate company once had an event pairing Jaguar and a catered dinner by Patina and, more recently, held one in conjunction with Worth magazine and Aston Martin. Several hundred people turned out to see the latest models at a $6-million home for sale in Pasadena.
“We would do it again,” said George Penner, president and co-managing director of the realty firm. “We pride ourselves on marketing homes with great design, so to partner with well-designed cars is a nice parallel.”
The addition of guests from Worth’s subscriber database, however, may have tipped the scales in favor of a sale, Penner said. “We are in dialogue with a potential buyer.”