Archive for the 'Luxury Defined' Category
Luxury Home Management: Ask for the Butler
The Butler is back in demand-and in short supply.
The worlds growing number of plutocrats with their enormous mansions and expansive lifestyles are actively seeking household managers to oversee the care of their luxury homes and lifestyles. These enormous residences require ongoing care, along with coordination of property and grounds service providers ranging from pool service technicians, to dog groomers and trainers, to maids, gardeners and arborists.
Contemporary butlers, or Household Managers as many are called today, are better educated than their historic peers. Todays servant is likely to possess accounting, computer, and technology skills along with knowledge of property maintenance, home entertainment, menus, cooking, clothing care, and the ability to attend to the care of antiques, fine china, silver, art, automobiles, home and personal security, communications and a score of others details.
A college degree might be helpful, as would specific training in Household Management. One of the better-known butler training programs would be that offered by the Starkey International Institute for Household Management in Denver, Colorado.
Benefits of employment in this home management field might include free room and board at the luxury residence, possible travel, and annual salaries that range from around $70,000 to over $200,000.
A tip of the top hat to Robert Frank and The Wall Street Journal.
You may also wish to read:
Variable Range Pricing for Homes
Easy Feng Shui Tips for the Luxury Home
read comments (4)Luxury Home for Jets and Toys
Even private jet owners from Dubai might want to stop in Carlsbad, California for fuel, red carpet service and a concierge service second to none. Celebrities, business tycoons and savvy fliers already know about the Premier Jet facility at the McClellan-Palomar Airport and the buzz is starting to spread.
With U.S. Customs opening an office at Palomar in June, a $24 million facelift in the works, and the runway being lengthened to accommodate more traffic, international high fliers may make this Carlsbad airport a new must-stop.
I had the opportunity to interview Marc LaChance, developer of the Premier Jet facility, and find out a little more about the this amazing airport complex that is a combination of upscale office space, glossy hangars and luxurious rest and relaxation areas for pilots and passengers.
Marc was kind enough to spare part of his morning to show me the Premier Jet complex which features 14 elegant office spaces ranging from 1500 to 8000 square feet, 19 private executive hangars spanning 3500 to 15,000 square feet and hallways wide enough to host a diplomatic reception line.
Need red carpet, a limo or catered gourmet meals for inflight service? The on-staff concierge will attend to those requests either in person or via flight communications. Limos and caterers stay on call. There are private lounges, luxe conference rooms, a luxurious reception and concierge area, fuel and full flight planning services.
The light and glossy hangars are offered for sale, and most have already been sold. As of this writing, there are a few left ranging from around 3500 to 4800 square feet, with an approximate price of $235 per square foot. Who buys these hangars? Some are corporate buyers, and others are hungry for space to store their toys. After all, few luxury homes offer private runways.
Marc foresees enormous growth in the private jet industry with the new composite construction for jets. This will reduce both the cost of the jet and its fuel costs (because of its fiberglass construction and lighter weight) and increase travel safety. Add to this the desire by many to avoid the parking hassles, security lines, and the time lost just trying to board a jet and travel by private jet looks more attractive all the time.
What is providing additional fuel for growth in this industry are companies like Net Jet, which has around 600 jets under fractional ownership. The concept is similar to timesharing and offers significant savings over charter jet travel. But it is small jet construction that may propel private jet travel into much broader market reach. œWith composite jets, the cost for fractional ownership might be, for example, $50,000 plus $500 per hour. This will open private jet travel to a much larger market, said Marc. He added that perhaps 50 percent of the jets at Premier are held under fractional ownership.
Marc La Chance is an aviation buff and visionary who foresees enormous changes in flight travel during the next twenty years even more than we have witnessed in the last sixty. And composite construction, fractional ownership and artificial intelligence are just the beginning. Programmable personal air vehicles could also become a significant means of commuting and travel for many.
Its enough to put the mind, imagination, and Jetsons into high gear.
Luxe, Luxe Luxury Blogs
by What a terrific idea! The œL List is being developed and will hopefully provide a roundup of the top luxury blogs in the world. Upon its approximate completion, the luxury shopper should be able to find everything from fabulous jewelry, to top shelf travel to ultra luxurious global real estate.
Here is the starter list, along with instructions for adding luxury blogs. Please add any favorite luxury blog sites and pass along.
If youre a luxury blogger, heres what you need to do:
- 1. Write a post
- 2. Copy/paste the link list (and these instructions!) from the post where you discovered the L-List.
- 3. Make sure the links are active and correct.
- 4. If your blog is on the list, remove it its not a self-promotion post. As Tim Fehlman (Z-List) said : œDont worry, because if your name is on mine, its on others and will spread.
- Add your favourite luxury blogs on to the list.
- Add the URL of the blog where youve discovered the L-List as well.
- Publish the post.
Drumroll: Heres the list of nominees and some of my personal favorites!
A Luxury TravelBlog
B Glam
blavish
Blog-Tique
Bornrich
Deluxe Blog.it
Foodaholic
Good Luck Deluxe
GourmetStation
High Chic
Janus Thinking
Living the Luxe Life
Lussorian
Luxist
Luxury Clues
Luxury Housing Trend
Luxury Launches
Luxury Portfolio
Luxury Reviewer
Luxus.fr
Restaurant Girl
Social Diva
Sybarites
Tango Diva
The Delicious Life
The Informed Traveler
The Lobby
Vagablond
Vinography
Wine Goddess
Other great blogrolls:
Gotta-Haves for Luxury Homes
Last night, I had spent a fun evening with an interesting Carlsbad Realtor who probably set a world record in San Diego luxury home upgrade sales in the late 1990s into 2003. Sharas experiences in new luxury home sales will be an article for another time, but I thought it might be important to peer into the current hot items being demanded for new luxury homes.
The list isnt hot off the press, but is certainly worth repeating. Last fall, Forbes reported on the features that were topping the lists for new, high-end luxury homes. An important thread running through this list is the importance of green in home features. Those eco-friendly items are all big energy savers, as well as being non-toxic building materials, earth-friendly woods, and energy efficient technologies that integrate lighting, heating, security and communications controls in the home.
The Forbes short list?
- Spa-like bathrooms with saunas, towel warming drawers, amd heated floors. Serenity is the guiding mood.
- Extensive computer-controlled systems to sensor control panels throughout the home. Light the pool, turn on the tub the spa or outdoor lighting, view surveillance camers scanning the outdoors or check to see if the garage door is closed. The possibilities are limitless.
- Space flexibility. How about floor-to-ceiling bookshelves that slide aside to open up a room? Or a wall of glass doors that move aside to bring the outdoors in? Or the indoors out?
- Outdoor kitchens are still on the must-have list. The compleat outdoor kitchen and entertaining area can cost anywhere from $50,000 to $200,000 or more. In addition to WOW-end outdoor cooking eqipment, the luxe owner might want a cabana, granite surfaces, wine cooler, ice maker , warming drawer, dishwasher and more. And swimming pools are also going over the deep and. Another story in the making.
- Oenophiles rejoice! Custom wine storage made the list. Make it a wine cave, make it a small room, just make it for wine and keep the temperature and humidity under control.
For additional luxury home gadgets and reading, see:
The Snoring Room
The Self Service Spa (Do it at home?)
Long-Lasting Roses
Induction-Cooktop for the Luxury Kitchen
Ultimate Phone for the Luxury Bath
How to Hide the Bedroom TV
Switchable Mirror Glass Windows
SONOS: The Ultimate Sound System
Haute Refrigerators for Cool Kitchens?
The Overflowing Infinity Tub
Wine Storage for Oenophiles
The Illuminated Bathtub
WHAT’S HOT/NOT IN HOMES THIS YEAR
by Roberta Murphy
The grumbles and raves are accumulating for home embellishments.
What’s in and what’s out for home building and home improvements?
What are today’s pickier homebuyers seeking?
What are Realtors and decorators and savvy home re modelers suggesting to their clients?
WHATS IN:
Natural flooring: Think (certain) woods, stone and removable coverings (area rugs).
Elevated water faucets. It’s the way we cook and live.
Deeper earth tints and hues throughout.
Water elements/fountains in the north and southeast sections of the home (nod to compass Feng Shui).
Climate-appropriate garden plantings.
Wine cellars.
WHATS OUT:
Stainless steel appliances are high maintenance.
Bamboo flooring: Much promise, poor wear-ability.
Staircases that face front door: Bad Feng Shui.
Wood laminate flooring of all sorts: Too clicky.
Wall-to-wall carpeting throughout the home.
Wet bars.
Care to add to these lists?
I find more and more buyers welcoming clean surfaces that are easily relieved of dust and dirt. They want floors that can be thoroughly cleaned, sinks that can accommodate both mop buckets and pasta pots, and area rugs that can be sent out for cleaning.
Wine storage is in; wet bars are out. Homeowners have tried bamboo flooring and found that it warps and lacks in wear-ability. The ubiquitous stainless appliances? Fingerprints and smears are a nightmare. These finishes are NOT meant for real cooks and families!
Moreover, more and more people are discovering allergies to dust mites. They wish to avoid all conditions that invite their habitation and reproduction. Dusty draperies and musty carpeting are quickly losing favor with many buyers.
Finally, it only makes ecological sen$e to utilize native plantings that thrive in native conditions. Our San Diego gardens bloom best with plantings that require little water and lots of sunshine. New Orleans, Houston or Dayton, Ohio would naturally offer different blooming conditions.
