Haute Residence hosted a webinar on "Meeting the New Normal in Luxury Real Estate," with featured industry titans Louise Sunshine—strategic advisor for Fort Partners and President of Sunshine Advisors—and Fredrik Eklund, founder of the $2 billion annual grossing EKLUND|GOMES Team, continuing to add to its successful series of live conversations with industry experts, developers, agents, and brokers. The pair spoke about their stunning project, Four Seasons Private Residences Fort Lauderdale, and its record-breaking penthouse priced $35M, of which Eklund has the exclusive listing.
The insightful dialogue was hosted by Haute Residence Co-Founder Seth Semilof. Watch the full webinar below.
About the panelists:
Louise Sunshine:
Real Estate expert Louise Sunshine is currently the strategic advisor for Fort Partners and President of Sunshine Advisors - a company specializing in meeting the real estate challenges of today in new development. At Fort Partners, Louise has overseen the creation of both Four Seasons Hotel & Private Residences at The Surf Club and Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Louise continues to be integral in achieving record-breaking sales for both developments.
Fredrik Eklund:
Fredrik Eklund has been called many things: broker to the stars, the #1 agent of his generation, the two-billion-dollar-per-year man, Mr. Sell, Mr. NY, and now Mr. LA. In the summer of 2019, he relocated to Beverly Hills with his husband and two children – set to become the #1 broker in California. With his trademark high kick, his record-breaking sales, and his truly expansive vision, Fredrik Eklund is a real estate industry phenomenon. As the founder of the 80-member strong EKLUND|GOMES Team, Eklund and his business partner, John Gomes, have secured more than $14B in sales over the past decade with $2B in the last year alone. With the philosophy that no property or price point is too big or too small, Eklund closed 842 transactions in 2019 and has successfully sold more than 130 new developments over his career. The EKLUND|GOMES team has the exclusive listing for Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale's $35M Penthouse.
Photo Credit: Haute Residence
Highlights:
Louise Sunshine:
"Life has changed and we need to adapt to the changes. My advice to developers: rethink."
"You only have one shot. If you do it wrong, you pay for it later."
"Having mentors is a great thing. I've tried to be one myself. I think that I have mentored many famous and incredibly talented women in our industry, and I've enjoyed passing on my knowledge and experience with them."
"It's an amazing phenomenon. Fort Lauderdale is an amazing place. During the time of this virus, people have been chartering boats and yachts and living on them. This whole boating world is part of the environment and very exciting."
"[The quarantine] gave me time to rethink, reformat and restructure my entire company."
"New York is a challenge [right now] and I look forward to the challenge of turning it around."
Fredrik Eklund:
"I had to earn [my reputation] and still have to earn it. In business, it's how you're wired."
"At the end of the day, at first everyone was in shock and not so flexible and it felt very dark. And then we have been trying to adapt and welcoming this 'new normal' of being in the virtual world."
"What we see is the virtual showings that are not taking place in an apartment or sales apartment—talking to buyers and showing the images of the property—this has been especially successful in new developments, like our project River Park in Brooklyn. We've done multiple sales this way."
"My life has been full of risk and craziness. I am a risk-taker. I left Sweden at a young age to move to New York by myself without my parents, brother, anyone. I came to NYC with a pair of sneakers, truly. I was handing out paninis outside on the street. I was obsessed with NY, I was in love with NY. I had no plan what to do or how to do it. I've always been working hard, really hard. The unglamorous answer to success in real estate is the reality that you have to work harder than anyone else."
"The size of the [Four Seasons Private Residences Fort Lauderdale] is just beyond anything I've seen. For $35 million, I think it's a very good price for the buyer."
