AD CORE DEVISE DESIGNER COLUMN Vol.158
The Paris Olympics are generating excitement with a rush of medals for Japanese athletes, and I've been sleep-deprived every day. The next Olympics will be held in Los Angeles, where I visited for a report in May. The course built for the 1932 marathon remains in the city's name, Olympic Boulevard. This road is often used when traveling from Hollywood to Santa Monica or to Sawtelle, the Japanese town. Unusually for Los Angeles, it's not a straight road, with gentle slopes and curves. You might think the Olympics are taking place in the middle of summer in Los Angeles, but even when the maximum temperature exceeds 30 degrees, the weather is often balmy, dropping below 20 degrees in the morning. Being in Japan during the scorching heat makes me long for the refreshing weather of Los Angeles.
The reason for this trip to Los Angeles was to see an open house for a high-end home brokered by Yasuko's friend Blair's real estate agency. We also visited popular hotels and supermarkets. While I usually contact the homeowner and visit, this time I conducted a different interview. In Los Angeles, open houses are held on Tuesdays for real estate agents and Sundays for the general public. They are open for a short three-hour period, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Information about open houses is not posted online; it's simply information shared by multiple real estate agencies, held by the agents themselves, so it's not available anywhere. While public open houses are posted online by the real estate company, other information can only be found online by other real estate agencies or on the sign outside the home. Since the public open house is held on Sunday, it seems that many local residents attend. Even in the internet-driven United States, information about open houses seems to be scarce.
The purpose of the Tuesday open house for real estate agents is to open high-value properties that are difficult for a single company to sell to other professionals and to attract those real estate companies' clients on Sundays. Even on Sundays, it's necessary to select individuals who can maintain security. When I previously looked at homes worth between ¥3 billion and ¥55 billion, the attendees on the open Sunday were mostly well-dressed and none were casually dressed. Perhaps it's appropriate to dress up for an open house. I personally wear a well-pressed shirt and pants to avoid being rude when showing Yasuko's friend's home. Since this was an open house for agents, I was a little nervous about visiting. Yasuko, who usually accompanies me, was busy selling her own home, so I decided to go around alone in a rental car with the property list Blair had given me.
This time, I visited four homes in Bel Air and Beverly Hills, home to many high-end homes. One was a new build, and the other three were open houses for relocations. I was able to see the beautiful decorations and see the owners' lives as they truly were. I was a little worried about whether I'd be comfortable alone at an open house, but once I mentioned Blair's company name and entered, I was able to look around freely without any attendants. There were people in private rooms and key areas, but they were careful not to get in the way of my photos. Each home was beautiful, but the newly decorated homes felt somewhat unassuming, while the ones used as residences exuded a sense of presence and peace. The furnishings and art selected by the owners evoked a sense of presence and added value. I was impressed: this is the kind of home that increases value. This is why I find the interiors of homes I see in Los Angeles more appealing than those I see at exhibitions in Milan.
As I wrote in the title, I became a real estate agent in Los Angeles, and I was able to interview more homes than usual, pretending to be an agent. It was a short three hours, so it was busy, but at each home, I bumped into people from other real estate agents who had worked with me at my previous home, and they greeted me, saying, "We were together just a moment ago." At one home, they said they were having a champagne party in the evening, and asked me to come. They said they wanted people to see the night view, but I was surprised to learn that having a party to sell a home is also a way to sell a high-end home. At the seminar on August 21st and 22nd, I will be showing you two modern, hotel-like homes and two popular hotels from the homes I interviewed this time. Stay tuned! (Creative Director Seto Noboru)
