Those who know us have seen that the Private Client Group brand at Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty has a passion for offering first-class service coupled with top-tier print to web marketing exposure of our listings.
Your trust and commitment to working with us has given us a ranking as the No. 1 Sotheby’s International Realty team in Arizona — and No. 9 team worldwide in 2018. Our properties have historically sold at the highest values within the shortest time. Our successes have also set us apart by conversing with and serving collectors and trendsetters who are connoisseurs of Sotheby’s International Realty fine living lifestyle from around the globe.
Our ability to elaborate on topics that matter most to our clientele has truly defined who our members are: We like to say they are veterans of making dreams come true. Our exclusive partnership with media giants has also helped us assemble the content within this issue that we hope you’ll enjoy. These efforts have garnered savvy and refined international buyers for our properties.
We achieved our reputation by affiliations—best practices and best strategies to sell a home—not just to “list a home,” but to sell a home not merely by “showing it.” The Private Client Group expansion and footprint in over 75 international luxury markets will promote and unite the best sales our market can earn. Earlier this year, we set the record for selling the highest residential sale ever recorded on the Arizona Regional MLS.
When you’re ensconced in that unique experience of a property, particularly one that has been the labor of passion or love, the home almost becomes a window to the soul. To have the opportunity in understanding the life journey within a home is exactly why it’s so easy for us to become passionate about real estate.
The Private Client Group is ready to make your real estate journey a memorable experience… all by design, not by luck. We very much look forward to personalizing our extensive services for you.
These U.S. West Coast resorts are lauded for their outstanding views, stellar dining options, and luxurious vacation packages and amenities.
POST RANCH INN, BIG SUR, CALIFORNIA
A serene retreat along the California coastline, the Post Ranch Inn offers both beautiful ocean and mountain views. None of the rooms include televisions or alarm clocks, so a vacation here really is one for relaxation and retreat. Available to all guests are nature walks, stargazing, infinity pool spas, and spa packages.
Courtesy of Kodiak Greenwood
THE RITZ-CARLTON, HALF MOON BAY, CALIFORNIA
Escape the hustle of San Francisco and Silicon Valley and retreat to this resort, just 30 minutes from both. The Ritz-Carlton offers secluded cliff-top views of the Pacific and an opportunity to enjoy the California woods. With a luxury spa, tennis and other amenities, this resort proves Half Moon Bay is not to be overlooked.
Photo by Veronica Werhane
AMANGIRI, UTAH
The 5-star Amangiri is smack in the middle of the Colorado Plateau, offering unbeatable views of Canyon Point, Utah’s geological masterpieces. With an emphasis on wellness, this resort will rejuvenate guests with opportunities for hiking, climbing, and relaxing at the spa. Explore the canyons by hot air balloon or kayak Lake Powell; the expeditions are endless.
Courtesy of Aman
BOULDERS RESORT AND SPA, ARIZONA
Travel + Leisure voted Boulders Resort and Spa the Best Hotel in Arizona, and with good reason. For the most luxurious and private getaway this resort has to offer, choose the Villa Retreat. This package includes two expansive villas, complete with a private infinity pool, Japanese soaking tub, barbecue pit and kitchens, and large master bedroom overlooking massive rock formations.
Courtesy of Boulders Resort and Spa
guests at tanque verde ranch can adventure through miles of horseback riding trails that go deep into the rincon mountains and Sonoran desert.
Seated in the sweeping mountain ranges and boundless desert of Tucson, Arizona, Tanque Verde Ranch combines the spirit of the Old West with today’s modern amenities.
“We’re right at the base of the Rincon Mountains, and the sunsets here are like no other,” says Terry Hanley, the general manager of Tanque Verde Ranch.
Spectacular scenic views can be witnessed in one of the various lodging options, which are tastefully decorated in a traditional southwestern theme with adobe walls and Santa Fe-style architecture.
Celebrating its 150th anniversary, Hanley recalled how Tanque Verde Ranch started as a cattle ranch in the ’20s and was eventually turned into a horse ranch. With more than 150 horses provided by the ranch, guests can take horseback riding lessons or adventure through miles of horseback riding trails.
Every Sunday and Thursday morning, guests can go on an unforgettable trail ride passed towering cacti and rolling hills to the Old Homestead where freshly prepared breakfast is served.
“We are famous for our blueberry pancakes,” Hanley says.
This ultimate dude ranch experience provides a wide range of activities such as fishing, swimming, mountain biking and hiking. The ranch also has outdoor cookouts, country music entertainment and coordinated activities such as chili cook-offs.
— Brielle Bryan
Photos courtesy of Tanque Verde Ranch
Real estate professional Jennie Heal puts her skills as an auctioneer to work for good causes.
By Roger Grody
Supreme Auctions provides an alternative marketing strategy for sellers of luxury real estate. The Scottsdale, Arizona-based firm’s President, Jennie Heal, explains, “We saw an opportunity to provide owners the ability to sell their property in a more expedited manner and many times for far more money than traditional real estate can bring.” She reports the process has been embraced by sellers, listing agents and buyers.
Since its founding 15 years ago, Supreme Auctions has achieved a 94-percent success rate while selling in 70 different countries. “We’re very selective about the properties we auction, accepting only about 10 percent that come to us,” says Heal, a veteran broker with extensive experience in international marketing. She joined the company more than 12 years ago as director of marketing before ascending to the position of president. The auction process is familiar to Heal, as this is a prevailing means of selling luxury manors and estates in her native England.
Growing up in rural Somerset, Heal frequently attended auctions with her father, a farmer who enjoyed bidding on cattle and antiques. “I was bitten by the bug at an early age, but remember him saying, ‘Keep your hands in your pocket,’” says Heal of those childhood experiences. Even after joining a real estate auction company, the seasoned professional’s development as an actual auctioneer occurred very much by accident.
“I was attending an event to raise money for my son’s school, and the auctioneer never showed up,” recounts Heal. “One of the parents said, ‘You work for an auction company … why don’t you do it?’ and I found myself on stage.” After her reluctant debut, another parent commented, “You’re really good at this!” When she decided to get serious about auctioneering, Heal attended the Texas Auction Academy and additionally the Professional Ringmen’s Institute.
Heal now serves as a charity benefit auctioneer at approximately 50 events per year, but spends a considerable amount of time before each auction with representatives of the nonprofit organization. “I want to thoroughly understand their missions so I can be as effective as possible in raising money for them,” says Heal, who views herself equal parts salesperson and auctioneer. “I see myself as a conduit from the nonprofit to the audience and frequently conduct additional pledge donations at the conclusion of the live auction,” she explains.
“I was attending an event to raise money for my son’s school, and the auctioneer never showed up,” recounts Heal. “One of the parents said, ‘You work for an auction company … why don’t you do it?’ and I found myself on stage.”
Bringing the spirit of Sotheby’s or Christie’s to those nonprofit galas, Heal’s work has benefitted a diverse array of charities, including Ronald McDonald House Charities, YWCA, Phoenix Zoo, Arizona Foundation for Women, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Legendary for covering all costs of a child’s care, as well as the family’s travel, housing and food expenses, St. Jude is a particularly personal passion of Heal’s, whose brother is a brain tumor survivor. The non-profit has selected her to conduct auctions across the country and Heal never declines an opportunity to raise money for its world-class treatment and research.
Back at her day job with Supreme Auctions, Heal is creating a culture in which giving back to the community is strongly encouraged.
Last year, she and her staff participated as a team, cleaning facilities for Family Promise, an organization that rescues homeless families from the streets. This year, they are planning to work together on a Habitat for Humanity house.
Heal, who lives in Scottsdale with her husband and two children, loves the outdoors. “Any day I am not sat behind a desk is a great day,” she quips.
These new residential options will bring two very different options to Pine Canyon residents.
Renderings courtesy Pine Canyon.
Pine Canyon, a private golf course and residential community in Flagstaff, Arizona, is preparing to break ground on estate homes and condos as the community experiences an increase in demand. Both Coconino Ridge and Mountain Vista will begin construction this summer.
Coconino Ridge, a moderately secluded enclave of 32 homesites nestled against the Coconino National Forest and overlooking picturesque hiking trails, will debut with a model that follows the 3-bedroom, 3.5-bath Coronado floorplan. The 2,660-square-foot model features an open floorplan, and utilizes center sliding doors to blend indoor and outdoor living.
Prices for homes in Coconino Ridge will range from $900,000 to $1.4 million, and the community began accepting reservations for in April.
“This neighborhood in particular really embraces its surroundings by offering design elements that strategically create a sense of inclusion, allowing the outdoor environment in and vice versa,” said Peter Burger, president of Symmetry Companies, which owns and manages Pine Canyon. “Coconino Ridge fosters flexibility when it comes to design, which is one of the reasons homeowners are offered unique options, from pocketing glass wall systems to bonus rooms, to customize their space at Pine Canyon.”
Mountain Vista, a village of condominiums that caters to buyers who appreciate a lock-and-leave lifestyle, will include 12 buildings with units ranging from 1,640 square feet to 1,990 square feet. Owners have the option of choosing fully-furnished units, and may also choose to have Pine Canyon manage their unit in their absence.
The following article originally appeared in the Spring 2017 issue of ERA Real Estate Distinctive Properties Magazine.
Not a single detail is an afterthought in this custom-built golf club home, approximately 90 minutes northeast of Scottsdale.
Photo courtesy Harold Rush
By Sarah Binder
Rising seamlessly out of a promontory within Payson, Arizona’s The Rim Golf Club, 2608 East Rim Club Drive is a collector’s paradise.
The three-bedroom, four-bath mountain home boasts a stunning collection of 360-degree panoramic views that connect each room to its surroundings — Mogollon Rim, miles of the nearly 3 million-acre Tonto National Forest, and a bird’s-eye view of the Tom Weiskopf- and Jay Morrish-designed golf course, featuring the largest stand of Ponderosa pines in the country.
Indoors, the owners’ love for…
In Prescott, Arizona the world’s tallest home can be seen with its 2,000-square-foot glass enclosed mezzanine and 360 degree views of Prescott. At 124-feet tall with only a 24 x 24 footprint, property taxes are low and the height affords cost-free automatic heating and cooling. This unique home, called Falcon Crest, could be yours for $1.5 million, according to toptenrealestatedeals.com.
According to the listing agent, Falcon Crest is the world’s tallest single-family home, soaring to 124 feet in the sky and containing 10 floors at different levels and angles. The estate consists of 6,200 square feet of living space, offering three bedrooms, four full baths, 2,000-square-foot solarium, open kitchen and great room. A hydraulic glass elevator is also included with the home, elevated six floors above the garage and providing stunning views with its all-glass roofs and walls.
Constructed at the slope of Prescott, Arizona’s Thumb Butte, the house that Phoenix architect Sukumar Pal built for his own family, expands over 120 miles to mountain ranges in every direction. Falcon Crest is also one of the most advanced homes in the world, Pal built Falcon Crest in 1994 to be energy efficient while still maximizing views with glass walls.
The Pal residence has won various awards for his specialization in designing energy-efficient homes, including four residential architecture world records. A top honors was awarded to the home for its unconventional heating and cooling systems that utilize passive solar for winter heat and micro climate and convective cooling in the summer.
Building a tower to be eco-friendly and leaving a small carbon footprint has achieved three major goals of Pal’s design: Taxes are considerably lower on a small footprint compared to a house that sprawls across its lot. For each gradient in height, the views become more expansive, and the height increases air movement from ground level up through the top of the tower.
Falcon Crest is very adaptable for various uses; the unique structure can be used as a single family residence, a work-living space, lab or offices. Frank Aazami is the listing agent with Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty.
Photo courtesy of Fasano Residences + Hotel Miami Beach