Hello, hello, how are you guys doing this afternoon? We are live here once again. It's going to be every Tuesday and Thursday, this series of SLG meetups where we're going to be bringing one of the biggest players in the Luxury market. So today we're going to be having Gavin, he's the managing partner at CA Christie, his Luxury brokerage in the Bahamas.
So there's going to be a lot of interesting things that we're going to be discussing today, from the current trends to everything that is going on around the world in the Luxury Reel State market and how we're using right now this moment to emphasize all the dream homes and how Gavin is doing to make a reality. So very happy to have you here today. And as I was mentioning prior to you joining the conversation, I was making a little intro about yourself and what you're currently doing in the Luxury Reel State market in the Bahamas. But why don't you go ahead and tell us a little bit about yourself?
Yeah, well, first of all, thanks for you and superlucky group for having me. I really appreciate what you guys are doing. One of the leaders in the luxury space. So a little bit about myself is born and raised in the Bahamas.
I went to school in the US. From there, I moved to Europe, and where everybody knows me, I'm a big soccer fanatic and soccer fan. And so I played professional. I bunks around Europe for a number of years playing in different leagues in Czech Republic, Romania, and the UK.
And then I came back to the Bahamas about 15, 16 years ago and got into the real estate business and jumped into the luxury space. And I haven't looked back. You're on a machine, man. Very, very inspiring.
And we do have that in common. You would talk around with tennis and we ended up in the same sector. So very nice. And you're currently in the Bahamas.
Obviously, there's been a lot of things happening. So what are the current trends that you're currently seeing? Well, I must say it is a very unusual time with this pandemic, as I think everybody would agree, with this global pandemic that really came out of nowhere. And it put the globe on pause for x amount of months.
So what we saw is that, first and foremost, we had a lot of different persons, a lot of different agents, a lot of different clients who weren't sure how to navigate this new norm. And so initially, we had a lot of persons and agents, investors, buyers, who just decided to sit on the fence and try to figure out how do we survive and thrive in a COVID-19 market? And thinking that would only last x amount of months. And now 6, 7, 8, 9 months later, they realize that this is here with us to stay.
And so now, it's the question is, how do we function today within this COVID-19 market? And we've started to see certain trends that are starting to show themselves over there. We're only talking a small period of time. So trends only take years to evolve, but with this pandemic, what it has caused is kind of accelerated trends.
And so one of the biggest we are seeing is kind of a global shift of investors, persons, who are looking to move out of metropolitan, large metropolitan cities, New York, London, Hong Kong, and they're looking for remote properties, island living. So the Caribbean is trending at this current point. Definitely. And this is something that we're going to be touching on later on today, because I see such a shift in the way that people look at Luxury.
Because this is a question that, coming from our name, superluxury group, I always like to ask, why is Luxury for you right now? Right, right. Well, if I was to sum up luxury in one word for me, it would be lifestyle. Lifestyle?
And that's the key. That's the word. I love that, because this is what people are looking these days. You know?
Right. And what people notice, I said lifestyle, and not finances. A lot of people assume or think that luxury is tied to a bank account, which is not, for me, as I understand, it's likely luxury is tied to lifestyle, to where a person is able to afford the lifestyle that they wish, whether they want. For me, luxury is real estate and soccer.
And so that would be my definition of luxury and lifestyle. So I've worked forward myself. I love soccer so much to be able to work, to stay in my family, but also have enough time to enjoy doing what I do. Definitely.
And this is why also with the homes, we find such an importance these days, because people go to the point where they were not thinking that staying in the same home was going to be so valuable. But now, with everything that is going on, having your home in the right terms, really how you want it, it's going to be so valuable for the type of lifestyle that you have. So a lot of people are looking into that with more detail these days. No, all good.
And what we were saying is that it's very important that nowadays, we really bring up the concept of the lifestyle when it comes to the homes, because a lot of people are now looking at their homes as the place to be, and especially in a place like Bahamas. Or even like ourselves, we have some properties, beautiful properties in Miami and as you want to see, a lot of people coming in from the North escaping that cold weather or those crowded places, they're going to a place where the lifestyle can be enjoyed at a much level. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you what we're seeing, just continue the trends is that there's some new words and new terminology that has entered now into the luxury market, before it used to be penthouse, now it's private island.
Yeah. Private house. Yeah. Did you say the middle dollar question?
I love it, because I want to ask you this, because with the Bahamas, there's so many islands. How many islands are in the Bahamas? Like a huge amount. Like you can have work for each day, correct?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, we say they're totally about 700 islands in T throughout the Bahamas. Unbelievable. So this is something that is becoming more trendy also when we're talking about those affluent, right?
Looking into those isolated places, which I will tie it up with a really nice quote that I hear you saying from the very beginning, which is, social distancing is the new luxury. I love that. Definitely. Definitely, man.
I love the private islands. How is that happening? The social distancing. What are the clients really looking at?
Yeah, well, in the private island space right now, it's a very unique space. And I can tell you, it is trending like it has never had before. The private island market is extremely hot. And you have the ultra wealthy from around the world.
And I mean, within the ultra wealthy group, there's only a small amount of persons globally, even within that group who are able to have the chance to purchase a private island. But with the private island, they see it as an investment, forget the real estate side. But they see it as an investment in security, safety, and seclusion. And these are the new words that we are seeing in the luxury space today now.
They said it's no longer Pentels, it's private island. They're no longer talking about square foot. They want to know where can we be safe, where can we be secure, and where can we be secluded. And so this is why the Bahamas is really set up for, and we came up with the tagline, that social distancing is the new luxury.
And if I was to sum up the big takeaway from this pandemic, it would be that social distancing is the new luxury. The ultra wealthy, wherever they were, unfortunately, there were many of them in this pandemic strike, that they were stuck in New York. They were stuck in metropolitan cities. They were stuck where it may be.
And they realized that they had friends, they had family who were quarantining in the Bahamas on the beach, drinking a clique. Right, we both had some drinks from the states to the Bahamas. So we know what they're looking for. And this is amazing what you're saying.
I believe that also it's very important to mention that Bahamas with the proximity to the states, it's an amazing connection, right? So building that bridge, in my opinion, is one of the beautiful things that we are both working on, because ourselves with the clients that we currently have in the states, a lot of them are looking for a second or third home. They're looking for that, so that's inclusion, that privacy, that security. And sometimes, you know, metropolitan area, you cannot get that.
When you apply to Bahamas, you've got that sense through the private islands or even at home. So how is something, because we were having a beautiful conversation last week about how to connect that bridge. And you were saying something about a sea plane. I love that idea.
So something about it. You know, one of my dreams has always been to connect the bridge between South Florida and the Bahamas. You know, we are the Bahamas is the closest land mass outside of the US. We're 25 minute flight maximum to Miami.
And our luxury markets are so similar. There's so many synergies in between both markets that I saw the need for us to really try to connect that bridge. And so what I've done is I've started to partner with strategic companies like yourself and Superludgery, you know, that has a good holding in South Florida, but also some of the sea plane companies and private jet companies. And we're in the process of working out a program where we're going to be offering daily luxury real estate towards out of South Florida.
And I think it's going to be well received, you know, three weeks ago, I was with, you know, we were with some clients and we left South Florida on, you know, we tried to play in left South Florida and we went island shopping, you know, and we left. Could love that guy. Could love that one. Take the sea plane for the weekend.
Yes. It's amazing. This is what we are really trying to bring. And this is one of the reasons that we're doing this SLG meetups, which is to bring more people together in that luxury sector, you know, because it's all about connections, how to leverage, how to enhance the luxury experience for the clients.
Because this is the beautiful thing about doing business together. Somebody has an idea, we put the other person together, connection happens, and we are all living happily ever after. You know, so I love it. You know, I totally agree with you.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, I'll note you to name to our previous SLG meetup, but we have Camilo. Camilo is actually, you know, an owner of Private Jet Company. Right. He will be a great contact to also put in place for this.
Yeah, I did tune in and so I'd love to get together with Camilo because I got some great ideas about working on it. I think he could be an integral part of the plan, you know, so I'd love for us to make that connection. Listen, introduction is happening. So that's all about that.
You know, Gavin, I always love talking to you. I mean, we've done business together. Recently, we've seen some huge spikes, right, on certain type of rental. So I wanted to ask you, because you told me this a few weeks ago, when we both brought a beautiful group of people into the Bahamas.
You were telling me, Alvaro, is it a milestone of my career? Why don't you tell us a little bit about it? Yeah, well, I'm proud to say that I've been in business now 15 plus years and last week I closed on the, which is a milestone in my career, which would probably be the largest rental that I've ever done in my career. And I can't give the particulars on where and who, because we're under heavy NDAs with the client.
But what I can say is that we, and this is all due to the pandemic. This is what I consider COVID-19 deal. We had a billionaire client who was fleeing a metropolitan city, and they wanted to quarantine in the Bahamas. And so they decided to rent a property for north of $300,000 a month.
And it's insane. And so for me, it was a personal best in my career. So I'm very excited that we closed off on that. And I hope that they enjoyed and they love it.
But it goes to show you how there are still opportunities, even within a global pandemic. Absolutely. And this is what you get to see, right, these days. Like, not everything is money.
Like, people value their health. They value their family. So they're seeing that the world might be coming to an end with what's going on. You know, a lot of people are like, I'll rather use my money wisely, enjoy it, be safe, be in a place that I can be with my family, and see how things go from there.
You know, everything is being done. Yes, I'm telling you the new word, Mark, in words, the new words in luxury are safety, seclusion, security, privacy, remote, off the grid. These are what we are seeing trending in every single conversation that I have with all of my high network clients. You know, we're seeing these trends.
You know, they are, and it's not just the Bahamas. You know, they're seeing, if you look at New York, if you look at the influx of persons moving to the Hamptons, you know, and so happening, you know, it's happening, you know, you look at, you know, you look at Florida, you know, what's happening in Florida, the person's coming from metropolitan cities and going to Florida. I was on a call yesterday with a colleague out of the UK. It's the same, the real estate in the countryside of the UK, a skyrocketed because you have people exiting, exiting the city, the metropolitan areas.
So it's a global trend that we're seeing and tapping here in the Bahamas as well. Absolutely, and it's our responsibility to put everything that we have in place and the connections and the knowledge to really advise them on how to make that happen. So that transition is never being the easiest to do the changes that are currently happening. But this is why we're here.
And I love it, you know, like, it's very important to always look at the positive side of things. And it's a term that we love to use at Superlousery Group, which is beautiful success, you know, for us success comes in so many different works, right? But success is different. So what does beautiful success mean to you?
That's for curiosity. You know, it's a great question, you know, and, you know, when you look at the word success, you know, it comes to many different shapes and forms, you know, I'm a believer of taking, you know, winning small battles, you know, I don't, you know, one day at a time and improving myself each and every day. And, you know, and just, you know, that's what success is for me, that wherever I was yesterday, you know, today I'm one step ahead, you know, and as long as I'm moving forward in the right direction, I'm happy. This is a great way to put it because, you know, right now it's very important to celebrate every little success, regardless of what it is, you know, there's already too much negativity out there.
So it's very important that we are always celebrating and happy about those beautiful successes that we're experiencing, regardless of whatever it is, you know, it could be from having a coffee to closing that deal at $100,000, you know? Yeah, I know everything, you know, and people, they can tell you in my office, I believe in celebrating everything, you know, if you close a deal, I don't care if it's a $20 million deal or if it's a $10 dollar deal, once you close it, you celebrate that, you know, and, you know, because, you know, you work hard, you work hard for these things, and when you close it, you have to take that little step, whether it's a big deal or small deal and celebrate it, enjoy it. And then you go back to work next day. Absolutely, Gavin.
Now, there's no better way to close this because you definitely are a transpiration. I really like how you are taking things for the best. And I will say, you know, with all this that openness to have these type of relationships, because we're here for that, we're here to build relationships, to connect, to help. Eventually to make up this place a better place.
So very happy to have you in this meetup. And I can't wait to see you. What's your plan? Currently in the Bahamas, you're going to be there a little bit stuck, no?
Yeah, well, it seems as if our government is starting to open up at least, you know, Inter- imma locally starting on Monday, travel is still a bit more difficult. But we're hoping in the next few weeks that it'll start to relax that. And hopefully I'll come over to, I'd love to join you in Europe. I'm not sure.
If not, it'll definitely be Miami, you know. But, you know, before I go, I always like to leave, you know, my friends and family with, you know, one major takeaway. And, you know, one of the biggest things that I can take away from this pandemic is that, you know, with any pandemic, there, you know, this pandemic board change. And with change comes opportunity.
So each and every one, you just have to figure out, you know, and try and know, what is that opportunity for you? What is the opportunity in the market and go after it? Beautifully said. And Gavin, one more thing.
If anybody wants to be in touch with you or they have more questions about the real estate market in the Bahamas, where can they find you? Yeah, it's, you know, I'm always an open book. And so you can always find me on IG at Gabbman 242, or you can email me at Gabbin at CAChristy.com. Okay, very nice.
And also if anybody has additional questions, you can always let me know. Happy to connect you with Gavin. Gavin is the legend. He's the one and only from the Bahamas.
Man, I saw your team didn't win. So I don't want to go on about that. Oh, man. Definitely.
I think a real estate is a sport. I love really laugh when you posted that story, sweating that heavy day. And you're like, my God, real estate is a real sport. So I tell people real estate is a contest sport.
No, and what's about it, my friend? You know, yeah. Very good. Stocking to you, Gavin.
Will be in touch. Yeah, you know, yeah. And I think this is the beautiful thing about social media, these days and technology, easier to connect than ever. So let's make up this place a better world.
I'm very happy to connect with you, Gavin. Will be definitely touch. Thank you so much, Abruh. Thank you to Superlucky Group and we'll be in touch.
Bye, Gavin. Take care. Bye bye. Bye bye.