Welcome to another episode of our serious SLT meetups by Super Luxury Group, where we connect with some of the most interesting players in the luxury market. My name is Alvaro and today we'll be having with us a very special guest. His name is Chris Boswell, he is the CEO and founder of CBLR Luxury Real Estate Agency to talk about what it takes to sell over 1 billion dollars worth of real estate. From selling the most iconic homes all over the world, Chris will be sharing with us the direction he's taking to focus mainly on Dubai along with the latest trends.
We will be also talking about what keeps excitement and work flowing and the passion to keep building long lasting relationships while making an impact. Enjoy. Korea is my friend, what's happening? I'm good, how are you?
Good, good. How are you doing? You're in London, right? I'm actually in Scotland, so I'm trying to make this thing brighter.
There we go. See? Look at the moment. Thanks, man.
I'm in Scotland at the moment and I'm here till the first week of December and I'll be heading to Dubai and then back here for Christmas and then back out to Dubai in January. So it's a good time. You've been there for good, right? Yeah, as you obviously mean you know each other quite well, so for those of you who are still living in Dubai for 12 years and then I came back to the UK in 2015 and I've kind of sat up an international brokerage dealing with lots of different markets in different places and I was based here for the last few years just to have a bit of a change of scenery but now because of basically how busy I am in Dubai I'm heading back there full time and I really want to focus on that main market for at least the next 12 months because we're just so busy there and as you know it's more difficult to travel around now so I've kind of got to put my focus really and energy into one place and that's it really.
If somebody can make it nicely over there, that's you man. You've sold the most expensive home in Dubai. You're the CEO of CBLR, your company, so Superstar Real Estate Brokerage and I think that most of your amazing deals are coming from over there right now so you're heading in the other direction and it's great so amazing news. Yes, I'm excited to be getting back in.
It's my home for so many years and my children were born there and I was married there and as I say I built my career there so it's really busy. Now, I know your story but I'm sure a lot of people are going to really enjoy it a little bit more about how you actually started and ended up selling over $1 billion worth of real estate. I mean that's the question. Well, everyone kind of has a little bit of luck.
I mean I was given a job in Dubai in 2005 with my brother who owned a company called Ocean View Real Estate which was at the time the biggest real estate establishment over there. So I got into that and I was working for him and I just kind of fell into the higher end because it's an obvious question. You make more money, the higher the price of property you sell, the more money you make. I really got attracted to the Palm Jamerrill which is a waterfront development that we have, the man-made waterfront development that many people recognize.
So I was selling a lot of real estate on there. There was another system development which we were selling a lot at the time as well and from that time I was, time in as well is very important isn't it. It's key from 2005 until 2008 which I don't like talking about. That was a really good run.
And after that, after the 2008 issue in crisis, whatever you want to call it, I stayed in Dubai and it presented a lot of opportunity after 2008 because so many properties that were not affordable to so many people became more affordable to so many others because of the price coming down so much. And there were a lot of yielding investments that presented themselves at the time. So I just kind of sold it on like many others did at the time. And then we, I just sold a lot of products on the Palm of Salt.
I counted it up about a year ago and it's over $1.1 billion. Now that's including real estate that I've managed to sell in Los Angeles and New York and Paris, Berlin. I've combined it all together and that's kind of what it comes to. But it's just really focusing on the customer and being very adaptable in your personality, being able to deal with lots of different types of people.
Well, I mean, right now you were showing me before a couple properties that you currently have listed. This one right here, it was 12.5 in Emirates Hills, right? It's in a golf course community. Yeah, that's 46 million Durham, which is about with the exchange rate of about 12.5 million US dollars.
Yeah, and it belongs to a friend of mine. It's a really beautiful property on a golf course community in Dubai. Yeah, as you can see there, it's actually built on two plots. So it's just under a 34,000 square foot double plot and about 15,500 square foot built up, seven bedrooms.
And it's at the end of a cul-de-sac. So it's very, very private. It's very green, as you can see. There's some beautiful landscaping and from some of the other images that unfortunately I didn't send you.
There's some good shots of the golf course that the views of the golf course. But it's a really, really beautiful property and it's been done very, very well. I think it looks fantastic. Now, my question for you, Chris, will be where is the demand currently coming from?
Probably these type of properties. I mean, people love you to be really specific and say it's one specific nationality or one specific demographic. It's kind of all over that we're seeing in Dubai now a lot of different people come from Europe, from India, from the US. So there's quite, I mean, we've just recently sold another property in the same development.
We signed it a couple of days ago. We can't say much about it right now, just in case that people were watching. But that gentleman was an Indian gentleman. So yeah, it really depends.
I mean, I know a friend of mine's just sold a property in the same development also to an Italian guy. So it really is all over the world. A little bit over. It's a very unique place.
It's a transient place. It's a transient place and there's so many people that are coming from all different parts of the world. So it can, yeah, it's a huge variety of people that buy there. Got it.
Because you also have this one right here, right? In Pangimera, this one is like over $17 million. So I love it. Yeah, that's $17.7 million, which is $65 million.
That is breathtaking. I mean, that is one of probably the best pieces of real estate that's been built in Dubai for many, many years. It's directly on the beach, which leads you down to the water. It's an on Pangimera.
It's five bedrooms. The quality and how meticulous the builder, the owner who built himself, the developer was in bringing that whole thing together is really remarkable. And that was also my question to you because the property is phenomenal. I mean, I'm a lot of already by looking at it.
How are you currently promoting these type of properties? I mean, for me, personally, I have such a great network of people and as cliche as it sounds, you know, I've got a lot of people on my phone that I can reach out to for something like that. You know, I'm not a big advertiser. I never have been.
All of the properties that I've sold in the past, I've never advertised. I've never used any form of, you know, platform to promote properties. I just have my website, my social media and WhatsApp. WhatsApp's the key, right?
Right. For me, that's a big deal. And just really connecting people because it is really, I've said this many times, it's all about people and just putting people together and trying to find, you know, the right person for the right product. I mean, yeah, there's many people that sell properties from advertising and they get some real quality leads.
And I will be looking at doing that next year more than what I have ever had done before. But for me, I've already brought in quite a number of people to view that place just from, you know, my phone really. And I mean, you are a well-traveled guy. You obviously have been surrounded yourself with top of the top and building this kind of network throughout all these years is definitely what you in that network of high network individuals that are looking to buy or to sell.
So, yeah, I mean, you do a good job then, obviously, it's going to happen. What it takes, it takes a lot of time and you do get younger. I mean, I'm 38 now, but I get, I mean, I'm not inundated with people asking me questions, but the few people that do reach out to me and say, oh, what, you know, what you have to do to be able to do, sell a property like that, all of a sudden, you know, and it just takes time. It's a lot of years of building, you know, client talent network and knowing your product and obviously knowing the product is key.
That's the number one thing you have to really kind of choose. You have to know what you're saying. Well, I mean, I'm curious because you're a divider, which, you know, it's very appealing. It's all looks serious and you obviously work with one of the most incredible properties, not just in Dubai, but in general, in some other hot destinations like LA, London.
So with everything related to luxury that you've been dealing with for the past 15 years, I always like to ask this question. What really is luxury to you? To me, I mean, because that word is really used quite differently when it's kind of put alongside a particular piece of real estate. And I think it was George R.
Armani who said, you know, to create something, you know, really luxurious and really elegant, your mindset has to be relentlessly focused on the smallest detail. It's really about the detail that really could make something or brand something as luxury. You know, you can have, you know, a fantastic property, but if those really small details that are kind of not really focused on, then I can't call something luxurious products. You know, so I think it's really down to detail.
Oh my God, yes, of course. How should I detail? That's going to be detail oriented. Now, Chris, I mean, you've made it.
You've been very successful, but you're still hungry. You're ready for more. I feel like you're just getting started in your mindset. It's always like, what keeps you excited and motivated?
School fees. I think it's just, I think it's just, yeah, really enjoying what it is that you do. I think if I get to a point where I don't, you know, I no longer enjoy the brokerage side of it and, you know, I'm trying to get into development here in the UK. So that's something else that I'm focusing on in Scotland.
I've got a piece of land that I've purchased a few years ago. So I'm looking to develop something here. So I kind of want to do that as well. But I just really enjoy the people that I'm, you know, enjoying meeting the people that I meet and kind of representing those types of properties that you see.
You know, I'm very, I think when you walk around, it's kind of like a pinch yourself situation all the time, just because you're in these properties and they're so phenomenal and they're worth so much money, you know, you kind of privileged to be able to represent certain people in, you know, when they acquire it or when they're selling it. So yeah, I think it's, I think it's just because I enjoy it so much. I think that's what it is. Do you look up for somebody?
Yeah, I mean, to me, it's not really anybody that you probably would know. It's like certain mentors that I've had, like my brother was a huge mentor to me when I started in the business because he'd been doing it before and he was very successful. And certain customers that I've had over the years, there was a formula one racing manager who passed away a few years ago, same as David. And he was, he was like the real, I suppose like mentoring away because he kind of, a lot of what he said was, you know, kind of made sense to me and I kind of learned a lot from what he said because he was extremely successful himself.
And, you know, it's really about different people that I've met throughout time, different clients, different customers. And, you know, I've learned a lot and, and took, you know, and experienced as well. So it's not really one single person. Of course I admire, you know, your Jeff Bezos and people and, you know, Elon and people like that.
But it's, yeah, it's really just, I really admire like certain people that I've had the privilege to deal with over the years. Great. Amazing. No, I mean, thank you for sharing everything so far.
I mean, I think it's very inspiring for everybody listening, not just people that are in the real estate industry, but anybody that is looking up to become an entrepreneur or make it something successful in life. I think that you're a ball of inspiration. So keep doing your thing. Yeah.
I mean, I think you're just getting started. Can't wait to see you in Dubai or if you come here to Miami. Definitely. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much. Any last words you want to share? No, I just, I just, I suppose thanks for having, having me on and, you know, I've enjoyed talking to you. Just the people watching, I suppose, and other brokers or whoever's kind of tuned in, just them.
Yeah, just kind of reach out. I like connecting with as many people as I possibly can. All over here. All over here.
I try to. Yeah, it's really about connecting with as many people and, you know, really engaging with the people that do follow you, not just for the amount of people that follow you. Do you know what I mean? I try and, yeah, I try and, you know, connect with a lot of people about a really enjoyable time to be continuing.
It's, yeah. So just, well, each other is so great. No, thank you again. Stay warm.
It's gone. I'm safe to do why. I look forward to seeing you. Bye, friend.
Thank you, bro. You take care and have a nice evening and I'll speak to you soon. Yeah. And thanks again for everybody tuning in today.
We hope you enjoyed it. And remember, embrace it beautiful, success in life. My name is Alvaro and I'll see you next time.