To another episode of our series, SOT 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 Jack Harris and he's the international residential and associate partner at Nightfrank. He will be talking about the latest trends in the real estate, especially in the South of France.
Jack will also be sharing with us his background and how the company has adapted this year by fulfilling the emotions of their clientele through technology and dream homes. I hope you enjoy it. Today? Jack!
How are you? How are you? Good, I think that's my phone just playing games. I like the glasses.
I need them. I wish I didn't. That's how you find the right deals. Yeah, exactly that.
It's a good look. It's a good look. At home at the moment, so just outside of London and now our offices across the UK, they are open, but because of the lockdown we're in, you're in the office if you have to be, but you don't if you don't need to be. So looking forward to being in the office a little bit through December, but the moment is working for me.
Looking from home has been the norm. I think that's why it's important that we understand what are the current needs when it comes to properties. I think you've been working heavily on some of the nicest properties and the demand that is currently coming our way is making a lot of emphasis on the spaces that are in each home. I made a quick intro about yourself.
Obviously, you're a superstar in the real estate. You're currently in the UK. You work on different destinations, but heavily also in the South of France. Tell us a little bit about what's going on in the market right now.
What have you seen and a little bit about yourself? It's a very good question. So yes, I'm on the French desk. So based on our headquarters in London, we have associate offices across France.
So my predominant focus is the South of France. So it's centripay through to Monaco. But our French network also includes Paris, the Alps, Provence, the Southwest, towards the Giers and the Dordine and that sort of neck of the woods, as it were. We had a really busy and quite remarkably busy summer.
I think that when lockdown and everything came into place across the world really in the spring, we waited with baited breath as to what the summer might look like. We were really pleased with the demand that we saw. We saw great demand from within Europe. I think that really is the testament to how desirable the area is.
It's not just for international buyers. It's also for those within France, from within Europe. So yeah, it was really good. It was an exciting few months.
I'm looking forward to the months ahead, really. I'm particularly as we work towards the summer of next year, which is typically spring, summer is normally of busy times. How is the winter approaching your way? Because I know you also touch based on the Alps and some of the nice areas where it's very popular during the winter.
Have you seen a higher demand coming that way? So November, December is where we really start to feel the build, the see our fine season. And it sort of goes hand in hand with the demand that our Caribbean desk see as well. This is the time that people are booking their holidays and really if you're on their holiday with their families that they're starting to make these decisions.
Totally. Every time I think of South of France, I always think of the knees and hope they more than echo. I mean, you have really nice places that you were sharing with me previously pictured here. This one is like almost for seven million euro, 11 bedroom.
And I find it fascinating. I mean, it's so dreamy. This is what people don't realize, but there is so many incredible homes over there. What's about this house?
Yeah, I think that's the key thing about the South of France is you have these amazing destinations which are on the coast and I love those. But you need to go 20 to 30 minutes, 6.9 million euros. It has a fascinating history. It was miserable within it.
There are huge elements that sort of tie back to its history, but it's been really sensitively restored. And actually there's a little bit of contemporary modern design in the interior, which is really nice. Now this property is fascinating. And I think this is something that we're starting to see more and more because everybody wants to kind of have their own isolation.
And this chatau is in the South of France. They invite you to want to be there with your family, your friends. Because I mean, if I pull this picture right here, there is really nothing around. But you are at the same time really close from some of the most populated areas.
So I think it's a great combination. No, I think for most that's exactly what they're looking for, a space that they can be out with family, with friends, it's peaceful, it's quiet, they can do what they want to do. You can see that you have amazing internal accommodation, but you probably spend most of your time outside in the gardens. And that's what's great about this place as well.
Can you be getting there with a helicopter? I suspect you probably can, but it's pretty tight. There's sort of laws of what you're going to have to do down there. But it wouldn't surprise me if you could.
And then this one right here, it's another one that's really close by, this one is six-bedroom, but it's 11 million euro. So right here, I really like this property and the views that you get are also incredible because you're closer to the water. What are some of the unique characteristics about this home? So this property is on on Canton Teep, which is a highly sought-after part of the Riviera, which sits really between can and you go east towards Nice.
It's an absolutely beautiful area, very green, very verdant. You have some mature trees, the beaches there are some of the best on the Cotto's Ur. But this one's a, you can stroll from here, you're at the Garupi, which has two or three really good restaurants and your short distance away from local conveniences for shops and things like that. And a little bit further on, and you're in the old port town of Ontea, and there's amazing markets there and restaurants.
That's selling the area, the pictures sell the property. It's being really, really, really well renovated, loved the ceiling in the living rooms. You've got really good volumes and the views there are amazing. You're looking out towards the beach.
Where do you see the demand? Hopefully coming from. So over the summer, it was mainly within Europe and that's really because travel restrictions meant that those from outside of Europe struggled. So it could be someone in France, it could be someone in Germany, in the Netherlands, in Switzerland, wherever else it might be.
British demands continues. We continue to get requests and for US clients looking at something like this, they'll love it. It's a very good location. It easily maintains your close pool of amenities.
We were really lucky in it's something that I hadn't really seen before, but we had virtual viewings, and that sort of skied viewings and sort of zoomed viewings and sharing lots of videos. We have great videos for both of these properties. And we were seeing deals being agreed and deals competing from people who had only seen a video virtually. We always encouraged them to send their own pair of eyes, whether it's a surveyor or their own contact in Paris or whoever else it might be to go and have a look.
But we carried on doing deals with people from around the world, even if they can get there themselves. So it was interesting. It was great fun and something that hadn't seen before. No, I like that you're touching that point because this is happening more and more.
I guess it's becoming the new norm where you cannot be physically somewhere, but you have the person that you can trust that can be there doing a faceline with you, show you a nice pictures video, and you feel like you're there. Right now it's the same situation. Who will have thought a few years we have in a live conversation where other people can join us. We can be showcasing some other things.
So I think that technology is becoming very strong when it comes to real estate. And I think that you said it well there. A lot of people are buying homes strategically just from watching it instead of being there. So very interesting where the real estate direction is going.
Yeah, I think it's something that we'll see more and more of. I think that videos, virtual tours, you have the sort of mathematical set-ups where you can virtually walk around a floor plan. All of these sort of quite innovative, new, fresh tools to be able to place yourself. I haven't seen, well, I haven't sort of had a go on the sort of VR headsets and be able to virtually walk around the house, but I'm sure that will be, it will happen.
And one of the difficult things is for these properties, you can look at the pictures and you think it's amazing. What you don't get is the sort of inspiration, the emotion. And if you can get that from a picture or a video, you can guarantee it when you see it in person. You know more.
With everything that you've seen so far, everybody has a different perspective of what Luxury is all about. So I always like to ask the question, what is Luxury to you? It's a very tricky question. I think Luxury is a term that is quite often overused and people apply it when actually it's not necessarily the right term to use.
I think that it's quite often attributed to a sort of level of the over the top really, which I don't think the pure sort of someone who's into their pure luxury is not necessarily a case. I think it's ultimately as I was alluding to it's an emotion. It's how you feel in a space. It's when you can go in there, you feel fulfilled, you feel wholesome, you feel like you've achieved this and that really to me, if you can go into a place and look around and it takes you breath away.
That to me, the emotion that you get from that is almost more important than anything else. That's a great answer. Jack, I've asked this question a lot and I've never got somebody to tell me fulfilling emotions. So it's a good one.
Write it down. That's great. So let me ask you because obviously there's been a lot of adjustments to be made throughout the year and you've said it well there about technology. So how have you been adapting when it comes to your business to overcome the situation and make it successfully?
We've just been keeping as dynamic as we can be. We've been responding to how people want to communicate with us. The things really that we have started doing and continue to do now is evolving so our marketing is much more online than it had been historically. Right now if you don't jump into the game of improving your strategy through technology, you're going to be left behind.
Everything is evolving so quickly and everybody's taking action in so many different ways. So for those that are watching or listening, is there any specific takeaway that you would like to share? I think really for me, if for anyone who's trying to get into the British state industry, for anyone who's in it, technology, embrace it, social media, embrace it as much as you can, it's really useful, engaging and ultimately a fun tool to use. Indeed indeed.
No great points and I do appreciate you sharing all this. I'm sure that everybody that is listening found a lot of value from it. Is there anything else that you would like to share? No, I mean if you want to follow what I'm up to on For All Things France, I'll occasionally post other bits and pieces.
The shameless yeah, this is the shameless plug following me and I'm at your French advisor and I can guarantee that he's the one and only so please make sure to do so because he's great. So Jack, I do appreciate you tuning in. I'll put your contact information as well so that people can reach out to you and well if I don't see you in the next few months because usually you know at this time of the year it's either ski season or you come to Miami because it's the good weather. So, unfortunately right now it's a little bit tricky.
They might be opening the border soon but hey in either case we'll see each other soon. Looking forward to it. All right Jack so I do appreciate your time. Looking forward to seeing you soon.
Have a great rest of the week. Let's crush the last month of the year. Let's make it epic. We're good.
Take care to sell. Thanks very much. Take care Jack. Bye-bye.
And thanks again for everybody tuning in today. We hope you enjoyed it. I remember and Brace is beautiful success in life. My name is Alvaro and I'll see you next time.