Valuing Home and Centering Lifestyle

Last month I opened my first Curated message with a question: “What does luxury mean to you?” In the last 18 months, it’s become a value-based proposition, almost like asking someone, “What do you value most?” There has been a growing shift toward more value-driven spending in the luxury sector. It has been particularly pronounced in luxury real estate. Our clients are living out their values like never before. Family. Health. Nature. The things that connect them most to joy and happiness. All of this goes back to lifestyle. Centering lifestyle is going to be a major focus for the Coldwell Banker Global Luxury® program in 2022 and beyond. Lifestyle has always guided real estate decisions for the affluent. Now we’re seeing it play an even more heightened role. With remote work becoming the norm, more people have chosen to live in locations that put them closer to the people or the activities they love. As David would say, it’s also a little bit of “FOMO meets YOLO.” Because they are the best in the business, many Coldwell Banker Global Luxury Property Specialists (LPSs) already operate like lifestyle specialists. They have already formed deep emotional bonds with their clients through shared values and interests. Home — a value and mission for the Coldwell Banker® brand — is among them. Home is where we feel most comfortable, most loved and most ourselves. The Coldwell Banker brand is also home to 90,000 real estate agents all over the world. We have created a space for real estate’s most talented to feel empowered, championed, inspired and supported. On the luxury side, we are constantly dreaming up new ways to help agents market their most exclusive listings and elevate their brand so they feel most at home. In a few short weeks, some of you are going to see this in action during the Gen Blue in New York, where we’ll be presenting the last LPS certification course of 2021. Top producer-influencers Dawn McKenna, Ricardo Rodriguez and Frank Isoldi and special guest Jade Mills will be putting their unparalleled expertise on full display, giving attendees a behind-the-scenes look at how to be successful at the very top of the market. We’ll be offering a sneak peek at the upcoming “A Look at Wealth” 2021 Report, which looks at the newest power players influencing the top tiers of real estate. Additionally, we’ll be teasing the new Homes & Estates magazine, which ships October 22. The mix of editorial content our team produced this issue is truly outstanding — a pitch-perfect example of modern luxury lifestyle marketing, if I’ve ever seen one. And the customization opportunities we’ve offered this time around are first class. Just imagine the powerful message it conveys to your clients when you can connect your personal brand with names like Coldwell Banker, Audi, Lanserring and The Jills! So, what is luxury? What are your values? These are the essential questions of our day. The answers may shift as we move forward. However, the one constant is home. Let’s work together to find your vision of home. Michael Altneu is the vice president of luxury for Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. A 15-year veteran of luxury and marketing, Michael has created campaigns for major brands with domestic and international reach and collaborated with top agents across the country on the real estate technology side of the business. The New Jersey native currently resides in Los Angeles, where he balances his time between volunteering as an EMT and spending time outdoors in the sunny Southern California weather. His newest obsession? Surfing.