Posted Mon Nov 24 22:57:00 UTC 2008

Getting away these days while winter rushes in and temperatures are falling is a luxury I am always looking for. What could be better to combine summer like feeling and business? Wetag Consulting is the exclusive Christies Great Estates affiliate for southern Switzerland’s Ticino region. So I attended Christie's Great Estates (CGE) Global Annual Conference in Bermuda, where I met CGE affiliates from all over the world as well as long time business friends like our Swiss affiliate form Zurich Mrs./Mr. Wüst of Wüst & Wüst (from left to right: Herbert Wüst, Annelies Wüst , Ueli Schnorf). At the conference we discussed global market situations and strategies to face these turbulent times. I was invited by Christie’s to serve as a panelist on the conference. I gladly presented my view of “Targeting an International Clientele” to the audience, since we have plenty enough experience at WETAG in handling international business. Indeed with our 75% of foreign clients, coming from more than 60 nations within the last years, we seem to be one of the most international companies of the Christie’s universe. As always I put main focus on superior service, which should be based on knowledge and information about your incoming clients. I especially enjoyed to do this panel together with José Ribes Bas from Rimontgò Valencia, a truly good friend of mine and one of the very best and extremely professional realtors there are.
It’s been very interesting to see what problems and challenges our affiliates are facing and how they handle these. I have experienced quite some similarities between the Swiss real estate market and other strongholds in the world, but could also get a better picture of areas hit quite hard by the turmoil these days. Despite very challenging markets there are still regions where the market is at least stable. We all agreed that some key markets will pick up later next year and opportunities for good deals are increasing in some markets like central Europe, New York, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean.

Posted By: Ueli F. Schnorf