CHRISTIAN CASTNER

EXECUTIVEAGENT MAGAZINE

CHRISTIAN CASTNER Executive Agent of the Month

Harcourts Luxury Auctions

Can selling your house using this process get you more money faster??

Apple.com

Recognizes Harcourts for technology

TM

CHRISTIAN CASTNER Written by Haley Freeman - Ian Wiant Photographer

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early two decades ago, Christian Castner stepped off the vintage 1960s vessel from which he ran yacht charters to begin a new career, one that led to his ownership of both a successful mortgage and real estate company, Pacific Mortgage and Pacific Beach Realty. He spent many years as an independent broker, weathering the ups and downs of the economy while establishing a reputation for reliable and expert real estate representation.

Always interested in advancing with the industry, Christian wanted to give his agents more resources and cutting edge technology, so he began benchmarking every major real estate company. One brand was particularly interested in partnering with Christian because of the prominence of his office building in Crown Point Pacific Beach. They wanted to place their sign on his building, where 37,000 cars drive by every day. But they and all the

others Christian talked to weren’t what he was looking for.

“Everybody I met with was all about the numbers,” Christian recalls. “They said nothing about relationships.

Every meeting felt like I was on this horrible interview.

When I finally met with Aaron Hodson, who was CEO of Harcourts USA at the time, it was a completely different experience. He started asking me questions about what I wanted for my agents and my clients. But he also asked me what I wanted personally, not just for the business, but what was important to me as an individual. I answered that my priorities are my family, my health and my business. When I said he probably wanted to hear them in the opposite order, he said, ‘No, this is exactly what I want to hear, because if you have problems with the first two, the business will flounder.’ From then on, I knew Harcourts would be a good fit.”

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Today Christian is the broker/owner of Harcourts Crown, a global, innovative real estate brand that is ushering buyers, sellers and agents into the future. He and his team of 15 agents began 2014 under the Harcourts banner and are enjoying phenomenal success. Last quarter, Christian was ranked the number three agent and the number one luxury auction specialist companywide.

Harcourts Luxury Auctions Harcourts was founded in New Zealand in 1888 and has since become the sixth largest producing real estate brokerage in the world, with over 6,000 agents in eight countries. The company expanded to the U.S. in 2010, introducing a real estate concept that is widely and enthusiastically accepted elsewhere in the world: the Auction Platform.

When Ben Brady first came to pitch the auction platform concept to Christian and a room of 400 other agents, Christian was skeptical – and he didn’t mind saying so. “I

remember sitting in the front row and saying, ‘This isn’t going to work here. I know how it will be perceived. Ben, if you can sell me on this, you can sell the 400 other agents sitting behind me.’”

Once Christian put the process into action, however, he became a believer. Today, he sells more properties at auction than anyone else in the company, and he is not only teaching the method to his own team, but to other agents in other offices.

At first glance, the auction process may sound complicated and even intimidating, not only to buyers and sellers but to the professionals who represent them. But after a brief explanation by Christian it’s easy to understand the benefits to ALL parties involved and why this process is gaining so much traction in the industry. Harcourts has been conducting property auctions since their inception, and they have perfected a system that is streamlined, transparent and profitable.

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An Innovative Approach to Real Estate Through traditional selling methods, homeowners are often faced with two unenviable choices: overpricing their home and then going through a series of price reductions until it finally sells; or underpricing their home to sell it fast and potentially leaving money on the table.

“Harcourts has developed the only consistent way to get multiple offers in less than 14 days and the only potential way to get above-market value. When we do an auction listing, we do all due diligence in advance. Every document, including disclosures, home inspection, termite report, condo CC&Rs, prelims, hazard report, everything is available and posted in the document section of the MLS so that when a buyer looks at the property, they have everything they need to make an informed decision. We open with a minimum starting bid, but the seller controls the entire process with an undisclosed seller reserve price. If we can’t get the price the seller wants, it reverts to a traditional sale. However, 94 percent of the time, we sell the house above the reserve price.”

The primary strategy of the auction platform is to drive the market to the property. Prior to auction, Harcourts hosts two open houses per week for two hours each,

where an average of 40 to 50 potential buyers show up and are provided with a thumb drive containing all disclosure documents. The low starting bid casts a wider net to capture potential buyers who may never have even seen the property if it were listed at full price. Buyers enter a competitive environment, where they are prompted to negotiate up rather than negotiate down. A buyer may place an offer prior to auction with ZERO buyer premium and postpone or cancel the auction once contingencies are released.

But what about the buyer’s agent? “Buyer’s agents get their full commission,” Christian explains. “When they write an offer prior to auction date and if it gets accepted, 98 percent of the time, it’s going to close. All documents are conveniently located on MLS. It will probably be the easiest transaction the agent has ever done.”

Unlike other real estate auction platforms, Harcourts auctions are conducted live, rather than online, and with full transparency, so bidders can see exactly who they’re bidding against. At auction, bids are non-contingent, creating further urgency. And with no buyer premiums paid to the auction house and no additional costs to the seller.

Harcourts Crown Team ExecutiveAgent Magazine

Christian demonstrates the effectiveness of this method with two recent success stories. In one case, a Realtor® colleague approached Christian about auctioning his own home, which he had been trying to sell via traditional methods for a year and a half. Christian sold the property in only two weeks. Christian also recently sold a home on Archer Street in North Pacific Beach in only 22 days.

With a starting bid of $995,000, the home sold at $1.275 million, $75,000 over the seller’s undisclosed reserve price. The buyer’s agent received their full commission, and all parties walked away completely satisfied – a true win-win.

Apple.com recognizes Harcourts One of the greatest technological innovators in today’s business world, Apple, periodically identifies companies in various industries that excel in their applications of technology. Apple is calling Harcourts “Agents of Change” for their combination of fresh tech applications for both agents and clients. Harcourts’ personalized customer management system is second to none, allowing clients to log in and see exactly what is happening with their transaction in real time.

Christian’s success is augmented by outstanding teamwork. Bethany Chaplin, Christian’s assistant, is a licensed agent who makes sure no detail is missed. His awardwinning team also includes two important members of his family, his wife, Patricia, who heads up the company’s escrow division, and his mother, Lynn, who is also a licensed agent and transaction coordinator. His office also still maintains a mortgage division run by Mike Lowary, a 25-year, seasoned professional.

Christian and Patricia have two teenaged children, Huntley, and Juliette, who are both volleyball players.

The family loves to share all of the outdoor activities their beach community has to offer. Christian makes this promise to his clients, “When a client comes to us, they are going to get an agent who will give them an honest consultation and do right by them. We can never promise exactly what a house will sell for, but we will promise to drive the market to the property and promise to get every penny possible out of the marketplace.”

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Christian Castner

Harcourts Crown 3455 Ingraham Street San Diego, CA 92109 Tel: 619-851-7334 - 858-200-0087 Christian@HarcourtsCrown.com www.HarcourtsUSA.com www.HarcourtsLuxuryAuctions.com CalBRE # 01245048

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