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By Antonis Loizou F.R.I.C.S. – Antonis Loizou & Associates Ltd – Real Estate Valuers & Estate Agents
In Greece, it is normal in the case of a rather large scale development project to either offer for free or very cheap a unit, e.g. house, to a celebrity, in order to attract as an addition the sort of people who want to live “next” to a celebrity. The celebrity gets the property next to nothing, but then there is a good percentage of locals who are attracted because of this and who are prepared to pay a premium depending on how close one is to the celebrity’s house.
For our part and living in Cyprus for so many years, we never place an added value on such opportunities, but then we may be proven wrong. There are all sorts of celebrities, the international ones and the locals. Perhaps we could place value to a project if, say, Madonna buys a unit in a project, Lady Gaga, etc, but to have a local name as a point of reference is quite different.
In one particular project in Limassol, which comprises of a most attractive apartment block, next to the beach, the developer had 60% of the units unsold half way through the year 2009. Suddenly, we are informed that only 30% are now left unsold. Asking to find the reason for such an upsurge in sales during these difficult times, we were informed that two well known Greek singers (male and female) and one composer, all born in Cyprus, “bought” units in that project. That was enough reason to lure the type of people who like this sort of thing. Hence the sales rise.
In Greece, in a project that our office is managing, we were approached by a celebrity’s agent to offer a house gift to her and in exchange we could use her name in the adverts and even for her to make a few appearances in the common club/pool.
Needless to say, our office turned the offer down (price of the wanted ‘gift’ was approximately 1 mln euros). Was it a mistake on our part? She eventually bought in another location with similar terms and that project is now splashed everywhere in the popular gossip magazines, whereas through the celebrity, a private TV channel has produced a series of “chat and music” programmes on at the said location.
Does this suggest we are out of date? Should we place a value on such “buyers” to add value to a project, such as politicians Bill Clinton or even Tony Blair (the latter with his holidays at Tuscany made the Italian region even more popular for the British politicians, high income earners and others).
Blair’s example has been followed by David Cameron adding value to the area and causing rental and capital prices to increase accordingly. Even the restaurants that the Prime Minister visits are a point of reference, advertised as such in the menu and the local press (“Prime Minister’s favourite dish”).
I have reported in this column in the past of another celebrity (doctor) with his own TV program in the U.K. who was promoting a project of retirement homes in Paphos. Using enormous adverts in the UK, he says “If I could have this on the NHS, I would have certainly subscribed it”.
On another note, a huge project under development at the Protaras area comprising of 250 units, accommodating all sorts of sports facilities, club, etc, is promoted by an international U.K. footballer. You might think “who cares?”, but then you will also be wrong. It appears that people with money not affected by the recession are also the sports people who, not only earn money in amounts difficult to spend, but there are so many “crazy” others who place a special value trying to be close to and having a glimpse of their favorite stars that they are willing to pay.
I must admit that if Beckham was at the project’s bar, we would have done our best to say a hello, but not pay extra 20,000 euros for an apartment nearby. The same celebrity (Beckham) bought a house at Palm Island – Dubai – with good promotional results.
The celebrity’s name is important in most other countries and in a recent search in London, the agent stressed repeatedly that in the block an apartment once belonged to screen great Sir Lawrence Olivier.
So, keeping in the holiday spirit I asked several of our staff and friends if they would pay a premium for an apartment had a celebrity also bought there or lived there in the past. The winning celebs were:
• Winston Churchill (for history lovers)
• Francois Mitterrand (human rights activists)
• Costantinos Karamanlis (reminiscence of Greek better times)
• Adolf Hitler (wants to have an income from visitors)
• Bill Clinton (sexy approach)
• David Beckham (sporty types)
• Anna Vissi/Georgos Theophanous (dreamers)
• Silvio Berlusconi (beautiful women around)
• Sean Connery (macho types)
For my part (A. Loizou) I could place some value in an apartment where Elton John lives, provided he did not practice his piano while I was there, but then others will pay anything for a next door apartment just to get a hello. Elton John stayed at the Anassa Hotel’s special suite – as did Tom Jones. Since then, the suite has had a premium for those guests who want to get the “aura” of these artists.
