Josh Flagg San Francisco Design Center 2016 Keynote

I was privileged to attend Design San Francisco’s keynote speech and presentation on Thursday, February 25, 2016 at the San Francisco Design Center. Featured on stage were Josh Flagg of Bravo TV’s “Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles,” Catherine Kwong of San Francisco’s Catherine Kwong Design and Geoffrey DeSousa of Geoffrey De Sousa Interior Design.

Presented in conjunction with DACOR, The Luxury Marketing Council of San Francisco and California Home + Design Magazine, the name of the keynote presentation was “A Marriage Made in Heaven” which Design San Francisco described in the program materials as addressing the “symbiotic, yet unexploited relationship between the real estate agent and interior designer, with the client as the common connection and center of affection. Real estate’s top producers and interior design’s celebrated masters acknowledge and appreciate the value that both parties bring to the table in terms of making a sale and a happy client.” The event was followed by a reception at JANUS et Cie across the street where I was able to speak with the panelists.

The presentation was lively and entertaining. The moderator, whose name I did not get, did a great job asking questions and engaging the audience. I took notes as best I could during the rapid-fire questioning. Here is a bit of what I was able to capture:

“What Is Your Forecast For 2016?”

Josh: “I usually look at the first two months of the year to set the tone for what the rest of the year is going to be like. In Los Angeles, the first two months have been phenomenal. No one wants to be the first one to buy a $20 million house but that’s already happened in LA this year so people know it’s ok to buy.”

Geoffrey and Catherine commented that they have both been very busy and the strong real estate market has been very beneficial to interior designers. As the economy has improved, they are seeing more “gut and remodel” projects versus just interior refreshes.

“What’s the Difference Between Clients Now And 5 Years Ago?”

Josh: “They are much more savvy and they know the comps. They know the other houses on the market and they are not waiting for real estate agents to spoon feed them information.” Josh also said that some think they know what their house should be priced based on services like Zillow that take average price per square foot in 4-mile radius and multiply it by the square footage of a house. He said that’s not how you price a home.

The designers said that people come in knowing more about what they want and how much items should cost based on the information they’ve researched on the internet. Catherine said that they want more information on pricing up front – specific timelines and budgets that are nailed down, which is difficult to do in the creative process.

“How Do You Convince A Client Their Home Needs Staging?”

Josh: “They think their home is fabulous (when it isn’t). I usually tell them their style is very sophisticated and most buyers can’t understand it. Most times they buy it. How do you tell someone their house is horrendous?!? You can’t do that…. Staging is very important. You get a lot more money for your house when you stage it. A client had a $4.5mm condo which the previous broker had tried to sell empty. The client spent $35,000 on staging which made him $300,000 to $400,000 more.”

“What’s Hot and What’s Not?”

Geoffrey: “It’s less about stark interiors and more about wallcoverings and adornments. People don’t want iconic pieces that everyone else has.”

Catherine: “What’s out is the cookie cutter formal dining room. Younger clients want to be in the kitchen while their kids are doing homework. Less formal.”

Josh: “What’s out? Toile (joking). What’s hot in LA is the view. Everyone wants a view… and everyone wants a kitchen off the family room and an open floor plan.”

“How Often Do You Go To The Extra Effort To Bid On A Project?”

Geoffrey: “It depends how wonderful the project is. If I really want to be a part of it I will go the extra mile.”

Catherine: “How people ask for a proposal is a huge part of it. Being able to tell if the relationship is going to be respectful. How many people are they interviewing and how transparent are they being about details like budget tells me a great deal.”

Josh: “Ultimately at listing appointments they just want to hear the price on a property. It’s easier for me than for designers. Usually I am up against one other broker and I tell them the true value of their home, not the price they want to hear. If they give it to the other broker who has inflated the price, I tell them they will call me in 3 months and tell me I was right and they want me to sell their home. That happens 9 out of 10 times.”

“How Do You Handle Divas?”

Catherine: “In any situation where you are doing construction or renovation, there will always be one member of the team that leads the team. At times it’s the architect, sometimes it’s the contractor, sometimes it’s the designer. If the architect is being a diva and is the person running the team, I am much more amenable to that because it’s like he’s the leader of what’s going on and we’re all trying to do our thing and fold it into his work.”

Josh: “I don’t think that anyone I work with is a diva because I personally couldn’t work with someone who is like that. They are all immensely talented and there’s someone who can’t work with a client I wouldn’t use them. It will come back to me if I set a relationship up and it doesn’t work.

“(To Josh): Is Josh Altman As Bad As He Appears?”

Josh: “He’s worse in real life. I just had a closing the other day it was horrendous….He has a style which works for some people. He deals with the very…. well….a lot of…. nouveau riche clients. It’s a different type of client. We don’t go on the same listing appointments. No one who would want to work with him would ever want to work with me.”

“(To Josh): What About The Two Brits?”

Josh: “I love them. Total gentlemen. James is one of my best friends. (starts joking…) We go on vacations together. We share the same room. We sleep in the same bed together, his wife doesn’t like it, we’re very close…. They’re very good at what they do. I trust them emphatically. The other day someone asked me to take over one of their listings and they told me to go for it. I respect that but I would have backed off. I respect them tremendously.”

(To Josh): “The Stuff We See On The Tube – How Much Of That is Real?”

Josh: “To make a show interesting there has to be some element of drama… there has to be some probing of the cast mates, otherwise it would not be interesting. You would not want to just see me sitting in a room negotiating a deal for an hour. These are all real transactions. These are real buyers and real sellers. Sometimes we’ll re-take scenes with a different angle but it’s for the most part 90% real. It’s a great business tool. Think about what a real estate agent pays for an ad in the Los Angeles Times. And think of me on this show that’s on every country in the world except North Korea.”

“(To Josh): Do Clients Change Their Behavior During Filming?”

Josh: “This is not the Real Housewives. We don’t edit a bunch of drunk people sitting in a room. The point of our show is the real estate. That is what people want to see and what they are interested in. I tell the clients all the time ‘you be you’ and sometimes they are nuts. But what you see on TV is what they really are.”

Design San Francisco Keynote Presentation Reception

After the program concluded, we were served lunch at the reception with the panelists and I was able to spend a little time with them. Josh was charming and engaging, graciously handling a number of admirers who wanted to speak with him. Now I know how he stays so thin — I don’t think the poor guy had a second to eat!

I was impressed with the new showroom at JANUS et cie — filled with marvelous high-end outdoor furniture. I plan to write a separate blog article on some of what I saw touring the showrooms at the design center. As a former landscape designer, I used to spend a lot of time there selecting furniture for my clients all over the bay area.

Catherine Kwong of Catherine Kwong Design introduced me to her husband and then we spoke a bit about the presentation. We joked that she handled the “Are you a diva?” question very well — she said no. Reviewing her portfolio I can see she is an amazing talent I would certainly recommend her to clients.

Interior design and real estate are indeed a match made in heaven, to paraphrase the title of the keynote presentation, with so much of the look and feel of a home — especially high-end luxury homes — dictated by the design choices that homeowners and their interior designers (and of course home stagers) have made. The best designers create spaces that suit the inhabitants and their lifestyles — not the other way around.

The Josh Flagg San Francisco Design Center keynote was amazing. I hope you have enjoyed reading about my visit to Design San Francisco 2016 and I also hope I have done the presenters justice with my recap of the morning’s events. I believe one of my strengths as a top real estate agent in Marin is my design background that allows me to help my sellers present their homes in the best light possible with the right choices in interior designers, stagers and my own perspectives. You may wish to read my blog to see other articles on real estate, bay area lifestyle and design.

As always, I am happy to answer any questions you may have or provide assistance with your real estate questions. Please call / text me at 415-847-5584 or complete the below contact form.

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