Ticino Welcome °81, March - May 2024, The Many Realities in the World
"LAPPI TUE D'AUGE UF," translated: "Fool, open your eyes." Ueli Schnorf smiles, answering the question about why Wetag places so much importance on international contacts with a note carved on the entrance gate of the city of Schaffhausen. I remain a bit perplexed and don't have time to reply when Schnorf adds: "Things... one simply has to see them."
So begins his tale, a snippet of life stories, fairy-tale properties, culture, and passion. "In 2001, George Harrison, a client of Wetag, passed away, and Olivia, his widow, asked me if I could sell their island in Australia. It was a delicate moment for her, and I said, 'Of course.' I was convinced I could do it because I believe firmly in the potential. This doesn't mean that international networks are everything, but undoubtedly personal and trustful contacts remain indispensable and irreplaceable, even in the era of artificial intelligence.
A crucial step, however, remains to see things on site. Not all 'big projects' guarantee success. I remember when in 2007 we were invited to the Dominican Republic for the biggest Caribbean project in history, 'Roco Ki': 15 years of construction, 4000 hotel beds, 8000 residential units, an entire bay carved into the rock. I still remember the helicopter flight over the jungle, it was incredible… so we signed up to be the reference sellers in Europe. But the project failed, and from the analysis, we found that in exotic developments it can take up to three failures to reach completion.
On the contrary, the invitation to the small and refined 'Laluna Boutique Villas' in Grenada in 2014, where Lewis Hamilton and Nicole Scherzinger had just bought one of the few residential units, was a success. I like to remember the challenges experienced in Wetag, I relive them with the same emotions as then. Like when in 2010 we received an exclusive assignment for the sale of the largest private property in the Medina of Marrakech. Behind the dusty facades of a narrow alleyway, there was hidden an immense fairy-tale villa, composed of Riads fused together, a garden of palm trees corresponding to a third of the price. The result was that the man purchased the property for less than 50 million.“ Ueli Schnorf continues his story, you can understand his passion, his love for architecture, for art... his curiosity towards knowledge. "Culture is fundamental for those working in the luxury market; you need to know, but also to have seen.
That's why we regularly visit the most beautiful properties, to always be informed about what the international market offers. In 2020, with my partner Philipp Peter, we visited some villas under construction in Palm Beach, in the price range between 20 and 30 million dollars. According to the builder, the selling period was a few weeks, timelines that, for example, are unimaginable in Switzerland, this to say that every market has its rules. Another extraordinary visit, which we have already talked about inside Ticino Welcome, was that of 2021 in Dubai: the world's highest penthouse, located in the Burj al Arab Tower or the villa in Porto Cervo, seen in 2022, a property worth 150 million euros, so large that it could accommodate a large yacht directly in its waters."
And it is precisely to address "private sales" that Wetag Consulting in its EREN European Real Estate Network club has created a separate department. "To conclude, I would like to remember that the real estate market is constantly evolving and changing more and more quickly. Today we look to Asia, to Bali or the Indonesian island of Lombok, where we can follow what is described as the 'biggest development in Southeast Asia', we are talking about the Samara Development (Samara Bay, Samara Hills). First, the state built an international airport on the meadow, then a GP track was built, with some hotels by the sea, but the actual development was planned by the English with the construction of a large organic farm for vegetables, fruits, and rice with solar installations and recycled water from the rice fields. A green vision that also gives value to the people.
Now there is a school on the site, where local farmers are taught modern organic farming. The products, which will later go to the buyers of about 350 villas, are initially used to feed the workers and their families. The same villas will be designed with the utmost respect for nature, and everyone can build with their own architect if they wish, but the materials, preferably ecological, will be specified, as well as the style. A winning idea... think that 90% of the entire complex has already been sold. Every time, returning from a trip abroad, we sit down and discuss: What can we learn for our reality here in Ticino?"
Wetag Consulting sells high-quality residential properties in Ticino, but its international contacts can offer you exclusive properties anywhere in the world. Do not hesitate to contact our offices.
WETAG CONSULTING IMMOBILIARE SA
Luxury Real Estate for sale in Ticino, Switzerland
Riva Antonio Caccia 3
CH-6900 Lugano
Via Antonio Ciseri 13A
CH-6600 Locarno
Via Monte Verità 1
CH-6612 Ascona
www.wetag.ch
www.journal.wetag.ch
[email protected]
+41(0)91 601 04 40
