The Second Wife Theory Applied to Real Estate?

I was chatting with a dear friend today, Audie Chamberlain, who lives on the West Coast. He has been the marketing genius over at Move.com, then Partners Trust, and has now launched his own way cool real estate marketing firm, Lion & Orb. The best thing about Audie is he is a creative genius and you never, ever know what he is going to think of. Plus he’s been everywhere, knows every heavy-hitter in real estate.

So when he tells me he just heard Jeffrey Hyland of Hilton & Hyland speak, I cleared my ears.

Hyland is an American real estate businessman, president of Beverly Hills-based Hilton and Hyland, one of the highest end real estate firms in the country, and an author. He is also one of the founding members of Christie’s International Real Estate, and serves on the Advisory Board. This is one of H&H’s listings, a little shelter at 5225 Figueroa Mt. Road in Los Olivos, CA that sells for $100,000,000 or the same price as Walnut Place here in Dallas, the Hick’s Crespi Estate. You may recognize it by a former name, Neverland Ranch. It’s 12,598 square feet  with six bedrooms, including a first floor master suite with a private loft that includes two master spa baths. And I do mean spa baths. The estate is on approximately 2,698 acres, over 4.2 square miles, and is located 5 miles north of the town of Los Olivos.

The home was designed by Robert Altevers for William Bone in a French Normandy-style and meticulously crafted to perfection in 1982. Nestled between landscaped gardens and a four-acre waterfall lake, here’s something you don’t get in Big D: majestic mountain views to the north. Of course there is a covered outdoor barbeque area, pool, pool house, tennis court (just like Walnut Place) and multiple auxiliary structures on the property including three separate guest homes, a 5,500 sq.ft. movie theater with stage, several barns, animal shelter facilities, corrals and a maintenance shop.

Just a little sample of the kinds of properties Jeffrey Hyland markets.

Which reminds me: who is going to be the local Christie’s affiliated broker now that Allie Beth Allman has been swooped up by Berkshire Hathaway? Maybe I’ll give Jeff a ring.

Anyhoo, this is what Jeff said recently:

“You always want to be the first born, the second wife, and the third listing agent…”

Any truth? I have heard this before, the listing agent part, and most agents tell me it’s true. By the third agent sellers are usually more price realistic.

The second wife? What do you think about that? Is she the one who would get to live in Neverland? Now I’m worried…