" A Fisherman's Guide to Selling Real Estate!"       The first time your fly hits the water will be the most productive cast if you do it right.  When you list a house drop it into the market carefully.  The initial presentation of the fly or the house will be the most productive if you do it right.        Sometimes, it's just best to just observe a pool for a while before presenting your fly.  If you introduce the right fly properly, those milling trout will often rise to it and make a solid hit.  But, introduce a fly too large, too small, or the wrong shape or color or one's that's ragged, the fish will be turned off, sometimes for the rest of your day.        When you list a house for sale, take some time before putting it on the market.  Try and get the price right for the type of b... 07/19/2013

07/17/2013

The Santa Barbara neighborhood of San Roque is bounded by Ontare Road, Foothill Road, Alamar Avenue, and State Street.  The San Roque area is one of Santa Barbara’s choicest neighborhoods. It is located northwest of downtown and admired for its diverse architecture, good schools, and pride of ownership. You can search for all available offerings here:  San Roque Home Search If you are a buyer and would like more information, please contact us here:  Buyer Information If you are a seller and would like more information, please contact us here:  Seller Information 06/24/2013

  Photo by AmericanSpirit July 31-August 4, 2013 begins Old Spanish Days celebration in Santa Barbara.  This year's theme, "Vaqueros y Vaquera" celebrates the horsemen and cattle herders who came to California from Spanish Mexico, in the 1700's.  Known as " vaqueros", they were our first cowboys, and probably there were a few "vaquera" disguised as "vaqueros".  Cowgirls are now included, no need for disguises. This is the 89th celebration in Santa Barbara. El Presidente, Josiah Jenkins, has this to say, "I invite you to slip on your boots, strap on your spurs, jump on your horse and join Old Spanish Days and the County and City of Santa Barbara in our most beloved community celebration; Fiesta 2013, July 31st through August 4th in beautiful Santa Barbara.  Viva los Vaqueros y Vaqueras!... 05/30/2013

We decided to go early to I Madonnari Festival in Santa Barbara at the Mission (Street Chalk Artists event).  Apparently other folks had the same idea.  We loved so many, and between us we must have taken over 100 shots.  Ron also took videos to practice what we learned about iMovie at the Apple One on One last week. This chalk painting is one of our favorites.  It is a replica of an early 19th century American artist.  We will be featuring more as the week goes on. Happy Memorial Day, Cheers, Ron & Alexandra 05/27/2013

    As a luxury marketing professional one of the great ways to promote your marketplace is to report on the local festivities.  For example, we are planning to go to the Annual French Festivalin Santa Barbara, Saturday and Sunday, July 13th & 14th (Bastille Day Weekend), from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Santa Barbara's Oak Park.  This is an annual event, and they are expecting over 20,000 people to attend.  Admission is Free. Some of the highlights include, a poodle parade, French chefs preparing typical French delicacies both savory and sweet.  French beer and wines as well as champagne will be available.  Also, former French colonies will be represented such as Vietnam (French Indochina) as well as Morocco and French Polynesia. Forty acts on three stages will feature continuous entertainmen... 05/22/2013

Photo by American Spirit This year, we celebrate the longest day of the year in Santa Barbara with a parade  on June 22, 2013, (known as the largest single day event in Santa Barbara, because it attracts over 100,000) spectators.)  The 2013 theme is "CREATURES."   The festival begins on Friday, June 21st and ends on June 23rd.  Admission is free. Here is an excerpt from their web site, "At high Noon, on a Saturday near the longest day of the year, creative floats, fascinating costumes, brilliant masks begin their journey from Cota Street up State Street to Micheltorena, transforming downtown Santa Barbara into a vibrant splash of color, music and dance. People-powered floats reignite the creative spirit of Santa Barbara.  The floats, costumes and masks in the parade are made by communi... 05/22/2013

On May 25th, 26th,and 27ths, street artists known as Madonnari, will create at the Santa Barbara Mission 150 large scale images on the black pavement using pastels.  The images are sponsored by local businesses. This festival is held in conjunction with the Santa Barbara Madonnari sister city, Grazie di Curtatone, Italy.   There are also kids' squares available for $10 each with pastels provided.  You do not have to be a kid to buy your own square, if you wish to discover your inner artist. Hours are from 10 -5 Daily, Admission is free. "The event benefits the Children's Creative Project, a nonprofit arts education program of the Santa Barbara County Education Office. The Project serves 50,000 children in more than 100 schools with visual and performing arts workshops and performances ... 05/20/2013

A new lettuce varietal called Salanova appeared on the Garden of Eden stand this morning, at the Santa Barbara Farmers Market.  According the site, love my salad.com, and salanova.com "A name that stands for fresh, flavoursome, crunchy and for extreme convenience. Just one cut and the lettuce separates into numerous small, ready-to-eat leaves!" The Washington Post in an article mentioning Salanova had this so say, "Cooks love vegetables that save them time in the kitchen: the cylindrical beet that's simple to peel and turn into tidy, uniform disks; the onion" All you have to do is remove the core and all the leaves separate into perfect size in your salad bowl.  This is definitely making lettuce simple. Wishing you all a delightful Saturday, Cheers, Ron & Alexandra     05/18/2013

We have a beautiful Spring Day here iSanta Barbara. The Farmers' Market was full of great produce artisitically arranged.  We loved the contrast of color displayed here.  The red and white finger radishes, purple and green kale leaves and orange carrots were a silent and colorful testament to the spring bounty thart surrounds us.   Wishing you Saturday smiles and a Spring in Your Step!  Cheers, Ron & Alexandra -WATCH VIDEOS-  Buzz-Worthy Luxury Real Estate Websites   Personal Branding Case Studies   Company Branding Case Studies   About Language of Luxury  - JOIN THE LOL COMMUNTIY -   GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT!   Linked In, Facebook, Active Rain  Follow Us on Twitter: LuxuryMarketing 03/23/2013

Strawberries of every variety were screaming at us, "BUY ME! BUY ME!" at the Santa Barbara Farmers' Market this foggy, drizzly morning. So being good localvores, we bought and tasted each variety, from large to medium to small.   They were all good.   They will be perfect for dessert this evening, and great in our morning shake tomorrow morning.  The celebrity we spotted was CAT CORA, celebrity chef who was shopping with her cooking class.  Cat lives in Santa Barbara, and she was very gracious smiling at everyone! Wishing everyone Saturday Smiles, Cheers, Ron & Alexandra   WATCH VIDEOS-  Buzz-Worthy Luxury Real Estate Websites   Personal Branding Case Studies   Company Branding Case Studies   About Language of Luxury  - JOIN THE LOL COMMUNTIY -   GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT!   Linked In, ... 03/16/2013

We love the Saturday Farmers Market in Santa Barbara because we are always discovering something new.  Today it is Miner’s lettuce.  Legend has it that the plant got its name from the Gold Rush miners who found it in the wild and ate it to prevent/cure scurvy.   "It grows wild and is a native to the western mountain and coastal regions of North America from Southermost Alaska, British Columbia, south to Central America, but most common to California in the Sacramento and northern San Joaquim valleys". (Wikipedia) Seeds can be bought from rareseeds.com. According to a study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 100 grams of miner’s lettuce — about the size of a decent salad — contains a third of your daily requirement of Vitamin C, 22 percent of the Vitamin A, and 10 perc... 03/09/2013

Spring fever is roaring through Santa Barbara today (74 degrees at 9AM), it seemed everyone was at the Farmers Market.  Here was one of the stars today, purple artichokes.  I prompltly bought one for our dinner hors d'oeuvres.   Research shows they have a higher nutritional value than their green cousins  according to food experts.  We plan to roast this artichoke in the oven.   Here is our recipe: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Trim the stems and the leaves, cut in half and scoop the hairy choke. Rub both sides generously with extra virgin oilve oil and a clove of garlic Season well with salt and pepper. Place on a cookie sheet Roast at 400 for about 20 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees and cook them for an additional 15 minutes.  Serve them with your favorite dip...... 03/02/2013

Starring today at the Santa Barbara Farmers Market was Cardone.  Cardone (pronounced car-doan-ee) is a relative of the Glpbe Artichoke, as it is a member of the thistle family.  It is grown in the Mediterranean regions for its edible stalks.  Our Cardone grower told us that it can be served in a variety of ways: deep fried, sauteed or steamed for salads.  I remember tasting it somewhere in our European travels and liking it. The French and Italian consider it a delicacy, and it is now grown in our area. I would have bought some, but our refrigerator is bulging with lots of vegetables, there is always next week.  Wishing you all a delightful Saturday filled with smiles 02/23/2013

It is a clear cold day here (for us Californians) with winds blowing and white caps dancing on the ocean's surgace.  Ron and I were amazed at the beautiful color of the beets this morning at the Santa Barbara Farmers Market.  Neither one of us is a fan, when it comes to eating beets, however we are fans of their beautiful colors. Happy Saturday, wishing you lots of Saturday smiles, Cheers, Ron & Alexandra WATCH VIDEOS-  Buzz-Worthy Luxury Real Estate Websites   Personal Branding Case Studies   Company Branding Case Studies   About Language of Luxury - JOIN THE LOL COMMUNTIY -   GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT!   Linked In, Facebook, Active Rain Follow Us on Twitter: LuxuryMarketing 02/09/2013

All over Santa Barbara the pear blossom trees are blooming.  We are anticipating rain today and the skies are gray.  Silhouetted against the gray skies, these lovely blossoms are a lovely contrast. Wishing you a wonderful Thursday, Cheers, Ron & Alexandra  Buzz-Worthy Luxury Real Estate Websites   Personal Branding Case Studies   Company Branding Case Studies   About Language of Luxury - JOIN THE LOL COMMUNTIY -   GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT!   Linked In, Facebook, Active Rain Follow Us on Twitter: LuxuryMarketing 02/07/2013

This morning, the mussel and oyster man was at the Santa Barbara Farmers Market.  The mussels are grown in the waters off our coast near the Hope Ranch community of Santa Barbara.  They were harvested at dawn today. We bought two pounds ($4.00 a lb), and we are trying a new recipe.  Instead of making them the French provencal style, (wine, garlic, olive oild and parsley broth), we are going to cook them in a homemade chicken broth with chorizo, leeks, garlic and beer.  We tasted them that way in Salt Lake City and they were delicious.  Bamabara's restaurant was kind enough to share the recipe with us. Wishing everyone a delightful Saturday, Cheers, Ron & Alexandra WATCH VIDEOS  Buzz-Worthy Luxury Real Estate Websites   Personal Branding Case Studies   Company Branding Case Studies   Ab... 01/19/2013

  Marketing luxury real estate is just as much an art as it is a skill.  In this article series, we will cover the key principles of the art of photographing luxury real estate. In Part 1, we talked about using a “wow” photo as the lead photo.  We also emphasized that the lead photo should tell the entire “story” about the property as well as the lifestyle.  The photos should tell the story wordlessly, and lets the viewer imagine himself/herself in the home. The photos we are featuring is of an exquisite Spanish Villa estate in the “American Riviera®” in Santa Barbara.  Casa della Riviera is located at 1105 Las Alturas Road is listed for $3,295,000 by our client, Chris Palme.  The lead photo tells the whole story of the Santa Barbara Riviera’s Estate District.  This section of the Rivie... 01/17/2013

It was in the mid 40's this morning as we ventured to the Santa Barbara Farmers Market.  Many of the farmers decided to stay home, but those who came did not disappoint.  This display of kale demanded a picture!   Wishing you lots of Saturday Smiles, Cheers, Ron & Alexandra Seigel WATCH VIDEOS  Buzz-Worthy Luxury Real Estate Websites   Personal Branding Case Studies   Company Branding Case Studies   About Language of Luxury  - JOIN THE LOL COMMUNTIY -   GET FLUENT. GET AFFLUENT!    Linked In, Facebook, Active Rain  Follow Us on Twitter: LuxuryMarketing 01/12/2013

The Santa Barbara Farmers Market this morning was featuring parsnips.  When we lived in Napa one of our favorite restaurants was The Wine Spectator Restaurant at Greystone which is the headquarters of the Culinary Institute of America in St Helena.   Seasonal ingredients were always part of the specials, and we both recall with fondness a parnip puree accompanying a sea bass.  You can always ask for their recipe, which I did.   According to  the site, vegetarians in Paradise parsnip "is a deliciously impressive performer in the fall, winter, and spring kitchens of Europe. Famous chefs reveal that "she's" easily prepared for diverse roles when brought to the table as an appetizer, soup, salad, or side dish. Sweet and delicate best describes the parsnip's outstanding flavors, while starc... 01/05/2013