Back to
Blog

Blog Post

Billionaire’s Broker Mention in LA Business Journal!

January 15, 2016

Sally was recently featured in an article for the LA Business Journal regarding selling luxury real estate to wealthy Chinese investors. Shortly after the sale of the Spelling Manor to in 2011 - the highest priced home in the country at the time, Sally visited China and was invited to speak on a panel hosted by the Hurun Report for an audience of over 800. The Hurun Report is comparable to the Forbes Billionaires List in the U.S. - a gathering for the riches and most influential people in China. International investors have been highly influential the last several years in the U.S. Luxury real estate market and in Los Angeles in particular. In 2014, Sally represented Markus Persson, a Swedish buyer in the record-breaking sale of 1181 Hillcrest in Beverly Hills.

LA Business Journal Clipping

Billionaires’ Broker

Hannah Miet | LA Business Journal

If you want to work with China’s wealthiest property investors, list a celebrity home in Los Angeles for a record price. That advice might seem illogical, but such was the path for Sally Forster Jones, president of international luxury properties at John Aaroe Group’s Beverly Hills office.

While working at Coldwell Banker’s Beverly Hills office in 2011, Jones made international news by co-brokering one of the most high-profile deals in L.A. history: the sale of Candy Spelling’s mansion. The manor, built by the late TV producer Aaron Spelling, sold for $85 million to then-22-year-old billionaire heiress Petra Ecclestone. Originally listed at $150 million, it was the highest-price home in the United States at the time.

News of the deal reached China and was seen by Rupert Hoogewerf, editor in chief of Hurun Report, which publishes an annual list of the wealthiest people of Chinese origin. Hoogewerf asked Jones to speak on a panel at an event for the wealthiest people featured in the 2014 issue. She attended, eagerly, with a translator and was interviewed on stage. Then, she networked hard. She is still in touch and working with many of the Chinese families that were in attendance. Jones said she has gained cultural insight from time spent in China, helping her communicate and negotiate.

“Chinese buyers prefer new properties,” she said. “In L.A., a new property means one that is less than 10 years old. In China, 10 years old is old. Things are developing so quickly (in China) that new means absolutely brand new.”

Back in Los Angeles, Jones added another “most expensive” sale to her portfolio just over a year ago. In late 2014, she represented one of the world’s youngest billionaires, Markus Persson, developer of videogame “Minecraft,” in his purchase of a $70 million home in the Trousdale section of Beverly Hills. It was the most expensive house ever sold in that city. Persson bought it with newly accrued riches: He had just sold his game to Microsoft Corp. to the tune of $2.5 billion. “He’s a bachelor, and it was very suitable for that wow factor because it was a sexy property, so from the moment he walked in he was taken by it,” Jones told the Business Journal on the phone from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where she was vacationing with her family. “(Persson) saw it, loved it and wanted to buy it. We closed escrow six days later.”

Join Our Network

Keep up to date on the latest market trends and opportunities on the Westside.