KING5.com

Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC teaming up with Bellevue brokerage

06:55 PM PDT on Monday, June 23, 2008

By DON PORTER / KING 5 News

MEDINA, Wash. - The well-to-do of the world are checking out the Eastside, hungry to snap up high-end homes.

"This is a beautiful new house that we just listed. It was built in 2005," said Randi Brazen of Bellevue's Brazen Real Estate, which is soon to become Brazen Sotheby's International Realty.

Sotheby's as in the world famous auction house of the same name: Sotheby's of London, New York, Paris, Hong Kong, and now Bellevue and Mercer Island.

A 9,000-square-foot lakefront home that is up for sale will soon be seen on Brazen Sotheby's global Web site.

"It's going to take us world-wide. International now is our middle name," said Joseph Brazen of Brazen Sotheby's. "And Sotheby's has 400 offices around the world."

The weak dollar makes even big, fancy Eastside homes a good buy these days.

"This brand will resonate here because people are discriminating in their taste of real estate," said Sotheby's CEO Michael Good.

Economic downturn or not, waterfront real estate like this remains a major draw worldwide for the fortunate few.

"A lot of the properties that we've been showing lately have been shown to Asian buyers or European buyers," said Brazen.

High above high gas prices and home foreclosures, high end still sells and still draws a big name like Sothebey's to the Eastside.

Bellevue's Brazen Real Estate hopes the new alliance with Sotheby's will give it a bigger share of the luxury home market, meaning homes priced from $1.5 million and up.