YRJ GBSI.

imjustcreative.com

Yurij — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 02:11:31 +0000

Awesome work from freelance logo designer Graham Smith.

Check it out
wish I’ll be this good some day.. definitely worth following/checking out.

Sicily 90′s by Diego Diaz

Yurij — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 20:43:59 +0000

Born from a Swedish mother and Italian father (though triestino rather than siciliano) I grew up in Sicily. Not having been there for over 3 years, these pictures brought back a big chunk of nostalgia. That landscape could not be captured more accurately, the harsh and warm yellowness of a dried up summer landscape is one of the most beautiful things I know. The model in the pictures isn’t too bad either..

Amazing photography by Diego Diaz in Sicily

See more here by clicking here

Autoestima

Yurij — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:28:55 +0000

When reading one of my favorite blogs, abduzeedo, I came across this.. A very interesting and quite moving project by claudio meneghetti.
Check it..

Til next,
Yurij

Paraty House by Marcio Kogan

Yurij — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:25:10 +0000

I’m in love.

Pastel colors by the pool, amazing concrete texture… the open spaces. Who’d a thunk two boxes could be this sexy?

Its all rather amastical.

Design.

Yurij — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 00:21:30 +0000

Ok, been some time since last post. But I have to write a quickie about Michael Rylander. Brings a sparkle in my eye every time I see any of his work.

His stuff is absolutely amazing. I definitely recommend checking out the following;

Sushi Sasabune Branding

Schoenberg Guitars

On another note, I recently completed an eBrochure for Acanto Condohotel. An intimate condo-hotel development with good history and some awesome incentives designed by yours truly. Email yurij.gabassi@gmail.com por mas info.

Stay tuned for more on Alba Hotel & Residences. A marriage of poetic design and cornerless spaces. Think the Paraty house, Fallingwater, Rosewood Mayakoba, Missoni, and some endless caribbean oceanviews…

Til then. LOADS of work..

Dear Blog…

Yurij — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:22:37 +0000

You have not been forgotten. You are in my mind day and night. I wish to confess you something. I have found someone else. Don’t worry, it will only be a temporary thing, and I am always yours. There will come a day when I will sit down with you, and give you your own domain, nice plug-ins and much more. To be honest, I just have no time for you right now. I need to focus on my career for the next few weeks, and I am doing it for us, for our future. There will come a day when we will flourish together again. Me ranting, you beautifully projecting my thoughts, us, just the two of us here in Playa del Carmen.

Til then. Take a vacation my dear blog,

I will see you soon….

So..

Yurij — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:51:25 +0000

I’m expensive, but I’m worth it. Are you? Time to pick my next project!

Pizza anyone?

Playa del Carmen – A likedislike story.

Yurij — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:19:15 +0000

No different than the relationships in the most peasantist (read spanish/italian) of romantic movies, my relationship to Playa del Carmen is no different. I absolutely love this place, and couldn’t dislike it more at the same time.

The Beaches

I love them because they are never more than 5 minutes away… Gorgeus, pristine, white, and they never get annoyingly hot like in Sicily or on the pacific coast. The Riviera Maya, even though its immense development boom still boasts a vast amount of empty desolate beaches to be enjoyed by no other than me and my woman!

I dislike them because they are way too close everytime I’m working. Sitting at home, reading about this, in the middle of winter, reminding you of how gorgeus they are, well then, think about poor little me! Everytime I walk out the door there’s 20 dirty hippies heading to the beach, while I’m off to work…

The Restaurants

I like the fact there are so many of them, everywhere I go there’s one. Every restaurant is different than the previous one, with the next one serving better food than the previous one.

I dislike the fact that they’re never consistent. My parents place manage to pull off a pretty good job on the Pizzas and pastas, much like Chicago’s or now Chez Matisse has always managed to keep a constant level of quality. However, not many other places manage to produce a consistent level of quality, besides the taco stands… And its a bummer when you go to your favorite place and one night its awesome, the next its terrible… Plus, the Riviera Maya has a serious lack of fresh vegetables, and anyone who thinks that a Restaurant in Playa is making money better rethink it. Groceries, if you want quality that is, is seriously expensive.

5th Avenue

My favorite part of town. Forget the Beaches, I absolutely love walking up and down this everchanging avenue. There isn’t a day that passes by that the place is the same. Go for dinner at my parents’, or Babes or anywhere else, and then just stroll up to Ah Cacao on 30th and 5th, indulge in some ice cream, peoplewatching and then head back home… Its impossible to describe the feeling. Everything at ease.. its just amazing…

Though I really really really dislike all the vendors that bug me anytime I walk with an englishspeaking person… Seriously. There should be a ban on this. It is nowhere close to as bad as in many other places, and the government do an amazing job at keeping things in check along 5th, but seriously, the area around Juarez towards the ferry dock is a place I stay away from. The rest of 5th is great, but I never walk past 4th street. Also, during extreme high season.. Do people really have to walk that slow??

Its Cheap!

Living in Playa is really really cheap. I live better down here than I ever did back home in Sweden. Im young, with a maid and never do my own laundry or housecleaning… I am ridiculously spoiled.

That means labour is cheap ergo – education is lacking. In such a developing part of mexico, its easy to forget that 20 years ago most of these people had almost never seen a car. There’s a huge transition taking place, and some of the big peasantist spanish developers are doing more and more good for the area. The Sandos Eco-club is an extremely well designed initiative, proving that there’s more to a developers than the dollar sign in their eyes.. In a developing part like the Yucatan, its even hard to blame the local government for not taking a better initiative, they just don’t know any better. Plus the local population is so uneducated on the importance of democracy or politics that many times its just left for grabs. Its sad, but as long as everyone of us are pitching in to make a difference in anyway we can, its all good. In the end a society only gets what it works for as a whole. In the nowadays cliché phrase of John F. Kennedy – ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.

Internet.

I Love that this is one of the most wireless towns I’ve ever visited or lived in, and almost every place has it available free of charge. For a guy like me who works a lot on the move around town, its awesome. I am never more than 100 meters away from being able to send off a contract. Yes – I know there are 3G modems you can buy, but its not cheap or fast enough to warrant it quite yet. Plus, why should I spend 75 dollars a month for an internet service that I can get anywhere in town?

I really dislike Grupo Carso though. The Internet is available everywhere, however, its REALLY SLOW.. Seriously, with such a huge monopoly, Telcel has haltered innovation completely in this country. Its ridiculous. Back home in Sweden my brother has 100 mbit, which for even you american readers is unheard of. And he pays not even 50 USD per month for it. And I have to shovel close to 100 for 4mbit. Not fun at all.

‘Nuff ranting, time for a meeting and justifying why anyone should ever spend any money on marketing or product design/branding. Yes, two slabs of concrete and a roof can make up for a condo. But if you add a couple of amenities, a little bit of service, some extra nice furnishings and, make it a simple and intuitive product, what do you know? You actually might have a product someone would like!

All the best everyone,

Yurij

yurij.gabassi [at] me.com

Playa del Carmen Real Estate, marketing, branding and more..

Yurij — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:23:20 +0000

Understanding Real Estate branding and marketing. Now, I’m no big marketing guru of any sort, but I do whatever feels right, and it seems to have worked so far.. I listen to everyone, and above all, I just try to be sensible about any project I undertake. The following entry is treating a couple of issues that have been wandering around my head for too long now..

Read the following two. These are just specific examples found in a wide array of sales pitches around the Riviera and Playa del Carmen.

Luxury
5 star

Now; Lets analyze the two a little…

Luxury: Very relative. For mr. Pan-handle Redneck, its a waiter-served burger on the red and a double moonshine on the rocks. Mr Horst Schultze and Brad Korzen have their own visions. Luxury is relative, and hard to define as its different for everyone. However, read on and hear me out.

5-Star: One of my personal favorites. Not many people know this, but in Mexico, you can brand anything as a 5 star hotel or development. But what does it mean?? Read this link. I’m tired with people saying that a real estate development is 5 star. Unless you’re a Mayakoba real estate development, move on and use something else to pitch it. Another favorite is 5-star restaurants. When you’ve earned your stars in the guide rouge you will have all my respect. The day the AAA will start rating real estate developments, I will be pitching it like no tomorrow.

Browsing the websites of different real estate developments around Playa, I love how many take the freedom of frivolously using the two. Bottom line is, there’s only one real 5 star real estate development in ALL of the Rivera Maya, Mayakoba. You pay more than you could ever imagine to own a home out there, but, its worth it. The sales pitch for Banyan Tree or the Rosewood would take me over 5 hours to write. All I can say is its incomparable to anything else around. There’s a reason they ask premium, and no local developer in the Riviera Maya can possibly compete with the quality and luxury at hand in Mayakoba. Branded luxury real estate (i.e. Mayakoba/Banyan Tree/Ritz Carlton/Viceroy etc) is different, its like comparing timex to rolex. The Rolex will do exactly the same thing that the Timex will do, just like a benz will drive you from a to b like any other car. The difference is in how you get there. Much like the difference in how you own and use your real estate. Owning at Mayakoba is effortless, owning a regular condo or house in Playa del Carmen will take some involvement from your side, whether you like it or not, or what the previous broker told you.

Branding a development and marketing it properly is all about successfully portraying what is at hand. A development trying to be a luxurious offering, when it in fact isn’t, and its not even asking the premium prices, is just #fail. It doesn’t mean that the development is bad, by any means, it just means you’re targeting it wrong and giving out the wrong expectations. If you’re competitively priced or have another feature that stands out, focus on what it actually is; I would listen and take my time with anyone who has a practical or smartly designed development. If you on the other hand pitch me for weeks, claiming luxury, my disappointment will cloud the rest of the experience once I visit and you can never live up to it. Claiming luxury is easy, but if you talk the talk, you have to walk the walk. You have to understand the immense amount of work that comes with delivering a real luxury experience. Why don’t you just use your real selling points? Stop focusing on how much the premier developments are asking, and ask yourself why they are asking it. Then look at your own development, realize what’s so good about it and bring it out. Can’t believe I’m saying this, its pretty obvious, yet people tend to stare themselves blind at the competition, loosing touch with what they have. Its not a matter of deception, its about understanding what you really have to offer. Of course, if you have a badly built development, it doesn’t matter what money you spend on marketing or what catchy phrase you have. Some will buy, but in the end it will haunt you. You will spend time and money on the back end, cleaning up the mess and trying to clean up your name for the next development, costing you more than it would if you just built it right from the beginning.

Condo-hotel is another nice example. Way too many developers use the phrase to sell their properties, with little understanding as to what it really means. Why would you brand a completely fine residential development as a condo-hotel when its not designed as one? Why don’t you just lower the expectations of your clients, calling it a residential development, then dazzling them with the additional features and amenities? You have just managed fulfill and exceed everyone’s expectations. On the other hand, I think the term condo-hotel is not really defined in many clients minds. The sound of effortless ownership, professional management in place and many more perks also means that you will be paying for it. On average, a well managed condo-hotel has higher maintenance fees than a purely residential development. If you want the best on the other hand, you have to pay for it.

When selling, the process is the very same. Why would I blow you away with an amazing sales pitch and then excuse myself through the entire presentation or justifying every flaw encountered after you have signed the papers? Here’s a good product, its this and this, cost so much. Take a look and get a feel for it. You find it sexy you buy. Very easy. I will be honest, today is a buyers market, but buying premium is never cheap.

Bottom line is; its Tuesday and I’m tired. I just spent four days working out a proposal for another real estate development that committed all the errors above. Now, 8 months with no transactions, I’m trying to clean up the mess, removing the condo-hotel nonsense, removing the luxury stamp, and just simplifying everything. Just making it what it ought to be.

Promising is nothing without delivering, and I don’t want the headache of not being able to deliver. Please note, this is not Oasis12, my consulting contract ended in December and Bjoern is still managing the sales efforts there. Still, I got units left to sell and rent there and on the oceanfront. Let me know if you’re thinking of coming down here and I’ll set you up somewhere nice=)

Now, time to head home and call it the day.

Also.

Whoever sent me the email with the right answer to my previous entry, SHOW YOURSELF. I really don’t like anonymous emails…

So, its 2010, what next?

Yurij — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 05:45:39 +0000

Well a new year has come. And Playa has been freezing! Felt really sorry for all my clients in town longing for some sun and caribbean warmth. Not in 7 years has it been this cold (according to the allknowing Efrain at Era Ora! However, the widget thing on my desktop tells me its going to be warmer..
Now on to something else, I’m going on my third year in Playa, time to evaluate the future. Start with the past, 2009 felt like a year when everything was on hold, people have just been waiting, observing, whats happening next? Nobody knows… It doesn’t seem like much happened, knock on wood. For us sales people, it hasn’t been good. Anyone who tells you 2009 was an amazing year for real estate sales, or even a good one doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
Property owners in Playa? Definitely a good year, yeah, no 20% value increases á la pre-07/08 market, but the only people that sold in the past two years were people that absolutely had to sell, which kept the market pretty stable, there was definitely no double digit price drops as seen in California, or whole developments that were left deserted as seen in South Florida and other places. I only have direct knowledge of one listing (can’t find the link for it, the realtor took it down. It was a 2bed penthouse on 5th and 28th, NB not Mosquito 5:28, even though they would benefit from a pricedrop, for different reasons…) that sold for less than the initial purchase price, though I am sure there are a couple others around that took a hit. Everything is so cash-based down here that a the rentals kept most owners property costs in check.
As for looking forward, I’m optimistic, prices won’t necessarily rise in the next few months, (you can expect the occasional greednugget to throw out a ridiculous listing price though) but definitely in the next year as sales are picking up more and more.
Personally.. Looking forward and evaluating my goals has been a priority this winter. Been working too much and only went to one of the bpm festivities, plenty of fun, and it shows how much potential Playa has! Lets hope they start having more multiple venues at once next year so people don’t have to cram into one place at a time.. Enough wandering off and get myself back to the point. Goals for the year, make enough cash to head back to school and get a bachelor’s at least.. Structuring everything right now so I can keep doing the real estate and vacation rental gig part-time from Mx city or Guadalajara, which isn’t too hard since Bjoerno is always on the spot to help me out. Plus its only a quick flight away which is a definite requirement since I love my Playa so much and need my fix. Secondly. Buy a unit in Playa, and help out lil bro with one in Stockholm or Malmö as well. This comment will sound cheesy, but I will buy one at Oasis12. Biggest floorplans in Playa, the location might not be prime oceanfront, but having lived in 4 developments around town, the feeling and huge floorplans are so damn solid I can’t see much alternative to it.
But why do I love this place? I have asked myself this questions several times over and over, and it always comes back to the following fact. Playa has been very good to me, I have reached a position in my life where I do things I could only dream about back home. Go figure what that could be, and yes, just that! I am incredibly thankful for everything the area has given me, though I definitely have my moments when I just wish I could get on a plane and head back to civilisation. No Mac store, ridiculous pricing on imported stuff, expensive wines (yes, i’m a bon-vivant), no shoes or clothes in my size (I’m 6″5), no yellow pages, IMIGRACION(9 months and 9000 pesos for my first FM3, countless trips to cancun for no reason at all, should be a post of its own…), the bureaucracy, has made me absolutely incazzato nero more than once. But still, a lunch at aguachiles or Bermann&Bermann and a beachday normally makes up for it. If its really bad, time to stack up the flight miles with a quick jet up across the border.. Even though you live down here, every once in a while, you need to get away and get some civilization in you.

ok, got 3 minutes left on my battery and time to head for a salad at karma bagels.

As always, hit me up if you want to come down and take a look at some real estate or need a vacation rental.

Don’t forget to download the guide too! link on the right ->

You stay classy Playa del Carmen, I’m Yurij Gabassi?

20% off the next rental in Playa del Carmen if you figure out where that quote comes from….