The Domain
Photo: Lobby of The Domain Hotel

I met Alain Pinel yesterday at a real estate investment group meeting at the Domain Hotel in Sunnyvale, a hotel owned by my friend Chip Conley’s company Joie De Vivre Hospitality. If you’re not familiar with Alain Pinel, he’s the founder of Alain Pinel Realtors (APR) and his name is synonymous with high-end luxury real estate. With over 1,400 agents and 32 offices, APR is the sixth largest residential real estate firm in the United States.

Alain then sold APR and developed a new brokerage, Intero Real Estate Brokerage, as well as several other startups in the United States and France. He recently sold Intero Real Estate Brokerage to Warren Buffett (see: http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_25753662/warren-buffetts-real-estate-arm-acquires-silicon-valleys).

I was fortunate to be sitting at the same table as Alain, so after introductions, we discussed a few different markets, including, Houston and Charlotte, both of which he believed were great markets to be in. He said that people who are seeking to acquire luxury real estate search country-wide and world-wide, so he watches these markets very closely and his firm markets their luxury properties worldwide, particularly to potential buyers in China.

He’s a super sharp, type A, progressive, French guy who speaks his mind and is not afraid to implement changes when he believes they’re clearly needed. He also gets bored easily, which likely explains his development of two world-class real estate brokerages and a few startups within the last 10 years.

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Alegria Capital Management is a real estate investment management company that manages funds invested in quality residential real estate in high-growth markets nationwide.