Effortless Luxury - Cristal Clarke
Cristal Clarke is at the pinnacle. She is a star among listing agents with her genteel manner and cold, hard stats as back-up. Her sales set the standard in customer satisfaction and record dollar amounts in some of the most prestigious neighborhoods in the world. She stopped for a moment to tell us how she lives, works and stays at the top.
Elevated Lifestyle Magazine (ELM): Your professional distinctions in the sales and acquisitions of estates and land in Montecito, Santa Barbara, Hope Ranch and Summerland, California are unparalleled. How did you get here? What makes real estate such a forte for you?
Cristal Clarke (CC): I have a good understanding of what my clients want and when the right property comes around, they hear it in my voice and they trust me.
ELM: How do you gear up for what must be pressure-filled days?
CC: I am a swimmer. I swim in the most amazing 50 meter pool right off the ocean. That is my meditation. I do yoga and I ski. I just love being outdoors and the weather in Santa Barbara makes it easy to be outdoors year round.
ELM: If you weren’t a real estate “mogul” (Cristal laughs gently at this title), what would you be doing?
CC: I would be involved in landscape. I absolutely love landscape. I love being in gardens. I would be a landscape architect. Santa Barbara has the most amazing garden, Lotus Land. You must come see it.
ELM: What is your greatest strength, what comes naturally to you? What is a challenge?
CC: I am very good at communicating with my clients and providing the best service I can. What I am selling is a fabulous lifestyle here. They understand it. It falls very naturally. I always want to be available for my clients, so I am always working to create a nice balance. My work is never done, but because of the environment I live in, balance is possible.
ELM: Why choose you to curate the important choice of home purchase and environment?
CC: I am humble...but I am the #1 agent for all the agents in Santa Barbara...
ELM: You are at the top, so what is a goal? How do you stay on top?
CC: I always strive to be current with what is new, the latest technology. It is an ever-changing market.
ELM: Are people getting more into tech or trying to go more natural and analog with their homes?
CC: People just want to simplify their lives and what comes with that is technology. They want to live the lifestyle that we have here.
ELM: What is a glam factor amenity in the homes you sell beyond the location that is clearly such a dream for many?
CC: When you come into a home and you are able to push one button and the house is set for you. If you are leaving what is a second home, you press one button and it goes on vacation mode. Easy.
ELM: How is the market for you out there?
CC: Busy! The last two years have been phenomenal. I had the highest beach sale in 2017 and 2019. It has been a very strong market.
ELM: What is your favorite part of your job?
CC: To be with such great clients and help them fulfill
their dreams and walk the path of where they want to go.
ELM: What is your platform on environmental concerns?
CC: Water is so precious. We have to be sensitive to our environment and consider the source of our water and ways to reuse it.
ELM: What best describes your own home?
CC: The tranquility and peacefulness and beauty.
Tranquil, peaceful, beautiful and a keen business woman. She balances hard work with a relaxed vibe...just like her backyard where she walks the walk of a love of architecture, outdoors and people. Cristal is correct; her voice is indeed soothing. It conveys assurance, knowledge and enthusiasm. Her sales numbers and accolades are mirrors to the environment she creates, transforming effort into effortless luxury.
On her bedside - The Wirtz Gardens, Patrick Taylor; The Last Swan, Marella Agnelli; Aspen Style, Aerin Lauder.
On her playlist- Gary Clarke Jr.