Chase International’s Incline Village office recently welcomed five of Incline Village’s top agents to its team, proving that the Lake Tahoe-based real estate company continues to thrive despite national trends and a roller coaster economy. Joining the Chase team in November, the agents are long-time Lake Tahoe locals with extensive experience and ties to the community.

Husband-and-wife team Tom and Karen Bruno now call Chase International their home. Tom Bruno has lived in the Lake Tahoe area since 1971 and created Incline Village’s Tanager Realty in 1978. He is also the co-founder of Red, White and Blue, a multi-day Independence Day celebration for the Incline Village community. Karen Bruno has lived at Lake Tahoe since 1980 and has been working in real estate for more than 20 years. She volunteers weekly at the Tahoe Environmental Research Center in an effort to teach the community and visitors about living green and keeping Tahoe blue.

Kurt Carlstedt has lived at Lake Tahoe since 1984 and has been practicing real estate for nearly 30 years. He is a Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist, is the past president of the Incline Village Board of Realtors and was named the Incline Village Realtor of the Year in 2004.

Pier Warmuth has lived in Lake Tahoe for more than ten years. With more than 15 years experience in real estate, Warmuth serves on the Incline Village Board of Realtors.

Karin Baker was practically raised in real estate. Her father, a retired real estate broker and accredited instructor, introduced her to the profession at age nine.

With more than 140 professional Realtors® boasting an array of industry certifications and the highest volume per sales agent in the area, Chase International successfully represents homes at all price levels.  For more information about Chase International visit www.chaseinternational.com.

—Robert Burke

Doug Balog of Keller Williams in Palm Springs, Calif., has announced the opening of a new luxury home market division.

Introduced as the Lifestyle Estate Collection, the new division, which will be operated by Team Balog, will be devoted to finding luxury homes abroad for current Palm Springs residents and pairing foreign buyers with luxury homes in the Palm Springs area.

“We introduced the new Lifestyle Estate Collection venture after a great deal of research of discerning homeowners who own property throughout the world and live in the Palm Springs area on a part or full-time basis,” says Balog. “Our focus is to link our local upper-end homeowners to luxury homes markets in Europe, island countries and the Americas while offering local luxury estate homes to the international buyer market.”

Evidence that the California luxury home market remains healthy is found in the recent formation of multiple luxury firms—including Gibson International and Teles Properties—and luxury divisions, such as the Lifestyle Estate Collection.

“At a time when the media is filled with stories of lending crises and real estate gloom, we’ve seen listings of million-dollar homes in the valley continues to chart its own curse, particularly where multi-million dollar homes are concerned,” adds Balog.

Balog has more than 30 years of real estate experience and is a member of the Institute for Luxury Homes Marketing, which is an independent organization that trains and certifies real estate agents in the art of handling exceptional properties.

—Lauren Varga