hollywood billionaire

Chapter 21 Living in Bel Air

Han Zhai first identified the property manager, or, if you wanted to sound like a bumbling British aristocrat, the mansion steward.From basic maintenance to facility upgrades, from personnel management to annual appraisals, property managers are the core members of private luxury real estate.

Brandon Williams recommended six candidates for Han Yi, and the one who was finally selected was the youngest one, Corey McIntosh from Brighton, England.

The 34-year-old Corey once studied real estate and planning at the University of Reading. After graduating in 2004, Corey did not choose to work in the British Isles. Instead, he flew directly to Manhattan, New York, which has the most luxurious real estate in the world. his career.

At 740 Park Avenue in New York, Corey McIntosh first worked as an apartment manager for three years. In 2007, by chance, Corey was ordered to organize a well-received charity dinner for the famous resident of No. 740 Park Avenue, Stephen Schwarzman, the CEO of Blackstone Group. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he accepted Schwarzman's appointment and became the deputy of the butler team of the latter's Upper East Side property.

During the two years of working in Schwarzman's apartment, the young Corey grew up rapidly. He was responsible for maintenance and repairs, making this historical landmark that originally belonged to John Rockefeller Jr. glow with new brilliance, which made Stephen Schwartz Tsman appreciated him even more. In 2011, Schwarzman transferred Corey to his beachfront mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, and was promoted to property manager of the entire property.

Unexpectedly, just two months after Corey took office, the "Wall Street Journal" published a long article criticizing the extreme waste of water by the wealthy Palm Beach real estate owners during the severe drought in Florida .While the average Palm Beach resident uses only 10.8 gallons of water a year, Steven Schwarzman's mansion uses a full 740.9 million gallons.

This report made Stephen Schwarzman very embarrassed. In order to quell the public relations crisis, he had to announce the dismissal of the entire management team of the real estate. As the leader, Corey McIntosh was the first to bear the brunt.

Corey was on the rise in his career, but lost his job because of trumped-up charges. Despondent, Corey returned to his hometown of Brighton for six months.It is said that he once seriously considered using his savings from working in the United States for seven years to open a small seaside hotel in his hometown.

But in the end, the revived Corey chose to return to the United States.This time his destination is the City of Angels on the west coast.Rick Caruso, a rich man in Los Angeles, built an eight-story modern building at 8500 Burton Road, which has two commercial and residential formats.Corey - McIntosh, is their favorite residential property manager candidates.

Curry's work at 8500 Burton is still outstanding, and he quickly made this brand new apartment synonymous with celebrity-filled luxury.There are only 87 full-scale one- and two-bedroom apartments for rent here, and almost every one of them is home to exotic stars who often commute to Los Angeles, as well as Internet celebrities whose income levels are soaring.

As of March 2016, the occupancy rate of 3 Burton has reached 8500% for four consecutive years, making Caruso famous and profitable.

However, becoming the best apartment manager in Los Angeles is not the ultimate goal of Curry's career.The four years of working for Stephen Schwarzman opened his eyes. Corey hopes to continue working for the top class, starting from managing a top luxury real estate, and gradually becoming an asset of a wealthy family or a multinational real estate group Director.

However, it is impossible to find a property manager position for the top real estate in the Platinum Triangle easily.It has been more than a year since Kerui began to pay attention to job opportunities. Most of the job listings are properties with a value of less than 1000 million US dollars, and the salary is far worse than the current job.

After all, the real 0.01% have service teams who have followed them for more than ten years or even a generation or two.If Howard Shore bids for No. 864 Stella Della Road, there is a high probability that there will not be any positions listed here, and he will bring his trusted butler team from the UK.Not for anything else, just so that you don't have to have a running-in with strangers in your living habits.

Every billionaire is unique, which means that they often have some living habits that are difficult for ordinary people to understand.Steve Jobs liked to soak his feet in Apple's toilet in his early years, Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group, drank twenty cups of tea a day, and Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, only ate one cup of tea on weekdays. meals, and all-day fasting on weekends... It takes a long and painful process to perfectly adapt to these seemingly small but very important details for the rich.

The two words that rich people hate most are long and painful.

Fortunately, the person who took Stella Della No. 864 was Han Yi.

Han Yi liked the feeling Corey McIntosh gave him. Although the latter could only reach his shoulders, his modest, polite, and unhurried temperament made him feel like a six-foot-four giant. With him, there is no problem that cannot be solved.

More importantly, Kerui and Han Yi have the same aesthetics and aspirations, and they chatted for nearly an hour and a half.From the street dance music of France in the fifteenth century, to the eating habits of Burgundy, and back to some technological objects that should be added to the mansion itself.Han Yi felt that he was talking to a mirror from England, but it was not a mirror that obeyed orders, but a side that could reflect on himself.

For Han Yi, it is much better to have a modern property manager who can talk, than to hire a butler of a classical mansion with a huge era gap.

With an annual salary of US$19 to finalize the property manager, the subsequent recruitment process will be much easier with Kerui's assistance.Corey McIntosh, who has an insight into the boss's preferences, finds candidates who are quite different from the people's general impression of luxury house service personnel.

The three housekeepers were named by Kerui as gardener, displayer and life consultant respectively. Bobby Lewis, 57, from Phoenix, Arizona, ran a small local business that provided desert-style garden designs for homes until he was 49.

In 2008, his wife died of breast cancer. He didn't want to stay in the sad place anymore, so he left Phoenix and went to Los Angeles, his wife's favorite city. He opened a small flower shop by the Silver Lake Park, but the operating costs of Los Angeles It is a lot higher than Phoenix, and the old customers who rely on it are impossible to move to California with him. Naturally, the flower shop will soon face the fate of closing down. Bobby simply became a casual worker in various gardening companies gardener to this day.

Life wasn't fair to Bobby, but it didn't affect his good nature in the slightest.He is amiable, seeing everyone's smiles are as bright as the sunshine in Los Angeles, and spending a short time with this black uncle can dissipate even the deepest troubles.

Han Yi was relieved to let this old craftsman who had worked with flowers and plants all his life take care of the outdoor part of No. 864 Stella Della Road.

The display division is mainly responsible for the tidying and cleaning of quiet areas such as bedrooms, study rooms, washrooms, bathrooms and garages. This position was taken by Johanna Jansen, a 26-year-old girl from Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She prefers to be called by her initials She is JJ.Johanna's usual personality is the same as that iconic red hair, full of vigor and vitality.Just out of high school, she took a guitar and came to Los Angeles to pursue her music dream.

In the past seven or eight years, the record contract has not been signed, but a lot of interesting work has been done.Music therapist, king yoga instructor, and even Kohler Kardashian's life assistant.

Johanna was extremely serious about her work and managed Kohler's life in an orderly manner, which won the latter's trust, but she still chose to submit her resignation two months ago.

"It's more neurotic than me, I really can't stand it."

Regarding the reasons for her resignation, Johanna said so.

Khloe is said to have nearly split the master bedroom bed in half with a fire ax after a phone argument with Lamar Odom.

No matter how amazing the personal experience, professionally, Johanna can be trusted to bring together her different careers to form her own unique approach to improving the quality of life.

When Han Yi smelled Johanna's combination of sandalwood, scented candles and scent diffusers to create a "soothing aura", he immediately hired her.

Providing ingenuity that makes life fun is more in line with his heart than rigidly leaving the space as it is.

The last butler, the life consultant, needs to be responsible for all the moving areas in the room, including the living room, kitchen, gym and private theater, and provide corresponding services for each space.Wanting to make every visitor feel at home, Sofia Ortiz, a local who has worked as a waiter for 13 years, is a perfect candidate.

Sophia Ortiz is a popular waiter at Mastro's, a famous steakhouse on North Canon Road. Although she is no longer young, she still has a charming face and a service style that makes diners feel like a spring breeze. The amount of tips she gets Always at the top of the list in the restaurant.However, as a single mother, Sophia hopes to spend more time with her two children instead of accumulating tips by working hard hours.The personal butler of a luxury house who only needs to serve one person and has a very generous salary is undoubtedly a position that fits her needs very well.

Less than a day after working at No. 864 Stella Della Road, Sophia made an exquisite snack table in the private theater. When watching a movie, she does not need to go to the kitchen, and there are ready-made snacks and drinks to enjoy.Sophia also recorded in detail Han Yi's habits and preferences in terms of food and daily life. In the afternoon, she put labels on every item she purchased and arranged them neatly by category. to two dedicated cabinets so that each meal can be served with the right accompaniment for the mansion's Asian hosts.

Speaking of meal arrangements, it is impossible not to mention the two private chefs Corey McIntosh found for Han Yi, Chef Felix Sorensen and Sous Chef Harold Hansen. It is not difficult to see from the surnames that the two are from Copenhagen, an important town of European trendy food.What is even more surprising is that they have worked in the kitchen of Noma, the world's number one restaurant, and have worked with the famous world-class star chef Lelle Rederto for seven full years.

The multi-star restaurant serves New Nordic cuisine with molecular gastronomy as its cooking method, but that doesn't mean Sorensen and Hansen haven't worked on other areas of food.Majorelle-Rederto encourages the chef team to explore the food cultures of different countries and integrate and innovate them with the traditional Nordic food. The two are most interested in the cuisines of East Asia and Southeast Asia.Felix even went to Lingnan to study for eight months, just to master the cooking techniques of Cantonese dim sum.

For the first time, Han Yi thought he had returned to the Bund with the truffle pork dumplings presented by Felix, and he was full of praise for the special dishes of the sous chef Harold Hansen.A bowl of rich and fragrant Japanese-style dipping noodles, served with unique spicy takoyaki, is not far behind the most popular ramen shop in Los Angeles, Tsujita LA.

This is a golden age of great food fusion in the world. Chefs in the Far East study European cooking with heart, while European gourmets incorporate Asian delicacies into cooking textbooks. It is really not worthwhile to eat authentic hometown dishes made by Europeans. surprise thing.

As for why they chose to leave Noma, they were tired of being imprisoned in Copenhagen, making the same monotonous life for star pickers over and over again every day.It is Felix and Harold's life plan to change their residence every two or three years until they have traveled the whole world they want to see.

They signed a two-year private chef contract with Han Yi. After two years, they will leave Los Angeles and go to Bali to continue their resort-style life.

In terms of security, Han Yi asked Kerui to hire two full-time employees from different channels.Six-foot-five, 44-year-old Feyamu Derwig, who hails from the historic city of Tirana at the foot of Mount Daeti, was a lieutenant colonel in the Albanian Special Operations Brigade and played full time in Kosovo, Macedonia and Afghanistan. field. After retiring in 2009, he came to the United States and was employed by 247 Private Security Company, where he has been working until now.

The other security guard, 42-year-old Kean Griffin, who is five feet ten inches, was born on the streets of Harlan and was a former core member of the gang "Eastern Legion". It is said that he used to be Su Ge Knight's personal bodyguard. Moved to Los Angeles a few years ago and is a registered security guard of the United Security Company.

In fact, professional bodyguards hired from private security companies are fully guaranteed in terms of safety and professionalism, but Han Yi still acts cautiously, choosing two people who have no similarities in personality, background, language, and culture to work together to minimize the risk of potential risks.

All members of the Stella Della 864 operation team, including Corey, naturally couldn't have Han Yi personally sign a contract with them.At the suggestion of Fernando Gonzalez, Han Yi assigned Corey his first task as a property manager, registering a limited liability company named Han Limited in Beverly Hills, and transferring all employees' The contracts are all under the name of the company.

When Han Yi has more assets at his disposal and hires the first investment manager, Han Limited will truly become a family investment entity serving Han Yi personally.

This is the prototype of the family office.

As for the dedicated laundryman, after thinking twice, Han Yi decided to save the money. There are not many clothes, and now he is the only one living in the mansion. Regarding the matter of letting other people handle his personal clothes, Han Yi was also awkward in whatever he thought.

"So, let's wait for more people to talk about it." Han Yi picked up a piece of chicken covered in sauce and put it in Xu Yiru's bowl. At noon on March 3th, the first dinner at No. 14 Stella Della Road is naturally to invite the best friends to enjoy it together, "Come, try this."

"I'll go back to the island to nest at night, will you give me three cups of chicken now?"

Xu Yiru's tone was full of disgust, but his eyes had turned into crescent moons.

Usually when catching a plane, especially when taking a cross-country flight, Xu Yiru would make herself unkempt as much as possible. If she was a bit lazy, she would not even wash her hair, just tie it into a ponytail, wear a pair of black-rimmed glasses, and cover herself in a gray sportswear. board the plane.After all, even if it is a business seat, it has to be bumped at a height of ten thousand feet for more than ten hours, and even the most delicate person will appear embarrassed and hasty in the repetition of going to sleep and waking up again and again.It's better to be untidy and freshen up when you get home.

But today, Xu Yiru dressed more carefully than last time she went to Rodeo Drive. She has always put on makeup very quickly, but this time she sat in front of the dressing table in the apartment for a full two hours and 10 minutes before she could see her face in the mirror. Debugging to a satisfactory level.Comfort has also been completely thrown aside, and now she is wearing a beige skirt by Hefnigg and a short black leather jacket by Eve Saint Laurent. The size zero makes her slender She felt a little tight even though she was slender.

The signs are too obvious, but Xu Yiru deliberately does not think about the hidden meaning behind these actions. She still needs more time to think and sort out the recent events. The week-long spring break is a good time.

If there is a beautiful movement to be played, why not enjoy its prelude more?

Now she's just a normal girl who wants to have lunch with her best friend.

It's that simple.

"You're biased, Xiao Xu." Han Yi spread his hands and showed her the luxurious lunch cooked by Felix and Harold in front of him.

Starting from making vinegared rice, there are 100% handmade assorted sushi plates, Thai-flavored fried belacan spinach, Indonesian satay beef skewers, Harold's own improved fried pork belly with spicy cabbage, and Han Yi's strong request to reproduce Noma's famous dish, brown crab cakes, is a cooking technique that Lele Redezardo learned in Tulum, Mexico. A layer of fresh and sweet crab meat is spread on deep-fried flavored thin bread.

"This lovely couple brought us an unparalleled lunch experience, didn't it?" Han Yi said this in English, specifically for Felix and Harold.

"That's right. Thank you, it's very delicious." Xu Yiru clasped his hands together and bowed slightly to the two of them.Felix and Harold, who were cleaning the kitchen, also smiled and returned the same way.

"Our pleasure."

"Xie xie."

"This meal should be enough for you to persist until Taipei."

Han Yi added fresh wasabi to the seasoning plate in front of Xu Yiru, and added a piece of nigiri sushi for her.

"They already put soy sauce in it, but I didn't ask them to add wasabi. You look at Gaha yourself. The main reason is that you have to board the plane later. I think it's not good to eat too spicy. I even let fried pork belly They put less hot sauce..."

Xu Yiru's folded hands did not open, her elbows were placed on the table, and the back of her hand was pressed against her face. Looking at Han Yi who was rambling, her eyes were a little dazed.

At this moment, they were sitting in the outdoor area of ​​No. 864 Stella Della, which was at the same level as the open kitchen. Han Yi asked Kerui to remove the sofa here, and temporarily changed it to an open-air dining area.Behind Han Yi is a black marble wall tens of feet high, with digital flames flashing at the bottom.On the left of Xu Yiru is the infinity swimming pool that makes crisp sounds as the breeze hits the wall, on the right is Sofia Ortiz, the personal waiter who is seriously making Thai lemon tea for them, and behind him is a full [-] square feet. The size of the green lawn, Bobby - Lewis is squatting there, checking the soil.

Not to mention, Felix and Harold, who just presented them with exquisite dishes, have won four Michelin stars in a row.

He is now Han Yi's personal chef.

Growing up, under the deliberate guidance of his parents, Xu Yiru has met many gentry who are famous all over the island.After arriving in the United States, among the suitors like clouds, there are also lucky ones with power and money.

But even so, at the age of 22, he can independently control $1.85 million in cash assets, buy a Bel Air mansion worth $3950 million, and throw hundreds of thousands of dollars to fill his wardrobe. It was also the only time Xu Yiru saw in his life.

If what Han Yi said is true, what kind of heritage does his family have?
In this case, will my mother...

Shaking his head, Xu Yiru threw out thoughts that shouldn't have arisen.

As I reminded myself just now, just enjoy the moment.

(End of this chapter)