SAN DIEGO – (April 23, 2008) – The Grand Del Mar in San Diego was the site of the 6th Annual Luxury Real Estate Spring Retreat, a vital industry event that attracted more than 250 high-end experts and earned rave reviews from attendees.The Spring Retreat, which ran from Tuesday, April 15 to Friday, April 18, 2008, featured Ben Stein as the keynote speaker. Mixing in-depth knowledge and humor, the famous actor, economist and lawyer spoke on “The Psychology of Buying Luxury Property.” His participation in the conference was sponsored by Harry Tishler, senior vice president of BVG Incorporated (www.seasonsatsandpoint.com) in Tampa, Fla.“Real estate is the only good which is both a consumption good and an investment good,” Stein noted in his speech. “Real estate is the best investment in the history of the world. Buy low and sell high, just like the stock market. Prices are low now, which means anybody who is smart will be investing now.”The other main speaker at this event was Kaira Sturdivant Rouda, president of Real Living, Inc., one of the fastest-growing real-estate franchises in the United States. Her presentation was entitled “Real Marketing for Today’s Consumer.” More than a dozen other experts in a variety of fields moderated discussions and breakout sessions on targeted topics. These topics included generating international referrals, utilizing new technology, understanding current market conditions, marketing across borders and more.At this event, John A. Daugherty, president and CEO of John Daugherty, Realtors since 1967, was honored with the Luxury Real Estate Lifetime Achievement Award. This is the second time LuxuryRealEstate.com has given this award. The first person to receive it was Diane Turton of Diane Turton, REALTORS® in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J. at the Fall Conference in October 2007.Attendees offered exceptional praise for this LuxuryRealEstate.com event. “A great adventure has begun,” said Jim Walberg and Ann Marie Nugent, brokers/owners of The Bay Area Team at Keller Williams Realty in Danville, Calif. “The Spring [Retreat] has been the best use of our time in years as we continue to grow and expand our real-estate company.”“What had the greatest impact on me was the wonderful energy throughout the three days with a lot of caring and sharing,” said Patricia Hoferkamp, president of New Jersey-based Burgdorff ERA, who led a discussion on creating a culture of service. “The Grand Del Mar was a spectacular venue. This was truly one of the best conferences I’ve attended in a long time.”“Besides having wonderful networking opportunities at the conference, the breakout sessions were packed with information relevant to today’s marketplace,” said Marie Montchal, vice president of relocation and ancillary services for Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty. “I believe we will all be able to implement some new and exciting ideas as a result of attending the meetings.”The next LuxuryRealEstate.com event will be the 13th Annual Fall Conference in Philadelphia from October 11-14, 2008. This event will also feature a Post-Conference Networking Trip to New York City. For more information, visit www.luxuryrealestate.com/conference.About LuxuryRealEstate.comwww.LuxuryRealEstate.com is the most-viewed luxury real estate Web site in the world. The Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate network includes 1,714 of the world’s finest real-estate companies with properties in 107 countries. Participation is strictly invitation-only by CEO/Publisher John Brian Losh. In Ultimate Homes’ 2008 issue, the network represented more than twice the number of top 1,000 most-expensive properties in the country than any other network. The Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate network is governed by the Board of Regents.