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the pioneers
THE man who s ells i slands fa r h a d vladi hen a young Farhad Vladi announced some unlikely intentions upon leaving school, his father reacted as any loving parent would: he tried to dissuade him. “He said, ‘Okay Farhad – that’s a lovely dream, but you must do something serious first,” chuckles the now 70-year-old. It was the early 1960s, and Vladi, then 18, had just advised he was going to buy an island, something that – the German now accepts – would have been on a par with declaring he was going to “buy a house on the Moon.” But while a dreamer, Vladi wasn’t rebellious, and so agreed to a compromise: he would put his island plans on hold to study economics in his home city of Hamburg. “It seemed like a good back-up,” he admits. “Plus, I didn’t have much money at 18.” A PhD and a two-year banking apprenticeship later, Vladi, by then 24, felt that his side of the bargain was fulfilled: it was time to find his island. But it wasn’t easy. This was still the 1960s: there was no internet, and most people hadn’t even heard of this Seychelles place Vladi had become fixated on after reading an article about a banker who’d secured his own utopia there for $7,500. “I’d saved almost half of that and figured my father would loan the rest,” Vladi says. “I just needed to find someone who sold islands.” He couldn’t. So Vladi did the next best thing: he drove his old VW to England to meet the High Commissioner of the Seychelles and ask if he knew of any islands for sale: “He told me I was stupid.” Unperturbed by the rebuttal, the brazen young Vladi made a final request: for the copy of the Seychelles Gazette lying in the foyer. “He just muttered, ‘Take it.’”
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The Seychelles High Commissioner told me I was stupid when I asked if he knew of any islands that were for sale Words vicky lane
He did, and then set about placing an advert. “Vladi is looking for an island,” read the handwritten appeal received by the paper weeks later, along with the graduate’s home address and a 50 Deutschmarks payment; an amount that, it turned out, got him a full-page ad. Soon after, a young lawyer got in touch with the news Vladi had been waiting for: he knew of an island for sale. A co-worker’s property, Cousine Island – today a luxury resort starting from $29,000 a night – sounded perfect: white, sandy beaches, crystal clear water, an eco-sanctuary, all for the price of… “Let’s just say it would still be high for me now,” says Vladi. It was a huge blow. But Vladi wasn’t one to give up. After all, he’d uncovered a gap in the market: island selling. Fortunately, these were the days when everyone still had their details in telephone directories, so Vladi looked up the 50 wealthiest Germans and wrote to tell them about this paradise in the Seychelles. One of the letters reached the entrepreneur Robert Vogel and – intrigued – he called this unknown “realtor” into his office. He quickly sussed that Vladi was a novice, but was impressed by his enthusiasm and eventually agreed to buy the island. However, because Vladi “was a start-up” he gave him only 3% commission on the sale. “That was like $46,000! I’d never seen so much money!” Vladi was hooked, and quickly hunted down his second Seychelles estate: North Island, today a celebrity haunt that was rented by Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge for their honeymoon. Again, he found a buyer and sorted the deal. Suddenly, guests at the country’s fanciest dinners weren’t discussing politics and the stock market. They were talking about private islands they’d bought. Questions were prompted: “Who did you buy from?” Answer: “Mr Vladi – the island seller.” Today he is the world leader in private island sales and rentals across the globe, with more than 2,500 sold for prices as high as $55 million. He’s published numerous books, and cannot only call Johnny Depp, Celine Dion and Diana Ross clients, but also friends. “Well, someone has to show them round the islands, right?” And – of course – he has fulfilled his original dream: of owning his own private island. “That day felt really good,” he coos. So, was his father appeased? “Sadly, he passed before things really took off,” says Vladi. “However, one of the last things he said to my mother was that he wasn’t worried about me. He knew I’d find my way.” How right he was. vladi-private-islands.de
vladi’s island advice
Same rules apply “A strange yet common question asked is whether people are able to officially become king of their island. The answer is no.”
Low maintenance “An island with one house costs as little as $15,000-$80,000 to maintain. It’s when you start adding chefs, groundsmen and so on that things get pricey.”
Media control “High-profiles usually prefer to rent islands from us to keep ahead of the paparazzi. Celion Dion is currently selling hers because of press attention.”