Matt Walker, EVP of Lowe Destination Development, is Confirmed as a Speaker for the Ragatz Fractional and Resort Real Estate Conference

NORTHUMBERLAND, ENGLAND, February 29, 2012 (Press-News.org) Ragatz Associates announces that Matt Walker, Executive Vice President of Lowe Destination Development, is confirmed to speak at the 12th Annual Ragatz Fractional and Resort Real Estate Conference, to be held at the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort and Spa at Gainey Ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona on March 12-13, 2012.

While at Lowe, Mr. Walker has successfully helped to bring several significant projects to the company including its Suncadia, Stowe Mountain Lodge and Grizzly Ranch projects. Mr. Walker has also served as project executive on the Stowe Mountain Lodge project, overseeing project development, design, construction, operations and sales and marketing. Since 2005 Mr. Walker has directed the company's real estate sales and marketing activities. These include successful sales launches at the Village at Wild Dunes near Charleston, South Carolina; Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, California; the Lodge at Suncadia and the Resort at Squaw Creek which at the time was the most successful mountain sales launch in U.S. history. During Mr. Walker's tenure, Lowe projects have completed more than $400 million in resort and second home real estate sales.

Mr. Walker will be speaking on the "How To Determine the Proper Resort Real Estate Offering" panel on Monday, March 12 at 4:00pm.

All forms of resort real estate will be discussed during this year's event, and not exclusively fractionals, as speakers discuss trends in the primary product types of resort hotels, resort timeshare, fractionals, whole-ownership vacation homes, and master-planned resort real estate communities. Recognizing that consumer decision-making patterns are dramatically changing, several market researchers/trend analysts will share their recent findings and emphasize how they relate to product design and the sales and marketing process.

Ragatz Associates specializes in research projects specifically designed for the shared-ownership industry including fractional interests, private residence clubs, destination clubs and resort timeshare.

Ragatz Resort Realty, a Ragatz Associates and Resort Equities partnership, is an international, full-service resort real estate brokerage, focused exclusively on resorts, hotels and shared ownership projects - including timeshare and fractional resorts, private residence and destination club properties. Ragatz Resort Realty works with both buyers and sellers of resort and hospitality projects, as well as prospective joint venture partners and various financing sources, in order to maximize the likelihood of success for its clients.

For more information on the Ragatz Fractional and Resort Real Estate Conference, please visit http://ragatzconference.com.

The Ragatz Fractional and Resort Real Estate Conference will be co-hosted by Resort Equities, with additional sponsors Preferred Residences, The Registry Collection, Baker Hostetler, Timbers Resorts, Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP, Ballard Spahr, Star Resort Group, Greenberg Traurig, LLP, ARDA, Hyatt Residential Group, STR and Christel House International as Charity of Choice.

About Ragatz Associates
Ragatz Associates is a highly respected international consulting and market research firm in the resort real estate industry. It was founded in 1974 by Dr. Richard Ragatz and has serviced clients from both the private sector (from small, individually owned companies to international corporations) and the public sector (from small municipalities to national governments). The firm has worked on over 2,500 assignments in the resort real estate industry in 48 states and over 70 countries.