Artur, the Russian who sells 30 million mansions in Marbella with Ferraris, models and helicopters

Music plays in the background and a young man poses leaning against an electric blue Lamborghini Aventador by the mansion pool. The scene has all the essential elements of a James Bond movie: the sea in front, the mountain in the back, Ferraris driving at full speed, models, helicopters and a camera that is lost in the air so that the viewer can enjoy for a few moments of a privileged dream landscape. However, despite having a large stage, actors and fast-paced music, it is not a feature film or a Netflix series. Its protagonist is not one of the humans that appear in the video either, but a house that the businessman Artur Loginov (30) tries to sell for more than 20 million euros.

An extravagant and original staging that, however, pays off. This is attested by international newspapers such as the Financial Times, its more than 22 million views on YouTube or the sales of mansions valued at more than 10 million euros that this Spanish-Russian businessman has achieved thanks to the videos on this social network: " The client arrived, saw the room for a couple of minutes, left without seeing the rest of the house, and after a few hours he made us an offer and we sold. It was amazing," recalls the CEO of Drumelia real estate.

Artur expresses himself in perfect Spanish but with a particular accent that mixes speech and wit from Malaga with a slight Russian accent that he retains due to his origins.

"I have received all my education here in Spain, but Russian is spoken at home," says this young man born in 1991 in a city that was about to be renamed Saint Petersburg (it was still Leningrad at the time) in the middle of disintegration process of the USSR. There he spent the first years of his life until when he was five years old he moved with his family to the Costa del Sol, where he had a childhood "like any kid from Malaga".

However, on her 18th birthday, her life took an unexpected turn when her father hung a For Sale sign on her house. "Sergey [who would later become his partner] offered me a job as his assistant because he found out that I also spoke Russian," recalls Artur. "So," he continues, "I didn't know anything about this market and had only had normal jobs for a kid of that age as a lifeguard."

Artur's landing in the real estate sector in Marbella could not have come at a worse time: it took place in the middle of 2009, with the bubble in full burst, with the brick crumbling and with the company on the brink of bankruptcy. "It was very difficult. The company had 20 employees and when I arrived, only the boss was left because of the crisis. I had no choice but to start as a boy for everything and that year we only sold one house," he recalls.

12 years later, the business is booming. "Partly thanks to YouTube and partly thanks to word of mouth," explains Artur. "So far in 2021 we have already sold 25 houses, and some more will fall because people are in a hurry before the end of the year," he adds.

When Artur talks about "houses" he refers to luxury and super-luxury homes (in some cases, like Villa Enzo, with a couple of free Ferraris that can be parked in the garage or in the spa) that cost "two million euros and up" and, "people in a hurry", are millionaires with bulging portfolios from all over the world.

An origin of luxury home buyers on the Costa del Sol that has also changed compared to a decade ago. "Before, 80% were Russians, now it is much more distributed and Russians only represent 20% of sales," he says.

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THE "MEMORY" HOUSES

What has also radically changed is the way in which these super-luxury properties are sold. "Before, it was all word of mouth and guided tours. Now, thanks to the videos we make on YouTube, customers already know the house by heart when they come to see it," he says.

Some videos that have become the hallmark of Drumelia and Artur himself. "We started with an experiment, we saw what worked and we decided to gradually incorporate models, luxury cars and very fast and cinematographic shots", he explains. "However", he continues, "we believed that it would give results in the short term but it took us five years to get a profit, although it has also helped us to build a brand".

And, if something characterizes the Drumelia videos -of which Artur himself appears in many of them- it is his agile and ostentatious style in which you can see everything from chases in Ferraris to dream pools located inside a house, which could appear as a set in any Hollywood movie. However, unlike what happens in the cinema, instead of being a prop, the houses are the protagonists.

Some videos that make a lost fund in the hope of selling the house. "The expenses come from us. We only charge if we manage to sell," she says.

In this sense, its greatest milestone is the sale of Villa Cullinan -considered one of the best mansions in all of Europe- with a price of 32 million euros. A 3,000 square meter house with 10 bedrooms and 14 bathrooms, a pool and privileged views of the Mediterranean in the exclusive area of ​​La Zagaleta.

The figures that Artur shares are a button that shows the strength of the real estate market in Marbella and the Costa del Sol, which attracts thousands of foreigners with high purchasing power.

According to data from the Ministry of Public Works, the effects of the pandemic on the market in the area are practically over and the 1,917 transactions in the first half of 2021 exceed the 1,836 registered in 2019. A market of luxury in which the Covid seems not to have made a dent.