Having lived in Del Mar for a number of years, Ben Ragan is extremely knowledgeable about Del Mar properties, both in the beach colony as well as in old Del Mar. His acumen ranges all the way from the more glamorous business of property valuation all the way to the less-than-elegant reality of understanding the full and specific range of maintenance needs of beach properties. I was impressed by how well-acquainted Ben is with all the hurdles involved in building from the ground up in Del Mar. His advice was invaluable to us throughout the entire process of design, construction and marketing -- in everything from the smallest details to the overall perspective needed to see such a long-term process through to completion, from the patience and stamina required to see us through the painfully slow, early stages of the project to turning apparent construction errors and mishaps into better-than-originally-planned outcomes, and from winnowing through a wide diversity of ideas among the principals in order to get us all "on the same page" to masterfully brokering peace and bringing us to resolution (again and again) when there was flagrant disagreement. As a singular bonus, Ben has also developed over the years an impressive slate of social and business contacts which proved invaluable for our project -- often in the most unexpected ways. My only regret is that I/we don't own another property in Del Mar so that we could have another Go at it with Ben as our agent/advisor!