Thanks Bernd. The inspiration stemmed from a lot of places actually, I've been doing print media for awhile so that helped. However I always try to keep my designs clean and as simple as possible. If you look at Google or apple you'll see what I mean. Secondly I was trying to build a "brand identity" to our product. Since we sell a service (real estate) we're trying to appeal to families and home owners, hence the large style photos of people with emphasis on different composition (i.e. where they are relative to another person, object or negative space); So the lesson I learned is know your audience. This may sound trite, but I always found that putting things in order of importance was the biggest key. Things that demand more attention get bigger chunks of space.

Lastly I have always felt like in order to have someone visit your page and stay there you have to offer them something, on our site it's the ability to search for homes worldwide for free without taking you personal info. At apple you can get free videos, software etc, at google you get free searches, etc...

If you're really interested in design check this book out; I can't say enough good things about this book. It gives you the basics about design anatomy and more importantly how to build a brand rather than just a website:
 http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Brand-Identity-Complete-Maintaining/dp/0471746843/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-5838747-2746867?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1181240173&sr=8-1

I hope that wasn't too long winded and answered your question!

Schoene Gruessen aus Orlando,
Rob