Archive for the 'Luxury Gossip' Category
La Costa Chateaus: A Tale of Two Sisters
It was a developers mistake that should have never happened.
Sometime around 1970, the developers of the original La Costa Resort and Spa allowed for the construction and sale of two 48 unit condominium buildings inside what would eventually come to be known as œthe gates of La Costa. These two buildings are the first to be seen by anyone approaching the resort from its main entrance. When built, the 791 square foot studios made a perfect pied a terre for out of area golf and tennis members who wanted a luxurious alternative to hotel rooms for short or extended stays and still wanted the benefits of resort locale as well as limousine and room service.
According to one of the original salespeople, these spacious studios originally sold for just under $30,000. Each unit had one and a half baths, a small kitchenette, two Murphy beds and plenty of room for small-scale entertaining and cocktail parties. Each building had its own pool, spa and underground parking. The French chateau architecture with imposing mansard roofs blended fairly well with the early Rancho La Costa Inn, built in the late 1960s.
The sister builldings stood for almost 35 years unchanged. During those years, the 90 room Rancho La Costa became the famed La Costa Resort and Spa and Americas first full-service spa resort. Over the years, many owners of the Chateaus remodeled their units, converting them to full one bedroom units with full kitchens. Several owners combined two units into one, creating very spacious and luxurious two-bedroom flats.
When KSL Resorts purchased La Costa from Japans Sports Shinko in 2001, the entire resort underwent a $140 million renovation. A new level of luxury was brought not only to Carlsbad, CA., but to the entire San Diego metropolitan area. There simply is no other regional resort that can match La Costas 40,000 square foot spa, two 18 hole championship golf courses, world-class tennis courts, fine dining, beautiful rooms, the Chopra Center and acres of fragrant gardens.
The only drawback?
The two ugly sisters just inside the gate. There was no way to avoid these aging eyesores. And with every million KSL invested in La Costa, the value of the Chateaus continued to climb. Owners continued to improve their units, but nothing had been done to the building exteriors. Moreover, many of the units now served as well-located vacation rentals. In 2005, with the resort renovations almost compete, KSL offered to financially assist the owners in each building, should they renovate the bulding exteriors to blend with the rest of the resorts architecture. Additionally, La Costa took the initiative to immediately improve the front landscaping for each building.
It was an offer that made sense to the owners of the Balboa Chateaus. Their HOA board of directors held numerous open meetings, met with contractors, and commenced construction in January, 2007. A $30,000 assessment was collected for each unit and construction is expected to be completed in July, 2007.
As is often the case, sisters are not always in agreement about facelifts. As of April, 2007 owners of the Cortez Chateau still had not contracted for their buildings renovation. And as each week passes, the two buildings become more dissimilar. No longer could they be mistaken for the twins they once were!
read comments (2)The Luxury Blingdex
Luxury is booming and Wall Street is keeping a keen eye on how the rich are spending their wealth. And what better way to measure that hedonism than by creating a variety of indexes that track the shopping of the ultra-rich? The demand for four-figure handbags, five-figure baubles, six-figure cars, luxury resorts and travel, insurable art and heady wines has created a new and trackable economy for the very wealthy.
What intrigues investors is how well the carriage trade merchants are faring. This is mostly due to the fact that the rich are getting richer and their numbers on a global basis are growing along with their spending habits. A look at some of these uber-wealth tracking indexes reveals more than a little about the favored products and shopping stops of the rich. For example, sales at Saks Fifth Avenue and Barneys New York are increasing at twice the level of the retail sector as a whole. Some of the indexes and the luxury companies they track include:
- Merrill Lynch tracks a basket of companies including BMW, Porsche, Bulgari, Coach, Tiffany Jewelers, auctioneer Sothebys and the private banking firm Julius Baer. The performance? Up 23 percent in 2005 and 12.5 percent in 2006. This compares to the respective 14 and 7 percent for global consumer stock during the same periods.
- Citibanks Plutonomy Index tracks world spending of the worlds growing class of plutocrats. This index mirrors much of Merrills, but also includes Japans highly regarded Shinwa Art Auction and Hong Kongs Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. We might call this one the œruler of wealth.
- Deutsche Borse introduced its own World Luxury Index earlier this year. It tracks Bulgari, Sothebys, Hermes International and requires that the companies it tracks generate at least 50 percent of its income from luxury spending.
What is the appeal of these indexes? Some surmise that those who cant afford the lifestyle of the ultra-wealthy can still be œin the money by investing in so-called luxury stocks. Finding true luxury stocks can be a difficult task, though. Many of these high end brands are now part of larger conglomerates. And because publicly-traded pure luxe companies are becoming so rare, many of the indexes are including brands such as Nike, Puma, Gap Stores, Harley Davidson and other popular products in their mix.
The reason for this interest is obvious. The rich are getting richer and are far more numerous. The number of millionaires in the US has more than doubled since 1995 and total wealth held by the top 1 percent has increased by more than 50 percent since 1998 (much due to real estate appreciation, Im sure). It should come as no surprise that luxury spending has kept pace with the soaring incomes and wealth at the top rung of of the economic ladder. And according to a Citigroup study, the top 20 percent of American earners are responsible for between 37 and 70 percent of total consumption.
And what is fueling this consumption? Its the desire to have the finest in homes, travel, dining, dress, art and social connections, according to Margaret Mager with Goldman Sachs High-End Consumer Index. œToday the good life is defines by the assets you have, she said.
Tip of the top hat to Robert Frank and The Wall Street Journal Wealth Report
Avoid These Homebuyers Like–the Flu
Todays real estate market is different for all, including luxury home sellers and their agents.
Though multiple offers have returned on a selected basis in the San Diego and Manhatttan real estate markets (well-priced, well-located and well-appointed homes), it is still a buyers market. And with many buyers returning to these markets, sellers and their agents need to be wary of certain types of home buyers.
Michael Corbett, author of Find It, Fix It, Flip It! and the new Ready, Set, Sold! guide to selling a home figures that buyers fall into one of three categories:
- Dream home buyers (will probably pay close to full price)
- Buyers looking for a great home at a fair price (will want to negotiate)
- Buyers scouring the market for the next or best bargain (may focus on fixer-uppers at basement prices)
These are normal buyers for most markets, and cause no reason for alarm. But Corbett warns against the following types of home buyers:
- The Zero-Down Buyer. Most lenders no longer make these loans, and even if you can find one that does, your property may have a difficult time appraising for the price you are asking.
- The Bully Buyer. These are buyers both sellers and agents should avoid. These buyers will flood the seller with repair requests very often with the initial offer. The property inspection process will be torture and the resulting requests for repairs a nightmare. Corbetts advice? Move on! œThis bully approach is a prelude to endless negotiations, and his or her trying to obtain concessions by nitpicking on the disclosure and inspection.
- The Sight-Unseen Buyer. Corbett warns that this buyer is likely to be one who just wants to tie up your home and have you take it off the market until he or she decides whether to go through with the purchase or not. It can also be a warning signal of mortgage fraud, especially if 100 percent financing and/or cash-back is involved.
A tip of the hat to Marshall Loeb at MarketWatch
Updated Luxury Blogs
The Luxury Blog Directory (or L-List), started by the inimitable Paul Johnson, continues to grow and re-seed itself in separate locations. I have tried to pull the listings together once again. This time, to make sure all are included, it might be wise to make sure your luxury blog is included below and if its not, add it (as long as it is luxury-oriented).
And if there are any we have missed, please add to the list.
I spoke with Craig Schiller, Chicagos premier home stager this morning and knew immediately we would have to add his luxey blog to the list! Moreover, he will be reviewing these sites and adding a luxury blogroll to his site.
Thanks, Paul, for the initiative!
A Luxury Travel Blog
B Glam
Blavish
Blog-Tique
Born Rich
Deluxe Blog.it
DiamondVues
EliteChoice
eLuxury
Engadget
Eslux
Foodaholic
Glenn OBriens Style
Good Luck Deluxe
GourmetStation
Happy Hotelier
High Chic
I Love Bling
Janus Thinking
Just Luxe
Living the Luxe Life
Loja de Luxo
Lussorian
Luxist
Luxe Life International
LuxLuv
Luxury Clues
Luxury.fr
Luxury Home Digest
Luxury Housing Trends
Luxury Launches
Luxury Portfolio
Luxury Reviewer
Luxury Web
Luxus.fr
My Luxury Place
Real Estaging
Restaurant Girl
Shiny Shiny
Social Diva
Sybarites
Tango Diva
The Cool Hunter
The Delicious Life
The Diamond Blog
The Informed Traveler
The Lobby
Vagablond
Vinography
Wine Camp Blog
Wine Goddess
Luxe, Luxe Luxury Blogs
by What a terrific idea! The œL List is being developed and will hopefully provide a roundup of the top luxury blogs in the world. Upon its approximate completion, the luxury shopper should be able to find everything from fabulous jewelry, to top shelf travel to ultra luxurious global real estate.
Here is the starter list, along with instructions for adding luxury blogs. Please add any favorite luxury blog sites and pass along.
If youre a luxury blogger, heres what you need to do:
- 1. Write a post
- 2. Copy/paste the link list (and these instructions!) from the post where you discovered the L-List.
- 3. Make sure the links are active and correct.
- 4. If your blog is on the list, remove it its not a self-promotion post. As Tim Fehlman (Z-List) said : œDont worry, because if your name is on mine, its on others and will spread.
- Add your favourite luxury blogs on to the list.
- Add the URL of the blog where youve discovered the L-List as well.
- Publish the post.
Drumroll: Heres the list of nominees and some of my personal favorites!
A Luxury TravelBlog
B Glam
blavish
Blog-Tique
Bornrich
Deluxe Blog.it
Foodaholic
Good Luck Deluxe
GourmetStation
High Chic
Janus Thinking
Living the Luxe Life
Lussorian
Luxist
Luxury Clues
Luxury Housing Trend
Luxury Launches
Luxury Portfolio
Luxury Reviewer
Luxus.fr
Restaurant Girl
Social Diva
Sybarites
Tango Diva
The Delicious Life
The Informed Traveler
The Lobby
Vagablond
Vinography
Wine Goddess
Other great blogrolls:
