Archive for the 'Luxury News' Category
2008 Luxury Home Design Trends
This piece is for those of us unable to make the biannual trek to Paris for the biannual Maison & Objet trade show that features the hottest home decor designs produced by the smartest and most influential names in the industry.
Those in the luxury home business are always on the prowl, trying to spot the latest trends that might help update, inspire and improve the luxury home decor.
Patty Bouley was fortunate enough to attend the Maison & Objet show and was able to sort through around 3000 new products and note the hot new home trends for 2008:
- Purple and grey are THE new color companions.The combination is classy and elegant and I am rethinking my bedroom colors.
- Nature gets glitzy. Floral patterns are now accented with metallics: Think bronze, platinum and silver.
- Aspen is hot. Look for nubby wools and furs, bare wood and hunting themes to create the cozy ski chalet feel.
- Morocco is in. Think perforated metal, hand-tooled leather, intricate textiles and hand blown glass. Great for eclectics.
- So is Japan. You will see vibrant colors (think red), stylized floral patterns, origami folds, and delicate hand stitching and embroidery,
Enjoy the following slide show from one of my favorite sites: PointClickHome
read comments (0)Luxury Builder Says 2007 Worst in 40 Years
If real estate investors are looking for blood in the streets, they had better be wearing galoshes.
Even the books of venerable Toll Brothers, America’s largest builder of luxury tract homes, are in the red. For the first time in 21 years, the company is suffering its first quarterly loss (Oct. 31) in the amount of $81.8 million. Much of this loss can be attributed to $314.9 million in pretax writedowns for homes it could no longer sell at a profit. Even Robert Toll, the company’s founder, concedes that 2007 has been the most challenging year in the company’s 40 year history.
But every loss also registers a gain–somewhere and somehow.
It has been evident that newer tract home subdivisions have been hit especially hard the past couple of years. Many homeowners needing to sell had bought during market highs and more than a few a have been forced to sell at a loss. Funds spent on landscaping, hardscaping, flooring/ surface upgrades, and window coverings (and perhaps even the down payment) have gone down the drain.
It is a tough time to be a home seller.
This has forced a number of builders with standing inventory to offer costly upgrades as an incentive for potential home buyers. Those buyers, who once had to budget for many of these improvements, are now getting them for free–sometimes packaged with interest rate buydowns and other incentives. It is a spiral that has forced builders and their prior home buyers to compete.
Many shrewd real estate buyers have been renting and waiting for opportunities such as these–and are coming out of hiding. Real estate investors who sold at or near the top of the market a couple of years ago are also back into buying mode. And so are foreign investors, who benefit not only from depressed real estate prices in prime US markets, but also the strength of their Euros and Canadian dollars against the US dollar.
This may explain the recent phenomenon in the beaten-down San Diego real estate market, where multiple offers are being made on properties that are priced under market. It’s something we haven’t seen in a long time, and just may be the beginning of a market bottom.
If you have any questions (or need to borrow a pair of rubber boots), just give us a call at 877-818-8197 or 760-402-9101.
Malibu Thanksgiving Wildfire Burning Homes
by Roberta Murphy
The Malibu fire started early this morning just before 3:30 a.m. near Malibu Lake and Mesa Peak Canyon–and as of this writing, has destroyed over 35 homes. Propelled by strong Santa Ana winds and fed by dry brush and trees, this Thanksgiving weekend wildfire is currently out of control.
Over 1500 acres burned in the first five hours as huge walls of fire and smoke raged through the canyons. It jumped Pacific Coast Highway and is heading toward the Pacific Ocean, with winds gusting up to 60 miles per hour. There are sustained winds of around 30 mph.
Multi-million dollar luxury homes are in flames.
Hundreds of homes in Malibu communities have been evacuated, as has Pepperdine University, where students are urged to congregate at the campus shelter. The local Malibu high school is being used as a community shelter.
Hundreds of firefighters, aided by at least 10 water-dropping helicopters, are battling the blazes.
Southern California had been warned about the weekend Santa Ana wind conditions, and hundreds of firefighters are mobilizing.
This report will be updated during the day….
Luxury Home Digest Makes “Top 100 Real Estate Blogs”
It came as a total surprise when I received an email from International Listings that Luxury Home Digest had been tapped as one of the top 8 Home Buying blogs in the country.
WOW!
I join the other winners in this category in thanking the judges at International Listings for this special real estate honor:
Barbara Corcoran Ink: Barbara Corcoran, real estate entrepreneur, addresses real estate interests, concerns and questions. Her advice is mainly focused on home buyers and home owners.
For Sale By Locals (A New Real Estate Approach): A blog that is an offshoot of the œFor Sale by Locals Web site. Entries include business information, tips, and advice on how to work with online real estate services.
Home Buying and Selling Blog: About.coms Elizabeth Weintraub brings her home selling (and buying) experience to her blog. Wientraub is a real estate agent, but shes also lived all over the country from Maine to California and once even built a home in Mexico. She operates on the principle that œevery American deserves to own a home.
Hotpads: If youre in transition between homes, check out this site for information about available apartments, rental houses, sublets, and roommate opportunities. If youve got a place, theres someone out there who wants to rent it. This blog provides news, guides, tools, and promos for the site.
Luxury Home Digest: Roberta Murphy, editor for The Luxury Home Digest, is a real estate broker in the coastal San Diego market. However, her blog covers a wide range of topics related to fine living and real estate, including trends, markets, furnishings, tastes (including fine wines) and relevant gossip.
Real Estate Journal: This Wall Street Journal guide to real estate helps homebuyers arm themselves with the information they need to get the most for their money. Readers can browse entries on everything from mortgage rates and residential market trends to relocation and economic issues, home improvement ideas and advice on buying, selling and enjoying a home.
Trulia Blog: A Trulia employee blog where company happenings, real estate industry news, and other items are posted. The truly useful part in this site is the Trulia residential real estate search engine that helps consumers search for homes for sale, trends, neighborhood insights and other real estate information directly from hundreds of thousands of real estate broker Web sites.
Zillow Blog: Zillow helps consumers make smarter real estate decisions by providing them with access to the same information and tools agents use to value homes. Additionally, homeowners can take advantage of the Zestimate„¢ home valuation as a starting point for anyone to see - for free - for most homes in the U.S., discussions, and post homes for sale for free.
Most of all, though, I thank our readers and clients for all we learn from them!
Richistan Home Prices Continue to Soar
$50 million is the new $30 million, says Glenn Roberts over at the Inman News Blog–especially when it comes to high end luxury homes.
Citing a 2007 Mid-Year Luxury Report by Stribling Private Brokerage, Roberts explains how just a few years ago, even a rumor of a $30 million real estate sale in Manhattan would create big buzz. But since the sale of a $53 million property there in late 2006, prices have leapfrogged into the $50 millions.
This enormous inflation at the top tier of the real estate market is occurring across the country–from San Francisco’s $55 million fixer, to Donald Trump’s $125 million estate in Florida to Tim Blixseth’s $155 million estate offering for his 53,000 square-foot estate in Bozeman, Montana.
I couldn’t resist responding to Glenn’s article:
We are seeing a similar phenomenon in the San Diego’s luxury end of the real estate market. Late last spring, a Del Mar oceanfront estate was sold at $48.15 million–setting a California record.
Now, just listed, is another 5.5-acre Del Mar oceanfront estate with a price tag of $76 million.
Inflation in Richistan continues to amaze!
Other articles of interest:
Breaking All Barriers: Luxury Homes Reach Nine Figures
