Archive for the 'Real Estate Trends' Category
Luxury Real Estate Exchanges
This is a market that sometimes brings out the creative forces in real estate. And more and more, real estate exchanges are making lots of sense in the luxury real estate market.
Earlier this evening, I had an interesting conversation with a Sotheby’s real estate agent in Northern California.
It seems he is interested in exchanging his exquisite 104 acre property just outside Carmel for a luxury home in Rancho Santa Fe, just outside San Diego. His acreage offers 380 organic citrus trees that supply local restaurants, two greenhouses that produce basil for Whole Foods markets, Zinfandel grape vines that go you-know-where, and a number of fat and field-fed Angus cattle. He also has plans for an exquisite Tuscan villa that might be built for $1.5 million.
He is seeking to move to Southern California, and to Rancho Santa Fe in particular. And knowing that Rancho Santa Fe property owners love privacy, space and quiet, he thought that perhaps an easy and compatible exchange might be accomplished.
The numbers are certainly workable. He owes less than $800,000 on this parcel, in which he has invested nearly $3 million. He is seeking a Rancho Santa Fe home valued at $1.5 to $2.8 million–and may or may not be accomplishing the transaction via a 1031 exchange.
Quite simply, Northern California landowner wishes to relocate to Rancho Santa Fe and figures that some homeowner there would love the opportunity to exchange properties with him.
Makes sense to me.
So, if you have a Rancho Santa Fe home and have dreams of a bucolic life outside Carmel and California’s premier wine country, please let me know and I’ll arrange for a proper introduction. Just give us a call at 877-818-81979 or 760-402-9101.
And if you have an unusual luxury home exchange proposal of any sort, we’d also like to hear from you!
read comments (0)GlassDoor to Reveal Executive Salaries and More
Zillow founder Rich Barton loves placing industries inside glass houses (most notably in real estate), and may now become the cause of painful overexposure (or welcome relief) for industry executives.
It seems he just unveiled GlassDoor, which will reveal salary reports, compensation figures and reviews from employees.
GlassDoor, based in Sausalito, CA, currently has around 2,000 salary reports from over 250 companies along with a current reports from around 1300 employees of these companies. In order to lure the curious, the site is offering free peeks into salaries and employee reviews for Google, Inc., Yahoo, Inc, Microsoft, and Cisco Systems, Inc.
I don’t yet know whether the site will remain free or become one based on paid subscriptions. We might imagine that if GlassDoor is sticky enough and has a gazillion visitors, advertising might pay its way.
According to the San Jose Business Journal, who released the story, GlassDoor will be reviewing salaries and reports prior to posting.
Current spotlight?
Eric Schmidt, Google CEO, has an employee approval rating of 83 percent, while Cisco CEO John Chambers scores 93 percent. This may prove to be one of the hottest water coolers around.
Kudos for the coup, Rich Barton!
The F-Word in Luxury Real Estate
Forecl—–
It’s a word softly whispered when luxury homeowners in luxe communities like Palm Beach (33480), Beverly Hills (90210), Greenwich (06831) and Rancho Santa Fe (92067) discuss their local real estate markets.
Real estate prices have been declining in many of these markets throughout the country, and some of the heavily mortgage homes are ending up as foreclosure sales. The most prominent foreclosure victim of late is Ed McMahon, whose $5 million Beverly Hills mansion was recently lost to foreclosure.
This morning, CNNMoney reports that three of the richest US zip codes saw nasty declines in home prices for the three-month period ending April 30, when compared with the prior three months. The three biggest losers?
1. Palm Beach, Fla saw a 38 percent decline in median home prices during that period, while
2. Wayzata, Minn (55391) slid 28 percent, and
3. Greenwich, Conn. dropped 15 percent.
Much of the price decline can be attributed to inflated mortgage fallout, but another transition is also contributing to the declines: Downsizing. Many of the large luxury residence owners are baby boomers who are seeking to downsize into a more convenient and connected urban lifestyle–and are doing so in growing numbers.
Not all luxury zip codes and communities are in the tank, though, according to the CNN article. For the 12 month period ending March 31, prices actually rose 18 percent in the upscale Kenilworth (60043) communiity, just outside Chicago. Other ritzy gainers included Medina, WA (home to Bill Gates just outside Seattle) with a 9 percent increase, and a 5 percent climb for Atherton, one of Silicon Valley’s suburban crown jewels.
A Radical Proposition for Real Estate
by Roberta Murphy
I really want to talk about the effect petroleum costs will have on real estate, but first wish to tell a little story:
My grandgather, Adolph Michelson emigrated at the age of 7 with his family from Norway to Deadwood, South Dakota. It required a long, hard journey by steamship. train and wagon to arrive at their eventual home in the steep hills above Deadwood. It was there that they lived with other immigrants and Indians, sharing magnificent views and boot camp workouts as they trudged up and down that steep, steep hill to get to town for work, school, food and other supplies.
Views be damned. This was where the poor people lived.
As soon as the Michelson family could afford to do so, they moved their big family into a home in town, where shopping, school and employment were within easy walking distance. Their decision to move was not based on home features, the quality of the stove, or the number of closets–or even neighborhood amenities. It was based on that single and most basic real estate dynamic:
LOCATION
It is only since the advent of sprawling suburbias and each family having multiple automobiles that we strayed from distinct town and country living. The wealthy may have had homes in both locations, but the average family lived near employment . There were no school buses (or video games because kids had to hike through miles of rain and snow to get to school each day) and gasoline stations were pretty rare at the turn of the that other century. Which all leads me to wonder….
What might be the top priority for the home of the future when gas prices reach $6, $8, $10 or even $12 per gallon?
How about the radical choice of living walking-close to employment, shopping and schools? Or living near a bus stop or transit center where one can commute for work, school and fun?
I am eying real estate differently these days–and am coming around to my ancestor’s way of thinking. Location trumps views, walkable sidewalks trump big back yards and a bicycle pump beats a gas pump–at least for kids who drive or are driven to school (ever seen the long lines of mini vans idling outside our schools at arrival and departure times–or high school parking lots?). Might a more urban lifestyle offer some solutions that would allow for a saner lifestyle?
I am also wondering if Carol Lloyd’s prediction of suburbs turning into Slumburbia might also come true–sooner rather than later due to rising fuel costs? In her SF Gate article, she notes, “In Europe, where the cities never died, the suburbs have long been the homes of last resort for the poor and the marginalized.” This is already occurring in and around sprawling urban centers like Houston, where home prices in and close to downtown Houston are selling at a premium, while homes in once-affluent suburbs are selling at prices far below replacement costs. It is a scenario being repeated all over the country, with slightly different configurations along the coasts.
In San Diego County, where I live and work, we are anecdotally seeing a surge of buyers seeking to live within walking distance of restaurants, theaters, dry cleaners and food or farmer’s markets. They no longer want to battle freeway gridlock, and would happily trade their road warrior status for the peace of riding a train to work. They are also seeking more open communities, where neighbors stroll by and greet one another, where not so much of life is lived in and for cars–or behind mortgaged garage doors.
I am so, so tempted to join them….
Solar Shades for the Green Luxury Home
Upon first seeing these beautifully-designed solar panels, I couldn’t help but imagine other applications and modifications for the green lifestyle–whether it be in the luxury home, a school yard, a country club or off-the-grid project.
Imagine these cobra-shaped shades as swiveling solar panels that take the place of outdoor umbrellas around the pool. Or as bus stop shelters or airport curbside check-in. The possibilities are endless and scalable.
And these VEIL Solar Shades are interactive to boot. Indicators on the base show which positions will yield the maximum energy collection at given times of the day. And underneath the shade is an LED feedback system that indicates whether the shade is getting enough sunlight or not–and whether the shade should be turned.
Designed by the Australian design firm Büro North and the the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab, the VEIL Solar Shades blend form and function elegantly.
Your ideas for implementation?
Tip of the top hat to Josh Spear.
