Luxury listings come and go–but are interesting to review as time goes by (and some of the homes are re-listed for sale).
by Roberta Murphy When the combination of urban luxury and sandy beaches come together, we might think of high rises in Miami, Los Angeles, La Jolla or Honolulu. San Diego County now boasts a second urban and beach destination: Oceanside Terraces, the new luxury midrise residence in downtown Oceanside. We spend a great deal of time here and think we are in heaven, because we are dealing with amazed guests…
by Roberta Murphy There’s no doubt that uber-wealthy Russians love luxurious homes–and are willing to pay billions of roubles for well-placed mansions, townhomes and luxurious estates. In Moscow, where luxury buyers are enriched by petrodollars and enthused by strong consumer confidence, a young and wealthy businessman recently paid 2.5 billion roubles ($99 million) for a Moscow town home near the Kremlin. Setting a new Moscow record, this seven-story apartment boasts…
by Roberta Murphy Insuring luxury homes can be a real challenge, especially when trying to calculate replacement value for things like architectural artifacts, beloved creaking stairs or even elephant hide wallpaper. Luxury home insurance wasn’t of that much interest to me–until I read of an appraiser who tried to figure out the replacement value of elephant skin wall coverings in a Seattle manse. That appraiser, James King with the Chubb…
by Roberta Murphy Once upon a time, we whispered about the “F” word creeping into luxury real estate. These days, it is common real estate talk. The Wall Street Journal quotes Realty Trac reporting that the number of $1-plus million homes in some stage of foreclosure has ballooned to 7,968 between January and August this year. This compares to 4,214 during the same months last year. Within these numbers, it…
by Roberta Murphy Luxury Home Defaults Ed McMahon may have wondered what else in new in defaulted real estate with the pending default of his Beverly Hills home. But yesterday, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service reported that even prime jumbo loans are starting to buckle. Over a period of just one month–from June to July, 2008–jumbo loans originated in 2006 saw mortgage delinquencies rise 13.2 percent, while 2007 delinquencies rose…
by Roberta Murphy 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…
by Roberta Murphy Luxury Home Foreclosures? It appears that even the luxury real estate market will not fully escape the financial ravages that are taking down less-expensive neighborhoods. Housing Wire asks: Has REO gone jumbo? To find out, they consulted with Integrated Asset Services, LLC in Colorado to see if foreclosures are moving up the real estate food chain. And though not all properties with loans in excess of the…
by Scott Murphy Discriminating luxury home buyers in the San Diego area are starting to raise sophisticated eyebrows at some of the better real estate buys in luxury neighborhoods such as Rancho Santa Fe. One of the best buys on the market these days is a magnificent 4-bedroom, 4.5-bath single story estate on two level acres that was recently remodeled. This Rancho Santa Fe Farms home features a lagoon pool,…
by Roberta Murphy Thompson I love living in coastal San Diego, but have a special appreciation for mountains and mountain lakes. Among other mountain attractions, its the regularity of seasons, the deep blue water, the towering pines, and the snow pack that accumulates each winter. It is easy to imagine such natural beauty. Now, imagine a 210-acre mountain estate in Lake Tahoe (the tax-free side) with its own serene private…
by Roberta Murphy To paraphrase Charles Dickens, these may be the best of times and the worst of times at least with San Diego real estate. Few are surprised that the real estate bubble popped in the plethora of new home subdivisions that peppered San Diego County in the last few years. Stupid loans and and unwitting buyers created a marriage that has crippled the real estate industry. But not…
