by Eve Sieminski I’ve been visiting the Temecula Valley for wine tastings over the years–usually as a substitute for the richer (and more distant) wine experiences to be found along California’s Central Coast and the Napa/Sonoma wine countries. A couple of weeks ago, we had a visitor from Europe who wanted a California wine experience. Not having the time for a long drive North, we headed out to Temecula, just…
by Roberta Murphy One Can Modify Luxury Home Loans, too? Not all clients took my conservative mortgage advice over the years, and some ended up with home loans that have turned downright nasty. In one case, a client and dear friend was persuaded to take out a Negative Amortizing Adjustable Rate Mortgage (Neg Am) along with a HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) a few weeks after the purchase of…
by Roberta Murphy Dear friends returned with big smiles and fat packages after a trip to Las Vegas prior to Christmas. Ulf and Andrea walked into the Saks Fifth Avenue store on Las Vegas Boulevard–and encountered rack after rack of clothing discounted up to 80 percent off. These were sales never seen in the weeks before Christmas, and they happily bagged up their luxury bargains and returned to Southern California….
by Eve Sieminski I can’t begin to tell you how many years I have had a prejudice against Chilean wines. Each time I tried one, I was unimpressed–or worse, ended up with a raging headache. Living in California, we are positively spoiled when it comes to wine. We have a never ending selection of fine wines, so it never occurred to me to search out fine wines from Chile. At…
by Roberta Murphy A dear friend who bought her 1970’s-vintage La Costa home ten years ago recently experienced a flooded bathroom that required the removal of drywall. Discovered behind that wall was the dreaded A-word: Asbestos. She will have to move out of her home so that the guys in white suits and masks can come in and remove the lethal substance. Chris is taking it in good stride, and…
by Eve Sieminski When not engaged in San Diego real estate, cooking, travel and other ventures, you just might find me twittering on Twitter. In fact, by keeping my Mac PowerBook close at hand, I just might be reporting on and following thoughts, ideas and friends via Twitter, that ubiquitous social networking site (just follow me @EveSieminski). Six months ago, I would never have dreamed of discovering a favorite wine…
by Roberta Murphy For those who still haven’t made travel plans, there may be some surprising resort bargains to consider–while other large and super-luxurious resorts are stalled under construction and financing difficulties. Crisis in Paradise via Breitbart shares some disturbing news: Cap Cana, a luxury resort under development in the Dominican Republic is now reportedly paralyzed. A mega resort with four luxury hotels, villas (with roof tiles on the ground),…
by Roberta Murphy Every library should try to be complete on something, if it were only the history of pinheads. —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) A home library, more than any room in a home, has the potential to reflect the essence of its owner. Here is a place to organize and keep those books that are both acquaintances and lifelong friends. The home library is also often where collections…
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…
