by Scott Murphy I grew up in the mountains at Big Bear Lake and spent many winters building igloos. Behind all the effort was the dream that I would one day get to sleep overnight in one of these icy creations. It now appears someone in Switzerland has beaten me to the punch. Perched 8,500 ft in the Swiss mountains above 5-star resorts sits Davos, Switzerland. Here one will find…
by Roberta Murphy Earlier today, a client emailed my husband Mike about a great deal on a red Mercedes 500 SL convertible available on eBay. It was a 2004 model with only 7000 miles and offered a three-year warranty to boot. Located in Florida, this two-seater beckoned with a red price tag of around $28,000. Ever the bargain hunter, Mike grabbed the San Diego Union Tribune’s Sunday classified section for…
by Roberta Murphy It seems that almost daily we hear about segments of the broad luxury market losing not only their luster, but even their footing. There are reports that luxury retailers are bracing for a crash slowdown, and that even real estate in super-rich Dubai is beginning to show signs of weakness. In fact, says Tim Blixseth, It’s as if the whole world had a financial heart attack. Wall…
by Roberta Murphy Our shrinking global village is an abiding source of amazement, and I often marvel at the diversity of countries represented by the readers (or perusers) of this blog. Just for fun, I decided to check the countries of origin for the past 30 hours. Most visitors (or at least the internet service) hail from the United States. But the balance of the world, according to our SiteMeter…
by Roberta Murphy Eve Sieminski (aka the Polish Contessa) is our guiding light for fine wine–especially for those premium wines that fit within most budgets. And that may be one of the finest luxuries of all. Eve’s latest oenophilic enthusiasm comes unedited (and I am headed to Costco tomorrow!): Hi Roberta! Here is a review of Kirkland’s Merlot. Generally I tend to shy away from any generic or name brand…
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 A pair of $53.5 million New York Plaza penthouses were sold to Russian hedge-fund manager Andrei Vavilov–which would have made it the second-highest residential sale in New York City history. Andrei Vavilov, though, is one very upset buyer. He and his wife, Russian actress Maryana Tsaregradskaya, are outraged with low 9 foot ceilings, an unexpected and massive column in the living room, and an exterior drainage grate…
by Eve Sieminski As summer hurls to a close, I had to review one of the best white wines I have ever sipped. I stumbled upon the Zolo Torrontes one day at our local Costco. What caught my eye was the markdown. The week prior this wine was $8.99 a bottle–and now was only $4.97! Even at that price I was skeptical, because I am not a fan of South…
Luxury Real Estate Market: What is Normal? I often turn to Billy Taylor, financial services guru at San Diego’s Villa Sotheby’s, when I want to hear the latest scoop on the mortgage market. Just last week, for example, Billy shared that Chase had moved out of the jumbo mortgage market entirely. That leaves a mere handful of lenders who will even consider doing jumbo loans, which help fuel much…
Google has become a noun, a verb and a trusted friend in my life. It of course answers endless questions and sends curious clients my way, but also handles my email, documents, maps, spreadsheets, instant chat, and more. And when I want to check traffic conditions, I can do it with another Google real time mapping application on the Blackberry. Just when I have to count both fingers and toes…
