GlassDoor to Reveal Executive Salaries and More

Glassdoor Founder Rich Barton
June 11, 2008

by Roberta Murphy 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…

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The F-Word in Luxury Real Estate

by Roberta Murphy 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…

June 10, 2008
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Yahoo! to Google: Real Time Stock Quotes

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…

June 3, 2008
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Databases Coming Out the Wazoo?

Databases
May 27, 2008

by Roberta Murphy Call this a geeky rant. Call it a blonde tirade. Call it what you want, but I just don’t know what to do about diverse databases. I think I have them coming out the Wazoo. If you came here seeking luxury news, you may want to click away and come back tomorrow. Right now, I am trying to sort out a database problem that honestly keeps me…

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Rise in Luxury Home Foreclosures, Short Sales and REO’s?

Luxury Home Foreclosures
May 26, 2008

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…

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Solar Panels for the Green Luxury Home

Veil Solar Panels
May 14, 2008

by Roberta Murphy 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…

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Troubled Homeowners: Beware the Predators

by Roberta Murphy The real estate predators are always there–in good times and in bad. There are whispered stories in real estate circles of certain escrow and loan officers who, in the heady days of real estate, slipped deeds into the stacks of papers homeowners were signing as they refinanced their homes. The deed, of course, moved the property into the predator’s claws. As the Discovery Channel shows, predators will…

May 12, 2008
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Meet This San Diego Real Estate Blogger in San Francisco!

by Roberta Murphy I attended the Inman Connect event in San Francisco last year and met lots of people I knew only from the real estate blogging world–and others who would become good friends. Could I resist missing this event, where we can peer over the bloody edge of the envelope and see what’s in store not only for the real estate market, but in the technologies that serve and…

May 1, 2008
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Nouveau Luxury Home Buyers: Instapreneurs

by Roberta Murphy Who are these young and ultra-affluent buyers of homes in Rancho Santa Fe, Palm Beach, La Jolla, Aspen and Manhattan? Robert Frank, in his best-seller Richistan, calls them instapreneurs (didn’t he coin the term?). These are the new titans in technologies, who have benefited from a rise in financial speculation and governments that support free trade and wealth. Instapreneurs are not plodders when it comes to accumulating…

April 23, 2008
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Is Hacking a Restraint of Trade–or a Vicious Crime?

by Roberta Murphy Deepest apologies to those of you who were unable to access Luxury Home Digest this past week. It seems we were the victim of a malevolent hacking attack last Sunday night, whereby all of our content was deleted–on not only Luxury Home Digest, but San Diego Previews as well. Thanks to the tireless work of blogging gurus at the Real Estate Tomato, we have been able to…

April 19, 2008
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