Luxury Real Estate

By Meghan Barry

If you have ever visited the LuxuryRealEstate.com Headquarters in Seattle, near the historic Pike Place Market, you may have been to the rooftop deck on top of our building. A popular spot for staff gatherings and summertime lunches, this deck boasts expansive views of Puget Sound and Downtown Seattle. What a perfect place to view Fourth of July fireworks!

In-city living often has its limitation with access to the outdoors. However, on LuxuryRealEstate.com there seems to be ample opportunities to purchase a home with the convenience of a metropolitan location, yet with a ground-floor garden, multilevel terraces, or rooftop decks.

This is an appealing option on New York City, listed by Stribling & Associates, Ltd., in the heart of Chelsea’s gallery district. Looks like the perfect place for a hip Fourth of July barbecue.

www.luxuryrealestate.com/749432


Or this one in Boston, listed by Hammond Residential GMAC Real Estate. You can almost hear the fireworks… and the drum beating of Minutemen.

www.luxuryrealestate.com/869190


A 2005 Recipient of The Carolopolis Award for New Construction, this home has maintained that quintessential Charleston style, with a modern updates. What a stunning view! It’s listed by Disher, Hamrick & Myers.

www.luxuryrealestate.com/610485


Editor’s Note:
Meghan Barry is the Executive Vice President of LuxuryRealEstate.com. She works closely with CEO/Publisher John Brian Losh to organize a variety of Luxury Real Estate programs, events and services. Each of the brokers who represent the properties in this blog entry is a member of the Board of Regents, the governing body of LuxuryRealEstate.com. There are plenty of ways to enjoy the Fourth of July, and hopefully you’ll have a great holiday.

By Yvonne Harvey

With the Fourth of July weekend just around the corner, I can’t help but talk about the Declaration of Independence. And, of course, it all happened in Philadelphia, where we are holding our 13^th Annual Luxury Real Estate Fall Conference!

I found some interesting factoids on the famous, or maybe infamous, painting by John Trumbull, simply titled “Declaration of Independence.” As you know, paintings back then were the cameras of today. And this painting today would more likely be in the tabloid section or propaganda fodder. There are so many historical flaws in this painting, that its historical relevance is almost moot.

You may remember, if you read or watched The Da Vinci Code, how you instantly went and looked closely at the painting. Well, this might just make you want to take a look at this one, too. Look under the desk at the legs of our standing forefathers. They seem to be disproportionate to their bodies, especially Thomas Jefferson’s leg.

The painting includes 48 portraits. Of those 48, 43 were signers and 5 who may have been there, but did not sign the Declaration of Independence. Please note there were 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. Hmmmm… several seem to be missing.

The painting itself was piecemealed together. It is said that John Trumbull carried his canvas with him to take advantage of any occasion which might arise; this would be comparable to our picture phone today. Many of the portraits were painted directly onto the canvas from life between 1789 and 1794, or sketches Trumbull had done in earlier years, i.e. John Adams in 1787 in Paris. If an historian wants to correct me here, please chime right in, but I need to ask this question. Wouldn’t that mean the attendees may appear as much as 18 years older from the date the Declaration of Independence was adopted? If my calculations are correct John Adams was 41 when he adopted the Declaration of Independence, and yet Trumbull sketched him at the age of 52. Just thinking out loud.

It is also historical fact that Trumbull was unable to meet all 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence; in nine of the cases the attendees had died before the opportunity arose. In some of these cases he painted from portraits hanging in the “Independence Chamber.” Since then, four of these portraits have been deemed fake. One, in particular, is the so-called portrait of William Whipple who died in 1785, and yet the signer of the painter is St. Memin, who was only born in 1770 and didn’t even come to America until 1793. Historians now agree the portrait is of a Joseph Wipple (note the spelling of his last name is even different Geesh!).

Painter Robert Edge Pine had an unfinished painting “Congress Voting Independence,” which historians agree was more historically accurate than Trumbull’s. And yet, we use Trumbull’s painting in many history books. Pine actually lived in the very building and painted in the “Independence Chamber” It appears that Trumbull embellished the room in his painting with colorful red, white and blue, and even had the wrong furniture. We know this because the actual desk and chair used by John Hancock is preserved in the Independence Hall. Again, Pine’s depiction is much more accurate.


Finally, I find this quite weird, even the Internet is unclear on the spelling of John Trumbull’s last name. Some spell Trumbull, and some spell Trumball. Oy!

Whew! I feel like I just did a whole book report for my teacher. I hope you enjoyed my little rant.

See you in Philly!


Editor’s Note:
Yvonne Harvey is the Events Coordinator for LuxuryRealEstate.com. So when you come and enjoy the wonderful presentations, discussions and networking opportunities at Luxury Real Estate conferences, you know who to thank. History is quite amazing, isn’t it? I love the Founding Fathers and I am always amazed by how much they sacrificed to fight tyranny and establish the first nation of liberty. George Washington is one of my biggest heroes and he is one of the best people who ever lived, in my humble view. The two pictures above are from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Declaration_of_Independence_(John_Trumbull).jpg and www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/images/vc53.jpg.

By Meghan Barry

Someone has to be the one to mention that today is Valentine’s Day, right?

I noticed this article, simply entitled Happy Valentine’s Day, on Boston.com (I am a Seattle transplant… one of the many).

The National Association of REALTORS® suggests "If you can’t fly to Paris, France this Valentine’s Day, take your sweetheart to Paris, Texas" in a press release, entitled Explore American Towns Sharing Names With the World’s Most Romantic Cities.

Paris, Texas (average home price $84,000); Rome, Georgia (average home price $95,000); Seville, Ohio (average home price $122,000); Venice, California (average home price is a bit higher, $1.3 million… it’s California after all).

There may not be much luxury real estate in these versions of Paris, Rome and Seville, but think of the investment possibilities!


Editor’s Note:
Meghan Barry is the Executive Vice President of LuxuryRealEstate.com. She works closely with CEO John Brian Losh to organize a variety of Luxury Real Estate programs, events and services. What’s in a name, anyway? It might be even more unique an experience to seek luxurious opportunities in little-known areas than looking in the obvious spots. You might even fall in love with these smaller versions of great European cities. Happy Valentine’s Day, indeed.

By Jaime Sanders

I recently received a great email from Joanne – a wonderful real-estate agent in Folsom, Calif. Typically, I’m not huge fan of forwarded emails, but this one struck a nerve. It is about letting go and moving forward, which is really hard at times! Especially with the negative press in our industry, people seem to quickly forget about moving forward and start to drown in the mire of the news and problems in life. Please take a moment to read and think about HOW MUCH you can accomplish in 2008! Best wishes for the year ahead…

2007 is done...
...make 2008 unforgettable...

The 28 days of February stretch before you like blank pages of a Personal Diary. What will be written on those pages by this time next month? Next year? Will it be a tale of health, wealth, romance and wondrous prosperity...or will it be more of the same?

Fact is, the "movers and shakers" have long ago moved beyond 2007 and are looking ahead. Those are the same people who always seem to be "on top of their game" all the time. How do they do it? How can you run with this crowd? How can you leap one step ahead?

The simple answer is these people know the wisdom of "looking beyond today" and laying the groundwork for the months and years ahead. It's called taking action - Making a game plan, implementing, and CONTROLLING their future.

The time is NOW for YOU.


Editor’s Note:
Jaime Sanders is an Account Manager with LuxuryRealEstate.com. She assists many brokers in their endeavor to maximize exposure of their properties through creative marketing techniques. I definitely share Jaime’s sentiment of striving to improve ourselves in the present and future. Don’t worry about other people’s negative predictions too much – they’re just guesses, really. Simply focus on doing as much good as you can and improving yourself and your luxury real estate business day by day. That’s what I think.

By Robert Lockard

Predicting the future is a tricky game, as you can easily see from the failure of many experts last year to predict the problems this year in this Inman News article, entitled “2007 real estate forecaster report card.” I don’t expect people to be perfect and so it’s completely understandable even for experts to make mistakes from time to time. But here’s my question: Why do these experts spend time trying to predict things that they ultimately have little ability to control? Why not devote more time to simply suggesting good courses of action for regular people to take? That would definitely be more helpful to you, me and other homebuyers and sellers.

People probably pay more attention to expert advice about not getting into too much debt or staying away from certain risks because it’s something they can actually control. But hearing that a certain number of millions of homes are expected to be bought or sold in the coming year means little to most people. I just think it would be smarter to focus less on guessing and more on doing. Instead of asking, “What’s going to happen?” let’s ask “What can we do to better our situation?” Anyway, feel free to let me know what you think.

And, by the way, Happy New Year!


Editor’s Note:
Robert Lockard is the Public Relations & Media Specialist with LuxuryRealEstate.com. I am Robert. I create all of Luxury Real Estate’s newsletters, write the editorials in LuxuryRealEstate.com Magazine and much more.