Luxury Real Estate

Courtesy of: Dac Carver of Beacham & Company

ATLANTA - In the first quarter of 2010, Beacham & Company, REALTORS® was once again the top selling office in Buckhead and “In-town Atlanta” based on dollar volume of residential real estate sold.

The results for the first quarter come on the heels of Beacham & Company finishing 2009 as the top selling office in the three MLS areas (21, 23 and 132) that make up Buckhead and In-town Atlanta. 

In addition to being the top selling Buckhead real estate firm for the last 15 months, Beacham & Company is also the fastest growing among firms with at least $60 million in sales for the 12-month period ending March 31. Beacham & Company grew its market share by 43 percent from April 2009 to March 2010. The next closest competitor grew by just 13.7 percent.

According to Dac Carver, managing broker of Beacham & Company, the firm’s sales have been driven by a significant increase in the number of buyers who are working with Beacham & Company.

“Since the first of the year, we have seen a huge jump in the number of buyers entering the real estate market,” Carver said. “After many buyers postponed home purchases in 2009, the improving economy and attractive home prices have combined to entice buyers back into the market and send sales in Buckhead up 46 percent in the first quarter.”

Beacham & Company has benefited more than any other company from the increase in buyer activity, as the company’s share of transactions in which the firm represented a buyer increased 92 percent from the same quarter a year ago. Carver said many of the firm’s buyers have a relocation package or are foreign buyers who do business in Atlanta and have been lured by great real estate deals.

“Many large corporations told us in 2009 that they were postponing moves until 2010,” Carver said. “2010 is here and those companies are following through with their plans. We are fortunate to be working with many of them.”

Beacham & Company, Realtors® is a full service residential real estate firm located in Buckhead that specializes in the most affluent areas of Atlanta real estate. For more information about Beacham & Company, go to www.beacham.com or follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Atlanta-GA/Beacham-Company-REALTORSR/56262810063.

Courtesy of Ebby Halliday, REALTORS

DALLAS, TX (April 22, 2010) – As Part of its 65th anniversary year, the Ebby Halliday Companies recently launched a new luxury home magazine named Grand Vie: Luxury in Living to showcase high-end properties throughout the area to luxury buyers and sellers. Ebby Halliday is the luxury market leader, selling more million-dollar homes than any other company in North Texas.

“Grand Vie embodies luxury living as each issue presents some of the area's most incredible homes,” says Mary Frances Burleson, president and chief executive officer of the Ebby Halliday Companies. “Our inaugural spring edition is being distributed to approximately 30,000 of the finest homes in the area. And, with the explosion in online media, a state-of-the-art digital flip version is available at grandviemag.com, which anyone in the world can access.”

Highlighted in Grand Vie are more than 125 of the most exceptional properties currently on the market from Highland Park and Preston Hollow to Lakewood, Frisco and Southlake. Featured brands include Ebby Halliday, Realtors, Ellen Terry, Realtors and Dave Perry-Miller and Associates. Homes in Grand Vie are priced $750,000 and higher.

“The elegant design, gorgeous photography and consistent presentation of luxury properties will make an impact with buyers and sellers,” says Randall Graham, vice president and director of marketing. “The sales professionals representing these properties are luxury market leaders and share a passion for real estate. It's their experience, service, ethics and character, along with the finest resources, that create their undeniable competitive advantage.”

A Grand Vie preview party was held at Cole Haan in Highland Park Village in March. Attendees were given a sneak peak of the new magazine and enjoyed wine and exclusive discounts at Cole Haan.

For more information on Grand Vie Magazine: Luxury in Living, please visit grandviemag.com.

ABOUT EBBY HALLIDAY

Dallas-based Ebby Halliday, Realtors (ebby.com) is the largest independently owned residential real estate company in Texas and ranked 10th in the nation. The 65-year-old company, with approximately 1,600 sales associates and staff in 30 area offices, participated in nearly 13,000 property transactions in 2009, exceeding a sales volume of nearly $3.5 billion. Ebby Halliday is one of the oldest and most respected full-service residential real estate firms in the country, offering brokerage, leasing, mortgage and insurance services. In addition to Ebby Halliday, the company acquired Ellen Terry Realtors (ellenterry.com) in 1995, added Home Team Mortgage Company (yhtm.com) in 1996, Home Team Insurance (hometeamins.com) in 2003 and Dave Perry-Miller & Associates (daveperrymiller.com) in 2007. For more information on the company, please visit ebbyfamily.com.

Courtesy of: Amparo Fontenet of Fortune International Realty

Fortune International Realty. South Florida, April 9, 2010. Fortune International Realty is proud to announce the opening of their new state of the art Real Estate offices in Sunny Isles Beach and Weston. This expansion is an indication of the strength and future success of the real estate market in these areas.

“While Fortune International is currently the dominant and premiere real estate firm in markets such as Key Biscayne and Brickell, we believe that Sunny Isles deserves the same level of service and attention of those markets.” said Sales Director David Restainer.  The Sunny Isles Beach office features lush conference rooms, offices with ocean views, and a location directly across Collins Avenue to serve the residences at Jade Ocean and Jade Beach, which were envisioned and developed by Fortune International. 

The Weston branch has acquired a new ground floor retail space in a great location between Weston and Davie. The new office equips Fortune associates with state of the art facilities and the latest technology in order to provide the best real estate service to its clients.

Both new offices include a diverse group of real estate professionals that have displayed excellence throughout their careers with Fortune. The company is also in the process of recruiting additional industry experts to consolidate a team that continuously serves customers with the utmost professionalism and integrity.

By Candace Jackson of the Wall Street Journal

Art collector John Traina's landmarked San Francisco property—a converted 1893 firehouse once owned by former California Gov. Jerry Brown—has sold for $3.36 million, about 30% less than its original $4.85 million asking price in September 2007.

Mr. Traina is a retired maritime entrepreneur formerly married to novelist Danielle Steel, with whom he raised seven children. He bought the roughly 4,000-square-foot firehouse in a 2006 private sale. The Pacific Heights estate has three bedrooms, four baths and a guest house. The fire poles remain in the living room, and the original garage door opens into the great room, where fire trucks once parked.

Mr. Traina sold because he was spending most of him time at a Napa Valley ranch he owns, says Greg Lynn of Sotheby's International Realty, who shared the listing with Sotheby's Louis Silcox. Steven Mavromihalis of Pacific Union Real Estate, a Christie's Great Estates affiliate, represented the buyer, a local family.

Please click here to view the original article.

By Meghan Barry

We recently hosted a Webinar for the members of our network; this opportunity was led by our partners Ron & Alexandra Seigel of Napa Consultants, International. Here is a video summarizing what was discussed in the Webinar:

Buzz-Worthy Luxury Real Estate Website Design from The Language of Luxury on Vimeo.

Ron & Alexandra Seigel are the managing partners of Napa Consultants, International and the Community Founders of Language of Luxury, the fastest growing luxury real estate professional networking community on Linkedln. The Seigels help luxury real estate professionals out-think (not out-spend) their competition and become the "breakaway" brand in their marketplace. With a 20 year background as broker/owners of a commercial real estate firm in Beverly Hills, CA, their expertise is providing strategic insight, creative instinct, and artistic flair to those professionals who are interested in gaining or sustaining market leadership. Their services include: Personal & Company Branding, Web Design, & Social Media Marketing.

Courtesy of: Bob Melvin of Gasparilla Properties, Inc.

As the real estate market rebounds, Barron's selects the best places to buy second homes

Please click here for the full article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704869304575109461496208030.html

By Valerie Kellogg of Newsday.com

"The Real Housewives of New York City" gave a shout-out last night to The Corcoran Group's Susan Breitenbach.

It took place when Jill Zarin and her husband, Bobby, were giving their daughter, Ally, a driving lesson in the Hamptons. "This is a great piece of land," Zarin says looking out the window. "Susan Breitenbach. I should call Susan."

Zarin sold her Sag Harbor home, shown here, in 2007, but worked out a deal to stay at the house for part of the summer for two years. Last summer, when last night's episode was taped, she stayed at Countess LuAnn de Lesseps' Bridgehampton house. "Can you imagine if we lived down the street from LuAnn?" Zarin asks as they drive around.

Asked about the scene, Breitenbach says Zarin gave her a heads up about it several days ago. Breitenbach says she sold Zarin's house to her in 2003 and later was the co-exclusive listing agent on the property when Zarin put it on the market.

So is Zarin working with Breitenbach to find a new place? "She's always looking," was all Breitenbach would say.

Newsday Photo, 2009 / Thomas A. Ferrara

Originally posted: http://www.newsday.com/classifieds/real-estate/real-li-1.812034/real-housewife-jill-zarin-plugs-hamptons-corcoran-agent-1.1807883

Courtesy of: Michel Cruz of RIMONTGÓ

When the first signs of the international financial crisis emerged in the second half of 2007 the Spanish property market had already been in a steady decline for a while. Not surprising, if you consider that almost a decade of feverish growth had led to a textbook case of an overheated market in which builders, buyers, sellers, investors and banks alike became accustomed to the kind of volumes that had never been seen before – and which would prove to be wholly unsustainable.

What followed the financial crisis and accompanying worldwide recession was, predictably, a sharp drop in property sales and prices in Spain as elsewhere. With a particularly overheated market and an oversupply of properties Spain, however, suffered more than most. The golden boy of the past ten years felt the chill winds of recession most acutely, and 2009 was an icy year indeed.

Sales figures

The return of value for money in a market where smart buyers can do very well.

The die was cast, and the year saw a further 27 per cent drop in real estate transactions in comparison with 2008, bringing the total decline in relation to 2007 – when 715,000 properties were sold – to 48 per cent. As we entered 2010, however, the decline seemed to have halted, bringing monthly sales levels to around 30,000, a figure generally regarded as the hollowing out of the market. From here on out, there should be a gradual increase over the next two years, driven above all by the return of value for money in a market where smart buyers can do very well.

Property prices

The overall impact on real estate has been a drop in prices ranging from a few per cent in some cases to over 50 per cent in more extreme examples. Those so-called distressed sales have received a lot of attention, though they represent just one of a rather diverse range of factors that combine to cloud the overall issue of property values in Spain.

As an overall average, prices have dropped by around 25 per cent from their highpoint in 2006/2007, yet look at individual markets – and sometimes even adjacent properties – and their asking prices may vary considerably. The reason is that while one person may not have the absolute need to sell and will therefore hold on to a higher asking price, another may have to sell very urgently and potentially at a loss.

On the whole, properties in less attractive locations, featuring poor construction and perhaps badly maintained urbanisations, suffer the greatest drop in demand, while quality homes in prime locations have maintained their market. It means that there is still a significant market if the product is right – and if the price is sensible. The demand for such real estate, by the way, is growing steadily, as investors and end-users regain their confidence in the Spanish property market and realise that now is the time to buy at future gains.

January 2010 saw average overall property prices in Spain rise for the first time in 24 months, albeit at a very modest 0.6 per cent. Within this trend, the Valencia region was among the better performers in the country, registering an increase of 2.2 per cent on the month before. It heralds the beginnings of a gradual recovery in a region whose property market is blessed with optimal diversity that includes important primary, secondary and commercial sectors.

“While it is clear that we have reached the low-end of the cycle and that life has returned to the market, it is also evident that this will be a slow and gradual recovery,” says Inmobiliaria Rimontgò CEO José Ribes Bas. “In the general market there are large stocks of unsold property to be absorbed first, and this will take some time. In the higher end of the market in which we specialise demand has been far more consistent, although it remains a buyer’s market and this means that buyers seek out quality real estate that is competitively priced.”

“We have entered a period in which buyers with liquid means and access to financing are in a very strong position to benefit from attractive prices – acquiring more home for their money and a very good mid to long term investment. For people like that the coming two years will be the best time to buy

By Jean-Yves Piton

LuxuryRealEstate.com is proud to introduce our new member in Italy.

Property At Lake Como, a trade name devised and developed by Marco Badalla, primarily focuses on and is specialized in real estate in the Lake Como area.

Property At Lake Como may count on teamwork with some of the leading real estate companies in the Como area, Lugano, London, New York and Moscow, as well as with professionals in the legal and financial fields.

What it offers is special attention to every customer, so that it may provide a better service to those who are seriously interested in making a dream come true, that of buying a house by Lake Como.

All negotiations are followed with the greatest reliability and confidentiality. After purchasing, the customer has the option of a full property management service offering a variety of personalized solutions, provided by our partner company: DinamikComo. Born in Lugano, Marco Badalla has lived in Como most of his life and has an excellent knowledge of the entire Lake Como area and particularly the lakeside villages, thanks to his personal and thorough real estate exploration. In recent years Mr. Badalla has organized the successful purchase/sale of many prestigious properties, both apartments and villas, and his competence has been greatly appreciated by those people who have had dealings with him.

For more information regarding Mr. Marco Badalla’s portfolio of luxury properties, please feel free to visit http://www.propertyatlakecomo.it/ and/or contact Property At Lake Como at info@propertyatlakecomo.it.

About Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate:

Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate is an invitation only network representing the best luxury real estate firms and professionals from around the world. Each affiliated member is carefully selected to represent his/her market area. Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate also hosts the industry leading Website www.LuxuryRealEstate.com (a 2009 Webby Award Honoree).

Courtesy of: Nancy Landreth of Harbor Bay Realty

[Alameda, March 5, 2010]  Steve Sorensen, Broker Associate with Harbor Bay Realty, has been awarded the prestigious Certified Residential Specialist (CRS) Designation by the Council of Residential Specialists, the largest not-for-profit affiliate of the National Association of Realtors®.

Realtors® who receive the CRS Designation have completed advanced professional training and demonstrated outstanding professional achievement in residential real estate.  Less than four percent of Realtors® nationwide have earned the credential.

Home buyers and sellers can be assured that CRS Designees subscribe to the strict Realtor® code of ethics, have been trained to use the latest tactics and technologies, and are specialists in helping clients maximize profits and minimize costs when buying or selling a home.

Sorensen also holds the e-PRO designation which assists him in maximizing the use of online research and website tools

Sorensen is a member of the Alameda Association of Realtors; and served as a director in 2008-2009, as well as in previous years.  He is a director of the Baywood Village Homeowners Association, and served on the 2009 City of Alameda Fiscal Sustainability Committee.

“Earning the CRS designation signifies my commitment to my profession by using my experience and education to best represent my clients,” said Sorensen.  “The CRS training is focused on the real world, giving me distinct advantages over non-designees when it comes to navigating the complicated framework of a real estate transaction. The CRS network also gives me a reliable referral base for my clients relocating out of the area.”

Dennis Pagones, Harbor Bay Realty President, commended Sorensen for this significant achievement.  “Steve’s CRS designation will enhance the service he provides his clients, “said Pagones.  “We are proud to have him with us at Harbor Bay Realty.”

Steve Sorensen can be reached at Harbor Bay Realty at 510.814.4888 and via email at ssorensen@HBRinfo.com.  To view listings, visit HBRinfo.com.