Luxury Real Estate

By Brian Langhorst

As many of you know, our 13th Annual Fall Conference is being held this October 11th – 14th at the historic Ritz Carlton Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. But did you know that Philadelphia:

- Has 0% sales tax on certain items!
- Is the largest city in Pennsylvania.
- Is the sixth most populated city in the United States.
- Is home to famed Morimoto Restaurant, run by chef Masaharu Morimoto, one of the original Iron Chefs.
- Is the nation’s 4th largest consumer market.
- Has the oldest diamond district in the United States!
- Is home to luxury jewelry stores Lagos and Tiffany & Co.
- Was the nation’s first capital in 1774.
- Is home of the Rodin Museum and houses the second-largest collection of works outside of France.
- Is home to Comcast, Lincoln Financial Group, CIGNA, Sunoco and many more.

We are very excited to be traveling to Philadelphia this fall and hope that you will join us at this industry-leading event bringing together the best luxury real estate professionals from around the world.

To learn more about Philadelphia, visit helpful websites like www.GoPhila.com.

Contact me to register for the Fall Conference: BLanghorst (at) LuxuryRealEstate.com

I look forward to seeing you there!


Editor’s Note:
Brian Langhorst is LuxuryRealEstate.com’s Membership Manager. He meets members’ unique needs through the dynamic services LuxuryRealEstate.com provides. The Fall Conference is a great opportunity to meet with agents and brokers who specialize in luxury homes. Don’t miss out! The photo above is from www.flickr.com/photos/aymlis/20975366 and it is the copyright of aymlis.

By Michael Marquette
From his blog: Where to Buy in Newcastle (Australia)?

Are you considering a sea change or thinking about which suburbs are in most demand in Newcastle? If you are, this information is essential reading. Earlier this month, I wrote about the massive 85 percent drop in sales in July this year compared to the same month last year for properties in the City of Newcastle.

If the trend continues many real estate agencies will close their doors and many agents will be forced to flee the industry. This staggering decrease in demand has put enormous pressure on pricing in the area and is causing many vendors considerable grief. So the question of where to buy to best protect your investment is more important than ever.

In Sydney, we have seen suburbs close to beaches and the Harbour hold their price the best. The outer suburbs, especially in the West have struggled and have significantly dropped in value. It really shows that as demand drops in an area price follows in the same direction.

In Newcastle, the Blue Ribbon suburbs of Merewether, Bar Beach, Cooks Hill and The Hill have all suffered from interest-rate increases and decreased buyer demand but nowhere near to the extent of rest of the City. Year-to-date sales in those suburbs are down 32 percent on the same period last year – not the massive reduction seen in the City as a whole.

These suburbs enjoy close proximity to beaches, Newcastle Harbour, cafes, restaurants and many enjoy spectacular coastal views. Purchasing a luxury home is all about location and the choice of suburb is crucial in protecting your valuable asset. This formula is true for all coastal cities and will help put you in the safest position.


Editor’s Note:
Michael Marquette is the co-Founder and Director of Marquette Turner Luxury Homes, a member of Luxury Real Estate in East Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded on Australia Day 2007 by Marquette and Simon Turner, Marquette Turner is a property consultancy company covering the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria. Marquette has a background in medicine and a large retail and wholesale business. Very good information! Buyers definitely need an expert to help guide them through the pitfalls scattered across the current luxury market. The photo above is from www.flickr.com/photos/linksmanjd/2723754204 and it is the copyright of LinksmanJD.

By Robert Lockard

Nick Antonicello, Director of Sales for Unique Homes, pointed out an interesting story to me last week in the Los Angeles Times Blog. You might have already heard about it, but I just want to put in my two cents about the whole affair.

Peter Viles, Senior Producer for Real Estate at LATimes.com, wrote in his blog entry that Donald Trump, possibly the best-known real-estate developer in the world, is seeking to buy Ed McMahon’s mansion to save him from foreclosure.

In an even more bizarre turn of events, Mr. Trump now might be having some competition for buying Mr. McMahon’s luxury home. That’s according to a new blog post today by Ann Brenoff, author of the Los Angeles Times’ weekly “Hot Property” feature.

As Mr. Spock would say, “Fascinating.”

To be honest, I’m not sure what to make of this story. I mean, Mr. McMahon certainly seems like a good man who simply let his finances get out of control until he went from delivering oversized million-dollar checks to being unable to pay for his multimillion-dollar luxury property. His story just seems remarkable and bitterly ironic.

Since he went public with his mortgage troubles, it appears that Mr. McMahon will now be able to make it through this difficult experience fairly well. Competing offers on a house that’s about to be short sold is pretty impressive, I think.

I guess, in the end, my point is: Is this justice? I mean, not everyone can be helped like this. Is Ed McMahon’s celebrity status the main reason why he is receiving this attention and assistance? I’m uncertain of the answer to these questions. I hate to see anyone suffer, but is some suffering just while other suffering should be alleviated, and how do we judge that?

I believe that life is generally good, although it is difficult and filled with perils. Mr. McMahon seems to have had a very good life, gaining much more success and fame than most people will ever know. I feel bad that he is facing failure near the end of his life, but perhaps that is a lesson he needed to learn. I am sure we all must face failure and seek to succeed afterwards. Hopefully we will learn to be better people in the process.


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. I was really tempted to call this blog entry “Wake up with the King” Luckily, I refrained. You can share your blog entries on the Luxury Real Estate Blog by emailing them to me. By the way, ordinarily I would link to the two blog entries above via their TrackBack links, but they don’t appear to be working, so I just used their regular links. The photo of Mr. Spock is from www.flickr.com/photos/cultureculte/2306916969 and it is the copyright of culture.culte.

By Brian Langhorst

LuxuryRealEstate.com is the most-viewed and most-visited luxury real estate website in the world. For this reason we opt not to capture the visitors of our website right away to search properties around the world.

We realize many of our visitors are of very high net worth and have very limited time, thus the idea of creating restrictions does not make sense. On the other hand, I see many websites who capture their visitor traffic right away.

I personally prefer not being captured right away on websites and opt to view websites where the capture of data does not occur until later.

What are your thoughts?


Editor’s Note:
Brian Langhorst is LuxuryRealEstate.com’s Membership Manager. He meets members’ unique needs through the dynamic services LuxuryRealEstate.com provides. This is an interesting topic because the Internet is all about letting customers remain anonymous until they want to identify themselves to take advantage of offers and other things online. Is it better to ask people for information sooner or later? It’s hard to tell. I smell a great discussion brewing…