Luxury Real Estate

Luxury Real Estate member Baird & Warner has an impressive new property. Katherine Chez Malkin has the listing:

“Located in a 110-year-old building on Chicago's Gold Coast, this nearly 7,900-square-foot condominium was once part of the Playboy Mansion.”

Katherine Chez Malkin has the listing. Click here to see the property featured as the Wall Street Journal “House of the Day”, by Sushil Cheema.

Courtesy of Kim Briscoe of Mason Morse Real Estate

Aspen, Colo. — Brian Hazen with Mason Morse Real Estate in Aspen has listed for sale the Starwood estate of Carolyn and Bill Powers, recently featured in The Wall Street Journal in an article by Nancy Keates:

“In a big-money town with big-city cultural aspirations, the abode of Carolyn and Bill Powers fits right in.”

To read the article, click here.

By: Juliet Chung of the Wall Street Journal

Courtesy of: Heritage House Sotheby's International Realty

Max Weinberg and his wife, Rebecca, are asking $6.5 million for a seven-bedroom, Colonial-style home in Middletown, N.J.

The 8,900-square-foot house, above, is the first home that the prolific real-estate flippers, who also have a Los Angeles home on the market, built from the ground up. The home has a soundproof music room, a movie theater with a lobby and concession area and a pool. There's also a guest house, a 3,200-square-foot barn and a three-acre skating pond that has bleachers and stadium lighting. "This house was great; it should serve another family," says Mr. Weinberg, 59, saying he's downsizing now that his children are grown. The couple is building a smaller home nearby.

The house sits on almost 17 of 40 forested acres that Mr. Weinberg bought in 1997 for less than $1 million. He's keeping the remaining 23 acres. Since the end of "The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien" Mr. Weinberg has continued to play with Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and his own band. Mary Burke of Heritage House Sotheby's International Realty has the listing.

Courtesy of Gwen Inzer of Choi International

Now more than ever, it's time to recognize those outstanding sales professionals who, through determination and hard work, achieved incredible results in 2009.

The Wall Street Journal and REAL Trends, Inc. are pleased to announce the 2010 Top 400 Real Estate Professionals.

Patricia Choi of Choi International has been ranked #35 in the Top 100 Agents by Sales Volume category with $70,082,950.

During the 27+ years that she has been involved in real estate sales, Patricia has distinguished herself as a leader in regional, national and international real estate organizations. Locally, she was the first recipient of the Aloha 'Aina Real Estate Award as the Realtor's Choice in 1998 for her service to the industry and clients, her professional and ethical conduct, her cooperative business approaches and extraordinary service to all in transactions. She was appointed by the Governor in 1999 to the Real Estate Commission of the State of Hawaii, to which she devoted part of her time as a public service until 2003.

For more information on Patricia Choi please click here

The final rankings were published this morning in The Wall Street Journal Online. Click here for more details

Courtesy of Jon Wade of The Steamboat Group

Challenges clearly remain but the Wall Street Journal is seeing some strong signs of recovery in the luxury home market.  Among those challenges we often find opportunity.  In Steamboat we have seen a strong uptick in the sale of properties over $1m with large numbers of sales in the $1-$5m range. According to Land Title YTD sales volumes are up 215% through the end of April compared to 2009 numbers.   We are seeing people take this chance to pick up some of the best properties at good to great prices.  Some want a place to bring thier family and friends together, others are location neutral and think why not live in Steamboat and many are planning for retirement down the road.  Nearly all see a turn coming and want to buy at the bottom of this cycle.  On the sell side prices have gotten much more attractive due to pressures on spec builders & their banks, the desire to rebalance portfolios and many see an even better deal on what they would like to buy so they don't mind selling for less then they hoped.  

   We have been busy for about the last year or so with some very careful buyers looking to take advantage of the values out there.  In the last few months I have seen several multiple offer situations on luxury properties and have been outbid on 3 properties I had offers in for clients in the last week.  I'm not saying it is time to throw caution to the wind or that time is running out by any means, it may be 6 months to a year before the tide shifts but we are seeing some good signs that are making some very smart people take a closer look.  Discipline and careful study are important, the raw cost per foot does not necessarily mean something is a great value. 

   True value is a much more considered quality. The Steamboat Pilot ran a story about a home that sold for the low $100s per square foot and touted it as a great value.  Unfortunately for the buyer that couldn't have been further from the truth as there were both obvious and hidden issues that will make it very expensive to refurbish and limit its final value to just above what they paid.  We have been working hard to identify real values, understand them deeply and be there when opportunities to aquire them at attractive prices are at the best for our clients.   It may seem counter intuitive to some but we also use this knowledge of what is driving the market segments and buyers looking in them to advise our sellers stay with the market as it shifts and reach an optimal result instead of drifting along. Our success comes from working hard for our clients best interests.  

   If you would like to talk to someone who works hard to understand the Steamboat Springs Real Estate market in each different different segment about your goals or just to talk about what is going on.  Give me, Jon Wade a call at 970-819-6930

   Some quotes from the WSJ article: After a near-disastrous 2009, the luxury market appears to be making a comeback, driven by growing buyer confidence, improved financing conditions and more-realistic seller pricing. Despite the housing downturn, attractively priced homes in some of the nation's most coveted neighborhoods are selling, sometimes fast and sometimes with multiple offers. Nationwide, sales of homes selling for $2 million to $5 million in the first quarter totaled 2,461, up 32% from a year before, says CoreLogic.

  That sales are up from last year shouldn't come as a big surprise. The shock of the financial panic in the fall of 2008 left many potential buyers too nervous to bid, and those who were willing to wade in found it hard to get financing. But a study for The Wall Street Journal by MDA DataQuick, a real-estate data provider, found that in some areas of the country, sales of homes over $2 million in the first quarter were actually on par with the levels of 2005, the peak year for existing-home sales volume nationwide.
In San Francisco, 49 homes sold for $2 million or more in this year's first quarter, according to the study, compared to 47 in 2005. In Manhattan, there were 402 sales of $2 million or more in the latest quarter, compared with 311 in the first quarter of 2005, according to the appraisal firm Miller Samuel Inc. Other areas with strong rebounds included New York's Hamptons, Menlo Park, Calif., and Beverly Hills.

   Even a couple of troubled housing markets experienced a strong uptick. In Las Vegas, there were 21 such sales in the first quarter, up from 15 in the first quarter of 2005, according to DataQuick. In Miami, 21 such sales of $2 million or more were recorded in the first quarter, up from 15 last year and close to the 23 that sold in that time five years earlier.

   Search for Steamboat Springs Luxury Real Estate if you are curious or email Jon Wade for more info or a personalized look at opportunities in Steamboat Springs.

Courtesy of: Susan Breitenbach of Corcoran Group

By Josh Barbanel of The Wall Street Journal

David Tepper, the New Jersey-based hedge-fund manager who was reported to have earned as much as $4 billion last year betting on bank stocks, is making a new acquisition—a gated Sagaponack estate, according to brokers familiar with the deal.

To continue reading, please click here

LuxuryRealEstate.com, le site Web de l‘immobilier de prestige le plus visité dans le monde (194 pays), accueille plus de 65 millions de visiteurs par mois.

En tant que le plus grand réseau du monde pour l’immobilier de luxe, LuxuryRealEstate.com se compose de plus de 1.500 compagnies immobilières représentant plus de 5.500 agences et 100.000 agents immobiliers dans 78 pays. LuxuryRealEstate.com propose une sélection de plus de 60.000 propriétés de luxe avec un prix de vente moyen de $2.400.000 USD.

LuxuryRealEstate.com a reçu la distinction ‘Official Honoree’ pour son travail d’excellence par le Webby Awards (Les Oscars de l’Internet) en 2009. Le magazine Forbes et le quotidien Wall Street Journal qualifient LuxuryRealEstate.com en tant que ‘le meilleur du Web’. LuxuryRealEstate.com est également classé numéro 1 au niveau des recherches de l’immobilier de prestige sur les moteurs de recherches les plus importants comme Google.com, Yahoo.com, Netscape.com, Bing.com et MSN.com.

By: Channing Gibb with Washington Fine Properties

Washington Fine Properties is proud to announce that The Mark McFadden Group has joined our firm. Previously with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage from 1988 through 2010, Mark and the McFadden Group specialize in the sale of upper bracket properties throughout the Washington Metropolitan area.

From private industry to the White House, Mark has worked with a number of the area's CEOs, senior executives, political leaders and professional sports team owners. Mark's attention to detail, total discretion and negotiating skills has contributed to his stellar success. Last year, The McFadden Group was ranked in the Wall Street Journal's Top 50 Groups in the United States.

As the finest brokerage firm in the Capitol Region, Washington Fine Properties is recognized for providing the highest level of ethics and professionalism, commitment to client services, and powerful marketing resources necessary to excel in the current real estate environment.

For more information about Washington Fine Properties please visit: http://www.wfp.com

By Benjamin Pradel
From his blog: R. CHAYLA rejoint le réseau Luxury Real Estate (n°1 mondial)

Déjà membres depuis janvier 2008 du réseau Châteaux & Co., regroupant des agences immobilières indépendantes spécialisées dans les transactions de charme et de prestige en France, nous franchissons un nouveau cap en rejoignant le réseau international LuxuryRealEstate.com.

LuxuryRealEstate.com, n°1 mondial, est un réseau indépendant regroupant 2120 agences immobilières dans le monde dont 7 agences pour la France. Notre agence obtient donc l'exclusivité régionale de Luxury Real Estate.

Outre une fréquentation record du site internet à plus de 62 000 000 de visiteurs / mois, le site www.luxuryrealestate.com est classé n°1 mondial pour les recherches en immobilier de luxe (source: alexa.com). Il est également qualifié en tant que le "meilleur du Web" par le magazine Forbes et le quotidien international Wall Street Journal depuis les sept dernières années.

Notre agence fait donc partie maintenant du plus important réseau d'immobilier de luxe, ce qui devrait nous permettre de renforcer notre image et notre position auprès d'une clientèle à fort pouvoir d'achat.



Editor’s Note:
Don’t speak French? Click here for an English version of this blog entry. It's funny to see what the translator does to the parts already in English. Benjamin Pradel is an Information and Technology Specialist with R. CHAYLA Immobilier in Carcassonne, France. Founded in 1991, R. CHAYLA has a multilingual team, agencies with cutting-edge technology and exposure on dozens of Web sites. They are known across France, and their international exposure grows daily. It’s great to get so much global news and flavor in the Luxury Real Estate Blog. Whether you’re looking for information on luxury homes or luxury markets, you’re sure to find what you’re looking for on www.LuxuryRealEstate.com.