You weren’t surprised, I’m sure. As small business owners, you and I are definitely concerned about paying for health care. The smaller the business, the less cash flow is available to pay for benefits.  And costs continue to rise with no end in sight.

A November survey by the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO) found that:

• Health care costs increased more than 10 percent for over half of the small businesses surveyed.  About 40 percent of the businesses responding stated the increase was about the same as last year. Small consolation there.
• About 40 percent of companies said health care was their biggest challenge (this response came in second, after “finding good employees.” Of course, having health insurance  is a big factor in attracting good employees.
• In small businesses where employees contribute to a health plan, 70 percent of the small businesses stated they would ask employees to contribute more next year.

Other questions on the survey asked about wellness incentives and “consumer-driven” options like Health Savings Accounts. The survey is worth reading, if depressing. Here’s the link: Taking the Temperature of Small Business

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Filed under: Estates

Real estate in the Says might be having tough times but in Canada things seem to be booming and we are seeing more breathtaking estates all over the country. This one in Metchosin in Greater Victoria, British Columbia is one of the most expensive. The home was completed in 2006 and sits on 67 acres. The design received a National Canadian Architect Award. The design is a mix on interior and outdoor design that includes pools of water which are part of a geothermal heating and air conditioning system that pulls water from the ocean and runs through the home. The water also divides the living and bedroom areas. The home is quite striking, if perhaps a bit chilly looking and I love the giant red couches in the living room area. The estate includes a guest house, boat house, covered pool, and a tennis court. It is listed at $24 million Canadian.

Continue reading Swanwick Ranch, Estate of the Day

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Filed under: Estates

This stately home in the Pacific Heights area of San Francisco hit the market earlier this month. The Neo-Classic mansion sits high on a hill and was designed by Houghton Sawyer in 1912 for sugar baron Adolph Spreckels and his wife Alma, as their first residence. The five-bedroom mansion has Bay views and has been retrofitted for seismic integrity. The pictures reveal that in many areas the original wood work and beautiful moldings have been retained. As faithful readers know, I love a good library and this one is a beauty with a fireplace and plenty of shelves. The kitchen seems less than inspired, it looks like it belongs in some other home, certainly not a home worth this much money. And, while I’m finding fault, I can’t understand why someone would take a home like this and then install tiny round ceiling lights. I like light as much as the next person but in a home with good bones like this, modern round lights set flush into the ceiling are an abomination. This home is listed at $25 million. Zillow’s zestimate is screamingly off here, they’ve got it at close to $4 million.

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Continue reading Pacific Heights, Estate of the Day

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Filed under: Estates

What attracts me to this home, billed as a “gentleman’s ranch” in Spicewood, Texas, is the sense of space. The center of the home is anchored by a huge great room that is ringed with limstone archways that lead to other rooms. The main home has been designed for two with the guests ensconced in a separate six-bedroom guest home. The main home is designed for pleasing on a grand scale. The kitchen is huge and there is also a 1,500 bottle wine room and a huge pantry. The Owner’s suite includes a separate living room and study, sleeping quarters and a hobby room. The master water closet is a bit kooky with one of those round tubs which seems to be put in front a shower area. The property is 18 acres total and the rest of the buildings are clustered around the pool and patio area which includes a summer kitchen with a grill, refrigerator, sink and granite countertops. The land also includes a six-car garage with attic and closet space plus a half bath. This home is listed at $4.25 million.

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Continue reading Spicewood Ranch, Estate of the Day

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Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

Oh my, today’s estate just stirs up all my dreamy tiny artsy bohemian fantasies. As the Wall Street Journal’s Christina S.N. Lewis reported in the Private Properties column, a farm in Spain’s Catalonia, owned by the family of surrealist Joan Mir

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Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

From the NY Post’s Gimme Shelter:
–Newly married Harvey Weinstein has sold his SoHo condo for $8 million.He purchased the loft apartment in 2005 for $6.8 million and he and his new wife Georgina Chapman now live in a townhouse in the West Village.
–Former and potentially future first daughter Chelsea Clinton is interested in a $3 million, two-bedroom, two-bath apartment in the coveted One Madison Park condominium complex.

From the NY Observer’s Manhattan Transfers:
–Popular real estate broker Robby Browne closed last month on a two-bedroom apartment at Robert A.M. Stern’s new Fifteen Central Park West which he plans to rent out for somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000.
–Former internet entrepreneur Wayne Correia was briefly worth about $400 million during which time he paid cash for a New York City penthouse. Later he moved into a steel bus traveling the country. This month, his old eight-room penthouse at 136 Waverly Place closed for $8.7 million.
–The man who wrote Beyonc

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Filed under: Estates

If you are a fan of Santa Fe style, this is the one for you. It’s a newer Bob Ritter built stone and adobe home that took more than 500 tons of native moss rock and 53,000 adobe bricks to finish. This home is located in the Club Estates area and is on over 9 acres overlooking the 14th fairway of the Sunrise golf course. There are four bedrooms and over 7,000 square feet of space total. The details here, like the wood beamed ceilings, the smooth adobe fireplaces and the hallways rimmed with stone are nice but there’s something about this home that feels off and chilly. Perhaps adobe does not lend itself to the vastness or perhaps its the ultra Southwestern staging job. This home is listed at $4.6 million, which seems a bit high.

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Continue reading 5 Peregrine, Estate of the Day

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Filed under: Estates, Journeys

Luxury and Fort Lauderdale are not exactly synonymous but the new 105-suite il Lugano resort hopes to change that. The hotel, which opens on January 2, offers oversized one-bedroom suites and the two-bedroom suites with big balconies. There are also entertainment suites with terraces that are capable of handling up to 50 guests. Amenities include full-sized refrigerators, microwaves and cook-tops and washers and dryers.

The top four floors are given over to 23 residences. The units range in size from 1,600 to 7,000 square feet with 10- to 11-foot ceilings, floor-to-ceiling glass windows. European kitchens and massive balconies. Unit owners are entitled to use all hotel amenities. A three-bedroom condo is currently listed at $1.95 million.

The hotel has a swimming pool, fitness center, lobby bar and 10 boat slips on the Intracoastal Waterway. A signature restaurant fronting the Intracoastal will be announced next spring. Introductory rates start at $199.

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Filed under: Estates

To put you in a Christmas state of mind, let’s visit the tiny town of Bethlehem. Bethlehem, Connecticut that’s, for a look at Fox Hollow Farm. This cute post and beam home is on 197 acres of woods and pastures that are probably looking pretty Christmasy right about now. The farmhouse has exposed beams, soaring ceilings and cozy stone fireplaces. The first floor includes the country kitchen, dining room with seating for 20, a huge exercise room that has a sauna and a private deck with a hot tub. The listing states that it was built in 2001 but that kitchen oddly looks even older, perhaps its the color. The living room is dominated by a great stone fireplace, unfortunately blemished by the placement of a flatscreen television. There are four bedrooms total including a master suite with a brick fireplace and an office with built in desks and bookshelves. Fox Hollow Farm is also located in one of only three state towns with no zoning, meaning that the property could be used for a corporate retreat, small school, equestrian farm, Inn, restaurant, place of worship or residential development. It is listed at $5.25 million.

Continue reading Fox Hollow Farm, Estate of the Day

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