Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

Today’s estate listing has 70 photos, but that’s because there’s a lot to check out. The 12,000-square-foot mansion is Michael Andretti’s home in Bushkill Township, Pennsylvania. Andretti the son of racing legend Mario Andretti and the father of current Indy Racing League star Marco Andretti. He is also a former racer and is now the owner of Andretti Green Racing as well as other businesses. Andretti built the home in 1986. The ten acres include a six-hole golf course, six-car garage, pool, tennis court and a pond. The home is lavish and developed to the owner’s specifications with hand-painted murals that reference the family’s Italian heritage. There are six-bedrooms total as well as a gym, game room and wine cellar and big two-story dome. The home is listed at $3.4 million.

[via Penn Live]

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Do you think that all it takes to get promotions, raises, and job offers is confined within the four walls of your office cube? The title states it all. Writing a book is a great, albeit uncommon, way to get your name and reputation out there.

Now, before you cringe while remembering how difficult your English class was, give this idea a chance. Why?

Because if you write a book on a particular subject, you’re automatically branded as an expert. It’s that easy. It shows people that you know enough about a subject to pontificate about it.

It doesn’t matter so much whether 10 or 100 people have read your book. As long as you wrote one, most potential employers or colleagues will see that as a credibility boost. Of course, the boost will be much greater if you have thousands of readers.

Publishers don’t have to pick up your book either. You can have it self-published and do quite a bit of marketing if you really want it to sell. Some self-publishing companies you might want to look at: Lulu or Cafepress.

Don’t have enough mojo for an entire book? Try a few articles first. You don’t need to be a full-fledged journalist to get published in a magazine or newspaper. I know this because I did it. Find out which editor you’re supposed to submit entries to, read a few back issues, and send in some sample work with your resume. They’re not even going to bother about your college major as long as the work is good. In most cases, anyway.

If you’re concerned about your (lack of) writing skills, get some outside help.  Whether it’s a journalist friend, a ghostwriter, or an editor, getting a professional’s perspective on your writing can improve the quality of your work.

Whatever you publish, just don’t forget to put it on your resume. Let it leave a lasting footprint on your professional history. Otherwise, it’ll all be forgotten.
So with all those ideas in mind, consider writing a book or an article to further your career. Who knows? If it gets popular enough, you’ll soon be grazing magazine covers just like Timothy Sykes did when he wrote “An American Hedge Fund”. I bet it’s much easier for him to get a high profile Wall Street job compared to an equally qualified candidate without a book.

Have you tried writing a book, magazine, or blog about a topic related to your career? How did it work for you professionally?

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Filed under: Estates

A home in London where JM Barrie is believed to have written Peter Pan is now up for sale. The six-bedroom home in South Kensington is where Barrie met the Llewelyn Davies boys who inspired the story (as dramatized in the movie Finding Neverland). The home is a classic Victorian with two living and entertaining rooms, a dining/breakfast room, balconies and a private garden as well as access to communal gardens. It definitely seems to be in need of a gentle restoration but it’s still a magical home. It is listed at

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Filed under: Estates

Luxury condos in one of the most anticipated buildings in the U.S. went on sale this week. CBS2 in Chicago reports that the sales office for the Chicago Spire is now open. The sales office is as posh as the condos themselves with designs created by the architect of the Spire, Santiago Calatrava. Residences at the 2,000-foot-tall Spire are price from $750,000 to $15 million each. I had my doubts about the building when I first heard about it in 2005 but was soundly rebuked by commenters who insisted that this building is exactly what Chicago needs. Despite the sky-high prices and a sluggish real estate market, it is expected that the Spire will sell, not just to people in Chicago, but to people around the world who are eager to live in a Calatrava building. Those who purchase are in for a long wait, move in isn’t expected until 2012.

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Filed under: Estates

A million dollars may buy you a sizable place in the U.S. but abroad you would have to settle for something a bit smaller. In Paris, $1 million will get you a historical apartment of 615 square feet. In other countries it will buy you a high-rise apartment with two beds and one bath — if you’re lucky. Peruse the fabulous pictures and see what a million could do for your living conditions. Unfortunately there wasn’t an example in Antartica — guess we’ll just have to leave that icy estate to our imaginations.

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Filed under: Estates

Limited edition homes? That’s the pitch for the new 34 Leonard loft project in Manhattan’s TriBeCa neighborhood. 34 Leonard Street is a building of 16 loft-style homes with open floor plans and walls of windows offering urban and park views. The lobby will be dominated by an art installation from Jennifer Steinkamp, which will be a three-dimensional visual illusion of translucent glass with embedded leaves, sculptured wood benches and artisan crafted limestone walls. The development’s units are designed to accommodate art collections, and art expert Carol Dorksy will offer advice to potential buyers interested in starting or expanding their art collections. Other amenities include a wine cellar that can provide storage of 300 bottles per unit, a grill and bar area on the roof deck, a sunbathing area with an outdoor shower, a pet spa, fitness center, storage and a round-the-clock doorman.

GlobeSt.com reports that the approximate construction cost for the project is $45 million. The 16 homes include, one, two and three bedroom residences as well as a 3,086-square-foot penthouse that has a 2,215-square-foot wrap-around terrace. No presales yet but there are 150 people on the waiting list to pick up the homes, which range from $2 million to $8 million for the penthouse.
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Filed under: Estates

Today’s home in the ritzy Tuxedo Park area of Atlanta was once the home of Robert Woodruff, former president of Coca-Cola. The five-bedroom home was built in the 1930s but has a new pool and pool home. The home is done in a sweeping Regency style, and decorated in that gracious, slightly old-fashioned style that fights with bare contemporary spaces for page space in Architectural Digest. All seems to be in perfect charming order except for that kitchen. This is one home that should not have black stone countertops. The home sits on seven well-landscaped acres. It is listed at $13.9 million.

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Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

Today’s estate is a rather curious one, a bit of faux Provence tucked into the hills of Palm Springs, CA. The home belongs to Suzanne Somers and Alan Hamel and sits on 65 acres of desert land. Les Baux de Palm Springs. The couple purchased the land way back in 1977 and it came with a small home that the couple eventually enlarged and added to, also including guest houses an amphitheater and an updated pool to the property. The decorating style is a wee bit confusing with some sort of charming French country touches which keep company with velvet couches, giant chandeliers and more than one zebra skin rug. It’s all a bit crazy but sort of endearing. Even the Real Estalker Mama, who is famous for dishing out the harsh words seems oddly touched by the overblown earnestness of the home. Is it worth $35 million? It’s hard to tell but I suspect the price might be a wee bit overlown too.

[via Palm Springs Life]

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Continue reading Les Baux de Palm Springs, Estate of the Day

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Filed under: Estates, Charity

Michael Vick might have sold his infamous Virginia home which was used in a dogfighting ring last Might but the home’s infamy lives on. The home was appraised at $747,000 but sold for bargain price of $450,000 (don’t feel too sorry for Vick, he paid $34,000 for the 15 acres of land in 2002 and built the house). Since then the house has been put up for auction but last month at the auction real estate developer Wilbur Ray Todd Jr. rejected a final bid of $747,000. Todd states he put another $50,000 into fixing up the home which had been vandalized. The property includes the main home,a basketball court, four outbuildings and many dog cages. The main house has two master suites, a media room and a two-car garage. It is now listed at $1.1 million and an animal advocacy group wants to turn it into a shelter for abused dogs. Jalie’s Butterflies, has raised over $11,000 so far. They state that if the do not raise enough money to purchase the home donations will got to the ASPCA. You can donate at The Vick House Project.

[via Baltimore Sun]

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Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

From the NY Post’s Gimme Shelter:
–Concern over the real estate market is causing a boom in Hamptons summer rentals. Instead of buying a home you can rent a home in Sagaponack for the three-month summer season fro $1 million, and it doesn’t even have a water view.
–Christine Wolf, the ex-wife of TV mogul Dick Wolf, has sold her Upper East Side townhouse for approximately $9.6 million to Shaul Nakash, who runs Jordache jeans.
–Celebrity attorney Gloria Allred has paid $1.75 million for a three-bedroom prewar apartment on West 81st Street.

From the NY Observer’s Manhattan Transfers:
–Political cartoonist Ranan Lurie has paid $11.25 million for an apartment at 15 Central park West.
–Can an apartment which sold for $22.25 million seven months ago sell for $29.75 million now? That’s what fashion trade-show magnate Elyse Kroll is hoping. She bought the Sutton Square townhouse from Chinese TV personality Yue-Sai Kan last June. The listing is here.
–CollegeHumor co-founder Joshua Abramson has purchased $1.975 million apartment at the Greenwich.

From Berg Properties Massive Time Listings:
–Mr. Big Time runs down the real estate doings of Janet Jackson. Finding that she owns a condo in the Trump International Hotel & Tower condominium building, at 1 Central Park West in Manhattan and a home in Henderson, N.V., just outside of Las Vegas. It is believed that she no longer owns any real estate in Southern California but she used to own an oceanfront home in Malibu, a mansion in Bel-Air, a home in Rancho Sante Fe, and one more that she owned in Northridge that now belongs to her ex-husband, Rene Elizondo.
–Donovan Leitch Jr., who is in the band Camp Freddy, has sold his Spanish-style compound in Los Angeles’ Hollywood Hills for $1,050,000. It was our estate of the day back in October.
–Tom Bosley has sold his English country-style home in the Beverly Hills post office area for an undisclosed price after it was on the market for $2,950,000.
–An eight-bedroom mansion in Beverly Hills that once was owned by Madonna has sold for $15,680,000.
–More details on John Goodman’s purchase on a house in Pacific Palisades, he paid $4.6 million for his newly built home.
–Rapper Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas paid $2.2 million for a six-bedroom home in Altadena last spring.
–via The Wall Street Journal, the buyer of Georgia Frontiere mansion in Los Angeles in Bel-Air has been identified as Hilton Hotels Chief Executive Christopher Nassetta, who paid around $27.5 million. The home was on the market for $29,975,000.
–via The Wall Street Journal, Nicolas Cage has unloaded one of his many properties. He has sold his modern mansion in Newport Beach for $35 million.

From the Wall Street Journal’s Private Properties:
–Football star Terrell Owens has bought two new Dallas-area homes, a townhouse in the Eastside Lofts and a condominium in the new high-rise Azure complex. He still hasn’t unloaded his home in Moorestown, New Jersey which is listed at $3.4 million, reportedly $500,000 less than he purchased it for. The listing is here.

From the Real Estalker:
–The LA Times reported on indicted celebrity real estate agents Joseph Babajian and Kyle Grasso. The pair, who made millions on celeb clients were reportedly involved in complicated schemes involving straw buyers, obscenely over-valued properties and forged paper work. The pair is set to be tried in July unless a plea agreement is reached.
–Simon Fuller who owns a home in the “bird streets”area of the Hollywood Hills is reportedly quietly shopping the modern home for $8.5 million. He bought the home in February for $7.65 million.
–Fox News reports that Michael Jackson has may have found a lending institution to help him deal with his massive debt. It still seems likely that Neverland Ranch may still go into foreclosure.
–British hypnotist and author Paul McKenna has purchased a home in the Hollywood Hills for $6.6 million.
–Rumor has it that celebrity hairstylist Sally Hershberger will be opening a Los Angeles outpost in the same building that houses celebrity decorator Kelly Wearstler. Hershberger’s Trousdale Estates home was on the market for $6.5 million but appears to have been taken off the market.
–The estate of Howard Gittis, a wealthy businessman, has put his Palm Beach home, shown above, on the market for $23.5 million. Gittis purchased the home in 2001 fro $9.95 million. The listing is here.
–Another Gittis property, his Southampton home, is on the market for $59 million.
–Lauren Conrad of the reality show, The Hills, has picked up a home in Los Angeles which was listed at $2.495 million.
–A report on a home that Brendan Fraser and soon-to-be ex-wife Afton sold for $2,995,029 back in February.
–Suzanne Somers and Alan Hamel have put their Palm Springs home on the market for $35 million. it is our estate of the day later today.
–Reality Television star Slade Smiley has reduced the price on his Coto de Caza home. It began at $1.725 million and now sits at $1.29 million. The listing is here.
–Jesse Metcalfe, who used to be on Desperate Housewives, has listed his Beachwood Canyon area home for $1.495 million. The listing is here.

From Newsday:
–A North Haven, NY property owned by Robert W. Rust which was listed for $80 million has been pulled off the market. The real estate agent, Dolly Lenz of Prudential Douglas states she is still the agent on the property but Rust states that he is looking for another bureau and renovating the property before puttingit back on the market again.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
–A home once belonging to actor Fred MacMurray in Brentwood is expected to be put on the market for around $10 million.
–A Los Feliz home once owned by Paul Winfield is now on the market for $4.7 million.

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