Archive for March 16th, 2008
Officials walk, communities win
Lansing State Journal - NEWS Grant money will go toward park and recreational facility improvements. Loomis lost 18 pounds by participating in the challenge
U.S. gold futures rise to record $1,013/oz
MSN MoneyCentral - TOKYO (Reuters) - Gold futures in New York rose to a record high of $1,013 in electronic trading on Monday, on deepening worries about financial markets. At 2335 GMT, the active gold contract for April delivery on the Comex division of the New York
ABC Learning’s Groves settles Citigroup debt
News.com.au - All I can say is the money has been paid,” the spokesman said. Mr Groves, Le Neve Groves and two other directors were forced Search for more stories on this topic on Newstext , our news archive service. Click here
State highways hungry for money from severance tax proposal
Arkansas News Bureau - State highways hungry for money from severance tax proposal Sunday, Mar 16, 2008 By Jason Wiest Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Critics of Gov.
Prostitute says rate here is $700 to $800
Chicago Sun-Times - Your local news source :: Select a community or newspaper » Former Chicago insurance magnate and political power Michael Segal blew some of his company’s money on one of Laws’ $400-an
Indie labels take e-commerce into their own hands
ZDNet - Posted on ZDNet News : Mar 16, 2008 4:15:00 PM With their digital download sites, a growing number of indie rock labels have options available to indies that want to peddle their merchandise on the internet, why would a label want to sink the time and money
Downturn has barely begun
News.com.au - Money fleeing the US is pushing commodity prices higher. Australia’s high interest rates might attract a greater flow of funds Search for more stories on this topic on Newstext , our news archive service. Click here
When the rivers run dry
Tehran Times - View Rate : 43 # News Code : TTime- 165339 The essence of liquidity is the ability to raise ready money to meet pressing spending needs.
Money Issues, Politics Squeeze NASA
Post Chronicle - The United States’ space agency reportedly is facing tough times due to tight resources and the politics of the Bush administration. While President George Bush said four years ago the United States would return to the moon by 2020, the National
Time to snap up a bargain?
News.com.au - Local market suffering its deepest slump in 17 years Calculator : Work out how much you can borrow to invest More investing news in our Money section INVESTORS who have been belted by sinking share prices in the past few months should take heart from
U.S. central bank chief shifts to crisis mode
International Herald Tribune - costs by reducing the federal funds rate, the Fed has adopted a widening array of unconventional tools to infuse money into Join the IHT’s Daniel Altman in a lively discussion of the day’s economic news with an eye on globalization.
Sunday surprise: Fed acts on credit crisis
CNN Money - WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve announced a series of new steps Sunday to help provide relief to a spreading credit crisis that threatens to plunge the economy into recession. The central bank approved a cut to its lending rate to financial
Share This
Share This
 No Comments »
Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping
Being a celebrity ex-wife often nets you some lovely real estate. Research god Bob Goldsborough of Berg Properties Large Time Listings unearthed the listing for the Encino, California home of Kelly Van Halen. Kelly Van Halen is the second ex-wife of Alex Van Halen the drummer in Van Halen and Eddie Van Halen’s older brother. After their divorce, Kelly Van Halen paid $1,565,000 in November 2002 for this home. The home was built in 1951 and has five bedrooms.
The property is quite nice. The home is on a little over an acre and has a wonderful pool area and a pergola with a lovely stone outdoor fireplace. There is also an outdoor kitchen with a barbecue area. The back of the house has great veranda space that looks out over the hilly property. The home has many lovely features including a formal dining room, a study and a master bedroom with a fireplace.The interior with its foofy design style reminds me of the Suzanne Somers home, all bright colors and chandeliers and zebra print rugs. The listing says that’s was redesigned by Kelly Baron Design and a swift search led me to the Kelly Baron website which is under construction but features two pictures of this home. The name is curious, it makes me wonder if the ex-Mrs. Van Halen planning a career as a designer? She has listed this home for $4.495 million.
%Gallery-18406%
Continue reading Kelly Van Halen’s Home, Estate of the Day
Read
Share This
Share This
No Comments »
Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping
From the NY Observer’s Manhattan Transfers:
–The official listings for Julian Schnabel’s Palazzo Chupi have hit the market. We covered these listings as our estate of the day recently but the listings have a few more photos. The $32 million listing is here and the $27 million listing is here.
–Springsteen guitarist and Sopranos star Steven Van Zandt and wife Maureen have shut on a three-bedroom penthouse in a converted Methodist church at 135 West Fourth Street for $6 million.
–A townhouse at high-priced Beekman Place that belonged to the late William Rupp is now listed at $25 million. It sounds like Rupp was a bit of a grump, he built a huge wall on top of his home which he refused to remove. Now the wall is being torn down. The townhouse is one of only nine on the river side from 50-51st Street. The 12-room townhouse also has plans for a three-story addition on top of the existing two-story extension which have been approved by the city and would add another 1403 sq. ft. The listing is here.
–Yankees player Bobby Abreu has listed two-bedroom condo at One Beacon for $7.9 million. The spare and bare apartment, shown above, is listed here.
From the NY Post’s Gimme Shelter:
–Cameron Diaz has picked up a five-room renovated residence in a prewar doorman building, with an asking price just under $3 million.
–Brooke Shields has been spotted looking at homes in New York City. She and husband Chris Hency have been seen checking out a four-bedroom townhouse on West 20th Street with close to a $7 million asking price.
–Holly Speyer Lipton, the daughter of Rockefeller Center owner Jerry Speyer, has purchased a 12-room Park Avenue co-op for $12 million.
–Alain Levy, the former head of EMI Music, has paid $6.274 million for a two-bedroom, two-plus-bath apartment with Fifth Avenue views from the 18th floor.
From the Wall Street Journal’s Private Properties:
–As previously reported by the Real Estalker back in November, Vera Wang has listed her family’s Palm Beach oceanfront mansion for $19 million. In November, the estate, which belonged to her father Cheng Ching Wang, was listed for $23 million.
–Jason Brand, president of Merrill Lynch Pacific Rim, has bought a Hawaii oceanfront home for $15.9 million, which is a full 39% below its original listing price.
–As we mentioned in January, the former Atlanta estate of the late Robert Woodruff, longtime chairman of Coca-Cola Co., is for sale for $13.9 million. Check out pictures at the estate of the day post here.
From Berg Properties Celebrity Massive Time Listings:
–It’s official, Richie Sambora has paid $4 million to buy a Calabasas home from San Diego Padres starting pitcher Randy Wolf.
–Model and actress Kelly Van Halen (formerly married to Alex Van Halen) has listed her five-bedroom house in Encino. It is our estate of the day later today.
-TV speak show host and entertainment mogul Byron Allen has gone into escrow on the Hollywood Hills home that he had listed for $6.995 million.
–An Encino mansion that Macy Gray sold in December 2006 for $4,750,000 was listed at $11.7 million after a major rehab. It is now down to $9.96 million. The listing is here.
–Movie producer Gilbert Adler has listed his home in Beverly Hills for $7.9 million. The listing is here.
From the Real Estalker:
–Home makeover television host Ty Pennington has picked up a two-bedroom condo in the West Chelsea neighborhood in New York City. It had a $2.495 million asking price.
–Rumor has it that the nearly one-million-dollar two-bedroom apartment in New York that Nicole Richie and Joel Madden recently purchased may be back on the market soon.
–via Page Six, Jon Bon Jovi has sold his Upper West Side condo for $5.484 million.
–via Newsday, the home next to Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony’s estate in Brookville, New York has been listed at $2.229 million. To get to the five-bedroom home you’ve to pass through the same “million-dollar gates” that Lopez and Anthony installed for protection. The listing is here.
–Also the nine-bedroom home next to Lopez and Anthony in Bel Air is also for sale for $6.995 million. The virtual tour is here.
–Jude Law has reportedly bought the London house he’s been leasing in the Maida Vale neighborhood for around
Share This
Share This
No Comments »
Filed under: Estates
For a while it seemed that Miami might be one part of Florida that was if not immune from the real estate slowdown, protected a bit by its size and cachet. But now prices have started to plummet and putting many real estate speculators in trouble. The Miami skyline is dotted with cranes as buildings continue to go up but thousands of condo units are waiting either unsold or in foreclosure.
The numbers in Miami are startling, According to a report in Canada’s Globe and Mail, prices citywide were 17.5 per cent lower in December than a year earlier with the value of some condos down by as much as half. And as more condo projects in progress are finished up the numbers could even go lower. Condos with sexy names and alluring promotions such as Jade and Vue are now facing millions of dollars in mortgage defaults and foreclosures. It’s been a disaster for both investors and developers. In fact, two prominent Miami condo developers who were facing condo problems have died of heart attacks.
The problem in Miami is just part of Florida’s boom and bust cycle. Whole towns sprung up over the last few years and many have gone bust just as swiftly often leaving half-built homes abandoned (for a great photo series on this check out this piece on Rotunda Sands in Mental Floss). At this point, practically the entire say of Florida is in some sort of foreclosure crisis making it simple pickings for those from across the country and around the world looking for a real estate deal. Both homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth and developers forced to sell condos at cost or in some cases for even less than it cost to build them are ready to accept all sorts of offers.
For now, the temporary bandage seems to be real estate auctions. The other day I mentioned that two prominent real estate firms in Florida are working with a major real estate auction company. And just about each day I learn of a new auction of a condo complex in Florida. Many of the auctions are absolute, meaning that bidders will take whatever they can get. The good news is that this slump cannot last forever and for those who have the means to pick up a warm weather getaway there are major bargains to be had. Maybe this is the time for Miami developers to reach out to Russian investors looking for a place to wait out the winter chill.
Read
Share This
Share This
No Comments »
Posted by: in Small Business
Filed under: Management, Industry, Economic data, Small business, Federal Reserve
 A current report published by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) gives indications that even though American small businesses are certainly tightening their game plans a bit, they’re by no means going down for the count. The report reviews a number of important indicators, testing everything from optimism to inventories. A casual read of the complete survey provided in PDF format, provides proof that while small businesses are actively adjusting to current economic trends, in many ways they’re simply applying some timely critical thinking within a “business as usual” format.
Some statistical highlights that I picked out from the report really gave me pause to wonder. For instance, 46% of the business owners responding reported that when attempting to hire new employees, they were faced with a lack of qualified applicants for the jobs they wished to fill. Overall the survey indicates that current and pending employment opportunities are steady to strong for 2008, while the available labor pool remains tight. We could speculate that depressed entry level wage scales have some bearing on this situation.
Though respondents indicated reduced expectations for economic improvement as compared to the September 2007 survey, capital outlays for buildings, land, vehicles, equipment, and fixtures remained firm. Even as small businesses expressed reduced expectations for sales increases moving through the year, they are still moving ahead with plans to increase capacities and improve facilities.
Overall, business inventories are being adjusted downwards, although not all respondents indicated declines. This is the continuation of a trend that began in mid 2007 and isn’t expected to reverse any time soon. Further proof of this is illustrated by the volume of freight moving by railroads.
Increases in employee compensation were reported by 23% of the survey respondents. A lesser percentage reported passing those increases on to the consumer. Of business owners reporting February gains in earnings over January, 60% cited stronger sales, 13% cited higher selling prices, and 7% cited lower material costs. It would appear that small businesses are doing what they have the ability to to help combat inflation.
Finally, the small business world doesn’t seem to be getting too overly excited about tightening credit availability. Only 3% of respondents cited credit cost and availability as their number one business problem. In contrast, in 1982 a record 37% of respondents indicated credit availability as troublesome. It would seem that at this point there is greater concern about the value of dollars in hand and generating the best return from dollars invested.
In conclusion, I would tend to state that American small business is taking current economic conditions in stride. Optimism is being held in check, and small business has seen no improvement in conditions based on moves made by the federal reserve. Inflation is seen as the number one concern for small business with insurance expenses following as a close number two. In many ways it would clearly appear that small business is tenaciously holding it’s ground while waiting for our government to figure some things out.
Share This
Share This
No Comments »
Posted by: in Your Business
Sorry for the sports analogy, but it fits. It’s never good to see a football coach get away from his game plan in the middle of the game. Adjustments to a game plan at half-time are fine. Making significant changes to a plan regardless of circumstances leaves the people in the stands wondering if the coaching staff understands the situation on the field.
Up until last Friday the Federal Reserve was following the financial game plan fairly well. They went for some uncommon actions, but nothing outlandish. On Friday they did something that hadn’t been done since the 1930’s when they lent money to a commercial bank, J.P. Morgan, to lend to an investment house, Bear Stearns. No need to get into the details of how Stearns got to where they’re or where they are going. The fact that the Fed had to resort to something akin to a “flea flicker”, double pass, to maintain order in the financial market states a lot.
First, such activity states that things are very bad in the financial market. It isn’t sub-prime mortgage bonds. It’s the value of the underlying assets of all bonds. Second, and most troubling, the people who are supposed to know what’s going on keep getting surprised.
You need to realize that many of the things governments and central banks do take time to work their way through the market. The Fed has provided a way for Stearns to get it’s act together over the next 28 days. Hopefully everybody will be less excited at that point. If we’re really at the point where the surprises are ending then the Fed’s move with Stearns will look brilliant.
What should small business people do while all this works its way out. Not to over do sports analogies, but play defense. Postpone any cash outlays that you completely, positively don’t have to make. Buy in smaller quantities. The size of cash outlays means more that cost per unit of inventory. Call your banker and see how your line of credit is doing.
There is still plenty of money out there, but there is substantially less than a year ago. People are looking for safe investments. You should too.
Share This
Share This
Share This
No Comments »
|
Entries (RSS)