2008 March 17 | money news blog

Continue reading Hyannisport Tower, Estate of the Day

17 03 2008

Hyannisport Tower, Estate of the Day

Posted by: in Real Estate News

Filed under: Estates

When I saw that this one was up for sale, I was excited. When my family used to live on Cape Cod, I’ve often passed by this home on the way to the Hyannis Yacht Club. On sunny days I often saw a man painting on outside on the observation deck of the tower. This home is set at a bend in the road in Hyannisport and faces Nantucket Sound. The nearly 8,000 square-foot home is on enviable piece of land with 300 feet of private beachfront. The home, which was built in 1910, is in need of a bit of a renovation but it’s a treat to see the artist’s works everywhere. The studio is messy, as all good studios should be, but it looks like great space. The home is listed at $8.95 million.

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Continue reading Wilshire Penthouse, Estate of the Day

17 03 2008

Wilshire Penthouse, Estate of the Day

Posted by: in Real Estate News

Filed under: Estates

I don’t write too much about condos in Los Angeles but we’ve definitely got them. For the most part they don’t have the appeal of some New York condominiums when it comes to poshness and elaborate style but this one is pretty breathtaking. It’s the double penthouse that takes up half of the highest two floors at The Wilshire on Wilshire Blvd. The condo has a private foyer and a big and ornate two-story living room with silk draperies, custom rock crystal chandeliers, hand-made carpets and sculpted moldings. The home has a beautiful bronze and iron staircase and balcony detail, a water filtration system, four fireplaces and remote control security monitors. The walnut family room has the look of a European pub with coffered ceilings and a granite bar. The media room has a 100-inch rear screen projection system and there’s a formal dining room and separate sitting room. There is a private in-unit elevator which also goes to the upper floor where there’s a mahogany office, guest suite and a storage area that includes a hair salon and wrapping room, which can be converted into an additional bedroom. The master suite has an antique marble fireplace, blackout shades and soft pastels. The gentlemen’s bath and dressing room has a steam shower and the ladies’ bath has a spa and big closet. The building has 24-hour concierge service, 24-hour valet, gym facilities and swimming pool. This condo is listed at $11.5 million.

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17 03 2008

Foreclosure Fears Strike Napa

Posted by: in Real Estate News

Filed under: Estates

Even in one of the hottest real estate markets in the United Says people are starting to feel the pinch of the foreclosure crisis. The AP has a story on the falling housing prices in one of the most beautiful and pricey areas in the country. In January, home sales fell more than 55 percent from the year before. The number of houses at any stage of foreclosure jumped by 152.9 percent. So far the very costly wine towns of Calistoga, Yountville, St. Helena and Rutherford are still doing well but the city of Napa and the town of American Canyon have been hard hit, finding that the newer housing developments are particularly vulnerable both to lack of sales and forecloures.

Part of the worry for Napa is that its exponential growth has been fueled by wine tourism which might begin to wane in the current economic climate. Currently condos, offices and retail stores are under construction, designed to appeal to the tourists and part-time residents. While the general wisdom seems to be that recessions don’t cause people to stop drinking wine, it may cause them to cut back on winery tours which would impact other luxury retail businesses which have come to the area in the past couple of years.

17 03 2008

Own Your Time

Posted by: in General work pimps

Image by Christian Benacer, taken from stock.xchng

PimpYourWork.com

If you think you own your time, you’re either enlightened, or kidding yourself. For most people, including me, it’s the latter. Whenever you find yourself attending pointless meetings, spending too much time on email, or at your boss’ beck and call - you don’t really own your time.

Oftentimes, this makes you less productive.

However, if you create your own schedule and stick to it without outside interruption, you’re more apt to accomplish your daily goals. You own your time.

What do you do to gain control of your time? Here’s where you can start:

Keep your mobile phone silent. Constant attachment to one’s phone is integral to corporate (and Filipino) culture. Observe your behavior with your phone. You’ll find that it usually distracts you from what you should be doing. After all, everyone can reach you 24/7 - including text message spammers.

By putting my phone on silent, there’s less pressure to answer calls and messages. I look at my phone 2x a day and often find out that I haven’t missed anything important. This also forces other people to adjust to your schedule and your priorities, rather than putting you on call 24/7 like an emergency room doctor. (Unless, of course, you are an emergency room physician. In that case, I can’t help you.)

If you receive too many emails each day, do something about it. I’ve discussed this at length in my “How I Freed Myself from Mountains of Email” series. If you haven’t read it yet, I advocate that you look it over and see how you can apply some of the ideas into your own email routine.

Practice saying “No”. Do you ever wonder how people include themselves in your schedule? It’s probably because you say “yes” more times than you should. For example: Can we speak for an hour about this project that you’re not even part of? Yes. Can you send me Mr. Smith’s contact info? Yes. Do you’ve time? Yes. If you want to learn more about the art of saying “no”, we’ve an article from last month about it.

Respect your own time. If you don’t respect it, no one else will. If it’s your rest day, don’t get suckered into saying “Yes, I’ll put in a few hours this day to cover for you.” even if your colleagues tell you it’s “Just this one time, promise.” It’s almost never just one time. If they get away with taking your free time away once, they’re apt to do it again.

It also helps to think of your time as money. It’s especially true in the workplace. How much do you get paid per hour? If an obnoxious coworker drags you into an irrelevant brainstorming session for an hour, it’s like you just gave that person your money. You could’ve spent that hour doing a more pressing task. The next time someone asks for your time, rephrase the question in your head as if they were asking you for money. “Do you have an hour to read this silly forwarded email?” will become “Do you’ve $50 you could give me?”. Notice the hesitation you feel.

How much of your time do you really own? Do you find yourself giving too much time and attention to others?

Arab financial offensive on US companies concerns Analysts - Jerusalem Post

17 03 2008

Arab financial offensive on US companies concerns Analysts - Jerusalem Post

Posted by: admin in Latest News

Arab financial offensive on US companies concerns Analysts
Jerusalem Post,

Continue reading Kelly Van Halen’s Home, Estate of the Day

17 03 2008

Kelly Van Halen’s Home, Estate of the Day

Posted by: in Real Estate News

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

Being a celebrity ex-wife often nets you some lovely real estate. Research god Bob Goldsborough of Berg Properties Huge 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 tiny 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 states that is was redesigned by Kelly Baron Design and a swift search led me to the Kelly Baron website which is under construction but features two photos 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.

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17 03 2008

Sunday Real Estate Roundup 3/16/08

Posted by: in Real Estate News

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 closed on a three-bedroom penthouse in a converted Methodist church at 135 West Fourth Street for $6 million.
–A townhouse at pricey 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 large 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 bought 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 house 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 Huge 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 home in Encino. It is our estate of the day later this day.
-TV talk show host and entertainment mogul Byron Allen has gone into escrow on the Hollywood Hills home that he’d 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 TV 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 almost one-million-dollar two-bedroom apartment in New York that Nicole Richie and Joel Madden recently purchased might 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 purchased the London home he’s been leasing in the Maida Vale neighborhood for around

17 03 2008

Miami Real Estate Flounders On Sinking Prices

Posted by: in Real Estate News

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 completed 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 pic 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 easy 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 every 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.