Man Gets Jailed For Building Fence on His Own Prop

This is why I hate too many rules and Homeowners Associations…

Green With Glamour

Ooh! Love this shopping site, Green With Glamour. Find furniture, home accessories, and gifts all gorgeous and all eco-sound. Very cool!

Prep School

I wish I could show you the mock DHome cover that crazy friends of Susan Palma made for her, but marketing tends to get a tad jumpy about messing with the D logo. Artist Jane Corbellini took Susan’s portrait from page 85 of the August issue, and re-named it PHome. Leslie Kennedy wrote “Susan’s Pet Care Tips: in one word, stuffed“, and “Sons Alex and Charlie disclose trauma of smocked outfits well past preschool.” I understand that one is really true.

Rustic Charmer

Came across this listing. “Rustic” is right. This house is stuck in the early 80s but isn’t it cool? A total redo could make this place a show house. Not bad for the price.

Robert A.M. Stern to Design Bush Library

So it’s official, sort of. Even though everybody and their dog knows the library’s going to SMU, that has not been announced. But we do have an architect on the project.

Dave Perry-Miller: The Million Dollar (Per Day) Man

Dave Perry-Miller was on a panel of nationally-recognized top agents teaching other agents how to “embrace today’s Luxury Real Estate Consumer”. The other panelists were Brian Lewis, charming graduate of The College of William and Mary who told us how the best training he got was by working as a Concierge at the Four Seasons Hotel in NYC where his clients were, among others, Oprah Winfrey. Brian is with the distinguished New York City-based Halstead Property, LLC firm. Then Susan Rychel of Slifer Smith & Frampton Real estate in Avon, Colo. piped in with her years of experience dealing with generations of high echelon buyers in Vail. But it was our very own Dave who wowed the crowds with his tale of helping a Dallas couple settle first into a $4 million “interim” house while they tore down and devised building plans and then finally moved them to a $10 million interim home. The best way to service clients, he said, is to simply get them what they want. Which he does uber well, apparently: in his first 90 days at Ebby Halliday, Dave has closed $1,000,000 (one million) per day for a total of $90 million closed with only 29 agents.

Fact Checking Trillions

Talked to Don Winter, VP of the Harrison Group, who wanted me to clarify a few things in my earlier post — nothing as earth shattering as the figures I shared with you. I am still stumbling over that TR word, TRILLION….

One, the top 5% of the wealthiest in America control $32 trillion in private assets. The rest — 95% — control only a mere $7 trillion. The top 5% spend $1.3 trillion annually. And finally, Don said the average age of these mega trillionaires is 47, not 45. Which makes me feel a whole lot better.

Whatever Happened At That Centrum Auction???

Remember this story? Yeah, well I’ve been wondering too. So today I about jumped for joy when one of the presenters at Luxury Portfolio was Alan Kravets, President of Sheldon Good & Company or — the folks who auctioned off the Centrum Tower properties this past spring. Price at which a total of several Centrum properties sold: $6 million. (more…)

Dear Steve II

Totally in agreement today. And might I add that one element of this good fortune may be coming from both abroad and south of the border: final day of Luxury Portfolio, we learned (among other things) how the influx of foreign buyers has helped prop the US Real Estate market. Folks, they are buying up our properties in droves — a 25% increase in foreign buyers in sagging markets like NYC and Miami. LP’s Executive VP Paul Boomsma calls it a two-for-one sale given the dollar’s devaluation. We heard from top Miami Realtor extraordinaire Audrey Ross with Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell that if 2005 was the shining year of Florida Real estate sales, 2007 sales for single fam homes is down 34% from that pinnacle, and condo sales are down 22%. OMIG: 20,000 fresh new condos are yet to be delivered to the market. However, she is setting her sites (and brushing up foreign language skills) on the flush buyers coming from the UK (Ireland and Scotland, the Highlanders apparently love beaches) and Russia. Not one buyer, she said, has hailed from California — it’s Europe coming in and sweeping up the bargains.
In our case, it’s Mexico and South America and it won’t be long before the Russians will also be coming to Texas.