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Prestige Index: Los Angeles
2007-02-12 16:17:02
                                                   by Roberta Murphy With a drumroll, let?s reveal and discuss the results of First Republic Bank?s Prestige Index for Los Angel es , California. Our earlier article about San Diego?s Prestige Index offered some interesting data. Hopefully our report on the Los Angeles luxury home market won?t disappoint! As might be expected, the pace of luxury home appreciation in Los Angeles has cooled somewhat, but is far from being in the tank. The report reveals that at mid-2006, the average price for a luxury home in Los Angeles stood at  a record $2.29 million?a $253,000 increase from a year earlier. That?s a healthy 12.4 percent increase (What bubble???). The rate of increase in the luxury home market, though, appears to be slowing. Los Angeles homes in marquee locations, says the FRB report, remain in hot demand, but the lower end of the luxury market has slowed here as in other California markets. That bottom segment of the luxury market reflec...
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The Prestige Home Index
2007-02-12 16:17:02
                        by Roberta Murphy First Republic Bank has created the first statistical model?The Prestige Home Index ?that measures changes in home values in excess of $1 million in key California markets. What are some of the common features of these indexed homes? They have at least 3000 to 6000 feet, three to six bedrooms and three to six bathrooms, according to the study. Many are substantially larger. Digested reporting of this index would probably too hefty for one blog. Instead, we?ll turn it into three shorter ones. Today?s focus will be balmy and palmy San Diego County in Southern California?with emphasis on the tony towns and zips of Rancho Santa Fe (92067), La Jolla (92037) and Del Mar (92014). First Republic reports that the average luxury home in San Diego is a record $2.18 million at the end of 3Q 2006.  First Republic?s Luxury Home Index additionally reports that San Diego luxury home values may have risen 1.9% from the second quarter of 2006, but year-over-ye...
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Neverland for Sale? Or Not?
2007-02-12 16:17:02
        ;      &nbs p;      &nb sp;      &n bsp;      & nbsp;               ;      &nbs p;      &nb sp;      &n bsp;      & nbsp;      by RobertaMurphy There was lots of year-end buzz about pop singer Michael Jackson selling his 2800–acre Santa Barbara County Neverland Ranch. Rolling Stone first reported that Jackson was trying to market the Santa Ynez ranch to soccer luminary David Beckham and his wife Victoria (Posh Spice). Those rumors had hardly been quieted, when another started making the rounds about Jackson selling Neverland on the Bravo television reality show, Million Dollar Listing: Hollywood—with ...
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Wealthy Homes Rarely Invaded?at Least in the U.S.
2007-02-12 16:17:02
by Roberta Murphy Home invasions of the wealthy are rare, says Mark Bauer, staff writer for the San Diego Union Tribune. His article in this morning’s San Diego Union Tribune reminds us of: 1. The highly-publicized 1974 Patty Hearst kidnapping by the Simbionese Army She was granddaughter of publishing mogul William Randolph Hearst. 2. The $2.7 million ransom paid in 1973 for the release of an oil billionaire’s grandson and namesake,  John Paul Getty II–-which occurred after a slice of the victim’s ear was sent as proof of the kidnapper’s sincerity. 3. The never-forgotton 1932 kidnapping of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh’s 20–month-old son who was snatched from the family’s New Jersey home. After the $50,000 ransom was paid, the baby was found murdered and Bruno Hauptman, the killer, was executed. High profile home invasions make news and provide juicy fodder for novels and films. In reality...
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Bluebloods of Blogging
2007-02-12 16:17:02
Comes close to describing some of the attendees?and I sure like the sound of it! Yesterday a large group of real estate bloggers met at the Internet Relevance presentation in Long Beach, CA to hear Dustin Luther (left), founder of Rain City Guide, speak about the intricacies and benefits of  real estate blogging. And speak he did, at about the speed of a machine gun going full blast! There are times I wish I had studied shorthand or court reporting; hence, my notes are spotty in a number of places. Attending this presentation were the esteemed Rudolph Bachraty (pictured with perched glasses) of  New York-based Sellsius Real Estate; Brian Brady, America?s Most Opinionated Mortgage Broker; a couple of  Active Rain?s lovely co-founders, Jon and Sara Washburn; the personable Loren Nason of The Future of Real Estate Technology;  Jeff Dowler, a blogging Encinitas, CA Realtor, and Jeff Turner with Real Estate Shows. There were other bloggers I would have loved to meet, but we were forced t...
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