Top of the Tweets: Luxury Sales Rise & Clark Family Saga
On the real estate front, foreclosures and speculation about future foreclosures are still on the front burner. Strategic defaults in which homeowners decide to walk away from their mortgages are also getting a larger share of headlines and have the potential of creating a new drag on the recovery. Nearly one in five homeowners who were seriously delinquent on their mortgages in the last three months of 2008 were walkaways, reports the L.A. Times on a recent study by credit bureau Experian and consulting firm Oliver Wyman. Defaults could also extend the recovery for housing. Read more in this L.A. Times article.
What do Shiller and Case (of the Case Shiller Price Index) think the impact of the growing number of defaults will be? @KCM captures comments from both professors in a recent blog by Steve Harney, “Professors Case and Shiller: Unplugged.”
Good news! Home prices in Southern California picked up in February.
Luxury sales and prices were up in Marin County, California, in the month of February. A total of 33 homes sold for more than $1 million during the month, this is nearly triple the number of solds from a year ago. The median price of $1.55 million soared more than 25 percent year over year and rose 21 percent from the previous month.
Properties in Spain were hit hard by the global financial crises, but a report tweeted by LuxuryRealEstate.com shows that prices in January 2010 were up. The increase was only 0.6 percent with the Valencia region registering an increase of 2.2 percent over the prior month.
Wondering what characteristics good luxury real estate agents share? The Institute for Luxury Homes Marketing @ihlm says they include confidence, competence and professionalism. Also, good agents use quality marketing materials, network with other luxury agents and are always ethical.
Years living and writing in New England got me hooked on homes with a history. “The Clarks: An American story of wealth, scandal and mystery” by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Bill Dedman features Barbara Cleary’s Realty Guild‘s listing Le Beau Chateau. The story recently appeared on MSNBC. It’s a fascinating tale.
You don’t have to follow too many people on Twitter before you run into a link to something out of the ordinary. Almost every international news outlet reported on an automatic dog washing machine in Japan. Just in case you’re wondering, the machines dry too. Take a look at this contraption in action.
Oenophiles haven’t quite gotten over the departure of John Brescher and Dorothy Gaiter from the Wall Street Journal, but a new duo — Jay McInerney and Lettie Teague — will be uncorking vintages in the future.
—Camilla McLaughlin
Photo (Le Beau Chateau) courtesy Barbara Cleary’s Realty Guild
