Top of the Tweets: Putting the Numbers in Perspective
By Camilla McLaughlin
For luxury probably the biggest story of the last two weeks is a new record price for residential real estate in 2010 with the sale of Le Belvédère, a sprawling mansion in Bel Air, California. Coldwell Banker Previews agents Joyce Rey and Stacy Gottula did a wonderful job marketing this property, which has been one of Ultimate Homes magazine’s top 10 properties. This may turn out to be a good year for ultra-high-end home sales. Reuters reports the ranks of the world’s millionaires climbed 17 percent last year and their collective wealth surged 19 percent to $39 trillion. http://bit.ly/9anoTW
ClubCorp., owner of Austin’s Barton Creek Resort, purchased the Country Club of the South, located about 30 minutes from Atlanta.
Disney plans to send some of their magic toward luxury real estate with the announcement this week of plans for a new luxury community to be built not too far from the Magic Kingdom outside Orlando. Like the sale of Le Belvédère, this news got a huge reaction in the Twitterdom. Check out what Mark Moffa, Unique Homes managing editor, has to say, http://bit.ly/bvBaoy
Putting the numbers into perspective. This was a big week for real estate with the release of figures for new home sales, housing starts, and existing home sales. All three were down, and some, such as new home sales, off by as much as 33 percent. Earl Lee, president of Prudential Real Estate (whose Twitter handle is @reallyearllee) reminds us of the cyclical nature of real estate in which today’s low housing starts will translate into a housing shortage at some point down the road. Manhattan appraiser Jonathan Miller, @jonathanmiller, gives a good insight into existing sales data in his blog, http://bit.ly/awHXa7 calling the report “one of the most bizarre existing home sale reports I can recall.”
Strategic defaults, when owners decide to walkway from a property, are on the rise, adding to the number of potential foreclosed properties. More than 9 million homeowners owe more than 20 percent of the current value of their home. @InmanNews http://ow.ly/22Kp4 reports Fannie Mae is cracking down on walkaways, locking them out of the market for seven years and also possibly pursuing them in court.
World Cup mania continued full blast on Twitter, especially with such a strong showing from the Americans with teams from the U.S., Mexico, Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil participating in Round 16. Wondering who the 10 highest ranked footballers in the FIFA World Cup 2010 are? Check out this link from @imadnaffa http://bit.ly/d52Tke
The wild and crazy always find a home on Twitter, as do lots of good works. This week I read about a dog in Europe blown 20 miles from home in a big wind http://bit.ly/9co1Fg and I discovered www.hope140.org, which is a Twitter offshoot showcasing good works. It also includes a running commentary of Tweets on good causes as well as ideas to help with the oil spill.
