Should You Remodel Your Home All at Once or Room by Room?
It’s about time for a home renovation, but should you do it all at once or room by room? Explore the advantages and drawbacks of each approach.
Luxury News
The Luxury of Losses
Losses…. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a loser when it comes to sunglasses, pens and keys. Call it distraction, absent-mindedness–or as my ex-husband and shrink used to say, “non-thinking beahvior patterns.” These are losses I’ve come to endure–sorta. But I’m the one who pays–in time lost searching and sometimes with money. But what about our government? I understand “they” operate on a grander scale and that some…
Want to Live in a Most Expensive City?
by Roberta Murphy Ah… the luxury of being able to comfortably live in one of the most expensive cities in the world (so why not divide one’s time between them–just for bragging rights?:-) CNBC just released their 10 most expensive cities in the world to live where they included 200 factors such as costs for a 2-bedroom luxury apartment, utilities, transportation, food, clothing, entertainment and so on. It might come…
Luxury Retailers Uneasy with Wall Street?
by Roberta Murphy They say you can never be too thin or too rich, but belt-tightening is sending a cold chill through Wall Street that could well spread to Main Street and beyond, according to various reports. Luxury stocks may be taking a hit, but the recession hits home hardest for employees facing layoffs at Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and many other financial institutions that occupy…
Louis Vuitton Tops Luxury Brands–Followed by Hermes, Gucci
Bloomberg reports that Louis Vuitton, with its monogrammed bags and luggage, handily outranks its luxury brand competitors for the fifth straight year. With a reported value of $19.8 billion, Vuitton ranks 29th worldwide for all industries–and more than twice the combined value of Hermes and Gucci combined. Even though the luxury sector of the market has experienced an overall decline of 3 percent in value, Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Gucci and…
Luxury Gadget: Bladeless Fan
by Roberta Murphy I love the genius behind Dyson engineering and products. Instead of thinking outside the box, these air gurus study the box very closely and re-engineer it into device that works better than its predecessors.We love the Dyson vacuums and find them intuitively simple to use. They are also nearly indestructible. The Dyson wizards have also invented a hand dryer that really works–with air that travels in the…
States Soak the Rich–and Lose
Soak the Rich? Yesterday, the Associated Press reported that millionaires are fleeing their luxury homes in New York to establish residency in less-taxing states. As a result, New York is receiving far less revenue than was expected from the wealthy since these wealth taxes were enacted last April. Call it the law of unintended consequences. To be fair, many of these losses come from scaled-back salaries and layoffs on…
Trump’s Baja Luxury Resort Fails
by Roberta Murphy Mexico is struggling with a number of serious problems, including failed real estate developments along the Baja coastline–just south of the San Diego border. From the northern tip of Tijuana’s coastline down to Ensenada, Baja beach areas are spotted with the rusting remains of failed high rise condo projects. And one of the biggest failures is the Trump Ocean Resort Baja just north of Punta Bandera, where…
Even Luxury Home Loans Can be Modified
by Roberta Murphy One Can Modify Luxury Home Loans, too? Not all clients took my conservative mortgage advice over the years, and some ended up with home loans that have turned downright nasty. In one case, a client and dear friend was persuaded to take out a Negative Amortizing Adjustable Rate Mortgage (Neg Am) along with a HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) a few weeks after the purchase of…
Chilean Wine: You’ve Got to Be Kidding!
by Eve Sieminski I can’t begin to tell you how many years I have had a prejudice against Chilean wines. Each time I tried one, I was unimpressed–or worse, ended up with a raging headache. Living in California, we are positively spoiled when it comes to wine. We have a never ending selection of fine wines, so it never occurred to me to search out fine wines from Chile. At…
