Real Estate Market Bottom and a Radical Resolution

This is a continuation of last week’s discussion with real estate and luxury home legend Bob Dyson, who has a radical proposal that is being quickly embraced by Realtors, lenders and local Real Estate Boards. Why resort to radical resolutions? Because, says Dyson “This is a real estate depression–a serious, serious issue.” He sees an immediate need to stabilize real estate markets and neighborhood values. He also believes the motgage…

September 1, 2008
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A Most Unorthodox Market: Bob Dyson

by Roberta Murphy Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to sit across from Bob Dyson at his office in Del Mar and listen to this real estate legend discuss today’s real estate market. We were also fortunate to have Chris Dyson videotaping much of the discussion, which we have divided into four segments. At the start of our interview, Bob Dyson said these are the worst conditions he has seen…

September 1, 2008
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When Will the Real Estate Market Return to Normal?

  Luxury Real Estate Market: What is Normal? I often turn to Billy Taylor, financial services guru at San Diego’s Villa Sotheby’s, when I want to hear the latest scoop on the mortgage market. Just last week, for example, Billy shared that Chase had moved out of the jumbo mortgage market entirely. That leaves a mere handful of lenders who will even consider doing jumbo loans, which help fuel much…

August 30, 2008
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Jumbo Loan Defaults in the Luxury Market

Luxury Defaults
August 23, 2008

by Roberta Murphy Luxury Home Defaults Ed McMahon may have wondered what else in new in defaulted real estate with the pending default of his Beverly Hills home.  But yesterday, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service reported that even prime jumbo loans are starting to buckle. Over a period of just one month–from June to July, 2008–jumbo loans originated in 2006 saw mortgage delinquencies rise 13.2 percent, while 2007 delinquencies rose…

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California Luxury Home Foreclosures?

by Roberta Murphy Yes, there are plenty of luxury home foreclosures in California–and you can now search them whenever you wish. When in San Francisco last month for the Inman Connect conference, I was at last able to meet the foreclosure wizards at Foreclosure Radar–and make a decision to go with them. We have long been searching for a comprehensive foreclosure search tool to offer the readers of our San…

August 14, 2008
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7 Bargaining Tips for Luxury Home Buyers

luxury home bargaining tips
August 11, 2008

by Roberta Murphy Good Bargaining Tips for the Luxury Home Buyer If this is the worst real estate market (for sellers) in recent history, then surely it creates some of the best luxury bargains of a lifetime as well. We are seeing smart money aggressively buying in our San Diego real estate market, and hear reports of the same elsewhere. The properties are being bought as fix-and-flippers or are being…

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The Luxury of Frugality

by Roberta Murphy Luxury real estate gossip the last few months has fluttered around topics like the sale of Donald Trump’s Palm Beach mansion at $100 million (when it had been listed for $125 million), the pending foreclosure of Ed McMahon’s Beverly Hills home, and the F-word in luxury real estate (foreclosures). These days, recession is the hot topic as brokerage accounts have been bloodied, home equities have declined, and…

July 3, 2008
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Luxury Real Estate Exchanges

by Roberta Murphy This is a market that sometimes brings out the creative forces in real estate. And more and more, real estate exchanges are making lots of sense in the luxury real estate market. Earlier this evening, I had an interesting conversation with a Sotheby’s real estate agent in Northern California. It seems he is interested in exchanging his exquisite 104 acre property just outside Carmel for a luxury…

June 17, 2008
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GlassDoor to Reveal Executive Salaries and More

Glassdoor Founder Rich Barton
June 11, 2008

by Roberta Murphy Zillow founder Rich Barton loves placing industries inside glass houses (most notably in real estate), and may now become the cause of painful overexposure (or welcome relief) for industry executives. It seems he just unveiled GlassDoor, which will reveal salary reports, compensation figures and reviews from employees. GlassDoor, based in Sausalito, CA, currently has around 2,000 salary reports from over 250 companies along with a current reports…

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The F-Word in Luxury Real Estate

by Roberta Murphy Forecl—– It’s a word softly whispered when luxury homeowners in luxe communities like Palm Beach (33480), Beverly Hills (90210), Greenwich (06831) and Rancho Santa Fe (92067) discuss their local real estate markets. Real estate prices have been declining in many of these markets throughout the country, and some of the heavily mortgage homes are ending up as foreclosure sales. The most prominent foreclosure victim of late is…

June 10, 2008
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