Unique Homes Blog

1. The number of posts wasn’t astronomical, but Data Quick’s report that sales of homes priced at $1 million or more fell by 23.8 percent in 2009 in California brought a flurry of posts. The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing @ILHM analyzes the Data Quick report online in its blog, noting that sales of homes priced at more than $1 million slipped from one in every nine sales to just one in every 25, in California. On the rise were notices of defaults to homes that had previously sold for $1 million.
   
   However, it’s important to remember the first-time-buyer tax credit and the oversupply of bank-owned properties fueled a disproportionate number of sales at the low end. Buying a luxury home might be discretionary, as John Walsh, president of Data Quick states, but the upscale market depends on two things — dynamics from move-up buyers and confidence in the overall economy. Both were in short supply for much of 2009. Based on the reports we’re getting, December saw a shift in the luxury market. Also, as Walsh pointed out, “Traditional million-dollar markets are holding up relatively well, while expensive markets that emerged four or five years ago are not.”




2. Bubbling to the surface this week and last are positive reports on luxury overall as sales by luxury retailers such as Saks, Hermes and Mercedes made unexpected gains in January. (http://link-url.com/LuxuryShopping)




3. Under #luxury, Ziln, New Zealand’s Internet Television Network, actively promoted the debut of Space2Love, its real estate channel showcasing luxury homes in New Zealand, Australia, the Pacific Islands and elsewhere. It’s a work in progress but I loved the tour, especially what appeared to be an indoor-outdoor bath with a stunning stone wall, plants and a flood of natural light.




4. Tweets about the 10 must-have features in today’s new homes grabbed a big share of real estate in the Twitosphere. Most are not new for upscale homes except maybe energy efficient appliances, windows and insulation with a high-efficiency rating.




5. Also touted was a Harvard Business report, “How Luxury Changes People.” I may not be in the position to argue with HBS, but I read the report and the study didn’t seem that substantive to me. (What do you think? http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6324.html)




6. In the nine years I’ve been writing for UH, I’ve seen plenty of unusual homes, including potential underwater dwellings. So an underwater plane was not a surprise. Arriving at the end of February on Necker Island http://bit.ly/ctsZ2X will be the Necker Nymph, an underwater plane just big enough for two passengers and a pilot that can dive up to 130 feet. The Nymph looks similar to a sub to me, but, unlike a sub, the environmental impact is almost nil.

—Camilla McLaughlin

In an effort to blend the very best in the world of private jet cards and the foremost purveyor of inspiring vacation home experiences, the Ritz-Carlton Destination Club, a luxury destination club, and Marquis Jet, the leader in private jet cards, have forged a new partnership.

This alliance will allow for a wide variety of premier destinations and accommodations for consumers to enjoy greater travel flexibility and have a quality guarantee in the air.

Marquis Jet Card Owners will select from 10 different aircraft types to meet a broad range of aviation needs. Club Members who contact Marquis Jet will receive a complimentary aviation consultation that will assist in matching their individual needs to the ideal aviation solution.

Depending on a Ritz-Carlton Destination Club member’s vacation aspirations, they may select a Home Club Membership, which provides a one- to four-bedroom, titled residence and guaranteed usage at their favorite resort every year, or a deeded Portfolio Membership which affords the opportunity to discover a wide variety of locations, accommodations and experiences around the globe through the use of club points.

The new Hotel Exchange Program also enables members who enroll in a Portfolio Membership to utilize a portion of their club points at more than 70 Ritz-Carlton hotels and resorts.

“It’s the perfect program to enable Ritz-Carlton Destination Club Members to travel to and from their favorite properties with ease,” said Mark Sage, executive vice president, business development for Marquis Jet.

For more information visit  www.marquisjet.com and www.ritzcarltondestinationclub.com.

—Kimberly Turner

A doorman greets you with a smile as you enter into Chelsea’s premier full-service condominium building. With exceptional amenities and close proximity to the finest of New York City living, The Chelsea Mercantile is your address for luxury living.

Take the elevator to unit 11P. The southeast corner unit features two bedrooms, three full baths and 13 oversized tilt-and-turn windows allowing for natural sunlight and city views. The entry hall is perfect for artwork with gallery-style lighting and the living room with 10-foot ceilings and recessed lighting is the perfect entertaining space.

Prepare gourmet meals using the kitchen’s new, stainless-steel Miele appliances, steam oven and warming drawer as well as the 24-bottle wine storage unit.

After a hard day’s work, retreat to the master suite where 9-foot custom bamboo double entrance doors open to a world of opulence. The master bath is accented with his and her Boffi sinks, a Boffi swim tub, porcelain tiles and a shower/steam bath with 6 body sprays and an overhead rain shower.

This luxurious residence is listed for $3,995,000 by Fredrik Eklund of Eklund Stockholm NY. View more information on this listing at www.uniquehomes.com.

Homebuyers can now find apartments, condos and open houses on the go with the new innovative Corcoran iPhone application.

The Corcoran Group, one of New York City’s largest residential real estate firms, developed the real estate application for the Apple iPhone. It is available for free and immediate download HERE.

This new technology allows users to customize searches on Corcoran properties in New York City, The Hamptons, the East End of Long Island and South Florida. Users can search from any location and view full photos, pull property information and contact the listing agent directly from the listing via phone or e-mail. Consumers also can get comprehensive information on maps and local amenities, such as restaurants, nightlife and shopping.

In addition, it allows buyers to be instantly notified of listings, when properties they are interested in are available and allows the use of an interactive Google map to get directions to each property. This internal GPS feature informs users of the best routes in which to access the property.

As a creative way to advertise and market the application, the Corcoran Group will be using illustrations from Swedish artist Kari Moden who has integrated the ads with a groovy feeling befitting the innovative technology. The ads will run in newspapers, magazines, online and on phone kiosks around New York City.

—Kimberly Turner

The Bay Shore home once belonging to distinguished tile expert Rafael Guastavino Jr., is listed by Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty for $1.895 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.

With extensive tile work and vaulted tile ceilings, this home is located on New York’s Long Island and emulates a Moorish style, which reflects the Guastavino family’s roots in Spain.

Constructed in 1912, this 12-room house, with five bedrooms and three and one half bathrooms, stretches 4,000 square feet and sits on more than one acre.

Vincent Crisci, the current owner, bought the home in March 2005 and restored kitchen cabinets and counter-tops, the home’s bathrooms and repaired leaks.

However, preservationists are still worried that the house could be torn down.

“We have been watching this actively since this went up on the market,” said Erin Tobin, the regional program director at the Preseveration League of New York. They listed the house on its “Seven to Save” list of endangered properties in 2005.

In addition to creating this tile home, the Guastavino Tile Company has created thousands of historically significant projects, such as The Museum of Natural History, New York’s City Hall station, and Carnegie Hall.

For a details on the house CLICK HERE. For the complete article CLICK HERE.

—Kimberly Turner

An exclusive five-day adventure that will feature a variety of tours and excursions of Washington, D.C., is being hosted by The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trusts April 8 through 12, 2010.

Guests will enjoy a private tour of the Elizabeth Robert Llwellyn Wright Residence. It is one of only two homes Wright designed for his children. The structure is made of concrete blocks and features a wooden face on the second story of the home, created by the horizontal banding of wood.

The trip also includes a stroll through the world-famous Embassy Row, where guests will learn about the Beaux-Arts grandeur of Washington’s Massachusetts Avenue and visits to the Pope-Leighey House, the I. M. Pei-designed wing of the National Gallery of Art, National Building Museum and the Newseum.

The journey will include four lunches and two dinners, all guide and entrance fees and transfers by luxury motor coach. Tickets start at $2,295.

All tours and programs support the Preservation Trust’s education, restoration and preservation programs.

For more information and to purchase tickets visit www.GoWright.org.

—Kimberly Turner

Part of the job at Unique Homes is keeping our fingers on the pulse of luxury. I added Twitter to my tool box awhile ago and find it’s a great way to keep tabs on what people are talking about. Additionally, Twitter often brings the overlooked story, the interesting tidbit, to the surface. The challenge is filtering through the overload of information.

So a story making the rounds on Twitter this week resonated immediately with me. According to a recent study published by Oxford University Press social networking sites might open the door to new relationships, but our brains have yet to adapt and can still only handle about 150 meaningful friendships.

Last week, real estate was dominated with Tweets on the 16 percent dive in existing home sales in December, the largest monthly drop in 40 years, followed by stats released mid-week on the decline in new home sales. Obscured in the hubbub — existing home sales are still up by 15 percent in 2009 over 2008 and prices in December continued to edge up.

Lost in the shuffle, too, were reports on improving conditions in quite a few local markets. Sales in the Hamptons were up by 55.4 percent in the fourth quarter and according to the International Property Journal prices doubled over the decade. I also saw tweets on improving sales in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Illinois, and Massachusetts. Data Quick, @DQNews, reports a continued upswing in sales in December in the Bay Area and in southern California.

Under luxury, one of the most Tweeted was a report on the surge of tax free luxury spending by Chinese tourists in France in 2009, an increase of 47 percent in 2009 over 2008, and an unexpected fall in spending from Russian tourists. The story originally ran in The China Post.

Celebrity homes always generate interest especially if they are distressed sales that close within days of going on the market, as a bank owned property, formerly owned by Nicholas Cage, did last week. Also tweeted was the sale of a former Michael Jackson residence in Las Vegas for a $3.1 million in cash. At 16,461 square feet, it is even larger than Cage’s manse.

And, just in case you’re wondering, turquoise is the color of the year according to Pantone reported by @BHGRE_Sherry, Sherry Chris of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate.

—Camilla McLaughlin

photo courtesy Twitter

Luxury property developers and agents from around the world will be gathering together at the fourth annual EPEX exhibition, which will focus exclusively on selling truly luxury properties.

Held in London on July 10-11, 2010, this magnificent event offers serious buyers, investors and investment groups the opportunity to secure some of the world’s most desirable homes.

About 110 of the world’s leading luxury property agents and developers, spanning from the Caribbean to New Zealand, visit EPEX to showcase their beachfront villas, Asian and New York penthouses, prestige golf resort villas, waterfront living, country retreats, South African game reserves, luxury ski lodges, and the finest Italian villas.

In addition to perusing the many extravagant properties, visitors to the exhibition will have a chance to meet with architects, law firms and financial institutions, all of which deal with high-end property dealings. Registration for the free-of-charge event is available on their website.

Beyond the London exhibit, EPEX will launch an exhibition in New York in late 2010.

Visit www.epex2010.com for more information on the exhibit.

—Kimberly Turner

The Avenues of Art Design community is joining the Pacific Design Center in order to celebrate a week’s worth of great design in West Hollywood, for Hollywood’s “West Week.” WESTWEEK 2010 will take place at Pacific Design Center, Wednesday, March 24 and Thursday, March 25; and the. Art & Design Walk is Friday, March 26 and Saturday, March 27, 2010.

For over 25 years, West Week has been the pacific design center’s annual design industry/trade event that combines lectures, show room programs, new product introductions as well as book singings.

A Cohen Design Centers property, the award-winning Pacific Design Center, which opened in 1975, is the West Coast’s largest multi-use facility. It provides design, entertainment and arts communities with public and private conference spaces for lectures, meetings, special events, screenings, exhibitions and receptions. It is the primary resource for the professional interior design trades and contains more than 120 showrooms and 2,200 interior product lines. It is home to some of the world’s first entertainment companies, such as Rogers Cowan, PMK, Weber Shandwick and BNC. Some of its highlights include two Wolfgang Puck restaurants, the SilverScreen Theater, a 388-seat state-of-the-art film/video/3-D venue and reception facility; a 200-seat Conference Center, and the Michael Graves-designed Pacific Design Fitness Center.

The Avenues of Art Design neighborhood, which is located in West Hollywood, has been the focal point of the West Coast’s premier shopping since the days of Hollywood, composed of boutiques, restaurants, wines/spirits, galleries, showrooms and ateliers which feature the best of the best. Organized in 1996, The Avenue does its best to protect its legacy of outstanding quality, style and experience. With its impeccable service, respected brands and outstanding workmanship, visitors are given outstanding value in fashion, interior design, furniture, the decorative arts, food and spirits.

www.pacificdesigncenter.com
www.avenuesartdesign.com

—Georgia Stergakos

On March 18, 2010 only, a one-time offer allows you and your family to cruise all over Africa for an entire 34 days!

Originally built in 1992 and remodeled in 2005, the Corinthian II cruise ship holds a maximum of 114 people and contains 57 suites. The Corinthian II also includes a gym, library, computer terminals with Internet access, a club, elegant lounge, sun deck with a Jacuzzi and even a beauty salon! European chefs serve fine cuisine to accommodate all guests of the ship for meal times, where guests have unassigned seating.

Each suite attains its own sitting area, TV, mini-refrigerator, safe, marble bathroom and shower, ample closet space as well as other amenities. Some of the suites also include private balconies with glass sliding doors. The suites come in a variety of 8 different types, all ranging from 225 square feet to 400 square feet.

After the duration of your 34 days on this spectacular ship, you will have visited a total of ten places; Africa, Angola, Gabon, Ghana, Gibraltar, Morocco, Namibia, Senegal, Sierra Leone and South Africa.

Prices range from $29,000-$48,000.

CLICK HERE for more.

—Georgia Stergakos