Luxury Market Keeps Moving Strong

People with money who can afford to pay big prices for houses continue to do so even though the housing market may be slow for buyers with lesser resources.

Ron Baron, founder of the Baron Funds investment company, last year paid a record $103 million for an ocean-front property in East Hampton, N.Y. He is currently building himself a mansion on the site.

Wall Street financier Philip Falcone recently paid $39 million for a 27-room Manhattan townhouse that was once owned by Penthouse magazine publisher Bob Guccione.

On the West Coast, the 29-bedroom, 40-bath former home of William Randolph Hearst and actress Marion Davies is on the market in Beverly Hills for $165 million, which might be the highest asking price for a home in U.S. history."

For the ultraluxury market to take a hit, there would have to be serious financial woes that went a lot deeper than what we're seeing now," says Rick Goodwin, publisher of Unique Homes, a magazine and Web site about luxury properties. "If they've got the money, it's not going to be a hardship to fork over cash for a $10 million house."

Source: BusinessWeek.com, Prashant Gopal (03/07/08)

Seattle-Luxury.com

Every day we get closer to the official launch of www.Seattle-Luxury.com. Keep checking in for updates and as always keep an eye on www.shawnfiler.com for the latest luxury, waterfront, and condo listings in the Greater Seattle and Bellevue Area.

Beachfront Bargains are Emerging

If you’re looking for a beach house, now could be the time to buy, says Fortune magazine reporter Jon Birger.

Three years ago, Birger went in search of affordable beachfront property and was largely unsuccessful. This year, he says, beachfront property selling for less than $500,000 is more readily available, especially in Florida.

In places like Cape Code and Hamptons that are enclaves for the fabulously wealthy, prices haven’t declined much, real estate practitioners told him. "It's a totally different mentality," Diane Saatchi, senior vice president at the Corcoran Group, says of her East Hamptons clientele. "The value of their real estate is just so insignificant compared with their overall wealth."

But Florida is a different story. Prices have fallen 25 percent to 30 percent on the state’s Panhandle with beachfront condominiums widely available for about $400,000, says Kerry McNulty, a practitioners in Destin.

Source: Fortune, Jon Birger (03/17/2008)

Legendary Builder Says Slump is Near End

Florida home builder Arthur Rutenberg, 80, says you can take it to the bank: The home-building bust is at or near bottom."Anyone who buys a home right now will say in five years, 'I'm glad we bought when we did,' " Rutenberg says.

Still active in the business, the developer spoke while inspecting a newly completed $1.5 million Arthur Rutenberg Homes luxury model in Orlando. Rutenberg remains chairman of Arthur Rutenberg Homes Inc., which has 32 franchised home building operations in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.

Rutenberg said the current building bust is especially deep because the run-up in prices and sales that preceded it was so robust. As a result, it takes a little longer to get prices and annual growth "back to a long-term trend line," he says.

Rutenberg franchises closed last year on 726 homes valued at about $400 million, down from a peak of more than $600 million in 2005.

Source: Orlando Sentinel, Jerry W. Jackson (03/04/2008)

Coldwell Banker Bain Named the #1 Coldwell Banker Affiliate in the World for the 5th Straight Year!

For the fifth straight year Coldwell Banker Bain has been named the number one Coldwell Banker Affiliate in the World! This award is based solely on production, and we at Shawn Filer Real Estate are very proud to be part of a top performing company. In addition, the Bellevue Way Office was once again the top office Worldwide... a huge achievement considering that Coldwell Banker is the largest residential Real Estate company in the World. For more information on Coldwell Banker Bain and Shawn Filer Real Estate please visit: www.shawnfiler.com.

Remodeling Becomes Status Symbol

At the height of the real estate boom in 2005, Americans spent more than $180 billion on home renovations, according to Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Nationwide, according to the Harvard researchers, renovation expenditures fell an estimated 2.3 percent in 2007 and will continue to decline in 2008.

But in neighborhoods that are relatively untouched by the housing bust, there are still plenty of dumpsters in the driveways.

Cornell economist Robert Frank, author of Luxury Fever, hypothesizes that people renovate homes because they see others doing it. He says that even people who aren’t particularly materialistic look at their neighbors and say, "'He has something nicer than I do, and I feel bad about it.’ … They decide to renovate not just aiming to impress people, but to feel that they are treating themselves right,” Franks says.

Source: The Boston Globe, Daniel McGinn (02/24/08)

www.seattle-luxury.com

Shawn Filer Real Estate has just announced the upcoming launch of Seattle-Luxury.com. This site will be centered around luxury Real Estate in the greater Seattle area and will have endless info on new projects, listings, condos, etc. Stay tuned for more info on this great new site.