Condo Blog - A Non-Corporate Blog From CondoDomain HQ

1) Atlanta

2) Detroit

3) New York

4) Dallas (2nd fastest growing FSBO market)

5) Denver

6) Chicago

7) Cleveland

Houston

9) Indianapolis

10) Cincinnati

Data was based on geographical information for listings posted on ForSaleByOwner.com in 2005 in the 100 largest markets in the United States.

ForSaleByOwner.com also reported that about 15 percent of homes are sold directly by their owners, according to industry estimates.

Source: ForSaleByOwner.com

The Manhattan weekly, which caters to intellectuals, media insiders and others within the chattering classes, has been sold to Jared Kushner, a 25-year-old real-estate executive and business and law student. Though it is a private transaction, reports put the purchase at nearly $10 million……

Arthur Carter, the Observer’s founder and former publisher, will continue to participate in the publishing life of the paper. Two weeks ago he came close to closing a deal with Tribeca Enterprises (of which Robert DeNiro is a partner) to sell a majority interest in the paper when negotiations fell apart. It was then that Mr. Kushner’s name came up in the press as a possible buyer…..Continued….

Source: AdAge.com

The Blue, a resort hotel condominium that will offer fairway living alongside the Blue Monster golf course in Doral, has broken ground. The first phase is planned for completion by late summer 2007.

Owners at The Blue will be granted access to the golf courses at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa. Prices for the 240 residences, at 5300 NW 87th Ave., range from $500,000 to $1.5 million.

For more information: 877-714-BLUE or www.bluedoralmiami.com.

Source:  Miami Hearld

Thousands of dollars in home-closing bonuses. Commissions more than three times last year’s rates. Deep discounts and even gas card promotions.In a rapidly slowing housing market, Realtors on Thursday found themselves suddenly amid a flood of incentives to sell homes at Thursday’s Tampa Bay Builders Association Expo.

Aimed at matching builders with Realtors, this was an event where many builders last year would only offer 3 percent commissions - if even that.

“In previous years, we had builders that wouldn’t even pay you any commission,” said Estella Cuesta, of Tampa’s Weichert/Yates & Associates. “Now, they’re offering you the moon. It’s good for Realtors. It was better than last year for sure. There were more booths. The only thing was that it was a lot more crowded.” Continued…

Anyone seeing this trend in their market yet? If so any outrageous perks or incentives?

Source: St. Petersburg Times Online

Online real estate ad spending will reach $1.719 billion this year, accounting for some 15 percent of the projected $11.698 billion in total real estate ad spending, writes MediaPost (via MarketingVOX), citing a new report by Borrell Associates. That proportion is expected to more than double by 2010, reaching 32 percent, with online real estate ad spend totaling $3.068 billion while total real estate ad spend decreases to $9.557 billion.

The Borrell report, “2006 Update: Online Real Estate Advertising,” predicts that much of the growth in online real estate ad spending will be the result of a shift from newspapers. Newspaper real estate ads are predicted to total $4.327 billion this year, down almost 8 percent from last year’s estimated $4.682 billion.

By 2010, newspapers will account for only 30 percent of real estate ad spend, or $2.9 billion - less than online’s share, according to Borrell.

Recently in The New York Times Magazine, the authors of the wildly popular business book “Freakonomics” announced that Americans, rather than hating real estate agents, should sympathize with them.

The profession, argued Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt, is bound for the same realms as the buggy whip, typewriter and — dare we say it — daily newspaper.

Like travel agents and stockbrokers, the authors contend, Realtors will see their customers migrate en masse to the Web, where they will happily buy and sell homes, or short of that, gleefully retain a discount broker. The traditional, full-service, 6-percent-commission houses with their agent hordes, multiple offices and stranglehold on listings data is destined to shrink, probably a lot.

Marketplace observation, however, suggests that the men are not completely right — at least not yet.

So far, tradition continues to trump innovation in the key steps toward buying or selling a home. Yes, increasingly, home buyers look first to the Web when they begin their search. Yes, broker commission rates are being pushed down (though commission revenue has skyrocketed because of rising home prices and lots of sales). Six years ago, commissions averaged 5.44 percent of sales price; now they’re 5 percent. Continued…

Will the web continue to put pressure on commissions? If so, how much of this “service” oriented business can be electronic-fied via the Internet? RedFin is surlely aiming for it. Is Zillow? RealEstate.com?
Source: Silicone Valley / San Jose Business Journal

“Z mobile,” is a new technology from Zillow.com - With “Z mobile” people can send an e-mail to z@labs.zillow.com with an address in it and within minutes they will receive a Zillow estimate, or “Zestimate” of that home’s value. About 1,100 e-mails were sent to the Zillow service within minutes of announcing the service, company representatives said.

Source: Zillow Blog

Harborview at the Navy Yard. This is waterfront living in Boston with a new perspective. A place filled with history and all the benefits of urban living, but removed just enough so you can savor a quiet, secluded moment. Enjoy spectacular city views, with sailboats slipping past to the rhythm of the waves. This is Boston as you’ve never seen it before. This is HarborView at the Navy Yard.

Today….we got a sneak peak from inside of Harborview’s under construction condominiums. The shot above is from one of the 8th floor balconies facing both the Boston Harbor & downtown Boston.

Liz Fennesy from Trammell Crow Residential guided us on a pre-constuction tour as Nick Sudano (SVP condoDomain Market Development) follows along looking up at the staggered balconys from the 8th floor. Below is a shot looking down from the common roof deck at the new Harborview at the Navy Yard presentation center.

Click here for more information on Harborview at the Navy Yard

Or visit www.harborviewnavyyard.com

Source: condoDomain.com

KB Home Chairman and CEO Bruce Karatz and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. have unveiled their co-branded community outside Atlanta, Georgia. The community, known as KB Home Hampton Oaks: Homes Created with Martha Stewart, will open to the public on Saturday, July 29, 2006.

The Hampton Oaks community will feature approximately 800 homes spanning 480 acres, more than one third of which is rolling hills. Seventeen different floor plans are available for one- and two-story homes, ranging from 1,930 to 4,624 square feet. The homes are priced from the low $200s to the low $400s.

“I am excited about the opening of our second Martha Stewart branded community here in the beautiful setting of Fairburn, Georgia. I have no doubt these homes will appeal to a variety of home buyers with their smart designs inspired by Martha’s own homes and our KB Home quality craftsmanship,” said Bruce Karatz, CEO and chairman of KB Home. “Just as in Cary, North Carolina, these communities are setting a new trend in home buying.” Continued…
Source: RISMeida

As the recent report, Buying For Themselves: An Analysis of Unmarried Female Home Buyers by Rachel Bogardus Drew for the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University points out, single female homebuyers as a group have several characteristics that differentiate them from their unmarried male counterparts and married couples. Among those that we mentioned earlier are that they are older, have lower incomes, and a higher percentage of minorities in their ranks.

Resourceful real estate agents and mortgage brokers as well as builders will doubtlessly see a lot of possibilities for developing a marketing niche among single women home buyers. Continue…

Source: MortgageNewsDaily

Financing a Condo-Hotel with a residential mortgage is no longer a difficult process or hard to find competitive mortgage lenders. Actually most loan programs are available on a Condo-Hotel units these days. From your traditional 15 & 30 year fixed to the whole range of adjustable rate mortgages (ARM’s) even including interest-only loans. Looking for a Stated Income mortgage or your a foreign national, we can create finance scenarios around those options also.

Overall financing a Condo-Hotel these days is pretty much the same is financing the neighboring high-rise condominium ownership building. You will have to put down at least 10% but typically for aggressive rates & terms you will mostly see 20-30% down programs to be the most popular.

Any questions on financing a Condo-Hotel feel free to visit www.CondoMortgageGroup.com and contact one of the loan consultants.

Source: Condo Mortgage Group | Condo Hotels

When $32 Million is not enough….
Online home-valuation provider Zillow has received another $25 million in investor financing, making the company’s total amount of capital raised $57 million to date, the company announced today.

The second financing round was led by investment fund PAR Capital Management, which joined previous investors including Benchmark Capital and Technology Crossover Ventures.

Zillow, which launched its beta site in February 2006, said it plans to use the additional funding for product development. The company has 118 employees and says that it is rapidly growing its technology and advertising sales teams.

Last week, Zillow announced a partnership with Yahoo! that will put the company’s home valuations in front of Yahoo! Search and Yahoo! Real Estate users.

Zillow was started by a group of Internet veterans, including Expedia founder and former CEO Rich Barton and former Expedia Senior Vice President Lloyd Frink. The Seattle-based company has an advertising-based business model that features banner ads and a display of Google AdSense ads alongside its home-data results.

“Strong early-market response to Zillow has focused us on just how hungry consumers are for real estate tools and information online,” said Barton, Zillow’s CEO. “As a result, we have stepped up our hiring and product development plans significantly, precipitating this fund raise.”

Source:  Inman News 

RealEstate.com, an online real estate portal that launched brick-and-mortar brokerage operations earlier this year, now has operations in Colorado, Oregon, Utah and Washington.Owned by InterActiveCorp’s LendingTree LLC, RealEstate.com has quickly assembled four real estate brokerages and a sales force of about 100 agents through new launches and an acquisition.

RealEstate.com provides real estate information for consumers at its Web site and helps connect them with real estate professionals. It also generates Internet business for brokers in its referral network through LendingTree.com, affinity programs with Costco and five major airlines, and other Internet channels.

This year’s initiative is the first time the online lead generation company is engaging in the brokerage business.

In April, RealEstate.com launched brokerage operations in the Portland, Ore., and Denver, Colo., regions. The Portland-area office, based in Clackamas, has about 30 agents, and the Colorado office, based in Greenwood Village, has about 10 agents.

Later that month, LendingTree LLC acquired The Ramsey Group Inc., a 22-year-old residential real estate brokerage with about 40 agents. The management team remains in place at The Ramsey Group, now known as Ramsey Group, a RealEstate.com company.

Will the online giant now compete against its customers?  Is Zillow.com next? 

Continue… 

Source:  Inman News

Is New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady moving to New York?

Sources told us the two-time Super Bowl MVP and his gal pal Bridget Moynahan were at the Cipriani Club Residences at 55 Wall St. two weeks ago. Brady was looking to combine penthouse units in the luxury condo conversion development.

“He said he has a $15 million budget, give or take a few million,” said a source familiar with the search.

In a magnificent, historic building on the most famous street in the world stands the first Cipriani Club Residence. A classic Beaux-Arts masterpiece, 55 Wall St was designed by Isaiah Rogers and doubled in size by McKim, Mead & White, architects of New York’s most cherished landmarks, such as the Pierpont Morgan Library, The Harvard Club, and The University Club. Only a building this storied and superb could address the Cipriani vision of “total living.” The massive stone columns that form its facade support more than a structure: they epitomize the power of timeless concepts. What is offered here is an equally ageless idea - the seamless integration of lifestyle and domicile, held aloft by the unparalleled level of Cipriani service.

Visit www.ciprianiresidences.com 

Source:  NYPost & BostonREB

It’s first class or nothing else, when it comes to Atlantis’ Priority Club members and top producers. The Priority Club’s top producers for the months of April, May and June were recently given royal treatment, as they were hosted to a special tour of Atlantis’ Phase III preview room and also treated to a scrumptious lunch at Bimini Road in Marina Village at Atlantis.

The special winners included Paradise Blue Water Limited, top producer for the month of April; UBS for May and Texas Gas & Oil which was voted, top winner for the month of June.

The Priority Club is a special promotional programme, administered by Atlantis’ Sales and Marketing Department. Members of Atlantis’ Priority Club include local based companies which receive exclusive privileges for booking the largest volume of guest rooms and food and beverage events at Kerzner International’s Paradise Island based properties - Atlantis and One&Only Ocean Club. In exchange, the local companies receive points which can be redeemed for accommodations along with food and beverage privileges at any of Kerzner International’s Bahamian properties.

Ted Adderley, Senior Director of Sales and Marketing at Atlantis informed the winners of ongoing developments for the much anticipated $1 billion, Atlantis Phase III Expansion, scheduled to be completed in 2007. Adderley elaborated on plans for the upscale All-Suite Hotel, Condo Hotel, Water Themed Attractions and Mandara Spa at Atlantis, during a tour of the Atlantis Phase III Preview Room.

Developer: Turnberry

Visit the Residences at Atlantis (Bahamas)

Source: The Nassau Guardian