Paris has narrowly beaten London to be ranked as the top spot for investors in student property , according to research by the Knight Frank.

London missed out on the top spot for student housing due to the high cost of living; it is followed by Vienna, Dublin and Barcelona.

James Pullan, head of student property, Knight Frank, commented: “Student accommodation in the UK has delivered solid and consistent returns throughout every year of the economic downturn, thereby attracting significant volumes of international equity and institutional debt into the sector.”

The number of students travelling overseas to attend university has been rising steadily in recent decades, and this trend is set to continue. Just as the world’s economies have become more globalised, with the relaxation of trade barriers, education has also become a global commodity.

Students now seek out the best educational institutions across the globe. The factors that lie behind this trend are the rise of the middle classes in emerging economies, especially Asia, along with the growing acceptance of international higher education qualifications across the world.

Pullan added: “The rise in global student mobility has created an excellent opportunity for investment in key European cities and is a long-term trend that is set to continue. This structural shift in the make-up of student populations has significant consequences for cities that play host to the world’s best universities, and throws up key opportunities for developers and operators.”

While there are those who will steadfastly claim that Manhattan real estate is virtually bullet proof, many are worried that modest second-quarter gains in apartment prices augur a possible drop-off in demand during the second half of 2012, according to The Wall Street Journal. Economic and political uncertainties are paradoxically believed to be both a driver of demand and inhibitor of decision making by buyers. Economic turmoil in Europe may be driving sales of higher-end properties as a New York is seen as a safe haven for capital. But worries over Europe’s debt situation and uncertainty over the U.S. presidential election may be giving some buyers pause. Others feel that perhaps a drop in the latest median price of sales indicates that demand is being driven by first-time home buyers and that an uptick in prices has others concerned about buying into an up market.

As usual there is conflicting evidence supporting both worry and confidence. People are feeling antsy though. Market reports come out next week, and it’s unclear whether more data will calm or jangle real estate nerves

Beach Boy Would Love to Sell Tuscan-Style Pebble Beach Estate

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Date:June 27, 2012 | Author:Laura Vecsey | Category:Eye Candy

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Mike Love and The Beach Boys played the Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee. SOURCE: Rolling Stone

Mike Love has not changed his mind. The Beach Boys’  baritone front man still wants to sell his  Pebble Beach, CA, home, which has been re-listed for $5.995 million.

The Tuscan-style home has been on and off the market since 2008, when it was first listed for sale at $7.875 million.

Love’s California crash pad is up the coast from where he and his cousins Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, along with Al Jardine, created the lush sounds that changed pop music.

With 7 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms, the nearly 9,000-square-foot house is a haven for good times, complete with formal and informal dining spaces, generous patios, wine cellar, elevator, exercise, entertainment and game rooms plus views of the Pacific Ocean.

Love and his wife, Jacqueline, told The Wall Street Journal that the reason for selling is a lifestyle change, now that their children are out of school. However, Love and his family have long made Lake Tahoe their primary residence. The family lives in an 18,000-square-foot home in Incline Village on the Nevada side of the lake.

Love also owns a co-op apartment on the Upper East Side of New York City that he and his wife teamed to remodel. The 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom condo at 300 E. 93rd St.  had been listed for sale in late 2009.

Love, Brian Wilson and Jardine have reunited and are currently touring worldwide again as The Beach Boys, winning rave reviews for concerts across the U.S. and their new album, “That’s Why God Made Radio.”

Opposing voices were raised—sometimes only slightly but often simultaneously—when the town board mediated a full-throated debate Tuesday over the relative merits and potential perils of lawn-mower-powered leaf mulching.

After two sometimes-tempestuous hours, the debate ended largely in a draw, a consensus holding that leaf-mulching and leaf removal each has a place in Bedford’s rites of autumn.

Pre-empted by voting booths for the state’s new June primary, board members were forced to set up shop in the town hall basement. After squeezing in some 15 guests, the board heard from proponents of dicing leaves where they fall as well as critics who warned that such a bed of disintegrated leaves creates an attractive habitat for ticks.

The chief mulching advocate, Fiona Mitchell, a certified master gardener, as well as a number of her supporters, discussed the benefits of nourishing a lawn’s soil with decomposing leaves.

But Mark Solomon, who delivered most of the evening’s warnings, asserted that the pulverized leaves, allowed to nestle amid the lawn’s blades of grass, not only provide a convenient habitat for disease-carrying ticks but can also multiply the number of them.

A Bedford Hills resident and member of the town’s Tree Advisory Board, Solomon had conveyed his concerns to the town board on three earlier occasions, by Supervisor Lee Roberts’ count.

“That’s the genesis of this meeting,” she said. Opening the work session shortly after its scheduled 7 p.m. start, Roberts sat alone at the board table. Councilmen arrived as the supervisor sounded a theme that would be repeated in various forms all night. “I don’t think there’s hard fact on either side of this issue,” Roberts said, disclosing that she mulches her lawn as she helps with the weekly mowing. “It’s exercise and I enjoy it,” she said.

Mulching, its supporters maintain, provides an additional environmental benefit by not transporting leaves, which otherwise must be moved, first by gas-fired blower to the curb and later by diesel-powered truck to a composting station.

For much of the two hours, opposing sides traded charges and experts’ opinions, often in a welter of simultaneous crosstalk. Mitchell’s supporters included fellow members of “Leave Leaves Alone” and members of “Love ’em and Leave ’em,” a leaf-mulching initiative based in southern Westchester’s river villages. Solomon’s supporters included landscapers and tree board chair Michael Serio.

In the end, however, the last word on mulching vs. removal went to the board, and the word was mulching and removal.

Deputy Supervisor Peter Chryssos, returning to the theme Roberts sounded in her opening remarks, said, “What I’m . . . hearing is that by mulching leaves, it is inconclusive—from all the emails we’ve gotten, from all the discussions we’ve had—it’s inconclusive as to what exactly the effect of mulching leaves is on the tick population.

“Perhaps,” he said, “the answer is better communication,” explaining to people that “there are issues on either side of this [question].”

One issue not under consideration, officials insist, is financial. Still, Solomon told the town officials, “I’ve heard talk about you stopping leaf pickup,” an assertion denied during and after the meeting.

But Anne Holmes of Irvington, coordinator of school programs and environmental projects at the Greenburgh Nature Center, recalled how budget pressures led to leaf-mulching in her village’s parks, an economy move other tax-cap-constrained governments are either considering or have already seized.

Bronxville, for one, adopted leaf-mulching to soften a reported $100,000 price tag for annual leaf pickup. Officials in Bedford, a community 45 times larger than Bronxville—with three times the people and countless more trees—insist they have no separate accounting for annual leaf-removal costs. But observers acknowledge that the green a mulching mower cuts could mean more grass.   

Mulching mowers, and attachments that can retrofit others to accomplish the task, circulate the clippings—grass or leaves—under the mower until they’re chopped into pieces small enough that a neat lawn can accommodate them.

Councilman David Gabrielson recalled his own adventures with a 12-year-old Snapper mower. “Every leaf that landed on my lawn I ran over with a lawn mower,” he said.

“It produced a relatively fine residue, which made its way within a couple of weeks into the grass. It was barely discernible and by the following spring it was gone,” Gabrielson continued.

“Never had a tick, never saw a tick,” he said.

“That’s not a scientific experiment,” Solomon challenged.

“Of course not,” Gabrielson said.

Incorporating seasonal style into your home doesn’t have to be an expensive or exhausting undertaking. Just a few changes can dramatically change the feel of your home, says west elm Creative Director Vanessa Holden. And just in time for summer, here are four ways to brighten your home’s look.

Bring the outside in

Source: west elm

“Summer is all about being outside,” said Holden, “but you can easily bring the outdoors in with natural materials, textures and light airy fabrics.”

A few of Holden’s favorite summery accents are natural wood pieces, woven baskets, sheer fabrics or nature-inspired accents in prints or pillows.

Literally bringing the outdoors in can be another way to freshen your home for summer. Try terrariums, air plants or indoor herb gardens.

Coral crush

Source: west elm

The hot hue for summer? Coral, says Holden.

It’s a bright shade, so start small, suggests Holden. Coral is great on a throw pillow, duvet cover or bright rug.

Worried about what to pair the color with?

“Coral looks especially great mixed with reflective finishes like lacquered wood or mirror,” Holden said.

Small accents, big impact

Source: west elm

Switching your design scheme for summer doesn’t mean all-new furniture or even a new coat of paint on the walls.

Try bringing summer style into your house with affordable accents like pillows, throws or art.

“A single saturated dose of color can be as powerful as a floor-to-ceiling hue,” explained Holden.

Do what you like

Source: west elm

If you prefer muted colors or even brighter shades, your home can reflect that all year; there’s no reason to drastically change your decor based on season. Go with your gut, and do what you like, Holden said.

“Season trends will come and go, but our favorite homes are the ones that truly reflect their inhabitants,” she said. “If you’re inspired by nature or the beach, there is no reason that your home shouldn’t reflect that year-round.”

As prospective homebuyers look for deals, they’re becoming increasingly interested in foreclosed homes.  In fact, 20 percent of all sales in April were foreclosure re-sales.

Interested in buying a foreclosed home? Here’s what you bargain hunters need to know:

Where to buy

Even though the national foreclosure rate appears to have peaked (In April, the number of foreclosures was down almost 3 percent from a year ago), a tide of new foreclosures continues to plague the beleaguered housing market. Naturally, the regions with the most foreclosures – to date – are the ones worst affected by the housing crisis: places like Atlanta, Sacramento, Miami, Las Vegas (The “poster child” of the housing crisis — prices dropped over 60% from the peak in 2006), and Riverside, California areas, where 14.75 out of 10,000 homes were foreclosed in April.

How to buy

While you can buy directly from the owner before they’re officially foreclosed on, or dare to try your hand among the seasoned, fast-moving, competitive investors at an auction, it’s safer – and easier — to find homes that are owned by the bank (or “REO,” which is industry lingo for real-estate owned). You can inspect the home before you purchase it (This is important, as foreclosed homes are generally sold “as is” and may need significant repairs — something you’re going to need to budget for), and you can mortgage your purchase (be sure to secure your financing in advance as it’s a competitive, and fast-moving market).  Furthermore, former homeowners are out of the picture at this point so you won’t have to evict them. And you can be reasonably sure that the property’s title is free of liens, because the bank will typically perform an extensive title search before listing the home for sale. If you still need assistance then contact professionals from Auction.com.

What to expect

Working with a real estate agent who specializes in foreclosures can be a huge time-saver, but you should pack your patience anyway as there may be unexpected challenges and road bumps along the way.  Also – while you can expect significant savings (in some markets, upwards of 40%, compared to non-distressed/non-foreclosed properties), remember that a bargain price – with virtually no room for negotiation, by the way, so don’t bother with a lowball offer — doesn’t make up for a $30,000 roof repair, active termites or other high cost issues.   Pay for a complete home inspection and back out of the deal if the problems are too significant.