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Advice for Small Fish in China’s Real Estate Market: Swim Fast | Waccabuc Real Estate

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For the minnows in China’s property market, swimming near the bottom of the real estate food chain can be dangerous. The smaller you are, the more likely you are to be someone else’s dinner.

And it is getting harder to stay clear of the bigger guys, particularly as Beijing keeps up its three-year campaign to curb real estate prices.

Bloomberg News
Residential buildings stand in Shanghai, on Sunday, June 30, 2013.

“Being a small fish is getting more difficult. The bigger fish are swimming faster,” said Kai Chen, chief executive officer of mid-sized developer Yango Group. “I expect that in eight to 10 years, China’s top 10 developers will have 20% of the market.”

As of the end of March this year, the top 10 developers had around 16% of the country’s total property sales.

Speaking at a real estate conference this week, Mr. Chen shared a few tips on how a small outfit like Yango has managed to survive in an environment where smaller developers are seen as an endangered species.

Tip No. 1: search for partners. In the past, smaller firms have been known for taking big risks for a chance at an outsized return. But they have often been reluctant to share the profits, he said.

“Smaller firms should change their mindset and form more partnerships, so that they can get more access to financing and land,” said Mr Chen. He noted one innovative partnership by his company with wealth management firm (more on CarsonWealth.com), adding the firm has received substantial financing this way.

Big firms have been better at making friends in government, and this is essential for getting land, he added.

Shenzhen-listed Yango has managed to post respectable sales growth in the past few years despite a host of government measures aimed at cooling off the market. Its property sales in the first half reached 8.7 billion yuan ($1.4 billion), exceeding the 7 billion yuan recorded for all of 2012 and up from 3.2 billion yuan in 2011.

By comparison, China Vanke, the nation’s largest property developer by revenue, had sales of 83.7 billion yuan in the first six months of this year and sales of 141.2 billion yuan for all of last year.

 

 

Advice for Small Fish in China’s Real Estate Market: Swim Fast – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

Malcolm Forbes’ NJ Estate Listed for $3.4 Million | Waccabuc Real Estate

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A treasured estate can be hard to give up, especially one with a special history and a family legacy.

The legendary 24-acre Forbes estate that once hosted lavish galas attended by international celebrities and dignitaries is listed for $3.4 million. The 6-bedroom, 7.5-bathroom property, dubbed “Timberfield,” was purchased in 1950 by the late publisher/owner of Forbes magazine, Malcolm S. Forbes.  Despite owning properties all over the world, he chose to raise his five children here, including current CEO and editor-in-chief of Forbes Media, Steve Forbes.

According to the Timberfield’s real estate agent, Sylvia Kissel of Turpin Realtors, the home stayed in the family after Malcolm Forbes’ passing in 1990. The estate is currently owned by one of his sons.

Located at 95 Old Dutch Pl, Bedminster, NJ 07921, the breathtaking property is a piece of history in itself. Once a farmhouse, the oldest section of the house dates back to 1760, with additions following in the 1860s, the 1920s and again in 1961, when a bomb shelter was built. The room has since been renovated into a movie theater, Kissel said.

Besides being owner/publisher of Forbes magazine and close friends with Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor, Malcolm Forbes was known for his collections, including motorcycles and hot air balloons. It was at this estate that Forbes housed his precious collectibles, utilizing one garage for his motorcycles and a larger garage for his ballooning equipment and vehicles.

Timberfield holds the essence of the American dream. The colonial-style architecture is presented in a pristine white exterior with dark shutters. Brick accents are visibly significant, noted in the chimneys, patio structures and pool surroundings. The only thing missing is a white picket fence, but with acreage as vast as this, it is not quite necessary.

The interior decor is classic, boasting pastel walls of pale green, lemon chiffon, ecru and vanilla with delicate floral patterns integrated throughout. The library is reminiscent of Forbes’ Scottish roots, lined with a blue/green tartan rug and rich mahogany walls. Malcolm’s father, Bertie Charles Forbes, was a Scottish immigrant and founded Forbes magazine in 1917.

“We hope to find a buyer that will be the next family to take care of it,” Kissel said, noting the property was dear to Malcolm Forbes and his family.

The estate also features a tennis court and 3 guest cottages, living up to the image of luxury and success that is often attached to the Forbes name. Ten additional acres are also available for purchase, which would bring the total cost of the estate to $4.25 million.

 

Malcolm Forbes’ NJ Estate Listed for $3.4 Million | Zillow Blog.

Shoe Designer Vince Camuto Lists Historic Hamptons Estate | Waccabuc Real Estate

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What could you do with $48 million? You could purchase about 480,000 pairs of heels, or you could buy a shoe designer’s entire estate.

Shoe and fashion designer Vince Camuto — who founded popular shoe brand Nine West in the 1970s— has listed his historic Southampton home with a $48 million price tag.

The home was built more than eight decades ago as just a pool house for the mammoth Wooldon Manor, reports Curbed. The main residence was built by Dr. Peter Wyckoff, who sold it to Jessie Woolworth Donahue, the daughter of Woolworth’s founder, F.W. Woolworth. She renovated the pool house before selling the property to Edmund Lynch of Merrill Lynch.

The original manor — once named the most opulent in The Hamptons — was destroyed in 1941 after Lynch’s death. The land has since been subdivided, with the remaining estate sitting on 5.5 acres. An additional 8.8 acres is also available for purchase.

The past 30 years have been good to the 10,000-square-foot home. Sitting right on the water, the place has been updated and modernized by Camuto — and of course, a new pool house was added to the property. Today, the main residence has 7 bedrooms, 7.5 baths and plenty of entertaining space beneath vaulted ceilings and large windows. Patios and lawns stretch to the private beach, and the entire parcel is protected by security systems.

According to Curbed, Camuto has already moved on to another Hamptons home: the Jazz Age Villa Maria that recently garnered a feature in Architectural Digest.

 

Shoe Designer Vince Camuto Lists Historic Hamptons Estate | Zillow Blog.

David Spade’s Malibu Home Sells for $10.225 Million | Waccabuc Homes

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Just because a home is celebrity owned and on a parcel nestled up against the Pacific Ocean, doesn’t mean it’s going to get a quick or profitable sale.

David Spade’s Malibu home was first listed for $16 million in 2008 — at the top of the real estate market — and after several price drops — he sold it in mid June for $10.225 million. According to property records, Spade bought the home in 2005 for $9.3 million, so luckily he is walking away with a profit.

The La Costa Beach home, like many coveted Pacific Coast Highway residences, sits right on the beach with access to a sandy shoreline and endless water views. A typical California layout seamlessly moving between indoor and outdoor spaces is evident throughout the home, with doors leading from living rooms to several patios.

Measuring 3,763 square feet, the home has 4 beds, 3.5 baths, 4 fireplaces and an outdoor pool. According to the listing, architectural details include a Shaker cylindrical staircase, vaulted ceilings, new hardwood floors and countertops.

Like most comedic actors, Spade got his start on “Saturday Night Live” before moving to films and an Emmy-nominated role on “Just Shoot Me.” He still owns a home in Beverly Hills.

 

 

David Spade’s Malibu Home Sells for $10.225 Million | Zillow Blog.

Housing market: Broward’s median price rises 23 percent | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Broward County home sellers enjoyed more pricing power in June.

The county’s median price for existing single-family homes hit $265,000, a 23 percent increase from a year ago, the Greater Fort Lauderdale Realtors said Monday.

It was the seventh consecutive month that the median jumped by more than 20 percent. Home sales rose 3 percent, to 1,356.

Broward’s median condominium price last month rose 22 percent to $105,000. But condo sales declined 9 percent from June 2012.

“At one time, buyers thought they could do what they want, when they wanted, but they’re realizing now that they don’t have the control they once did,” said Carrie Hazen, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker in northwest Broward.

Palm Beach County and statewide figures were not released Monday because of a technical problem. Those numbers are expected Tuesday.

The median price means half the properties in Broward sold for more and half for less. The percentage increase does not reflect all home values countywide.

Sellers of single-family homes last month received 96 percent of their list prices, up from 93 percent a year earlier, the Realtor group said. The typical Broward home went under contract in 29 days, down from 37.

Ken H. Johnson, a professor at Florida International University’s Hollo School of Real Estate, said some prospective buyers are frustrated by the recent price increases and are staying out of the market. But he doesn’t recommend that strategy.

“A lot of people are upset that they missed the bottom. Yes, but big deal,” Johnson said. “Prices are still affordable. Nobody should be waiting.”

A shortage of homes for sale and an abundance of investors have helped fuel the housing recovery.

Broward had 4,225 homes on the market at the end of June, down 14 percent from a year ago. 

Large investment firms, including Blackstone Group and Waypoint Homes, are buying thousands of homes in South Florida and across the country. The firms are pushing prices higher while keeping homes out of the hands of first-time and move-up buyers.

 

Housing market: Broward’s median price rises 23 percent – South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com.

It is a Balanced Real Estate Market | Waccabuc Real Estate

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The lower mainland Real Estate market is in an equilibrium with sales surging 11.9 percent compared to June 2012 for single family detached homes, condos and townhomes. This increase is the greatest increase in the last 2 years. In May, residential sales volume climbed a mere 1 per cent in Greater Vancouver, following a 19-month stretch of year-over-year declines in the number of properties sold.

 

Last month, 2,642 Greater Vancouver properties changed hands on the Multiple Listing Service, compared with 2,362 sales in June of 2012. This increase is still 22 percent lower than the 10 year average for June.

 

The prices are reported to have dropped marginally by 3 percent as reported by the Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board.

 

The Real Estate market has shown 4 straight months of growth albeit we are coming from a really slow and lacklustre pace. It appears that the buyers have finally started to make their move after holding out for months and months. In any given market and at any stage, sellers want the most money for their property and the buyers want to offer the least amount possible. In the last 6 months, it appeared that the buyers were holding out and were not making their move hoping for the prices to bottom out even more.

 

After seeing that the prices have not been dropping significantly, it seems like the buyers are relenting and finally locking in the low interest rates and making deals.

 

Sellers too were waiting it out and hoping the market conditions would improve. However, if the seller is going to be buying again in the same market conditions then the market condition should not matter as such.

 

Traditionally in the lower mainland, prices rarely seem to come down. The slowness in the market is really only the fact that it takes a bit longer for the properties to sell.

 

The Canadian Real Estate Market does follow the US market somewhat and with the unprecedented recovery being seen in some parts of the USA, it is natural to have an upbeat tick in our own market.

 

 

It is a Balanced Real Estate Market | Vancouverdesi.com.

Spanish Housing Prices Continue Slide in Second Quarter | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Spanish home prices continued to weaken in the second quarter, suggesting the country is still a long way from recovering from a property market crash that forced the country to seek a bailout for its banks.

Prices declined 7.6% year-on-year and 2.4% from the first quarter, a report prepared by the Public Works ministry showed Friday. The average price per square meter was 1,481.7 euros($1,942.36), down 29.5% from the first quarter of 2008.

Spain is enduring a protracted recession that was precipitated by the collapse of a housing and credit bubble five years ago. Late last year, the country’s banks transferred billions in bad real estate loans to a government-backed “bad bank” established with the help of euro zone bailoutfunds



Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/spanish-housing-prices-continue-slide-in-second-quarter-20130719-00065#ixzz2Zm18rHnJ

 

 

Spanish Housing Prices Continue Slide in Second Quarter.

Realtors lose bid to throw out rival application for ‘.MLS’ domain | Waccabuc Real Estate

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An arbitration panel has rejected a plea from the Canadian Real Estate Association to throw out a competing application for a .MLS top-level domain on the grounds that “MLS” is a generic term in English-speaking countries.

Last year, CREA — the National Association of Realtors’ counterpart in Canada — applied to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to create and manage a new .MLS top-level domain. CREA’s application has the backing of the MLS Domains Association, a nonprofit group of 55 U.S. multiple listings services representing more than 600,000 agents and brokers.

In early 2011, ICANN, which manages the Internet’s domain name system, launched a process to allow the creation of potentially hundreds of new top-level domains. Examples of top-level domains common today include “.com” and “.org.”

If ICANN approves a “.MLS” top-level domain, CREA and the MLS Domains Association want CREA to be in charge of managing it. Consumers, the groups say, should have a way of distinguishing between websites operated by industry professionals from those maintained by third parties.

Although the MLS Domains Association had originally planned to file an application with ICANN to create and manage the .MLS top-level domain, CREA is taking the lead because CREA’s ownership of the trademarks for “Multiple Listing Service” and “MLS” in Canada were thought to make the trade group a stronger applicant. NAR has applied to ICANN to create and manage several new top-level domains including “.Realtor,” a term it has trademarked.

If granted authority to manage the “.MLS” top-level domain, “only members of CREA and its foreign affiliates will be permitted to register .MLS websites,” CREA said in its ICANN application.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/07/19/realtors-lose-bid-to-throw-out-rival-application-for-mls-domain/#sthash.5JwkCYdd.dpuf

 

 

Realtors lose bid to throw out rival application for ‘.MLS’ domain | Inman News.

Technology still an afterthought for many big brokers | Waccabuc Real Estate

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I have enough contact with real estate agents to know that some of them cannot manage their smartphone.

Those who can’t figure it out tell the rest of us that we need to spend less time on technology and more time with people. Or that real estate is a people business.

I wish it were that simple, and that we could have a choice between using modern-day technology or not using it.

Personally, the reason I use technology is to communicate with others. Most days I would rather interact directly with a person.

When I get offers on my listings from agents who are with some local large brokerages, I can tell right away which company the agent is with. The offers all have the same email title, with the phrase “scan from (insert name of brokerage).”

Usually the contracts are sideways or upside down, forcing me to lock the orientation on whichever mobile device I’m using, and then turn the device upside down or sideways to read the offer.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/07/18/technology-still-an-afterthought-for-many-big-brokers/#sthash.voY4UhlR.dpuf

 

Technology still an afterthought for many big brokers | Inman News.

Caramoor Opera Review | Waccabuc Real Estate

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A production of the 1855 French opera “Les Vêpres Siciliennes” by Verdi performed on Saturday at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah was praised in a review in Sunday’s edition of The New York Times.

The Katonah Museum of Art’s new Collage Center might feature artists from around the world, but at the center of it all is North Salem native Pavel Zoubok.

The Bedford Central School District updated its 2013-14school calendar this week, adding dates that teacher and superintendent conferences will take place.

The Journal News is seeking more information on gun owners in Westchester County several months after it posted a controversial map on the publication’s website that gave the names and addresses of legal gun owners, according to an article on the Fox News website.

Caramoor Opera Review Tops Bedford News This Week | The Bedford Daily Voice.