Candlewood Lake Houses

Monday, October 8, 2007

Sotheby's Takes Over Napa Valley ReMax

Sotheby's takes over ReMax Napa Valley

By JENNIFER HUFFMANRegister Business Writer
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Sotheby's. The name conjures up the idea of fine art auctions in London or Paris, but locals will soon see the name sprinkled around Napa County, in the form of "for sale" signs on homes.The real estate offices formerly known as ReMax Napa Valley are becoming the newest members of the Sotheby's International Realty network, associated with the auction house. The ReMax transformation is one of several changes in the Napa County residential real estate market, which has been marked by several shifts in recent months.

http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2007/10/02/business/local/iq_4145918.txt

Realogy in the [WSJ] Papers Again

Better Homes Real Estate To Be Revived by Realogy

By JAMES R. HAGERTYOctober 8, 2007; Page A16
Realogy Corp., which owns the Coldwell Banker and Century 21 real-estate brands, plans to relaunch another brokerage chain called Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate.
Realogy, Parsippany, N.J., said it has reached a 50-year agreement to license the Better Homes and Gardens brand name from Meredith Corp., a publisher in Des Moines, Iowa, that produces the magazine of the same name. Terms weren't disclosed.
Realogy, owned by the private-equity firm Apollo Management LP, intends to seek franchisees for the Better Homes real-estate brand nationwide and expects that offices under that name will begin opening in mid-2008.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119180385488351796.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Local Article on House Staging

New Milford woman stages houses for sale
Diane Valentine, owner of Diane Valentine?s Staging Your Home, adjusts a display of art in her New Milford home. Valentine markets her staging service to real estate agents but is available to any homeowner.NEW MILFORD -- Diane Valentine knows all about sentimental attachments to a house.
The Danbury-based Prudential Realtor raised five now children, now adults, in a rambling, five-bedroom Bethel farmhouse and it was a heart-wrenching decision to sell it.
But once the grandmother made up her mind, she had to divorce herself from the memories behind the picture-hanging holes in the 30-year-old walls and well-loved couches and chairs. She now needed to look at it through a buyer's eyes rather than a homeowner's.
So the longtime interior decorator and artist salvaged a few possessions and dumped the rest to move three years ago into her treehouse-style, two-bedroom cottage a short walk from Candlewood Lake.

http://www.newstimeslive.com/news/story.php?id=1186572350&source=tabbox

Forbes Most Expensive Zip Codes

http://www.forbes.com/2003/07/11/cx_bs_0711home.html
Home Improvement The Most Expensive ZIP Codes Betsy Schiffman

Click here for slide show. In many parts of the U.S., the old real estate axiom "location, location, location" could also be "ZIP code, ZIP code, ZIP code." When they were first introduced by the U.S. Postal Service in 1963, ZIP codes were intended to make mail delivery faster and more effective. ZIP codes, an aptly coined acronym for zoning improvement plans quickly developed a different sociological meaning that its creators may never have imagined. Because they often broke down cities and towns along geographical fault lines that separated one neighborhood from another, they became instant delineators of wealth and status. Today there are tens of thousands of ZIP codes across the country. Some have become fashionable, while others have been relegated to the perimeters of prestige--or even further down the property pecking order. Living within a desirable ZIP has its advantages, but it also has some drawbacks; property taxes tend to be higher, and residents usually become targets for every cold-caller and mass-mailer in the country. Yet when we set out to determine the ten most expensive ZIP codes in the country, we were surprised to learn that many of the most famous and most fashionable ZIPs didn't come close to making the list. To compile the list, we used median home prices for 2002, the last full year for which numbers exist, and interviewed dozens of local real estate agents, boards of Realtors and multiple-listing service providers, as well as third-party data providers (DataQuick Information Systems of La Jolla, Calif.). What ZIPs failed to make the cut? Beverly Hills, 90210, for example. Thanks to the popular TV show of the same name, this is possibly the most famous ZIP code in the country, with a median home price of $1.042 million in 2002, but not pricey enough to make it even within our top 15. (Although, given the fact that the 2002 U.S. median home price was just $158,300, the movie producers and celebrities who call it home aren't exactly on food stamps.) The reason that Beverly Hills doesn't rank, of course, is that even though it may contain some of the world's most expensive properties, many homes there are also more modestly priced. Unsurprisingly, several of the ZIP codes on our list are smaller communities, where the real estate is limited and the zoning laws predisposed to favor the affluent. Furthermore, the fact that there are relatively few property sales in the most exclusive communities--and those usually only with a high price tag--helps keep the median home price in these ZIP codes especially high. This partially explains why the most expensive ZIP code on our list includes Jupiter Island, Fla., where the median home price came in at $5.6 million. Jupiter Island, which is a winter escape for some of the U.S.'s oldest and richest families, isn't the only island: the ZIP which includes the five-mile-long enclave of Sea Island, Ga., also meets the requirement for the most expensive ZIP codes, thanks in part to its natural beauty, Addison Mizner-designed buildings and famous golf links. Centre Island, N.Y. (11771), where Billy Joel reportedly bought a $22 million mansion last year, isn't the only ZIP code in New York state to make the list; Old Brookville (11545), also on Long Island, ties with Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (92067), with a median home price of $1.7 million. Although the list is dominated by California ZIP codes, the Gold Coast of Chicago (60611), where the median home price is $1.39 million, was a close runner-up, as was Purchase, N.Y. (10577), where the median home price came in at $1.348 million. Other New York runners-up include Rye (10580) in Westchester County and Sagaponack (11962) in the Hamptons, both of which ranked in the top 50; their median home prices were below $1 million, at $950,000 and $915,000, respectively. It may be a consolation to 90210 residents that their ZIP code isn't the only famous one to get excluded: The 2002 median home price on Manhattan's Upper East Side (10021) was $727,500, and in Medina, Wash. (98039), it was $860,000, so neither of those reputably wealthy communities made it to the top. To see the list of the most expensive ZIP codes in the U.S., click here. Sources: DataQuick Information Systems of La Jolla, Calif.; Palm Beach Association of Realtors; the Northwest Multiple Listing Service; the Long Island Board of Realtors, Inc.; Multiple Listing Service of Long Island, Inc.; the Chicago Association of Realtors/the Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois; the San Diego Association of Realtors; the Corcoran Group; the Houston Association of Realtors; Newport County Association of Realtors; Aspen Board of Realtors; Bill Fandel of Telluride Properties, the Telluride Association of Realtors; the California Association of Realtors; Jupiter - Tequesta - Hobe Sound Association of Realtors; Realtors Association of Maui; Greenwich Association of Realtors; Miller Samuel Douglas Elliman Manhattan Market Report; Sea Island Company; LINK, Listing Information Network

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Foxton's Letter from Mark Horvat

Re: Foxtons, Inc. ("Foxtons")
October 2, 2007

We regret to inform you that, due to the recent down turn in the residential real estate market, Foxtons has decided to conduct an orderly liquidation of its business. To accomplish this goal, Foxtons is filing a voluntary chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. You will be receiving information concerning the bankruptcy case over the next few days.
Your property continues to be advertised on Foxtons' website and/or your area's Multiple Listing Service, as it was prior to Foxtons' bankruptcy filing. Moreover, the Foxtons signage at your property, if any, can continue to be displayed pending further notice.
As part or the liquidation of its assets, Foxtons is asking the bankruptcy court to authorize the assumption and assignment of your listing agreement with Foxtons to another broker. The identity of the proposed successor broker has not yet been determined. If the bankruptcy court grants this request, and if a successor broker makes a sufficient bid for Foxtons' listing agreements, then the listing agreement for the sale of your home would be assigned to another real estate broker. With the exception of the identity of the listing broker, all of the terms of your listing agreement with Foxtons would remain the same. We hope to have this assignment process completed within fifteen days. You will receive further information from the bankruptcy court concerning this proposal.

We regret any inconvenience to you caused by this situation and hope to transition your listing agreement to another broker as quickly and smoothly as possible.

Thank you.

Very truly yours,
Mark Horvat Vice President of Sales