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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Here's to Halloween and the Place We Call Home.

The doorbell to your home is used more on October 31st than potentially any other day of the year. It’s Halloween and there’s arguably no holiday where home plays a bigger role.

And by home I just don’t mean the address on your electric bill. I’m talking about the place where you chose to live. Sure you have your Christmas traditions, your Thanksgiving dinners or even your New Year’s Eve bash, but none of those holidays are neighborhood celebrations like Halloween. And aren’t our homes more than just the plot of land they reside on?

halloween2 Heres to Halloween and the Place We Call Home

Trick or Treat!

In recent years, Halloween has become as decorated a holiday as Christmas…pun intended. Ghosts, graveyards, and ghouls adorn the lawns, porches, stoops and windows of homes regardless of the type of city you live in. While certain neighbors may not celebrate a particular religious holiday, no home is safe from Halloween. If you have a door, you better have some candy for the adorable kindergarten princess and swashbuckling elementary school pirate when they come caroling with their sing songy “trick or treat.”

Right now you may be remembering your Halloween travels of years past. You know which home gave away Pez dispensers and Matchbox cars that made you try and visit them twice in one night. And of course you have the other side of the treat spectrum with the lame folks that gave away pencils or “healthy snacks.” That’s right. I’m calling you folks out. It’s one night a year. Let them have candy!

On Halloween you pass your neighbors on the street, get to see the kids masquerade from porch to porch and enjoy the rare walk around the neighborhood. It’s a night where we literally open our doors to others and make preparations to give regardless of who steps to our front door, something we should probably do more often.

I’m willing to bet that if you took out your photo albums and flip to the pages of Octobers past, you’ll see some masked individuals. But I’ll also bet that photo is taken in front of a home. Might be yours. Might be a friend’s. But in either case, home probably played a role.

I’ve celebrated Halloween in many a home town from Rockaway, NJ to Columbus, OH to Succasunna, NJ (yes, it’s a real town name) to Irvington, NJ to Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Each one had its own costume and memory attached to it as well.

So tonight appreciate the home you have and the community in which you reside. Open your doors and give just a small, sweet-toothed token to the kids, and even those awkward teens who don’t really dress up anymore, that knock on your door.

This year Hurricane Sandy has uprooted many of our friends and neighbors from their homes so let’s make an extra effort to extend more than just a treat to those folks as they work to get their homes and neighborhoods back in order.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Honestly, what beats fall mixed with costumes and an overdose of candy? It also happens to be my birthday.

Here’s to Halloween and all the things that make a house a home.

If you have pictures of your home from Halloweens past or present, share them with us on Instagram by tagging them with #coldwellbanker.

Related posts:

  1. Home Sweet Home Halloween Candy Battle: Final Round
  2. Home Sweet Home: Halloween Candy Battle Royale Round 1
  3. Home Sweet Home: Halloween Candy Battle (Elite Eight)

Here's to Halloween and the Place We Call Home.

Posted on: Beverly Hills Real Estate-Beverly Hills Homes For Sale

Bubble Bubble Toil & Trouble...Happy Halloween Everyone! bubbling witches cauldron.

Bubble Bubble Toil & Trouble...Happy Halloween Everyone! bubbling witches cauldron.

Lunch at the remodeled Spago in Beverly Hills.

Lunch at the remodeled Spago in Beverly Hills.

Posted on: Beverly Hills Real Estate-Beverly Hills Homes For Sale

Beverly Hills' 90210 Among 'Most Expensive ZIP Codes'

Beverly Hills' 90210 Among 'Most Expensive ZIP Codes'

The city's famous ZIP ranks No. 12 on Forbes' annual list.

The 90210 ZIP code that made Beverly Hills famous has earned the No. 12 spot on Forbes' annual list of "America's Most Expensive ZIP Codes."

Forbes and Altos Research examined prices in more than 22,000 ZIP codes from June 28 through Sept. 28, examining the median asking price for single-family homes and condominiums. The analysis was limited to ZIPs with 10 or more residences on the market.

According to the magazine's analysis, the median home price in the 90210 ZIP during the survey period was $3,630,743, with a median price change of +4.5 percent over the last year. On average, 90210 homes remained on the market for 186 days. At the time of the survey, there were 236 properties listed in that ZIP.

The 90210 ZIP is the only Beverly Hills postal code that made the list. The city's other ZIPs are 90209, 90211, 90212 and 90213.

The top ZIP listed was 10065 in New York, NY, with a median home price of $6,534,430—an increase of 384.9 percent over the last year.

California first appears on the list at No. 3 with Atherton's 94027 ZIP, located on the San Francisco Peninsula. Homes there average $4,897,864, a 14 percent jump from last year.

Between Atherton and Beverly Hills, other California ZIPs at the top of the list are Hillsborough's 94010 (No. 5) with an average home price of $4,127,250, Los Altos Hills' 94022 (No. 7) at $4,016,050, Rolling Hills' 90274 (No. 9) at $3,972,500 and Belvedere's 94920 (No. 11) at $3,852,308.

To see Forbes' latest list of the most expensive American ZIP codes, click here.

Beverly Hills' 90210 Among 'Most Expensive ZIP Codes'

Posted on: Beverly Hills Real Estate-Beverly Hills Homes For Sale

Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Rise by Most in Two Years: Economy - Bloomberg

Residential real-estate prices increased in the year ended August by the most in two years, a sign housing will continue to boost U.S. economic growth.

The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities rose 2 percent from August 2011, the biggest year-to-year gain since July 2010, after climbing 1.2 percent the prior month, the group said today in New York. The median forecast of 25 economists in a Bloomberg survey projected a 1.9 percent gain.

Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Increase by Most in Two Years

A Coldwell Banker LLC realty sign stands outside of a home for sale in Peoria, Illinois. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

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The stabilization in values is rippling through the economy after the housing slump helped trigger the recession, supporting gains in consumer confidence and spending that are benefitting companies such as Lowe’s Cos. Inc. (LOW) and Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) Federal Reserve policy makers have promised to keep interest rates low through mid 2015 to spur growth and reduce unemployment.

“The housing recovery has had modest momentum,” said Anika Khan, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina, a subsidiary of the largest U.S. mortgage lender. “We still are looking for housing improvement and think that trend will continue.”

Estimates in the Bloomberg survey ranged from gains of 1.5 percent to 3.1 percent. The Case-Shiller index is based on a three-month average, which means the August data were influenced by transactions in June and July.

All U.S. equity markets are closed again today in the aftermath of Sandy, the Atlantic superstorm that slammed into the East Coast. It was the first shutdown for stock markets in consecutive days due to weather since 1888. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association said bond trading will also be suspended today.

German Unemployment

Elsewhere today, the number of unemployed in Germany rose twice as much as economists forecast in October and the jobless rate climbed for the first time in three years.

In Asia, the Bank of Japan expanded its asset-purchase program for the second time in two months amid mounting evidence that the economy contracted last quarter.

U.S. home prices adjusted for seasonal variations increased 0.5 percent in August from the prior month, with 19 of 20 cities showing gains, today’s Case-Shiller report showed. Seattle was the exception, showing a 0.1 percent decline. Unadjusted prices climbed 0.9 percent.

The softening in unadjusted prices that typically happens starting around this time of year as sales cool may be exacerbated in the short-run by Sandy, said Khan.

Northeast Pullback

“We could see in the Northeast in particular a little bit of a pullback in home sales,” Khan said. “The month-to-month declines are going to be because of the seasonally slow” time of year, she said.

Lenders may put transactions on hold in the affected areas until the properties can be inspected for damage, said David Stevens, president of the Mortgage Bankers Association. Homes in seven states valued at almost $88 billion were at risk of having been damaged, according to a report by CoreLogic Inc., a mortgage software and data firm in Irvine, California.

The year-over-year gauge provides better indications of trends in prices, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller group. The panel includes Karl Case and Robert Shiller, the economists who created the index.

Seventeen of the 20 cities in the index showed a year-over- year gain, led by an 18.8 percent increase in Phoenix. Atlanta led declines, with a 6.1 percent drop.

“The sustained good news in home prices over the past five months makes us optimistic for continued recovery in the housing market,” David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee, said in a statement.

Confidence Improves

The pickup may be helping gain confidence. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan sentiment gauge advanced this month to the highest level since September 2007, before the recession began.

Household purchases, which account for about 70 percent of gross domestic product, rose 0.8 percent in September, the most since February, Commerce Department data showed yesterday.

A drop in borrowing costs to record lows, thanks in part to the Fed’s open-ended commitment to purchase $40 billion of mortgage debt a month, may continue to buoy the housing market. The average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate loan was at 3.41 percent last week compared with 3.36 percent in early October that was the lowest in data going back to 1972, according to Freddie Mac.

Americans bought new homes in September at the fastest pace in two years, the Commerce Department reported last week, with demand up 27.1 percent from a year ago.

Shares of Benton Harbor, Michigan-based Whirlpool, the world’s largest appliance maker, reached their highest in more than two years this month after the company raised its 2012 earnings forecast.

“We continue to see some early but consistent signs of housing recovery, which makes us increasingly optimistic about a more structural-demand recovery,” Marc Bitzer, president of Whirlpool North America, said during an Oct. 23 earnings call.

Bloomberg Table  ============================================================ 1-months 3-months   1-year  2-years  3-years earlier  earlier  earlier  earlier  earlier ============================================================ US Composite-20    0.88%    4.78%    2.03%   -1.76%   -0.16% ------------------------------------------------------------ Detroit            2.27%   11.62%    7.58%   10.74%   10.60% Phoenix            1.76%    6.58%   18.77%    9.59%   10.03% Atlanta            1.75%    9.02%   -6.12%  -12.07%  -13.90% Las Vegas          1.55%    3.77%    0.90%   -4.94%   -9.21% Los Angeles        1.29%    4.38%    2.15%   -1.44%    3.84% Minneapolis        1.19%    9.87%    7.44%   -1.36%    1.36% Washington DC      1.08%    4.35%    4.32%    3.72%    8.04% Cleveland          1.00%    3.67%    1.13%   -3.70%   -4.08% Miami              0.95%    4.72%    6.66%    1.80%    0.81% ============================================================ 1-months 3-months   1-year  2-years  3-years earlier  earlier  earlier  earlier  earlier ============================================================ San Diego          0.87%    3.12%    1.89%   -3.75%    2.93% Chicago            0.71%    8.13%   -1.63%   -7.30%  -10.03% New York           0.71%    3.77%   -2.28%   -5.06%   -5.03% Boston             0.69%    5.07%    1.73%   -0.05%    1.49% Charlotte          0.56%    2.81%    2.80%    0.01%   -3.43% Denver             0.52%    3.89%    5.53%    3.82%    2.62% Portland           0.49%    4.23%    3.60%   -4.23%   -6.42% San Francisco      0.47%    5.24%    5.30%   -0.32%    7.47% Tampa              0.45%    3.51%    4.19%   -1.91%   -5.94% Dallas             0.12%    2.31%    3.59%    1.67%   -0.13% Seattle           -0.06%    3.14%    3.36%   -2.91%   -5.25% ============================================================

To contact the reporter on this story: Lorraine Woellert in Washington at lwoellert@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Wellisz at cwellisz@bloomberg.net

Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Rise by Most in Two Years: Economy - Bloomberg

Posted on: Beverly Hills Real Estate-Beverly Hills Homes For Sale

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

The Sunset Plaza area and Cravings Restaurant .

I Love Selling LA the Hit HGTV Show and Selling Beverly Hills & LA Real ...

Michael Jackson's Home in Holmby Hills Sold To Investment Banker Steven Mayer

Michael Jackson's Home Sold To Investment Banker Steven Mayer: Report

The Huffington Post  |  By

Get updates from Harry Bradford
Posted: 10/29/2012 4:55 pm EDT Updated: 10/29/2012 5:18 pm EDT

The former home of the King of Pop may be landing in the hands of a king of investments.

Steven Mayer, who TMZ identifies as a “a super-rich investment banker,” has reportedly purchased the home where Michael Jackson passed away in 2009 for between $17 and $20 million. The house, which has been listed for as much as $29 million since the singer’s death, has attracted interest from a wide range of famous buyers, including Robbie Williams, as well as at least one other unnamed “major celebrity” but it seems it's Mayer’s zeal that’s won the day.

TMZ attempted to get in touch with Mayer's real estate agent, who is also reportedly the agent for the seller of the home, but didn't hear back.

The home just days after Jackson's death in June, 2009:

michael jackson home sold

Given Mayer's apparent enthusiasm for the seven-bedroom home which features a pool, guest house and even an elevator, few would have been surprised if he paid more for the home than the asking price, but as it happens celebrity homes rarely receive a price boost despite their association with fame and fortune, according to The Los Angeles Times. Celebrities like Penelope Cruz and Meg Ryan have slashed prices on their homes, while those unfortunate enough to enter foreclosure such as R. Kelly and Burt Reynolds have had to sell their homes for well below the asking price.

Michael Jackson's Home in Holmby Hills Sold To Investment Banker Steven Mayer

Posted on: Beverly Hills Real Estate-Beverly Hills Homes For Sale

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Adrienne Maloof Sells Stunning Beverly Hills Mansion For $20 Million - Take A Peek Inside!

Adrienne Maloof Sells Stunning Beverly Hills Mansion For $20 Million - Take A Peek Inside!Adrienne Maloof Sells Stunning Beverly Hills Mansion For $20 Million - Take A Peek Inside!

 7 1
 

Posted on Oct 28, 2012 @ 01:08PM  
WENN

By Radar Staff

What housing market crisis? Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Adrienne Maloof has sold her extravagant Beverly Hills mansion for an astounding $20 million dollars just one month after putting it on the market.

Adrienne and her estranged husband Paul Nassif are going through a nasty divorce, and they enlisted their Real Housewives of Beverly Hills co-star Kyle Richards’ husband Mauricio Umansky as their real estate agent to sell their house, which they originally put on the market for $26 million.

PHOTOS: Take A Peek Inside Adrienne Maloof's Amazing Mansion

The eight bedroom, 11 bathroom estate has been featured often on the hit reality show, and it boats a wine cellar, gym and screening room, with a pool, a guest house and was designed by the architect Richard Landry.

The home sold for just under $20 million quickly “because inventory in the Beverly Park neighborhood has become scare in the past two years,” the Wall Street Journal reported.

PHOTOS: The Real Houswives Of Beverly Hills In Hawaii

The buyer is “an L.A. businessman who was looking in the neighborhood for a long time and liked the French chateau-style of the nearly 20,000-square-foot home.”

Adrienne and Paul’s home is across the street from the home Lisa Vanderpump sold for $19 million in 2011.

Adrienne Maloof Sells Stunning Beverly Hills Mansion For $20 Million - Take A Peek Inside!

Posted on: Beverly Hills Real Estate-Beverly Hills Homes For Sale

Shopping at the Beverly Hills Farmers' Market.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Hilary Swank's Pacific Palisades home for sale for $9.495 million - latimes.com

A truly Swank property listed at $9.495 million

Hilary Swank's Mediterranean-style house in Pacific Palisades has six fireplaces, a dining room that can seat 20, a theater and ocean views.

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    Hilary Swank

Hot Property

Amenities on the one-third-acre property include a swimming pool with a pool house. (Jeff Elson)

Oscar-winning actress Hilary Swank has put her Mediterranean-style house in Pacific Palisades on the market for $9.495 million.

Built in 1928, the 6,722-square-foot home has six fireplaces, six bedrooms and 61/2 bathrooms in three stories. Features of the ocean-view house include a step-down living room, a dining room that can seat 20, a theater, a cigar room/wine cellar, a gym and a separate office or maid's quarters. The grounds of about a third of an acre include a swimming pool and terraced vegetable gardens.

Swank, 38, most recently completed "Mary & Martha," which will air next year on HBO. She will star in and be a producer for next year's "You're Not You" through her 2S Films. Swank won Oscars for her work in "Million Dollar Baby" (2005) and "Boys Don't Cry" (1999).

The actress bought the property in 2007 for $5.8 million, according to public records.

Hilary Swank's Pacific Palisades home for sale for $9.495 million - latimes.com

Posted on: Beverly Hills Real Estate-Beverly Hills Homes For Sale

Friday, October 26, 2012

Homes in the bird streets in the West end of the Hollywood Hills, Sunset...

Open Dior: Renovated Beverly Hills boutique back in business. The store is stunning!

Open Dior: Renovated Beverly Hills boutique back in business

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Renovated Dior boutique

An interior view of the Dior boutique in Beverly Hills, which reopened after an extensive eight-month renovation. (Richard Cadan)

The house of Dior is certainly making its mark on the red carpet of late, with a bevy of stars (Jessica Biel, Marion Cotillard, Julianne Moore, Jennifer Lawrence) stepping out in Raf Simons’ daring new designs. And now, the French fashion brand is looking to translate all that buzz into sales with the reopening of its Rodeo Drive boutique Thursday after an eight-month renovation.

It was worth the wait. The 5,000-square-foot space is so stunning, it’s indisputably the new gem of Rodeo Drive, the kind of place you want to drop in just to see.

The interior designed by Peter Marino is in keeping with the design concept featured in Dior’s worldwide flagship in Paris on Avenue Montaigne. This atmosphere has a residential feel, with 18thcentury-inspired furnishings and fixtures mixed with contemporary art commissioned by the house.

The boutique, which has a cool gray color scheme, features five rooms on the first floor, with Dior’s signature top-handled handbags and lace-covered pumps each in their own spaces. There’s a ready-to-wear salon (currently featuring the cruise collection, designed before Simons’ arrival) with fireplace and seating area, and a separate fine jewelry room.  Upstairs is a VIP salon that will house pieces from Simons’ first two collections, to be shown to celebrities and stylists as we enter awards show season.

Dior commissioned several artists to create special pieces for the boutique, including a circular Claude Lalanne ginkgo-leaf bench in the entrance room, which is filled with fresh flowers, and “Cosmic,” a Rob Wynne mirror glass installation on the ceiling of the handbag area. A Johnny Swing couch made of welded half dollars and stainless steel sits in the ready-to-wear room, and two glass sculptures by artist Jeff Zimmerman reside in the shoe salon alongside a Pae White tapestry. In the fine jewelry area, glittery baubles are displayed in a dollhouse modeled after the Avenue Montaigne flagship. Another glam touch? Chairs upholstered with marabou feathers. Ooh la la.

There are several special accessories that were created for the Rodeo Drive opening, including a gold cuff made from a cluster of stars, which is appropriate considering the star treatment that Dior and its new designer are enjoying. Simons’ impressive couture collection, his first for the house, shown in Paris back in July, is displayed in the boutique windows for all to see. His first ready-to-wear collection for spring begins arriving in store in February.

Dior, 309 North Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills. 

Open Dior: Renovated Beverly Hills boutique back in business. The store is stunning!

Posted on: Beverly Hills Real Estate-Beverly Hills Homes For Sale

Business planning session with coach Tom Ferry.

Coldwell Banker This Weekend's VIEW Magazine is Online Now!

Coldwell Banker This Weekend's VIEW Magazine is Online Now!
If this message does not display properly, 
CLICK HERE to view it in your web browser

Posted on: Beverly Hills Real Estate-Beverly Hills Homes For Sale

Thursday, October 25, 2012

I look forward to my talk at the Coldwell Banker Arizona Previews Conference in two weeks.

I look forward to my talk at the Coldwell Banker Arizona Previews Conference in two weeks.

Dear Arizona 

Previews Property Specialists,
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As you know, we have our annual statewide Previews meeting coming up on Thursday, November 8th at the Troon CountryClub in North Scottsdale.


We’re very excited to have
 my friend, Christophe Choo, a top Previews agent from Beverly Hills, California, as one of our featured guest speakers.

His topic will be “Creating Video Magic.” To the right is a short video clip about Christophe Choo that he created to promote his presentation at  Gen Blue in New Orleans earlier this year. Click the Link to watch!

Looking forward to seeing you at the event!


Click to learn about Christophe Choo

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Malcolm MacEwen, CRB, GRI Malcolm
President & Chief Operating Officer 
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, Arizona 
malcolm.macewen@AZmoves.com 
480.481.8434

www.insideAZmoves.com
www.ArizonaViewOnline.com
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twitter.com/cbrbmalcolm 

You're receiving this because you're an agent or employee of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Arizona.

Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage
10466 N. 74th Street, Suite 100
Scottsdale, AZ 85258-1021

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Posted on: Beverly Hills Real Estate-Beverly Hills Homes For Sale