I LOVE MY JOB! April Fools? Nope, totally serious :)
I do love my job! Whether I’m working with buyers and sellers on a “shoestring budget,” or those with “champagne wishes and caviar dreams,” I’m privileged to work with some incredibly wonderful people.
You may have heard about the recent transaction which set a new record for the most expensive U.S. residential sale…Russian billionaire Yuri Milner (who heads Digital Sky Technologies) has reportedly paid $100 million for a 25,500-square-foot Los Altos Hills, California home which was not even listed for sale. According to The Wall Street Journal the sellers, Fred and Annie Chan took back a $50 million note on the home. Wow, that was awefully nice of Fred and Annie…that’s quite a note!
This record-setting sale is just one indication that the wealthy have opened their wallets and are shopping for homes again. The million dollar and above housing market rose 4% in February year-over-year as luxury buyers snapped up homes, often for all cash. Earlier this month a Palm Beach, Florida home sold and closed for a reported $24.6 million and I personally was involved in a $1.5 million transaction right here in Northern California. Why the rise in luxury sales? According to Laurie Moore-Moore, Founder of The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing of which I am a graduate, “The number of wealthy U.S. households is almost back to where it was before the downturn. Add the fact that many affluent pulled money out of investments and have been waiting in the wings with cash in hand while deciding where to invest. Residential real estate is now attracting many of these dollars.” Moore-Moore goes on to say, “This bodes well for the luxury home market in the short term. Luxury may well be the real estate segment that leads the recovery.”
The jump in luxury purchases is counter to the real estate resale trend in general, however. In February, total residential sales dropped 2.8% as compared to February a year ago. But even that market…the one in which most of us live, is alive and well in our neck of the woods. I put two in escrow today…one under $200K in Fair Oaks, CA and the other just under $400K in Folsom, CA. And I’m getting ready to close a townhome that was scooped up by a saavy buyer as an investment. Bottom line…regardless of your price range, I can help and I’m looking forward to working with you. I truly do love my job…and no, this is not an April Fools’ Day joke!!! I’m absolutely serious 🙂
