Real Estate Guides

Posted on Thursday, 21st July 2011 by Charles Melvin

Buyers and renters are becoming more sophisticated and demanding every year, so developers are always trying to stay ahead of the curve.

Amenities such as function rooms, media centers, gyms and libraries with fireplaces are common, if not almost standard, in new residential developments today. But the gold standard is well-designed outdoor space that residents can actually use.

One project that got it right is the Clarendon, a 33-story luxury tower in Boston’s Back Bay.

“The Clarendon offers residents a rare find in the city: an elegant rooftop terrace,” said Barbara Cusack, sales director at the Clarendon. “The

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Posted on Thursday, 21st July 2011 by Stella Ransom

Just as the lights were dimming on the incandescent bulb, its future is flickering with hope once again.

Last week Congress reopened the debate over whether the shift to energy-efficient alternatives is smart environmental policy or merely government intrusion into citizens’ lives. Never mind that a 2007 law signed by then-President George W. Bush already called for all incandescent light bulbs to be phased out nationally between 2012 and 2014.

Making the situation more confusing for consumers: California began implementing its own phase-out this year, ahead of the national mandates.

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Tags: Incandescent Light, Light
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Posted on Thursday, 21st July 2011 by Charles Melvin

CNN This is Linda DeRegnaucourt’s last summer off. When school starts in August, it will be her last year to think about high school classes, advanced placement tests and calculus.If all goes as planned, this will be her last year teaching at Palm Bay High School in Brevard County, Florida.

She’s quitting, she said, because she can’t afford to stay.

DeRegnaucourt doesn’t want to go. After 13 years of teaching high-level math, she has a tested stable of learning methods that helped all her students pass the AP calculus exam. Her room is a popular place for students to escape the drama of the high school cafeteria. Few

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Posted on Thursday, 21st July 2011 by Stella Ransom

Largest property company hopeful for home buyers

The chairman of the largest property company in Australia says he is hopeful that the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to leave rates on hold today will have a positive impact on prospective home buyers.

Ray White chairman Brian White says that the cash rate remaining at 4.75 per cent could allow buyers on the sideline, waiting for confirmation of interest rate stability, to enter the market.

However, speculation of cash rates rising in the next month or two is already influencing the market according to the real estate group.

“The perception of interest rate increases has already had a massive impact on the attitude of the community towards property,” Mr White said.

“It’s often ignored the actual impact of prediction on the psyche of potential property owners.”

Economists are predicting the next rate rise for August.

Tags: Buyers, Company Hopeful, Home Buyers, Property Company Hopeful
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Posted on Thursday, 21st July 2011 by Charles Melvin

Gino Romanese, senior vice-president of Royal LePage, hosted a luncheon to celebrate the company’s 2010 award winners in Toronto. The keynote speaker was John Stanton, the founder of the Running Room, one of Canada’s corporate and personal success stories. Don Kottick, vice-president and division manager of the Johnston & Daniel Division, says the talk on life-work-balance was “inspiring and motivational. I am sure after hearing John speak that many non-runners in the room will probably be going out to purchase a new set of Asics or Nikes.”

Tags: Founder, Running Room
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Posted on Wednesday, 20th July 2011 by Blake James

In the realm of marketing luxury real estate, we have noticed some patterns of vulnerabilities among market leaders that represent opportunities for challengers.  If they do have a chink in their armor it usually comes down to this: 1) they lose their focus; 2) they get complacent, or; 3) they lag behind technologically.

If you want to overtake the incumbent market leader, rather than identifying an uncontested market niche that you can dominate, you need to assess your opponent’s weakest link and wage an all-out battle that is 100% concentrated on one of these specific vulnerabilities.

In this post we look at the vulnerability of losing focus. Ma

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Tags: Luxury Real, Luxury Real Estate, Market, Real Estate
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