The market for the average priced US residence may be soft, but the über rich (especially the Russians) continue to drive prices up at the very top of the world’s luxury market. Case in point -- Villa Léopolda, one of the most historic estates on the French Côte d'Azur, is now under contract by an anonymous Russian billionaire for $750 million (€500m). This three-quarters-of-a-billion dollar sales price sets a new record for the most expensive home sale in the world. The previous record was set earlier this year by Indian billionaire Laksmi Mittal, with the reported purchase of a London home for his son for about $236 million.

Villa Léopolda, a cream-colored, turreted mansion with two guest houses, is midway between Monaco and Nice overlooking Cap Ferrat, near Villefranche-sur-Mer. The villa was originally built about 1902 by King Leopold II of Belgium. The grounds are regarded as among the most spectacular on the Côte d'Azur. Fifty full-time gardeners look after 20 acres of gardens and terraces, planted with 1,200 olive, orange, lemon and cypress trees.

The property’s new owner is said to be a Russian oil oligarch but not – despite initial rumors – Roman Abramovich, the highly visible owner of Chelsea Football Club, who already owns a €100m mansion near Antibes.

According to the Nice-Matin newspaper, a contract was signed last week to transfer ownership of the villa from Lily Safra, the widow of Edmond Safra, a murdered banking billionaire. Rumor has it that Mrs. Safra held out for months as the persistent mystery buyer kept raising his offering price. The paper also reported that 60 villas or mansions on Cap Ferrat are now owned by wealthy Russians.

The property has a unique history. In 1916, King Leopold’s nephew and heir, King Albert I, turned the villa into a hospital for officers wounded during the First World War. It later passed into the hands of the Agnelli family – Fiat automotive tycoons -- and became the scene for legendary jet-set parties in the 1960s, attended by Frank Sinatra, Ronald Reagan (in his acting days) and others.

“This sale raises the bar and makes the half dozen or so $100 million U.S. properties on the market seem like bargains,” said Laurie Moore-Moore, Founder of The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing, a US-based organization which trains real estate agents who work in the luxury market and awards the international Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist designation. “Today’s affluent are citizen’s of the world and the successful luxury agent must know how to reach them and what lifestyles they are seeking. It’s an exciting and active market for agents at the top.”


(Photo from pmo's flickr photostream)
Source: http://www.LuxuryHomeMarketing.com
Posted by Waco Moore on August 11, 2008





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People are worried about making their mortgage payments and where the housing market is going, so why even think about a second house as an investment?

As was mentioned in When to Buy a House, right now is the opportunity of a lifetime to buy real estate. Home prices are low, and one of the most important factors is that interest rates on mortgages are still very low. Interest rates will probably not go any lower than they are over the next 5-10 years.

There is a lot of money to be made in real estate, even though the news has scared the pants off of home-owners and investors alike. It's a matter of value-investing; when you know an asset has more value than its actual price, you buy it. You know that over time that investment is going to appreciate at a faster rate than other investments.

Before you go out looking for an investment property, make sure your own mortgage payments are under control. If payments are getting difficult, try to either sell your house and downsize or buy a new house and rent out the old one. To have that investment property, you must be comfortably paying for your home. If you want to learn more on personal finances check out the article Get Personal Finances In Order.

-> Investing in a property is great because you can increase your net worth, have someone else pay your mortgage payments (maybe even making a profit with their payments), and get a very good return when you decide to sell it (especially if you spruce the place up during your ownership).

What you need:

• Financial Planner/ CPA (accountant)- to discuss the tax advantages and advise on certain financial aspects of the deal (whether you want to form an LLC, S-corp, Partnership, etc.)
• Find a good real estate agent to find you a home with a lot of income and appreciation potential
• Have a plan of how you will find tenants (through your real estate broker, yourself with a sign or ads, or a property management company)
• Someone to handle small repairs around the property
• Keep track of all the money spent and all of the rent income (although your CPA will tell you that and help you)

Make sure your investment generates a positive cash flow!
-The NUMBER 1 Rule of Buying an Investment Property


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The news channels and newspapers are always telling us how bad the housing market is. They say it just keeps getting worse, but the chief economist of the National Association of Realtors says that the housing market is not going to get worse. Lawrence Yun, NAR's Chief Economist, states that there are many reasons for people to get into the housing market and very few reasons not to.

Whether you are an investor or just want to buy a home, Yun makes it clear that most of the fallout in prices is over, and he believes home prices will pickup in the second half of 2008. He says that subprime lending has largely "dried up," and those subprime loans are what sparked this downturn. With the lack of subprime loan originations, current foreclosures, low interest rates, and a high inventory; a perfect investing field has been created.

An ultimate buyer's market has arrived. Yun notes that Cape Coral, FL., Detroit, Las Vegas, Miami, FL, and Orlando, FL., Phoenix, and Riverside, CA have had some of the largest price reductions in the country. The reason for this is that these particular cities had large numbers of subprime mortgages. The slashed prices make a great entry point for investing in real estate.

This is a lesson in value investing; the market has undervalued homes, and investors/ home buyers can make a safe investment by getting in while prices are low. It is not much different than buying an undervalued stock. If you could buy Apple (AAPL) at $115 today and you knew that in the next few years it would be at or above $200, would you buy it?

Some deals out there are even more attractive than that. In Orlando, there are $350,000-$500,000 homes that have been reduced $150,000-$200,000! Have your real estate agent find you a good deal; they have the information to tell how good of an investment a certain property may be. Prices may be picking up already in some areas, so if you try to wait it out and see if prices will fall any more, you may miss the best prices for a long, long time.