The contents of my blog are a reflection of my interests and the life that I lead living in two coastal cities in the U.S.: New York City & Portland, OR.
All aspects of real estate have fascinated me since I was a child and I have devoted all of my professional life to marketing, selling, buying, renovating, researching, and personal investing in real estate. My blog shares my recent real estate adventures and observations as well as the lifestyle experiences that I enjoy in these two vastly different urban environments.
The darker side of real estate, namely the lack of it that the homeless experience, is of great interest to me. I wish to explore and share with you the underlying causes of this plight that so many unfortunate individuals experience. I will also explore and suggest possible innovative solutions to this problem.
In addition, as an observer and shutter bug, I will post photographs that I take of the seasons, locations and events that occur in the many interesting places where I live, work and travel.
Much to our surprise, we were not the only Americans interested in acquiring a home in New Zealand. As a matter of fact, we were bumping into fellow potential expats right and left who were seriously considering purchasing a home, some as second homes and some as primary residences, if they could acquire permanent resident status. The most sought-after areas for purchases were the seaport city of Auckland, which is very popular with sailing enthusiasts and Queenstown in the South Island, which is known for adventure sports and spectacular scenery.
75-80% of the homes in New Zealand are sold at auction. These are not foreclosure auctions, but rather the normal way that prices are established and properties are sold. Some very high-end properties over $4m are sold “by negotiation” and never go to auction.
These auctions are usually held in a large conference room at the central office of a real estate firm on a weekday. They are attended by the interested buyers along with the agents representing them. There are two large TV screens showing a photograph of the property, a one sentence description and the auction lot number. Some buyers are only represented by their agents who are in touch with them by cell phone.
Rather than conduct this business in Washington D.C., where office space was allocated for this purpose, President-Elect Trump has leased out several floors in Trump Tower, which the Trump Organization owns, to the U.S. government at taxpayers’ expense, in the most expensive office rent district in the country.
NYC Mayor de Blasio has requested reimbursement of $35 million. This expense to the city covers a total of 53 days – the time between the election and the inauguration on January 20th.
The answer is complex. First of all, most of these units are not really homes in the traditional sense. Instead, they are safety deposit boxes for the hidden wealth of people who have often usurped economic power, sometimes by questionable methods, often through political connections, in their native countries. Many of the apartments remain empty; some are furnished and used intermittently by various family members from time to time who are visiting NYC or attending colleges and universities here.
In 1979, the government of France paid $600,000 ($1.9m in 2014 dollars) for an 18 room duplex at 740 Park Avenue on the 12th and 13th floors, a Rosario Candela designed pre-war, 18 room “mansion in the sky”. This year the French government decided that the present value of the apartment which they assumed to be around $50m was a little too large an investment to house their U.N Ambassador. They put it on the market in April 2014 for an asking price of $48m.
The concept of “noise pollution” is a fairly recent one. On Eastern Long Island, known as “the Hamptons”, New York’s premier beach resort where the Atlantic Ocean meets beautiful, pristine white sand beaches, noise pollution used to mean the odd early morning tractor from the nearby farms, or perhaps the occasional late night party. 
Since the recession of 2008 however, there has been a new type of migration and people have become willing to relocate much further away from the urban centers on either coast to the inland cities. The Redfin data analysis in “
Of course, this has changed since the Great Recession of 2008 when many homes in these areas went into foreclosure and were purchased in bulk for cash by REITS and Hedge Funds directly from the banks at numbers far below their current market value. Their business model was to minimally repair these foreclosed homes and turn them into rental units until the real estate market had recovered and then sell them at a greatly appreciated value. 
