Condo Blog - A Non-Corporate Blog From CondoDomain HQ

Heading back out to Logan tomorrow to hop a (JetBlue) flight to the Inman Real Estate Connect San Francisco.  Rumors are going around that this is going to be the best one yet….but then again, they always are.  The Inman Real Estate Connect is all about Innovation with Real Estate & Technology.  It is a BOOMING Group and the crowd grows every conference.

Looking forward to seeing you all (ya’ll) out there tomorrow night!

The Bloggers Connect & Trulia Blow out Bash to kick it off.

More info - check out Inman Connect Group on Facebook.

Ok, so we are back from our glamors trip on Nantucket this weekend.  Ok, we have some good news and we have some bad news.

Good News: You can get into Nantucket Real Estate for under $1 Million.

Bad News:  You will need a therapist for depression after you move in to your new Nantucket Villa (or shall I say garage).

Above is a beautiful Nantucket home on the market for $685,000.  It is described as a Great starter home in a convenient, Mid-island location. Zoning allows for significant expansion or a sizeable new dwelling. Close to shops, schools and Surfside bike path.  More Details
Now moreso on the brighter side of things is the “Nantucket Norm” - for about $20M

Elegant Oceanfront Estate. Grand Main House, Guest Cottage, Studio and Garage. This extraordinary property is private, serene and has fabulous ocean views.

More Details 

Ahh the beauty of an Internet Company!
All calls will be forwarded to Nantucket as the Condo Boys will be on Nantucket this weekend.  Its business as usual, but in bathing suits this weekend.  Its been a great year for us and we will be just taking some time to kick back a bit…but if you need us feel free to call.  No pranks please…and yes we will be looking for cool Condos on Nantucket to report back to you.
Learn more about Nantucket, MA here.

For history and Facts on Nantucket click here.

Almost as cool as our pal FlippingRich

Flipping Pad in its most simpelist terms is a destination site dedicated to consumers to share information on real estate investing.  Its a great Web 2.0 site with great search functionality which takes it out of the realm of being an online forum.  This site is pretty neat with unlimited potentail.  Check out this listing in Lake Tahoe!

From the founders of Flipping Pad:

That the Flipping Pad exists is proof that real estate investing and simplicity can indeed cohabitate in the same breath. We’ve learned a lot over the years through trial and error, but hadn’t found an online community with which to share our knowledge. While their are many useful courses, books, seminars, and even a couple websites. Nothing had inspired us more than talking with other investors. The Flipping Pad was born!

We want the Flipping Pad to be a productive place for everyone. Talking, sharing and communicating were immensely helpful when we got started. So, whether you’re full-time or just interested in learning about investing, there is a place for you on the Flipping Pad.

Flipping Pad even has its own blog.   If your looking for a real estate investment resource…flipping pad is a great start.  Good luck with the new venture guys!

The Atelier Condos in New York have been in the press quite a bit this year with its celebrity clientèle. Well, The Ateleier Condos just added 2 more hot names to the list ….

Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo attended the Grand Opening of the Atelier building last night in New York City. Atelier is a 45-story luxurious residential building, where Nick and Ness are reportedly moving in together.

Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo may have just purchased a beautiful $1 million apartment in the luxurious Atelier in Manhattan, but one thing that’s not so good is that Lindsay Lohan also bought an apartment in the new building, and with all the paparazzi always camped out to see what LL is up to, Nick and Vanessa might not love their new neighbor. Nick and Vanessa’s new condo is said to have two bedrooms and two full bathrooms. It’s around 1000 square feet, and has a full-size basketball court and swimming pool on the premises. For Lachey, the basketball court was a huge selling point, “where in Manhattan can you find this?”

See all New York Condos

No the Donald has not opened any hair salons (although we would not be surprised), but Mr. Trump is doing some trimming!  Donald Trumps newest “sky-rise” in Toronto - the T.O. Condos will be trimming back to 57 stories from its original master plan of 70 stories.

The Trump International Hotel and Tower – which was to be a 70-storey, five-star, $500-million project at the corner of Bay and Adelaide Sts. – will now be 57 storeys. Gone are 11 residential floors and two from the hotel, though the new plan does call for an increase in the overall number of units.

Rumours have gone on for months that sales are not going well. Trump himself told the Star’s Tony Wong in March it has taken longer to sell out in Toronto than any Trump towers in other cities.

Trump spokesperson Howard Tikka, speaking from Phoenix, Ariz., this week, initially conceded slow sales may have contributed to the whittled-down height. He later added “sales have really done well for us, though initially, of course, we hoped to sell more.”

When pressed further, Tikka says the height reduction – and related decrease in the size of many of units – relates to the speed of the building’s two elevators and some other technical issues.  Continued…

More information on Toronto Condos 

Source:  The Star

Just as I was to write a post on the lack of news on Condo Hotels lately - the Condo Hotel of them all comes flying across my desk!

The Mandarin Oriental Tower to be built in downtown Chicago will raise the bar again in luxury condo living in one more city. Here in the Boston Condo market they are just about to finish putting on the face of The Residences at the Mandarin Oriental here on Boylston Street - a new Condo Hotel project right here in downtown Boston.  Well, now it looks like they are going to vertical in Chicago with an all new Mandarin.

Visit the Mandarin Chicago Here.

More info on the Chicago Condo market click here.

More info on the Boston Condo market click here.

Redfin, the now online real estate brokerage growing giant, has proven to the VC world they got something going on!

Online real estate broker Redfin Corporation today announced a $12 million series C financing led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Madrona Venture Group, Vulcan Capital, BEV Capital and The Hillman Company, investors in previous financings, also participated in this round. Redfin has raised $20.8 million to date. In conjunction with the funding, Redfin launched its online real estate service in the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore areas.

Redfin will use the proceeds to continue national expansion, with plans to open in Chicago this year, and to further the company’s investment in its market-leading website for buying and selling homes.

Since Redfin’s last round of financing in May 2006, the company has completed more than $350 million in real estate transactions, saved its home-buying customers nearly $6 million in commissions, increased revenues by more than 2,000 percent, expanded into four new markets, and been featured on “60 Minutes.”

As part of the funding, DFJ partner Emily Melton will join Redfin’s board as a director. Melton brings to the board experience opening new markets for another Seattle-based consumer start-up, InSpa.

“More than ever, the Web provides a deep understanding of a home and its neighborhood, which has empowered consumers to take charge of the home-buying and –selling process,” said Melton, who has been monitoring Redfin’s progress since early 2006. “As one of the only companies actually brokering transactions online, Redfin is driving this trend to its logical conclusion, delivering the most value to the consumer, and the most profound change within the real estate industry. With more than $60 billion in annual commissions at stake, the opportunity is enormous.”

“We expect this to be our last round of venture financing, so we looked for a guide on the long journey ahead who could help us generate profits and lead our market,” said Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman. “DFJ’s commitment to a consumer-centered business, its connections to Silicon Valley’s most advanced technologies, and its appetite for huge, competitive markets made us natural partners. We’re especially delighted to have Emily on board.”
The online real estate brokerage Redfin also launched their online real estate e-commerce service for the Washington D.C. and Baltimore areas, adding more than 50,000 property listings to Redfin.com. The company also opened its first East Coast headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia. Catherine Jardine, formerly of Long & Foster, was hired to lead local real estate operations.

For more information visit www.Redfin.com

Barbara Corcoran on NBC with a quick overview on why it makes sense to invest in a condo or an investment property rather than paying the rising Room & Board rent!

Just another reason to Buy rather than Rent!

Sounds kind of weird right? Your personal social networking space may be owned or taken by your employer!

I know Joel from FoREM will eat this post up as he loves facebook!

Employers could have grounds to demand ownership of employees’ social networking profiles, such as those generated on Facebook, MySpace or Bebo, according to a leading intellectual property lawyer.

The news comes in the wake of a court ruling which forced a journalist to hand over the contents of his contacts list to his former employer after he left that company. Continued…

Visit our Very Own Condo Dwellers Group on Facebook Here.

Dubai, one of the seven United Arab Emirates, is considered to be one of the desirable real estate opportunities in the world. Dubai is the fastest growing city in the world, one-third of the cranes in the world are currently being used to build in Dubai. Dubai has also been rated by Interpol as one of the safest countries to live, which many may find hard to believe from what they have heard about the Middle East. Fortunately, none of that applies in Dubai. This little country strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East is fast becoming the premier vacation and tourism destination of the region. Over the past decade the number of visitors to Dubai has grown from 1.08 million to 5.4 million, representing a growth rate of 16% per year. This rate of 16% is 3 times the world tourism growth rate for the same time period. More astonishing is that the past 5 years alone have supplied a 54% growth rate. Over 3.4 million tourists visited Dubai in 2001 and this figure is expected to grow to an excess of 6.0 million by 2010, forecasting 200,000 visitors a day. It is also estimated that it will take 6-10 years for the supply of hotels to catch up with demand. This is surprising considering there is currently an estimated $80 billion in real estate projects underway.

Dubai is truly a place where East meets West. Where the sun shines every day of the year, with all the western modern facilities and infrastructure are fused together with eastern hospitality. From beautiful beaches and clear aqua blue seas to indoor ski domes, an underwater hotel and unparalleled skylines, there is never a shortage of things to do in Dubai. Dubai can boast of having or in the process of building:

The biggest airport in the world
The largest man made port in the world
The largest mall in the world
The only 7 star hotel in the world
The largest theme parks in the world (nearly 3 times the size of Disney World in Orlando)
The largest skyscraper in the world

Looking for Dubai Condos or Dubai Real Estate? Check out these two sites that we really like on Dubai Condos!

http://www.dubaicondoproperty.com & http://www.edwardsandtowers.com

Watch Video’s on Dubai Condos Here.

40 Mercer Condos in Soho have raised a new bar in luxury living for the Soho neighborhood of New York City! 40 Mercer contains 40 ultra luxury condo units and 14 of them sold for over $4M raising the bar in the Soho neighborhood.

Visit New York Condos

More on this article @ Bloomberg.

Thats that the SouthHaus website claims that has an international energy from all over Eastern Eurpoe.  SouthHaus is part of the booming Charlotte Condo and Charlotte Loft market down in sunny North Carolina!

The developers of a 198-unit loft condo building planned in South End were searching for a design that would convey “highly evolved living.”

They found it far, far away — on an idea-seeking excursion through Germany and the Netherlands, where contemporary, offbeat architecture is the rage.

You’ll see it in SouthHaus at South Boulevard and Ideal Way, where transparent floor-to-ceiling glass walls will fold out of sight to transform an entire condo into a balcony.  Continue @ Charlotte Observer

As Rhode Island single family real estate market slumps (about 10% form last year), Providence Condos are up and up big almost 20%. Hmmm, do you see something happening here? What we have been preaching for the past 2 years as our two mass demographics (Young Professionals and Empty Nesters) lead the way into urban city centers, they are searching out the ultimate in maintenance free, lifestyle oriented living - CONDOS! Check out the article on Projo.

Our Favorite Downtown Providence Condos -

The 903

Residences at the Westin Hotel 

Watch HD Movies on these Providence Condos here.

An old grain silo and grain elevator in Baltimore now has new life as a luxury condominium complex. Silo Point is a $400-million development on Baltimore’s waterfront. The site was once used by the Archer Daniels Midland Company to store corn, soy beans and wheat. The complex will include several phases. The first was 120 townhouses. The second will include condominiums and retail inside the grain elevator and the third part will be townhouses and apartments. For those on the higher floors it’s a chance to have a view that is unmatched in the area. The condos will also preserve a bit of the feel of the old grain elevator with the concrete floors, high ceilings and exposed ductwork, Other planned amenities include rooftop gardens and a health club. The condo units range in size from 1,800 to 5,000 square feet, and will cost from the low $400,000s to $5 million.

Source: Luxist

Our Condo Blog was Posh’d!!!!

I am sorry everyone for bringing my bad energy to the blog-o-sphere but like last week, I have to vent on this one too!

I intercepted a copy of this Offer to Purchase which looks like a 2-year-old wrote it up. I had to suck it up for this one, but I did cut out the real estate agents name and company name as I don’t want to be responsible for someone loosing their job....BUT COME ON. Who does this? How embarrassing is this to the profession of real estate brokerage? Who could ask their client to sign this piece of garbage document. (Remember this agent is making $9,000 on this deal). Jeaseeeeeeeee
This is the grossest document I have ever seen. Lazy Lazy Lazy. Shame on this broker!

If there’s one place where the housing slump seems to be a figment of the imagination, it’s New York City. A home in Manhattan is more expensive than ever, according to the latest reports from several big New York real estate brokers.The median Manhattan condo or co-op apartment sold for between $840,000 and $895,000 during the three months ended June 30. The low estimate was reported by two brokers, Halstead Property and Brown Harris Stevens, while the Corcoran Group pegged it at $875,000, and Prudential Douglas Elliman recorded the high figure among the group.

The average (mean) prices from all four companies more or less agreed - around $1.3 million. The disparity between mean and median prices points out the strength of the city’s luxury market. Four-bedroom apartments averaged nearly $10 million during the quarter, according to figures from Prudential Douglas Elliman.

What keeps New York real estate afloat even as many other markets are sinking?

According to Pam Liebman, Chief Executive of Corcoran Group, three kinds of buyers are helping fuel the increase in home appreciation.

“You can’t underestimate the impact of Wall Street,” she said. With hedge fund managers and investment bankers awash in cash, posh apartments close to work are in great demand.

 Continued…

Source: CNNMoney

Related International and the Chartwell Group today announced the sellout of Tower One of ICON Vallarta, surpassing planned sales objectives for the initial release. It took just three days to sell the initial 130 properties offered, which generated more than $70 million in revenue.

At a groundbreaking event on Friday, June 22nd attended by more than 500 guests—including internationally renowned designer, Philippe Starck—Jorge M. Perez, chairman and founder of The Related Group, announced that as a result of the great success of Tower One, the company will be early releasing a limited number of properties in the second tower in order to meet the current high demand.

“The success of the initial sales event of ICON Vallarta exemplifies the emerging trend of international buyers seeking dynamic, exclusive second homes,” said Jorge Perez, Chairman of The Related Group. “ICON drew US and Mexico clientele who were captivated by the style and flair created by Philippe Starck, one of the foremost designers in the world.”

ICON Vallarta is an upscale, oceanfront condominium located in Puerto Vallarta, featuring the world-class design of YOO by Philippe Starck and exterior design by Bernardo Fort-Brescia of renowned architectural firm Arquitectonica. Prices of the one-, two- and three-bedroom residences offered ranged from the $200,000s to more than $1 million.

The new luxury development brought to life by Related International, a division the Related Group, together with the Chartwell Group, appealed to buyers who are eager to own a stylish and distinctive brand of Mexican real estate. The resort is situated on just under five acres of oceanfront property located just minutes from downtown Vallarta’s world-class restaurants and galleries.

Phillipe Starck, Jorge Perez and John Hitchcox from YOO in the middle

Mr. Jorge Perez!

Phillipe Starck & his Wife.

…and a beautiful day it was. Killer sky, fresh brisk air…what a day! Here are a few pic’s from our travels with the guys from Sellsius & their first visiting city - Boston Baby!

John A Keith hustles downstairs to greet them on Newbury Street!

The Van Tour - John A Keith & Nick Sudano get a tour from Rudy @ Sellsius.

Faces - (aka the back of the bus!)

Joe from Sellsius admires his design work (we must agree…job well done Joe!)

Face Match 4 Me - (back of the bus)

Lunch at the Barking Crab in Boston’s Seaport District.

Goodie Bag for our Boys @ Sellsius! Have a blast and thanks for visiting Boston!

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Video by InmanTV below.