IS NOW THE TIME FOR

A WALKING TOUR

OF PALM BEACH'S

WORTH AVENUE?

Worth Avenue is considered one of the best world wide upscale exclusive shopping streets, with many top name luxury retail stores, jewelers, art galleries and restaurants.  Walking down Worth Avenue, in and out of the pretty and picturesque flowered alleyways, browsing or buying, can occupy a happy afternoon.  

Five major architects are responsible for charming, elegant old-world Mediterranean-style buildings in the Worth Avenue area – Addison Mizner, John Volk, Howard Major, Maurice Fatio and Marion Sims Wyethe.  The Everglades Club was built in 1918 and is still beautiful.  These architects are also responsible for many commercial and residential buildings.  The Palm Beach Preservation Foundation’s mission is to preserve the architectural and cultural heritage of the Town of Palm Beach and the scenic quality.  Awards are given to properties for their preservation efforts and results.

Built in 1925, architects for the Brazilian Court Hotel were, Rosario Candela (1925) and, Maurice Fatio (1936).  The property began as a Mediterranean Revival style residence, and later added a south wing and was landmarked in 1994.  Fatio built many beautiful homes in the area, as did the other architects mentioned above.  These stately elegant properties still stand, well loved and lived in, a testament to the abilities and quality of materials used by these architects in the early 1920’s.  In 2010 this hotel was designated #1 in Florida by Travel & Leisure Magazine. 

Now a 5-star hotel, you might want to stop for an exciting lunch or dinner at Café Boulud.  The courtyard in back is charming and romantic. A reservation for a room or suite will result in an elegant, memorable vacation.  The courtyard in back is charming and romantic. A reservation for a room or suite will result in an elegant, memorable vacation. You can walk to Worth Avenue or head to the beach with jeep transportation provided.

At 450 Worth Avenue, Casa de Leoni, built in 1920 by Addison Mizner, favors a Venetian design.  This property received the Preservation Foundation Ballinger Award for Restoration in 1995.  At 456 Worth Avenue, sits Villa des Cygnes, built by Addison Mizner in 1922.  In 417 Major Alley there is a small row of Bermuda style homes built by Howard Major in 1925.

In 1994, Pan’s Garden at 386 Hibiscus Avenue became a Preservation Foundation project, and won many awards.  See many Florida native plants at this delightful, serene Botanic Garden.  At 319 Brazilian Avenue, a typical Palm Beach bungalow was built in 1910 and given the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach Ballinger Award for Restoration in 1995.  Tours are available for school children.

The oldest house in Palm Beach is Sea Gull Cottage, built in 1886, in 1993 Henry Flagler’s first winter home.  In 1913 it was moved to the oceanfront as part of the Breakers Hotel.  The property has won many awards.

For exclusive walking tours for groups, call 561-659-6909 and be treated to the history of the area by James Ponce, who is called Palm Beach’s only “Two Legged Historical Landmark” by the Palm Beach Town Council.  Hear the facts and fables of Palm Beach’s illustrious history and celebrity residents.  Tours are scheduled to start at 11 a.m. in the Gucci Courtyard at 256 Worth Avenue on January 12,  January 26, February 9, February 23 and other dates thereafter.  Call to reserve.

UNIQUE BOCA RATON LUFF HOUSE

TO BE DEMOLISHED?

LUFF HOUSE IN THE 1920'S

 LUFF HOUSE TODAY

 

Foreclosed on last January 2010, the Luff House at 390 East Palmetto Park Road is one of the city’s earliest bungalow-style homes, one of Boca Raton’s 10 oldest surviving structures.  Not wanting to maintain the house, the current owners want it off the property by the end of the year or demolished.

 

The house was built in the early 1920’s using coral rock, unique to South Florida.  The exterior appearance has changed over the years as you can see in the two pictures above. With no historic designation for the house, the owners can demolish the house if they wish, but the Boca Raton Historical Society feels it is important enough to be relocated and used.

 

Suggestions for a new location include Sugar Sand or Spanish River Park, if the historical society or someone else could have it moved.  Cost is estimated for the move at $175,000.  Eligible for state and federal grants, such as from the Florida Bureau of Historic Preservation, those funds have dwindled as the economy has.  

 

Perhaps a group within the area will agree that this property is steeped in historical value and worth saving and reusing, and find funding to get this gem moved and used as an educational facility or for their own personal use.  It has been occupied by several businesses – antiques, watches, jewelers, and was the home of community agencies such as the Junior Service League and first home of the Boca Raton Historical Society.  

 

Anyone interested in helping can contact the Boca Raton Historical Society at (561) 395-6766, extension 106.

THE LITTLE RED SCHOOLHOUSE

in PALM BEACH

Pioneer Day at the Little Red Schoolhouse in Palm Beach is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, January 15, 2011 from 1-3 pm.  Check with the Preservation Foundation at  561-832-0731. It is now home to a program of Palm Beach’s living history taking children back in time for a mini-day in a one-room school of the 1890’s, home to The Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach.

The Little Red Schoolhouse is in Phipps Ocean Park in Palm Beach, 2185 South Ocean Drive in Palm Beach.  Refurbished in 1960 by the Gardeners Society of Palm Beach and the Town of Palm Beach, it remained unused until 1990 when it became part of the pioneer education program.  Education in America’s one-room schoolhouses stressed discipline, moral values and “the 3 R’s.”  Visiting students today participate in a spelling bee, trace Spencerian script and recite from Tom Sawyer, Little Women, The Ancient Mariner and McGuffey’s Readers.  Period artifacts are also part of the pioneer educational experience.

Starting with seven students in 1886, there were 35 students by the 1880’s.  The schoolhouse was located about a mile north of the Royal Poinciana Bridge on Lake Trail in Palm Beach.  Children arrived by boat, bicycle or on foot from Lake Worth families and were all taught together in one room.  The school ceased operation in 1901 and became a tool shed on the John S. Phipps property, falling into decline and deterioration in future years.  

Preserving past educational history and its artifacts is so important to the school children of today.  There are interesting positive lessons to learn from the past.

DECEMBER 26, 27

COME TO THE 4TH ANNUAL

DOWNTOWN DELRAY BEACH

ART AND CRAFT SHOW

 Delray Beach will hold the next Art & Craft Fair in Pineapple Grove, north on NE 2^nd off Atlantic Avenue, from 10 am to 5 pm.   More than 100 booths will be featured.   Items to browse and purchase will include some of the finest arts and crafts in the US, e.g. life sized sculptures, paintings, handmade jewelry, pottery and some very unique treasures.  Don’t miss the adjacent crafters market place with handmade body products, beautiful candles, wood plant holders and an expansive green market.

 Show is now closed in jewelry category and only wait list applications will be accepted for this category.

 Exhibitor parking is at City Hall on NW 1^st Avenue.  Both size is 10’x10’ but a double space may be available too.  For show fees email info@artfestival.com.  Setups begin at 5 am Saturday morning.

DESPITE FORECLOSURES,

COOL WEATHER,

RAMPANT UNEMPLOYMENT...

NOW READ THE GOOD NEWS!

NOTE THAT OUR PART OF FLORIDA

RANKS HIGH IN LIFE EXPECTANCY!

NEW APPRAISAL GUIDELINES

FROM FEDERAL RESERVE

A joint version of property appraisal guidelines was released 12-6-2010 by the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Office of Thrift Supervision and the National Credit Union Administration.  It is expected that this will be the final version.

Appraisal independence is cited, with lenders exchanging information with appraisers, but not being able to “directly or indirectly coerce, influence, or otherwise encourage an appraiser or a person who performs an evaluation to misstate or misrepresent the value of the property.”  Lenders cannot tell appraiser of any expected or qualifying estimate of value, nor mention a minimum value requirement for approval or condition of the valuation being ordered.  Lenders can’t tie compensation to appraiser to loan approval, nor blacklist an appraiser if valuations do not meet expected thresholds.

BPOs (broker price opinions) do NOT comply with minimum appraisal standards.

ADDITIONS COMING TO BOCA RATON REGIONAL HOSPITAL

BRRH has received a $10M donation from business woman Christine E. Lynn and is developing the Christine E. Lynn Womens Health & Wellness Institute with this donation.  Another donation will enable renovation and updating of the orthopedic rooms beginning in early 2011.

Some revenue slid IN 1Q 2010 because the hospital started a discount program for uninsured patients who now get 50% off gross charges at the hospital.  With uninsured patients paying smaller bills, there was less bad debt on the hospital’s books.  The loss was less than the same quarter last year which was $4.1M.

Typically, 3Q is the slowest part of the year for admissions as more patients are seen when the snowbirds are in the area in the winter months.

FORMER SEA HORSE BATH & TENNIS CLUB IN GULF STREAM AREA WILL HAVE NEW CONDOS

FORMER SEA HORSE BATH & TENNIS CLUB IN GULF STREAM AREA WILL HAVE NEW CONDOS

The first new planned condo in Palm Beach County is set to begin construction at 4001 North Ocean on A1A along the beach.    This is prime beachfront   property and only 2 ½ miles north of the bustling dining, arts, cultural and entertainment trendy downtown Delray Beach’s Atlantic Avenue, and near Gulf Stream.

The builder will use in-house contractors and local subcontractors as well.  There will be 34 condo units in the 6-story building, each about 3000 sq ft and priced betweent $1.4MM and $3MM.  Four separate villas will be built on the west side of A1A priced similarly but 4000 sq ft with 2-car garages.

Featured will be 10’ ceilings, glass and hurricane-resistant constructions, and delivery is expected in early 2013.  The Grand Opening is planned for mid-January 2011 and needs 10 to 12 contracts to”go vertical.”  Three are reported already sold.  

LATEST

HOUSING MARKET

NEWS

·        Palm Beach - There were 517 sales of houses and condos for $1MM+ in the first 9 months of 2010, up 13% from the same period in 2009 – buyers are driving hard bargains and sellers are selling!

·        October statewide year-to-date existing home sales in Florida were u p 7% and condo sales up 33%

·        NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said what is slowing down the housing market recovery includes:

o   Recent foreclosure moratorium

o   Tight credit

o   Appraisals coming below a negotiated price

·        Yun also said the good news is:

o   Low mortgage interest rates

o   Favorable affordability conditions

o   Pentup demand by buyers may soon be unleashed

·        Economists forecast 1 million new jobs in Florida over the next 7 years

·        Foreclosure Shadow inventory (not yet on the market) poses a threat to market values going up

·        Proposed limits on mortgage interest tax deductions are slowing sales

·        Should some of the savings from earmarked money being canceled be put in the form of a new tax credit to help home buyers?

REMOVE THE

MORTGAGE INTEREST

DEDUCTION?

 

NAR Chief Economist and GURU

Lawrence Yun, said,

According to the

WALL STREET JOURNAL,

That removing the mortgage

Interest deduction completely

Could cause home prices to

Fall by about 15%,

Should it be wiped away

Entirely.

“”That is,” he said, “an ugly scenario,

particularly given housing’s

fragile state.”

While the chances of the deduction

going away are slim, he painted

a grim picture of

what could happen.

“Housing is critical to the economy,”

he said in an interview.

“In my view, [losing the deduction]

will surely put us in a

broader economic recession.”

 

ZILLOW REPORTS ALMOST HALF OF ALL 

SEPTEMBER SALES IN SOUTH FLORIDA 

SOLD FOR A LOSS.

 The tri-county area has a 42% rate of underwater mortgages for single family homes.  Home values have fallen since the 2006 peak by 53% with price levels what they were in July 2002.  In October foreclosures increased with one in every 155 Florida housing units receiving a foreclosure filing, 2^nd   behind California and 17% of all US foreclosures.

IF THE ART MARKET EMERGES 

FROM A SLUMP 

THANKS TO INTERNATIONAL BUYERS… 

CAN THE HOUSING MARKET BE NEXT?

Bullish bids for important works of Impressionist and Modern art came in this past week from Russia, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Quatar, Abu Dhabi and Singapore as well as other corners of the world.  The money comes from fortunes made in oil, gas, gold and other commodities.  Sotheby’s sold $227MM worth of impressionist and modern art last week.  Between $800MM and $1BB of art has sold or is planned for sale last week and this week by Sotheby’s and Christie’s, both prominent auction houses.   

The last major auction was in May 2008 before the financial crisis stemmed the tide, when the art market was down 30% according to Mei Moses All Art index which tracks publicly sold art.  2009 was described as “rocky” in the art market.  In the first half of 2010 returns were up 13%.

Recent “big time” art sales that set records included:

MATISSE: Monumental bigger-than-lifesize bronze sculpture of a woman’s back set a new record at Christies for this artist by selling for almost $49MM ($48,802,500).   Sale estimates were between $25-$30MM and a global bidding wear sent the price up. The piece, “Nu de dos, 4 etate (Back IV)” measures 74.5”.  This work was conceived by Matisse around 1930, but cast in 1978, 24 years after his death.  The piece is No.oo in a collection of 12, the first three versions conceived in 1909, 1913 and 1916-17 are at the Museum of Modern Art. Matisse’s "Danseuse dans le fauteuil, sol en damier," sold for $20.8MM.  Photo is from Christie’s Images Ltd.

MODIGLIANI: A life-sized painting sold at Sotheby’s for $69MM, and Modigliani’s circa 1917 seductive canvas, titled “Nu assis sur un divan (La Belle Romaine),” ["Nude Sitting on a Divan (The Beautiful Roman Woman),"] catapulted beyond a pre-sale estimate of about $40MM.  It sold back in 1999 at Sotheby’s for $16.7MM, which was a record at the time.  His previous record was $52.6, sold earlier this year in Paris.  

GRIS: “Violon et guitare” a cubist oil painting on canvas done in September 1913, sold for $28.64MM after estimates for $18-25MM.  It was sold by Marilyn Arison, wife of late billionaire Ted Arison and sold to benefit the nonprofit YoungArts.  In 1998 they paid $9.9MM for this work of art.  Gris regarded this Cubist still life as his ultimate masterpiece, according to Christie’s.

MONET’s: “Le Bassin aux Nympheas,” part of his iconic water lilies series, sold for $25.7MM.  Its format is awkwardly elongated.  Most of his coveted water lily paintings are in museums and some consider them, painted during the last 20 years of his life, his ultimate achievement.

ROTHCO: abstract painting, off the market for 40 years, could sell this week at Sotheby’s, estimate is between $20-$30MM.  PICASSO: “Man with a Flag” sold for $5.3MM. LEGER: His “Femme sur fond rouge, femme assise”, the stylized figure of a woman seated cross-legged, in black and white on a red background sold for $6.35MM. SEURAT: A black Conte crayon study of a woman standing is seen from the back with a feeling of time suspended and profound mystery as the shadowy figure seems about to enter an invisible world brought $4.3MM. GIACOMETTI: “His “Femme de Venise V,” a craggy, jagged elongated fiture case in 1958 in an edition of 6 brought in $10MM.

This week, Christies hopes to get $240MM from sales of works by Warhol, Lichtenstein, Koons, Richter and Rothco.

Both Christie’s and Sotheby’s had predicted a surge in demand ahead of this year’s autumn auctions, with the art market emerging from a slump triggered by the global financial crisis.

The jewelry market has surged ahead as well. The Bulgari Blue Diamond, designed in the 1970’s as a gift from a European collector to his wife on the birth of their first son, was bought for about $1MM at in 1972. It features two triangular-shaped diamonds, one colorless at 9.87 carats, the other a “fancy vivid” blue diamond is 10.95 carats.  The blue diamond is one in about 10 in existence with a color pure enough to qualify as “fancy vivid.” This is the largest blue diamond to have sold at auction. Photo credit: Reuters/CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2010/Handout/.

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION RELEASES

OCTOBER HOUSING SCORECARD

The latest housing figures show continued signs of stabilization in house prices and high home affordability due in part to record low interest rates. The housing scorecard is a comprehensive report on the nation’s housing market.

ACTIVE LISTINGS ARE NOT YET

UNDER CONTRACT;

PENDING LISTINGS ARE UNDER

CONTRACT BUT NOT YET CLOSED

EXISTING SALES ARE HEADING ON UP

September showed an increase in home sales, causing NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun to say, “A housing recovery is taking place, but will be choppy at times depending on the duration and impact of a foreclosure moratorium.  But the overall direction should be a gradual rising trend in home sales with buyers responding to historically low mortgage interest rates and very favorable affordability conditions.” 

Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this path upwards will continue.

Interest rates have fallen to about half what they were nearly a decade ago, causing, in some cases, monthly mortgage payments to be less money than renting.  About 35% of the September sales were distressed sales.  According to reports, there will be more to come for some time into the future, while the government struggles to clear up a review of banking agency practices, looking at irregularities and weaknesses.

SOMETHING YOU MANY WANT 

TO KNOW ABOUT... 

THE STORM AFTER THE CALM

According to Bain & Co, luxury goods including designer clothes, leather goods, watches, jewelry and such were predicted to have a 10% increase in sales in 2010, reported in a study commissioned by Italy’s Fondazione Altagamma association of high-end producers.  Sales had declined by 8% in 2009. 

So far US sales of high-end items are up 12% with wardrobe replenishment after a year of careful holding back, Asians up 22% and Europeans spending 6% more for luxury items.  With the holiday season still ahead, Bain predicts a 9-11% growth during that period, so it’s time to open your wallets folks, and keep the stores in business.

Powering the spending are the Chinese with sales growing 30%. Chinese tourists are traveling the world en masse and spending as they go.  The study reports that larger brands are faring better than smaller ones, which may foretell the possibilities of mergers or absorptions of small companies, and menswear is growing faster than women’s wear… amazing?  Our men are browsing the internet for their favorite brands and buying online.

Leather goods purchases had held up and are expected to grow by 16%.

May as well get in on the buying binge now as, due to the likely continuing lowering of the dollar against the euro, growth is predicted to head down 3-5% in 2011.

ZILLOW INDICATES WE HIT BOTTOM AND

ZILLOW INDICATES WE HIT BOTTOM AND 

PRICES ARE SLOWLY RISING...

ROBB & STUCKY’S STAGING TO SELL 

CAN ALSO GIVE YOU RE-DO IDEAS 

IF YOU ARE NOT SELLING!

Seminar to be held on 10/28/2010 at 2 pm at Robb & Stucky in Mizner Park, upstairs in the Community Room.   
Get tips on how to “prep” your home for a faster sale to make it stand out from others on the market.  Or, if you are not selling, how about ideas to spruce up your home like the experts would do!   

Before or after the seminar take a look through their fabulous furniture and accessory items… just one new beautiful piece can update and enhance the look of your home.