OT: German Carnival Floats Skewer Politicians

What Fat Tuesday is for New Orleans, Rosenmontag ("Rose Monday") is for the German Rhineland area, mainly for the towns of Düsseldorf and Köln (Cologne).

The Carnival parades in these two towns draw thousands of spectators every year, who come to applaud or critizise the elaborate floats, which – built in secrecy weeks or even months ahead of time – skewer everything and anybody, from world leaders to local mayors to terrorists. During the Carnival Parade, freedom of speech is taken to new heights.

Some of my favorite floats from last Monday's parades in Cologne and Düsseldorf:

"Terror... has nothing... to do with Religion"

 

Mr. Putin's real physique: Economy (left) and Military (right)

On the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris: "One can't kill satire"

Arm-wrestling between ISIS and El Quaeda

The shark (GOP) and the lame duck (Mr. Obama)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel as Cyclops under fire from a Greek boy

Did you ever visit a Rhineland Carnival parade? What did you think of it?

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all photos ©dpa

A $6.9m home with $1.59 light switches?

Leviton lightswitch

Something wrong with this light switch?

Nope, nothing really. Last week I found it in many times in two open houses. It's your standard Leviton switch; $1.59 for the ten-pack, contractors' pricing probably a bit cheaper.

And therein lies the rub.

In the morning, I saw this switch being installed in a $1.4m modernist house under construction. No issues.

Then, same day an hour later, I encountered it and many of its siblings in another brand-new modern home for sale.

This time, the asking price was $6.9 million.

Alternative switch, nicer

But – $1.59 switches in a $6.9m home? Visible screws and all?

If I was a prospective buyer in that price bracket, I'd blow a gasket. Upscale pricing should get more than an upscale location and more space, it should also demand better materials.

But sadly, I often observe stunts like that. And I can't help but wonder what kind of buyer will let a detail like this slide by. You don't have to be in the building trade to be a bit more discriminating.

Is the builder's margin really that poor that s/he has to resort to this? Are luxury buyers really that indiscriminate that glitzy appearance of a big house is worth more than substance in details?

Seems so. In my book, that gets filed under "pathetic".

What's your opinion?

South Florida Home Sales, 4th Quarter 2014

Fourth quarter home sales are always hampered by the Holiday season, stretching from the Thanksgiving week to the first week of the new year.

Noticeable last year however that November was rather lame, while December after Hanukkah, but especially the period called "Between The Years" in German – the week between Christmas and New Year – stepped on the gas again, clearly with closing before year's end in mind.

So my September prediction of a "limp market for SFH for the rest of the year, with a lot of hesitation on the buyers’ side" wasn't quite correct. Well, I sort of was, for two months of the last three in 2014.

The last quarter shaped up like this:

Listing prices: little increase in Palm Beach county (median $437,000), no changes in Broward and Miami-Dade counties (median $350,000 and 359,000 resp.)

Selling prices: a decrease of one percent in Palm Beach county was erased by a hefty six percent increase in Broward and four percent in Miami-Dade, for a Three-County median selling price of $273,230 or $140 per square foot under air ($1,555/square metre).

Inventory: closing the year with 19,268 single family homes for sale, inventory (in months) in all three counties had been down in October, increased in November and dropped again in December due to the strong sales at the end of the month, to 4.8 months. That is a little tight and under the approx. six months considered healthy.

SE Florida SFH sales data, Jan 2012-Dec 2014. Source: Kaiser Assoc. via SEF-MLS

On a side note, I am personally always baffled when statistics are "seasonally adjusted" – what does that mean and how does one adjust them? By temperature, snowfall or lack of snow, black ice, people nesting? It seems there is an awful lot of subjectivity in seasonal adjustments – why not leave the numbers alone and let the readers get their own picture?

Year over year, Southeast Florida thus saw a selling price increase for SFH of 4.5 percent absolute, or 6.2 percent per sf under air.

Modern architecture, my passion and expertise, is traded at considerably higher prices; the median selling price per sf under air last quarter reached $328.

That is partially due to the very limited number of modernist architecture for sale – less than 2 percent of all SFH – but also due to the overall value – tangible and intangible – that current and future owners attach to this type of architecture.
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I invite you to contact me anytime if you are would like advice on selling, keeping or buying a modernist home.

To a Healthy, Happy and Abundant 2015!

(Pic: modernist multifamily home in Tutzing/Bavaria. Architect: Helga Quauke, Tutzing, photo ©tckaiser)

Happy Thanksgiving!

In gratefulness for what we have, a very Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones!

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Photo: Zwetschgen (135205) ©tckaiser

How much house you get for $2m nationally; On airline misery; Two opponents united

Several things are on my mind this week... here we go:

You may remember a weirdo in Raleigh, NC, who objected to a modern home being built after it was approved and half finished?

Well, the petty-minded neighbour lost, and the owners can complete construction of their modest modern in the Oakwood neighbourhood.

The Weber house by Weber/Matsumoto, 1953

Now fate brought two former opponents in that case together again. How? A Raleigh homeowner wants to remove the historic designation she had sought for her 1953 modernist home, the Weber house.

At Wiesner vs. Cherry/Gordon on opposite sides, now North Carolina Modernist Homes and the Oak City Preservation Alliance are united in fighting against that little side-step, which seems driven by the owner's awakened sense of marketability.

Her argument: though she hopes the next owner will enjoy the house as it is, but: when she is ready to sell she could do so much easier without the burden of the designation.

So why seek it in the first place – for a tax break perhaps? Read all the juicy details at the News & Observer.

Lively mod scene up there, ain't it? And: did I mention that preservation starts with the seller, not the buyer?

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Off-topic: Bad week for Jet Blue-flyers. The once rule-breaking and beloved airline caved in – a sign of modern times?

It will A) charge for checked bags (yup), B) will start a tiered pricing system for tickets – the more flexibility you want, the more you pay – and C) will introduce a "cabin refresh".

That is what Caroline Costello over at SmarterTravel correctly calls "a pleasant-sounding way to tell us that other peoples' seatbacks (and elbows) will be closer than ever", and their planes "are going to get more crowded, with less available overhead-bin space".

Which leaves Southwest – for now – as the only domestic carrier where luggage flies for free.

But much more important: if your travel plans change, as mine did for reasons outside of my control three times this year, SWA does not charge re-booking fees.

Correct: no re-booking fee, only any possible fare difference. That policy saved my bacon three times in 2014 – this weekend one of those instances – and makes SWA my Go-To domestic carrier, preferred by lightyears.

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The Duenke house by Ralph Fournier

Finally, back to Real Estate:

The Gray Lady (nickname for the New York Times stemming from the time before it started printing in colour) published an overview how much house you will get for $2,000,000 nationwide.

Following that, in my next post I will show you what $2m buys in South Florida.  


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Photos: News&Observer, New York Times

South Florida Home Sales, 3rd Quarter 2014

Summer activity for Single Family Homes (SFH) in the TriCounty area (Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade, the area from Jupiter to South Miami) is completely over, the market is noticeably getting quieter. All key numbers for Q3 2014 show this, and – unlike during earlier periods this year – all three counties moved in unison.

SE Florida SFH sales for the last 36 months. red = list price, green = selling price, blue = inventory. Source: Kaiser Assoc.

Some key data for the third quarter:

1. Inventory ended at 18,395 SFH, an increase of 3.6 percent to the second quarter. It now sits at 5.0 months, a very strong 16.7 percent over Q2, since closed SFH sales dropped by 4.3 percent over the previous quarter.

2. Asking prices of all SFH are down, landing at a median $376,700. September was the sixth month in a row with declining list prices – but because of the list price volatility, it ended up only 1.0 percent under September 2013.

3. Selling prices per square foot are slightly up y-o-y at $135/sf. Not so absolute selling prices at $265,470, though they have fluctuated all over the board this year from $251,000 in January to $279,000 in July. Year over year though, median selling prices in Q3 were up by 5.5 percent, but flat in comparison to Q2. Recognise a pattern? Good, me neither.

Tracks of a horseshoe crab–similarities to the housing market?

My prediction: the market is going up or going down.

Seriously: I think we will see a limp market for SFH for the rest of the year and perhaps into early 2015, with a lot of hesitation on the buyers’ side, though financing does not seem to be the issue anymore.

In addition, very problematic is the lack of good homes in the market for modern architecture, which I focus on. Buyer interest is there, but under $600,000 there are barely any architecturally interesting homes for sale.

So if you consider selling a modernist property, by all means please do contact me for a free analysis and consultation.