All photos by Shoot2Sell Photography

          The sprawling Dallas home of Mary Kay Ash, founder of the immense Mary Kay cosmetics empire, can now be yours for a mere $3.3 million. Not sure whether a gigantic mansion made of pink is worth that much? Encompassing over 11,800 square feet,  you’d only be shelling out around $278 for each square foot. That’s not so expensive, right? That price point is quite a steal when you consider the mansion went on sale in 2007 for $5.7 million. The mansion comes complete with roughly an acre of land, which should be plenty for anyone with a passion for yard work.

Obviously, the mansion in Dallas Texas has a lot more going for it than just its size. While the house is technically a single family home, it sports 8 baths, 7 fireplaces and 6 bedrooms. The master bedroom is over 320 sq. ft. itself, so you should be able to fit most of your bedroom set – or the entire contents of your apartment – in that room without too much trouble. Plenty of landings and sweeping ceilings serve to enhance the mansion’s use of space and leave plenty of wall space for hanging artwork.

 The home also boasts an incredible pool. The pool area features a cabana, cleaning system and its own separate hot tub. The luxurious external swimming getaway is filled with columns, gorgeous tile, and even a couple statues to make sure you get that classical feel. Swim a few dozen laps to help stay fit and trim, or just lounge on the side to let your day’s stress melt away. You could easily host a party or reception in this space alone, providing both cover from the sun and the chance to enjoy the sky in the same space.

Mary Kay Ash founded the cosmetics company in September 1963 after being passed over for a promotion in favor for a man she’d trained herself. Since then, Mary Kay Inc. has become an immense empire, nationally recognized for its success in cosmetics. The founder considered the Golden Rule (do unto others as you would have done to yourself) to be a guiding principle of her organization, and was well-known for her charitable efforts. Mary Kay Ash died in November 2001 38 years after creating her company. Her legendary home carries on her spirit of living life to the fullest.

The home was designed by Dallas Design Group in 1984. Other noteworthy features include gorgeous wood carvings, 40′ ceilings, and geothermal heat and air. Mary Kay herself actually moved out of the mansion in her later years. The mansion had an intermediate owner who enjoyed a more classical look, populating the mansion with antiques and oriental rugs, which is why many of the rooms have less pink that you might imagine.

Why pink? That was the trademark color of Mary Kay and her organization. Successful Mary Kay representatives could even win themselves pink cars through great performance. The color surrounds the entire home, which could at least partly explain why realtors have had to drop the price so much through the years. If pink walls weren’t enough, the buyer of this home will find even a pink quartz toilet. That’s right, the $3.3 million mansion even has a pink commode.

When you’re ready to disappear into your own pink mansion, you can maintain your privacy inside the heavily treed lot, tucked away behind an iron fence and automatic gate. Mary Kay’s opulent mansion might not suit every taste, but it has a lot to offer for its $3.3 million asking price. Just remember: home is where the pink is!

By Michael Gray, Yahoo! Real Estate-February 17, 2012

Phoenix Business Journal Reporter – Jan Buchholz – January 2012

It’s not every day that  15,000-square foot home comes on the market. Let alone one with a riding train for cruising around the property or an observatory – complete with a retractable roof and hydraulic operated telescopes – to peer into the depths of outer space.

The property also has a zip line for traversing the backyard, a  4,700 square-foot gymnasium and an eight car garage. There is a separate  guest house and a resort-styled pool. In all there are eight bedrooms and 12 bathrooms. The desert contemporary house sits on 16 acres on North Pima Road in Scottsdale.

The home is going to absolute auction on February 7th at 2:00pm. There is no minimum bid so the highest offer takes the one of a kind estate. William Gibbs, the former president of the University of Phoenix, is selling the house which has been home to his family since 2002. “Over the years there has been a lot of speculation about who lives there. There were even rumors that John Travolta lived there, but it’s {actually} William Gibbs” said Pat Kirby, senior marketing consultant for Grand Estates Auction Co., who is handling the sale. “He is retired from the University of Phoenix and has some new business ventures. His kids are getting older, and they don’t need all that space.”

The estate, said Kirby, would be perfect for a young family. “It’s a place   where kids can grow up.” However, a lot of interest has been generated by car aficionados who could convert the gymnasium into an additional garage for storing a valuable car collection. Kirby said there’s no telling how much the house ultimately will go for. When it was built, the value of it was around $12 million….

Written by: Jan Buchholz – Phoenix Business Journal

February 16, 2012….The property did sell at auction on Feb.7, 2012.  A family from the Chicago area came out on top at $4,620,000.  They are said to be very excited to see their new home and look forward to enjoying it for many years to come.

A luxury homeowner can make 5-20% more on the sale of their home and significantly reduce selling time or both with the lessons found here. This book is probably the best gift I could give to the person “who has everything” and it will tell you, the homeowner, what is needed to get the best price when you sell your property.

Getting the Highest Price: Power Marketing for Luxury Homeowners  is the only “how to” solely designed for luxury property owners.

The book covers:

• The single best way to raise the comfort level of buyers to buy.
• Why every seller should want offers in the first four weeks, no matter how low.
• Three things every seller can give a buyer that clears the way for them to bid.
• How to price a property and leave no money on the table, but still attract buyers.
• One action an agent must perform that could yield dramatically more value.
• How to get super-smart luxury buyers to raise their bids willingly, gladly and even enthusiastically.
• Where 95% of homeowner’s buyer pool is found.
• Why a luxury sale is so different from 90-95% of the other sales in the market.
• The size of the market for a luxury home. This is sure to shock.
• Marketing tools that work and ones that don’t.
• The inside scoop on international buyers.
• What’s fair and what’s not in a listing contract.
• Why no luxury homeowner should ever consider becoming a FSBO.

…And there is so much more. In Getting The Highest Price, the strategies and advice are all illustrated with real examples from real sales, some of them among the largest or most prestigious in America. Homeowners are empowered to know what the very best agents know.

This book could net a seller tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars more for a luxury property. It could also save months of time on the market, or both.

Thinking of Selling Luxury Real Estate in the Calgary area – request a copy of this little book as my gift to you, with my compliments.

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Emerging from the political muck over how much Warren Buffett’s secretary is paid and what she pays in taxes, is some good financial advice for boomers: “If you want to retire to a warm climate in the future, consider swooping up your future home now, at a bargain price and a low mortgage rate”.

Debbie Bosanek, Warren Buffett’s long time secretary, was quoted as saying…

“Warren tells me that it will be the best opportunity in my lifetime. Mortgage rates are low and prices have dropped dramatically. Getting a nice home in a great climate for only $30,000 down payment and a mortgage that has a low interest rate – I’ve been working 37 years and saving for an opportunity like this.  Hopefully in 10 years, when I turn 65 and Warren turns 92, I will be able to convince him to finally retire so I can retire.  After working 47 years, [I will like to] spend some time where the sun shines in the winter”.

Source:  Janet Novack, Forbes.com

The River

By Mario Toneguzzi

 CALGARY – Calgary condo sales have reached new heights after a luxury unit fetched a record $8.3-million, before construction begun.  The 5,260 square-foot condo will cover the entire 12th floor of the 15-storey development called The River, located along the Elbow River which flows through the southern portion of the city.

Already, more than $30-million in real estate has been spoken for in the project, which includes 38 residences – 27 units in the tower and 11 town houses.

If you find this price tag  jaw-dropping give it some national perspective. In Toronto, the penthouse suite at the new Four Seasons Hotel and Residences sold for $28-million in May 2011. A luxury Montreal condo in the former Sir Mortimer B. Davis YMHA Building on Mount Royal has been listed at $5.9-million; it takes up an entire floor originally intended to be five apartments. When it comes to downtown Vancouver, you can pay from $6 to $8-million for top condo residences – or $12-million if you need 7,450 square feet in the Shaw Tower.

Anne Clarke, director of sales for The River, said that eight sales have been completed and three deals are pending. “These [buyers] are business leaders. They are leaders in not only business, but in our community,” Clarke said.

Other sales in The River have included units for $5.7-million and $5.5-million. The top-floor tower unit is listed at $9-million. “It signifies we really do have a need for this type of product”, Clarke said.

The buyer of the $8.3-million  condo was not identified, but is described as a longtime Calgary oil and gas executive. The highest MLS condo sale previously in Calgary was $4.1-million in 2011. The most ever paid for a single-family home was $10.3-million, in 2009.

“The River concept is luxury estate condominiums that offer the benefits of an estate home without the challenges of security and maintenance”, said Clarke.

Construction is expected to start by April, with completion in early 2014, said Chris Bourassa, chief operating officer of Ledcor Properties Inc. The River is being developed by 26th Avenue River Investments Inc., an affiliate of Ledcor.

The Calgary Real Estate Board recorded 422 single-family sales of more than $1-million in 2011, up from 346 in 2010. Twenty-six condos last year sold for more than $1-million, up from 21 in 2010.

“We have had this site for quite some time. We were able to watch what’s happened over the last five years,” said Bourassa.  ”The starter condo market in the mid-market is very well served, but we found there was a hole in the luxury market. In talking to our buyers and our focus groups over the last 18 months, it became very clear that there was a lot more demand for larger units.”

Source: Calgary Herald

At $21,500,000, the recent sale of the top-floor penthouse condo at the Setai Resort and Residences set a new record for the most expensive Miami condo ever sold. At 5803 square feet, the unit brought $3,704 per square foot, also a record for Miami condos.

The seller was Netscape founder Jim Clark, who reportedly purchased the unit, ready for finish-out, in 2004 for $9M. The unit went on the market in February with an asking price of $27M. The buyer is a private businessman who’s name has not been publicized.

Source: Waco Moore on December 21, 2011

Interesting story in the Dec.7th Wall Street Journal looks at “One57″ — a new condo development that targets the world’s ultra-affluent and will be the tallest residential tower in NYC.

Designed by French architect Christian de Portzampare, One57′s 95 condos for sale have a combined price tag of $2 billion, or an average per unit of more than $21 million, which would match Manhattan’s 15 Central Park West as the most expensive building ever sold.

While a hallmark of the economic downturn has been the collapse of the housing market, the extreme top of residential markets in New York, London, Hong Kong and other select cities has been resilient.
Mr.Barnett says the number of billionaire and multimillionaire investors in the world has never been greater. In addition to Russians and Western Europeans, he says, “You’re seeing Latin Americans in a big way. You’re seeing Chinese in a big way. You’re seeing the return of the Middle Eastern buyer.”
Thanks to this demand, the ultraluxury market in select cities is looking healthier than practically any other corner of the housing market.

Source: Waco Moore-Luxury Insights

Listing with real estate broker results in higher price, greater net to seller!

The Founder and former CEO of ForSalebyOwner.com may be rethinking the value of listing a property with a REALTOR. Colby Sambrotto listed his New York condominium on his own and promoted it on FSBO websites and in online classified ads. All to no avail.

After six months, he gave up as a FSBO and listed his 2000 square foot unit with New York broker Jesse Buckler. His new listing agent recommended retargeting the property to different buyer groups and suggested a new list price.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the listing sold for 2.15 million with a 6% professional fee to the broker. Since the condo sold for $150,000 more than the original asking price, Sambrotto netted an extra $21,000 after the professional fee was paid.

Bottom line — it paid the FSBO founder to use a pro!

Source: Luxury Insights