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New precedent set for luxury real estate
By Justin Hunter
Inflation has increased the prices
and values of just about everything
you can put a tag on. From vehicles
to homes, the prices continue to grow,
sometimes to unfathomable amounts.
Leading the way of these inflations
are the luxury items in each classification.
Bentley’s and Mansions set a high
price that eventually will be matched
and surpassed, and so on. Even though
the $20,000 Ford Focus will not be directly
affected by a $300,000 automobile, it
will continue the growth of inflation
so that eventually that same Ford Focus
will cost $30,000.
Homes are the same way. Luxurious celebrity
mansions
have always been a staple in our society.
Multi-million dollar estates are appreciated
and give the public something to gawk
about. But have these price tags gone
too far.
Associate Press writer, Jessica Gresko,
explains how some luxury mansions have
set a new bar for outrageous price tags
in her article, “Superluxury homes
break $100 million mark,” posted
in the October 8, 2006 edition of The
San Diego Union-Tribune.”
Luxury homes
owned by celebrities and entrepreneurs
have big everything. Big pools, big
bathrooms, big driveways and oh yeah,
big lots combine with top-of-the-line
amenities and interior designs to create
the allure that you are one of the most
important people in the world when you
are inside.
“Perhaps the biggest thing about
the [Donald Trump’s] home, however,
is its price tag: $125 million. And
(sorry Donald) that price has already
been trumped. A home in Aspen, Colo.,
is now listed at $135 million. Another
home in Lake Tahoe, Nev., was recently
listed at a flat $100 million.”
But the expensive appraisal value is
not the main thing that is creating
a buzz in the real estate world. Industry
experts have been taken back by how
fast prices are inflating across the
U.S. and these hundred-million abodes
are implementing the idea that inflation
has just begun to rear its ugly head.
“The listings represent a monetary
milestone in American real estate: the
first time U.S. homes have broken into
a whopping nine figures, according to
real estate experts, and they've done
so in quick succession. A May survey
of the nation's most expensive homes
by Forbes.com put Trump's home at the
most expensive and the first to break
the $100 million mark. At the time,
the next highest listing was a $75 million
estate in Bridgehampton, N.Y.”
Will more luxury home owners
beef up their mansions to join the nine-figure,
superluxury club?
“‘I'm surprised it took
so long for people to realize value,’
Trump said of the listings. ‘I'm
the one that did it, started the trend,
and I'm surprised that people haven't
done it sooner.’”
Chase International’s Shari Chase
owns the Lake Tahoe listing. Chase acknowledged
the price shock but added that superluxury
real estate has been going in that direction
and that it was only a matter of time
before the three hundred-million dollar
properties made their mark on society.
“I think these three properties,
they are really the Super Bowl of real
estate,” Chase said.
Don’t expect your home to increase
in value by hundreds of thousands of
dollars, but realize that prices will
always continue to increase. This is
good news for current home owners who
may be worried during the current market
slowdown.