Commercial Real Estate in Memphis and our Galaxy

Someday, I’ll be able to check the news without hearing about our own Kennedy-lite family. Here’s the real estate related Ford family news, whether you like it or not. Check out this news story, and then check out the (conspiracy?) theory about “the rest of the story”.

From the Commercial Appeal:

Memphis City Councilman Edmund Ford may be able to keep his mortuary in its Whitehaven home after all.

His landlord, Dennis Churchwell, had threatened to auction off the 5.8-acre property on Elvis Presley because of its notoriety. It’s where Ford was allowed to rack up a five-digit Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division bill, touching off a scandal that led to the resignation of the utility’s president.

But after the live auction Saturday afternoon, the property’s only bid came from a lender of the Supreme Lending Group in Memphis, who offered Churchwell $750,000 to purchase the property on Ford’s behalf…

Read more »

I found out about Flipper Nation from my friends over at the Rain City Guide, a Seattle-centric real estate blog that shows us a little link love from time to time.

 Headlines show that the real estate market has hit its peak and it’s only a matter of time before the bubble bursts. The market seems to be saturated with wannabe real estate tycoons.

Let’s hope they have room for two more: Richie Tatum and David Kimball. They are way too late in the game Read more »

The little letter to the editor I wrote last week was published in Friday’s Commercial Appeal. Here is the official version.

Real estate commission’s a bargain

The writer of your May 16 letter “Not the business of legislators” repeats the familiar cry: “Sell real estate by yourself and save thousands in commissions.” That would be great if it were true.

From July 2005 to June 2006, the median price of an agent-assisted home sale in Memphis was $212,000. The median price of a home sale by an unrepresented seller was $166,000. That’s a difference of $46,000. Figuring a good agent will cost you 7 percent of your $212,000 (about $15,000), you’re better off by $31,000 using an agent. Everyone wants to save money, but being a “do-it-yourself” real estate agent is no better than being a “do-it-yourself” lawyer or doctor.

Will Hicks

Memphis

From the Commercial Appeal:

The Tennessee legislature approved a bill Monday banning brokers from giving rebates, gifts or prizes in a real estate transaction despite a strong, rare warning from federal antitrust lawyers that it is anticompetitive and will “cause serious harm to home buyers and sellers.”…

Realtors across Tennessee support the ban on rebates, gifts and prizes — and thus the bill. They argue that repealing it would hurt consumers, not help them. The Memphis Area Association of Realtors was one of several Realtors’ groups that wrote letters to the commission opposing a repeal of the ban. Read more »

The U.S. Government is selling off 29 of my embassies overseas. They didn’t ask my permission, but I would have said ok.

From the Guardian Unlimited (UK):

From Kinshasa to Katmandu, Bangkok to Bogota, U.S. embassies, ambassadorial residences and other diplomatic digs are up for sale as the State Department moves its employees to more secure locations, upgrades facilites and combines operations in multipurpose compounds.

Some 29 properties worth more than $205 million are now on the market in 21 countries, including a huge and historic embassy annex in the heart of London, large chancery buildings in Panama, Nicaragua and Nepal and homes fit for envoys extraordinary in Belize and Venezula.

I was in Moscow, Russia a few years ago Read more »

From the NY Times:

Less than three weeks after putting the historic headquarters of The New York Times Company on the block, Tishman Speyer Properties sold the building for $525 million, three times the $175 million it paid in November 2004…

In Midtown, “for anyone looking for a block of space in excess of 300,000 square feet during the next two years for less than $100 per square foot, this is your only option,” said Darcy A. Stacom, the broker at CB Richard Ellis who sold the property for The Times in 2004 and handled the sale to Africa Israel for Tishman Speyer.

$525 Million? <whistle>. The building was on the market for less than three weeks and it sold for $525 Million? Three years ago ol’ Darcy A. Stacom sold the same building for $175 Million. Those were a couple good years for him. He must have been off his game in 2005 and 2006.

If you’re looking for more info on the “iPods for commercial referrals” offer, click here…

The Grizzlies are losing their one (and so far, only) legend. Jerry West is leaving the Grizzlies for a stress-free retirement in the traffic of Southern California.

Links and excerpts of three news stories and my memories of Jerry West after the jump.

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I talked to Ed Burgos, a private investigator and self-defense instructor today. Ed is a former cop with the NYPD and is giving a talk to several hundred Realtors in San Antonio about self-defense and why it’s important to us as agents. We talked for about 20 minutes about the Sarah Anne Walker murder in McKinney, Texas and steps agents need to take to protect themselves.

Ed feels real strong about agents having a need for self-defense training. He bounced the idea of including the training in your yearly Realtor dues and requiring all agents to take the class.

Ed said he would get a copy of his presentation to me. I’ll post it as soon as it’s available.

As if she didn’t have enough problems…

From TMZ. com:

Sources tell TMZ that Britney Spears and Kevin Federline are so desperate to finish their financial ties, that they’ve slashed more than one million dollars off the asking price of their Malibu mansion.

Pictures after the jump. Read more »