In response to the tragic collapse of the 12-storey Champlain Towers South building in Surfside last year, the state of Florida is set to pass new stricter condominium rules around inspections and reserve funds. And according to the WSJ, the requirements would be some of… Read More
All posts tagged “wall street journal”
Buying condos with crypto
If you happen to have made boatloads of money in crypto (which sadly isn’t me), one sensible thing you could do is put some of that money into luxury residential real estate. You know, to diversify your portfolio. According to this recent WSJ article, it… Read More
The Zillow postmortem
The postmortems surrounding Zillow’s exit from the algorithmic home-flipping business are starting to surface. Here’s an article from the WSJ and here’s Matt Levine’s take on it. The latter piece is very Levine-like and is called, “Zillow tried to make less money.” The obvious story… Read More
Urban China’s empty homes
China Evergrande Group has been in the news lately for being one of the most indebted property companies in the world. The company is now looking to raise some $5 billion by selling a stake in one of its business lines. That seems like a… Read More
Cost of the Olympic Games, 1960-2021
There are many reasons why one might want to host the Olympics. Brand building is certainly one. Making some kind of profit is another. But the direct economic benefits aren’t always clear. Embedded above are two recent charts from the WSJ outlining 1) the cost… Read More
Plastic surgery, LA mega-mansions, and digital NFT art
“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” -Warren Buffet According to the Wall Street Journal, there is a real estate trend underway in Los Angeles: Celebrity plastic surgeons are piling into the business of building over-the-top spec homes. (Spec means that they… Read More
Net flow of households across US regions
These are a set of diagrams taken from a recent WSJ article talking about how, “the pandemic changed where Americans live.” I know that this is a topic that gets a lot of air time (both here on the blog and elsewhere), but these diagrams… Read More
A modernist utopia at Summit Powder Mountain
About 60 miles north of Salt Lake City is the largest ski resort in America, called Summit Powder Mountain. It’s some 10,000 acres. But beyond just being big, there is also a fascinating story and philosophy behind the mountain. It was started by four partners… Read More
Upsizing to a larger apartment in New York City
This is an interesting story about New Yorkers starting to seek out larger homes. Last month, Manhattan saw 140 purchase agreements signed for homes priced at $4 million or more. In the last week of February alone, 40 contracts were signed, which is apparently a… Read More
What will be the new New York City?
Peggy Noonan argues, in this recent WSJ article, that the world has changed forever. A human habit was broken during this pandemic and city life, including office life, will never be the same in New York City. She qualifies this by saying that some people… Read More