Check out the interesting discussion going on regarding a recent NY Times Blog article, written by Steven B. Levitt. Citing a recent NY Times article about the growing prevelance of FSBOs, Levitt talks about the future of rela estate.

“What I think will happen [in the future] is that most transactions will be brokered by real estate agents, but more and more the pricing structure will move to a flat fee for listing properties and then an hourly rate for services provided like open houses and showings. The total fees collected by real-estate agents will fall dramatically and consequently there will be a shakeout with many people leaving the profession and the ones who remain doing much more volume at a much lower payment rate per transaction.”

What’s really worth reading is the 29 comments (so far) on this post. Go here to read more!

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Media reports say federal authorities are investigating Countrywide Financial Corporation for securities fraud. The Wall Street Journal says the FBI is in the early stages of an inquiry into whether company officials misrepresented Countrywide’s financial position and the quality of its mortgage loans.

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A Standoff in Scotland Over Donald Trump’s Golf Resort Ambitions

Landowner and Local Officials Resist, But National Government Intervenes

By Kevin Sullivan

Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, December 7, 2007; Page A30

LONDON, Dec. 6 — When fisherman and farmer Michael Forbes looks at his 23 acres on the wind-scoured coastline of northeastern Scotland, he sees home, a humble jumble of a place where the salmon fishing is good and his 83-year-old mother lives in a cozy trailer.

When Donald Trump looks at Forbes’s land, he sees a sliver of his latest mega-development plan: Europe’s largest golf and housing resort, a 1,400-acre, $2 billion complex of two championship courses and hundreds of hotel rooms, houses and time-share villas a few miles north of Aberdeen.

The Grassy Organizer may be used as a desk utility -ideal for supporting your writing instruments but as a bathroom item also.

It has a fresh look, it’s not all that expensive and it comes in handy.
Specifications:

• made of soft molded rubber
• Price: €12.50
• Design: Thea Yuzyk
• Size: 6 x 4 x 4″ (15 x 10 x 10 cm).

via Umbra Store

Photo by permission of Cisco Brothers of the Basal Living Collection’s Acacia sofa

Ever since I laid eyes on Cisco Brothers’ environmental Basal Living Collection in its catalog, it was love at first sight. How would I describe this furniture line? Style and sustainability wrapped up in a homey feel.

Cisco Brothers offers two different green options for its consumers. The first option is The Basal Living Collection, which is green throughout. The second option is to pick any one of the 300 different furniture pieces from the Company’s various lines, and incorporate the company’s Inside Greenâ„¢ option, which is featured in the Basal Living Collection. So what is there not to love?

What also intrigued me about this company was the story behind Cisco Brothers. It is a classic rags to riches story. Simply put, boy meets success the hard way, but never forgets his roots. (more…)

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If you reduce how much TV and computer time kids have they lose weight.

In other news, Alaska is really cold.

[Ed note: I prefer this picture - SB]

When you hear the words “lounge chair” what comes to mind? Perhaps the Barcelona? Maybe the classic Eames?

Well, for most people it’s probably the iconic LC4 Chaise Lounge by LeCorbusier… and probably the black leather version. Yes, it’s a beauty.

I’ve decided to write about the Chaise Lounge today because… I finally broke down and bought one!

Like most people (I’m assuming here) I’ve been drooling over several classic pieces and admiring them via my computer monitor and various online retailers (DWR, Steelform) but yesterday I walked into a local furniture store and there it was, a perfect reproduction for about the same price as the online stores. In the end I went for the pony hide as I find it considerably more comfortable (yes, I was surprised about that) and it looks much better in real life than in pictures.

It should arrive in a couple of days since I didn’t feel like picking it up myself and to my surprise, my wife showed no signs of being upset about the purchase!

Pictures will follow.

With the biggest housing inventory America has seen in 13 years, homeowners, realtors, and everyone else is doing what they can to sell, sell, sell.

In this article from the Realty Times, some of the more aggressive techniques are using the strategy of a quick-and-easy home sale as an incentive for buyers. While homes are now being paired with luxury vehicles and plasma TV’s, the biggest incentive in these strategies is to find a quick bargain and to act quickly. Among a few creepy-sounding ideas from real estate companies, this article speculates that an old type of investing might become popular in the new age of real estate.

“Quincy Virgilio, president elect of the Santa Clara County association, says expect to see a return to equity sharing. The creative financing strategy includes two parties — one who occupies the home, another, an investor, who foots the bill for the down payment. Cash-short but income-rich, one person becomes a homeowner without money down, the investor can get a joint venture-like return on his or her money and a seller, in a slow market, could become the investor or otherwise use the technique to quickly seal a deal…”

In the midst of several grand ploys to sell home quickly, equity sharing is one option to get first-time homeowners into the market. This is one of many options available to new and prospective homeowners, and might serve as a better incentive than that year-long free gym membership that comes with your spacious two-bedroom ranch.

Following up on the post on ‘pssible spaces for art‘ in a heated rental market that’s necessitated quite a few independent , ‘artsy’ outfits to shift from their current space, an article in the Straits Times’ arts pages on the new location(albeit a temporary one, for what I understand is going to be a one-off initiative) for a local arts group caught my attention.

Pulau Ubin- long designated as an offshore weekend refuge for conservationists before conservation of nature became fashionable, is now the venue for the new art initiative by TheatreWorks. An excerpt of the article from Straits Times below:

Pulau Ubin, an island north-east of Singapore, doesn’t immediately come to mind as a suitable showplace for art.

But that is exactly where 22 artists are headed next week, as part of The Flying Circus Project (FCP) art camp. They will be presenting their work not in a gallery space, but under moonlight on the island.

At the event organised by TheatreWorks, artists will wander around the island gathering herbs. Later, they will make lunch from their pickings.

In the evening, they will give one-hour presentations each, ranging from a short dance or a lecture to video projections and talk about their creative processes and their works.

Full article can be read here:

And meanwhile, Singapore’s forays into neighbouring territory is being construed as a quest for lebensraum.

“Hey, what’s your rate?” That’s the first question I get when people realize I’m a mortgage loan officer. For a minute let’s forget ?The mortgage implosion of 2007? (I will tell you who and what caused it in an upcoming column).

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