Real Estate Blog

Architectural Digest Editors Select Villa Beyond

22 Jul 2008 04:01:27 am GMT +

Asian Glamour Writ Large A Collection of ultramodern glass-and-steel buildings, designed by architect Branko Pahor, makes up a 64,560 square-foot single-family compound on Natai Beach, 20 minutes from Phuket International Airport. The six-bedroom, six-bath residence, on a four-acre property that has 450 feet of the beachfront, includes a 5,380-square-foot master suite with its own swimming pool, a two-lane bowling alley, a two-hole golf course, a 30- seat theater and a room solely devoted to karaoke.$27.5 million. Call Tom Travers 66-87-034-2090 Source : Architectural Digest Magazine issues August 2008; [url]http://www.architecturaldigest.com/resources/estates/2008/08/estates?slide=2[/url]

Gary Fell and GFAB Architects

21 Jul 2008 09:45:42 am GMT +

Gary Fell has a dynamic architectural firm of 35 architects who are kept busy with his many projects around Asia. His design work captures the imagination of builders and developers who admire his strong iconic spaces which expose much of the living areas to the natural elements. He graduated from the University College London and gained international recognition for a design for the Cardiff Opera House that edged out some of the world�s most noted architects. This attention opened the door for him to work as project architect on Bali at the Four Seasons Sayan before he opened his own practice, Gfab in 1999. In the past ten years, the focus of his design practice has been in Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand. He built the Foreign Correspondent�s Club in Siem Reap, the first tropical modern restaurant and bar near Angkor Wat which immediately became the meeting place for high value visitors. This FCC building is representative of Gary�s work with large open spaces which invite the surrounding environment inside. Gfab�s design work has set a strong visual standard. His homes are often partially �buried� into the site with the use of thick walls for insulation, often flat roofs and large rooms that pour out into Nature. Each design deserves to be studied for the clever orientation and statement about contemporary tropical living. His projects in Thailand include the Samujana on Koh Samui, 20+ individually designed luxury residences of 600+ sqm each. The 26 rai land plot was subdivided into 24 building sites where houses straddle and emerge from fantastic natural rock outcrops from the top of a hill down to the beach. The success of Samujana has inspired the Napa development nearby. He is currently working on Phuket with Istana, another remarkable villa project at Naithon Bay where each of the twenty homes have distinctive individual designs based on Gary�s interpretation of the building site and natural conditions as the constant movement of sunlight and shifting trade winds. One of his newest projects, MODENA at Pranburi Beach next to Hua Hin, promises to be the needed getaway that many Bangkok executives need for a break. Hua Hin is already one of Thailand�s most popular getaway destinations just 2 hours drive south of Bangkok. Located between the upscale Six Senses Resort and Spa & Aleenta Resort, MODENA has been designed as an exclusive quiet retreat with world class design and amenities. The 27 condos and 4 private villas have inventive mechanical louvered screens over windows that unfold allowing the refreshing winds from the Gulf of Thailand to naturally cool the interiors while providing ultimate views of both the mountains and the sea. �The design for MODENA is to create a calming space, a refuge from the pressures of modern life. This escape may be the very definition of luxury.� For MODENA, Gary has designed a variety of condo and villa sizes giving an interconnected flow of walkways and water elements that provide beauty and privacy. Gary continues to work around Southeast Asia. A condo project in Phnom Penh, the Sheraton in Siem Reap, villas and boutique hotel in the sand dunes of Mui Ne, Vietnam, plus a steady clientele on Bali who want his design work for their private homes.

The Quest For New Luxury Investment

21 Jul 2008 09:42:22 am GMT +

[b]19TH CENTURY AMERICA[/b] The real estate market in the united states has had a history of booms and busts. As a student of real estate history, the period between 1885 and 1895 has had a long lasting impact and has helped to shape the fortunes of international real estate today. In 1887, los angeles launched 60 new cities and towns covering 80,000 acres with the potential capacity to house several million people at low density in the surrounding areas. At the time only 50,000 people lived in la and only 3,500 lived in these new cities and towns. The price of subdivided land rose 10-20 times over that period only to crash and struggle through the depression that followed. At the same time, the fabulously wealthy henry flagler, a standard oil partner of j.D. Rockefeller, discovered florida on vacation in 1885. Flagler was also a railroad owner and he built his own line and consolidated local railroads into the east coast lines that enabled him to acquire thousands of acres of public land. Palm beach was at the end of the line and it was here he built the pleasure palaces of the southeastern coast. The royal ponciana, the world�s largest hotel with 1,500 rooms and the breakers with 500 rooms were quickly erected and even by todays standards was an ambitious undertakimg that was hugely successfull. Later, in 1895, he extended the railroads to what is today miami. He built a town, port, electric plant and even established a newspaper. By 1910 miami had a population of 11,000 and hotel accommodations for 100,000! While los angeles was being launched, new york was nearly 100 years old and already a vibrant city. The fascinating tale of manhattan�s first polo field on the ne corner of central park in 1887 is reproduced courtesy of the hurlingham polo association�s magazine on page 135. With these new fields, polo became an american obsession for more than half a century up to the 1930�s and is an interesting historical reference to the huge re-surgence that polo is undergoing and is highlighted in the new jumeirah culu culu polo lifestyle resort. [b]2010 ASIA[/b] These days the airport is the 21st century version of the railroads of the 1880s. Today, wherever a new airport is built or its facilities expanded or upgraded, a period of strong tourism growth is ushered in. Resort areas like krabi, or in a small world heritage town like luang prabang, property near swathes of sand like china beach or on con dao island are all current hotspots with burgeoning foreign investment and increased �lift� or travel capacity. Phuket has been on a growth curve for 15 years that is the envy of all asian destinations. In 2007, over 38,000 domestic and international flights took off and landed, a 32% increase over 2006, bringing 5.5mn tourists. Phuket airport recently extended the facility to handle 6.5mn. Last months announcement that the airport will be doubled in size over five years attracting up to 15mn passengers annually will create waves of new demand. Similarly over 700 private jets touched down on phuket in 2007 continuing the fascination of the world�s wealthiest who now fly direct from pretty much anywhere on their falcon or indeed private bbj�s. This number will triple easily by 2013. With limited land availability, new 5 star resorts plus over 300 new marina berths over 20m that are filling quickly after last year�s drop in boat import taxes, you get a perfect storm of interest. The global economic slowdown will help mitigate some of the demand concerns and keep the development pace steady and manageable. Also, phuket has stringent building codes and environmental protection strategies which should avoid the problems with spanish style property development. Indigo real estate celebrates its fifth year since starting in phuket with a simple aim, to help friends buy great beach houses at fair prices and to look after the buyer throughout the entire process. We always ensure that the buyer�s interests are at heart and enjoy a hard won reputation of being a good firm to work with. We are pleased to report that in those five years we have beached many happy owners and for good reason, the currency has firmed, prices continue to rise as supply tightens, we continue to push for great architecture and first world construction. As a result a truly international group of good people now count phuket as their favorite place to live and in many cases from which to manage global businesses. [b]INTERNATIONAL REVIEW[/b] Indigo real estate makes an ongoing quest seeking perfect locations and outstanding properties. This year again we have gone around the globe quite a few times, with an extended stay in argentina where culu culu is developing nicely and a dubai based jumeirah has announced intentions to manage the world�s first polo lifestyle resort on 1,000 acres just outside buenos aires on one of argentina�s biggest lakes, which also is a bird sanctuary. This remains our favored country in latin america for investment. We traveled deep into the united states and took a hard look at florida, where investment in real estate is starting to get ugly as we projected in late 2006. Still a ways to go before good bargain hunting and any recovery is likely to be more currency based than real asset growth. In europe, nowhere of note looks value orientated, we will be watching the slowdown in the leisure market, ski resorts, beach destinations and demand for prized property in the mediterranean with interest. Japan felt positive, particularly the izu peninsula south of tokyo, with spectacular scenery and perfect building spots that felt very under-developed, although macro japan is not encouraging as it starts to slide again. In indochina our favored spot is luang prabang, where a new five star eco resort is ready for launch in this magical town that is a perfect mountain getaway in laos� first luxury estate with only 19 villas. Waterfront land from thailand through cambodia and vietnam is enjoying great demand. In two years, it will be possible to vacation along the eastern coastline staying in luxury branded villas from established koh samui through to the six senses koh kood and into cambodia where per aquum is building song saa, a luxury island retreat. Cambodia is attracting a flood of investment and new projects, and we know of at least 100 apartments that have been sold in the uk alone. Cambodia, with its crown jewel, angkor wat, will continue to shine these next few years as the whole economy enjoys stability and strength. From cambodia traveling along the coast and into vietnam the island of con dao is developing quickly with a six senses resort. Nha trang, a pretty coastal area in mid vietnam is also exploding with new hotels as the fabled china beach with a newly launched raffles and a sell-out of the nam hai villas. New golf courses, new hotels and upgraded airports and increased lift are attracting vietnamese, chinese and hk investors. Other oceanfront land from borneo to fiji is being targeted and it�s great to see a resurgence of interest in the philippines. Waterfront land will become one of asia�s� scarcest commodities and in less than a decade will become incredibly expensive. We continue to be buyers of new waterfront villas and apartments with solid ocean views and expect to see heavy demand across all of indochina as branded hoteliers offer a residential component with flexible owner conditions, something we have been actively pushing for five years.[b] WHAT SHOULD I BUY?[/b] Buy quality, buy branded, buy early and get interested�. Do your research, travel to these new spots and think creatively as asian luxury property broadens and indochina emerges be a part of it. In all the excitement and particularly in this short lull in asset increases pull the trigger and purchase a great beach house or stash some investment property away as asia gears up for an exiting new decade ahead of us....

Famous Last Words

21 Jul 2008 09:38:38 am GMT +

Ever since we were old enough to understand what we were being told, we have been barraged with an endless amount of �words of wisdom� in an effort to protect us from dangerous situations�these sayings get stuck in our head and hopefully help us as we move forward in life. When we were young it was �don�t run with scissors�, �look both ways before you cross the road� and �don�t eat yellow snow� (only kids that grew up in a freezing environment would fully appreciate that one) Even as we get older and move into our chosen careers, the advice doesn�t stop�when I started my real estate career it was��Buy low sell high�� Sounds easy enough�but that ties in with �timing is everything��which always leads us back to �if only I had a crystal ball� I will never forget when I started my real estate career in Canada, I met a couple about the same age as my parents and they were looking to buy their first property. They had been renting the same home for almost 17 years and managed to save $50,000 for a down payment. The house they were renting was worth $190,000. After a few weeks of looking around, they finally came to the conclusion that it wasn�t the right time for them to buy�best to wait and see what would happen to the market�just not comfortable with the prices as they seemed too high for them�now they are saying they wish they had bought 15 years ago� Real estate is a long term investment and can create a lot of wealth over the years��timing� as they say, �is everything��but �you also have to start somewhere��and �there is no time like the present� With the commodity markets continuing to rise and the financial �sub prime� cash crunch making banks nervous about lending, I feel lucky to live in Phuket. The market here has been steady so far and the buyers are coming from all over the world, all in search of a lifestyle destination. There is no leverage/financing here for end users, which keeps out mass speculators. But the availability of prime land is really getting tight and expensive, which leads me to the saying that is most relevant to the financial success in my life� �Don�t wait to buy real estate, buy real estate and wait� See you at the beach! Tom Travers Managing Partner Indigo Real Estate

NEW ARCHITECTURAL ICON LAUNCHES IN KOH SAMUI

15 Jul 2008 08:43:38 am GMT +

[i]GARY FELL, MODERNIST AND ARCHITECT DESIGNS A TROPICAL SANCTUARY[/i] Koh Samui, Surat Thani Province, Thailand: �Napa� is a Thai word that means �sky� � an appropriate name for Koh Samui�s newest ocean front estate featuring ten, US$ 1.85 million (THB 61 million) luxury villas with lofty, wide ocean views over the Gulf of Thailand. Renowned architect Gary Fell from Gfab has combined Thai design elements with modern open plan living and large free form pools to create a chic, comfortable mix of 50�s Palm Springs elegance and tropical island hideaway. Perched above Cheong Mon Beach on Koh Samui�s secluded north coast, Napa�s ten luxury villas sit on large plots of up to 1600m�. As 3-4 bedroom bachelor pads, corporate retreat or a luxury holiday homes for a modern family, Napa villas showcase large entertainment areas on split levels for maxim views. Interiors are crisp and stylish using local Asian stone and hardwoods with large built-ins and customized furniture. �Napa is a welcome addition to Indigo�s Luxury 2008 Collection�, say Tom Travers, Managing Partner of Indigo Real Estate, �and these villas certainly fit our criteria for luxury: Great location, world-class architectural design of both inside and outside space and a well executed property management solution. We expect these to be very popular because the design/development team for Napa recently completed Samujana (also on Samui) which sold out quickly�. Koh Samui is located in the Gulf of Thailand, 35km northeast of Sarathani. It is surrounded by about sixty other islands, most of which comprise the Ang Thong National Marine Park, but also include other tourist destinations Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Tao. Napa�s private, quite location in Cheong Mon gives easy access to the international airport and Chaweng town, the island�s main tourist area. Indigo�s 2008 Luxury Collection also includes four additional developments located in Phuket including The Natai, Sava, Istana and Bluepoint Condominiums. Indigo Real Estate enjoys a solid reputation as one of Asia�s leading luxury property specialists offering the region�s most luxurious beachfront homes, property and private islands. See Indigo�s complete listings at [url]www.indigoRE.com[/url] or visit the showroom at The Plaza near Surin Beach. For sales information please contact Tom Travers at +66 87 034 2090 and [url]sales@indigoRE.com[/url][/url]...