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Drexel Park Hollow Auction Saturday and Pillsbury Doughboy House Porn

November 7,  29 “luxury condominium homes” will be auctioned off by Kennedy Wilson. I was reminded of this yesterday here at the Urban Land Institute meeting in San Francisco, when I stopped by the Sheldon Good & Company booth/exhibit. Sheldon Good auctioned off the The Centrum a few years back, kind of got sales jump-started. They were telling me that auctions are an emerging trend in real estate sales and not just for distressed properties (or condos) either; check out this:  the 40,000 square foot main house of the John S. and Eleanor Pillsbury estate, designed in 1916 to 1918 by architect H.T. Lindeberg, on Brackett’s point overlooking Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota. This is the second time in the home’s history that it has been on the market.

Segue back to the Drexel Park Hollow: jump for  the deets on those interiors.

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Report From The ULI: Second Home Communities & Real Estate Trends

A long day in San Francisco, including a morning walk Wednesday in Pacific Heights, Cow Hollow and The Marina  — please see my Twitter posts. I honestly almost became a house manager in PH, I love the area so much. (Then I learned this is where Nancy Pelosi lives!) This afternoon, back to business. What in the world are we going to do with all those second homes out there begging for owners? Fractionalize them: yes, the future is betting on fractionals: living, aircraft, boats, everything. (Kids?) And while we’re at it, let me tell you what else I heard today about the second and vacation home market:

Ostentation is dead, at least for two years; I mourn.

Second home ownership is all about re-connecting people, bringing owners to nature.

Second home ownership is very social.

Second home ownership likes/wants the resort “experience.” More exotic, the better.

To whit, we are talking a down comforter in a cabin or tent. (More biz for Bibbentuckers.) Outdoor amphitheatres. More experience and memories than opulence. Multi seasonal nature, and a social connection between real people. 82% of the U.S. population claims to walk outdoors, 84%  of parents want their children to spend more time outdoors, and all families really want to get re-connected to nature. Oh, but they also want easy access to airports. (I so relate, we want it all!) In fact, today I heard that LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION has been replaced  by ACCESS ACCESS ACCESS. Want the recipe for success for a second home community? Try amenities, telecommunication and air travel.

Second and all homes are getting smaller. Here’s what people want in design: Simpler design, smarter design, higher density neighborhoods, the elimination of secondary living spaces, flexible space, and a connection to nature.

Guess who’s buying way smarter than their parents and daring even to ask what utilities cost? Generation X.

D Sale of the Week: Belmont Beauty, House of Tudor

Fairies, elves, knights in shining armour, I see all this and more in this restored 1931 built Lakewood Heights Tudor that has been restored and remodeled to sustain 21st century living. Yet it has retained the charm of yesteryear, from the exterior brick, roofline, leaded glass windows, moldings and sunroom.  6318 Belmont  is larger than it appears to be,  2703 square feet loaded with four bedrooms, three baths, sun room, large master suite and ginormous closets. And talk about proximity to White Rock Lake — please! This is the Lakewood dream life, biking to White Rock, Whole Foods, footing it to Lakewood Village. Master suite is upstairs with a stunning bath suite. Garage is detached and in back, with an electric gate. The yard: to die for deck and trees. The price: not bad — $479,000. Twist Brett Gray’s arm over at Dave Perry-Miller, but not too hard, please.

Urban Land Institute Report: All We Need Is Luv and Paranoid Optimism

I may be tossing my anti-depressants after yesterday’s keynote at the ULI by The Economist former Editor- in- Chief Bill Emmott.  What is going on with this global recession, are we out of the woods, and how will it affect real estate? Emmott says he has paranoid optimism that indicators are getting better — fewer job losses, maybe some hiring in the U.S., flexible economies, and exports. He called this a “LUV” recession recovery,  L-shaped in Europe and Japan where the recovery will be weak; U-shaped in the U.S. because of our openess to capitalization flow, tech and environmental fever, and increases in hiring; V-shaped in China and India where there are real inflation risks. Emmott said we are in unchartered waters, with “known knowns” and “unknown unknowns”. The knowns: consumers are retrenching, concerned about damage to their wealth. Consumption will not lead this recovery. There is a huge rise in public debt, taxes are heading upwards in the U.S., U.K. and Japan. The current administration will extend the welfare state and tighten financial regulation — there is a huge pressure to regulate, with regulation almost taking precedence over the recovery.  The unknowns: the psychology of the masses. Economists failed to predict this massive recession, said Emmott, because they tend to omit psychology. Unknown: how much will consumers decide to pay down debt, and for how long? China is a source of optimism but also an anomaly, a large economy with fixed currency.  Biggest shockeroo of all has a Texas slant: why is oil still at $80 a barrel when demand is so low? Answer: OPEC, speculation. Rising oil prices, another unknown, could shadow our recovery.