Monthly Archives: April 2013

GALLERY: Luxury home sales in Calgary skyrocket

Posted on by Listify Me
CALGARY- It seems Calgarians have money to burn, as luxury home sales in the city continue to skyrocket. New numbers from RE/MAX show a staggering 50 per cent increase in the number of homes listed for $1 million or more changing hands from January 1 to March 31, compared to the same period in 2012. 172 have been sold so far, made up of 150 detached houses and 22 condos. That’s compared with 115 in 2012 and only 35 in 2009—during the recession. “Activity in the luxury segment is quite Read more [...]

Listed IFA cites RDR recurring income boost as profits slip

Posted on by Listify Me
One of the few remaining listed IFA firms has seen its pre-tax profit shrink by 20 per cent to in the first three months of the year, despite the firm reporting significantly higher recurring income as a result of its “successful” adaptation to the Retail Distribution Review. Lyndhurst Financial Management, which is listed on the Icap Securities Derivatives Exchange, said that it has benefited from the successful completion of its project to prepare Read more [...]

The World’s 8 Most Grueling Endurance Events

Posted on by Listify Me
In the late 1970s, Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassin escaped from prison and managed to run a measly 8 miles in 55 hours. Gary Cantrell, a local ultrarunner, figured he could have run at least 100 in that time, and so began the Barkley Marathons, an annual race in Tennessee's Frozen Head State Park. Participants have 60 hours to run 100 miles of the steep, thorny, and muddy trail. In other words, the run tests endurance and pain tolerance. To prove they followed the course, runners Read more [...]

Tiny, Bohemian Bisbee Battles Arizona Over Civil Unions – Huffington Post

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BISBEE, Ariz. -- During a session of afternoon cocktails around the patio table in the brightly painted backyard of notorious stand-up comedian Doug Stanhope, Melissa Reaves begins to strum an acoustic guitar. She fiddles a bit, settles into a bluesy groove, then starts to sing. In a throaty wail, she belts out lyrics that, it turns out, she’s making up on the spot. It’s a bit of party trick, writing songs as she’s performing Read more [...]

US duo lead on $586m sale of stake in China’s Twitter-like Weibo

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Shearman Sterling and Simpson Thacher Bartlett have played key roles on Chinese internet giant Sina Corporation’s sale of a stake in the country’s Twitter-like site Weibo.Shearman, fielding Beijing managing partner Lee Edwards, advised Nasdaq-listed Sina in the sale of a 18 per cent stake in its subsidiary Weibo Corporation to e-commerce business Alibaba Group in a deal valued at $586m (£377m). Sina has also granted an option to Alibaba to enable Alibaba to increase its ownership Read more [...]

Council orders homeowner to repaint her pretty 17th century listed cottage …

Posted on by Listify Me
Owners say that the shade of pink used is exactly the same as beforeDevon council say they need planning permission or they could face courtOwner Ann Kennedy: 'I'm devastated and heartbroken by what's happened' By Martin Robinson PUBLISHED: 09:05 GMT, 30 April 2013 | UPDATED: 14:01 GMT, 30 April 2013 The owners of a pretty 17th century cottage have been threatened with court by their 'jobsworth' local council after planners decided they had made it too pink. Ann Kennedy is upset Read more [...]

Two Mercure Hotels in regional Victoria listed for $11 million receivership sale

Posted on by Listify Me
Receivers from KPMG have listed the Mercure Hotel Horsham and the Mercure Hotel Bairnsdale for sale. The two hotels, both built in 2009, are listed for sale either jointly or separately with expectations around $11 million. The Mercure Hotel Horsham is located at 118 Baillie Street in Horsham, around 300km north-west of Melbourne and 426km south-east of Adelaide. The 52-room hotel stands on a 3,900 square metre site and includes function rooms and restaurant-bar facilities. The 51-room Mercure Hotel Read more [...]

Pending Home Sales Rose in March

Posted on by Listify Me
By Sarah Portlock and Jonathan House The number of prospective homeowners signing contracts to buy previously owned properties ticked up last month to the highest level in nearly three years, but the supply of unsold homes on the market remains thin. The National Association of Realtors on Monday said its seasonally adjusted index for pending sales of existing homes rose to a reading of 105.7 in March, up 1.5% from the previous month and a gain of 7.0% from a year earlier. The last Read more [...]

Bedford Park Society Celebrates Fifty Years

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Looks back on half a century of protecting the world's first garden suburb This year the Bedford Park Society looks back on half a century of protecting the world's first garden suburb. Special celebratory projects include the installation of a specially-designed information sign on the triangle of land in front of the church hall to welcome visitors, the publication of a new book, Bedford Park Pictures From the Past, and a members' garden party in September. Since it was founded in 1963 Read more [...]

Buying a listed building? How to get a mortgage

Posted on by Listify Me
Converted barns are relatively easy to fund these days. "But the more unusual the building, such as a windmill or a lighthouse, the more difficult it becomes." Saffron Building Society, which is based in Essex but happy to lend nationally, adopts a flexible approach to buyers looking to renovate old or unique properties, Mr Smith said. Harpenden Building Society is another small lender with a national reach that specialises in unusual properties. It has financed medieval houses, Read more [...]