Catepillar

Jim Walberg – East Bay Realtor In Europe – Part 1

Who’s Who In Luxury Real Estate invited me to be a presenter at their 4th Annual International Conference in Paris this month.

When was the last time you visited Europe in winter?  It is COLD!  The Who’s Who In Luxury Real Estate’s  4^th Annual International Conference was this month in Paris, and I was invited to be one of the presenters.  Before the conference I traveled to London for a few days with my wife and oldest son, Matt, to visit one of the ten families that make up our “European families”.  London was our first stop, and it is a much faster paced city than the East Bay.  It is one of the key financial centers of the world!  

Our time in London was generally walking this historic and beautiful city.  We walked from Buckingham Palace  and ,  to many of London’s museums and art galleries.  Another reason why we were in London was to meet with one of the partners of Deloitte – an international consulting firm for the top corporations of the world.  Our friend is in charge of their international real estate division.  Our scheduled meeting was to gather information regarding his view of what is predicted for the world real estate markets in the midst of the global financial meltdown.  And, we wanted him to give some advice to Matt, who is interested in working with an international corporation who has offices in Europe – Nestle, Proctor & Gamble, Catepillar, etc.  It was a very insightful hour with our friend.

Again, we were reminded that real estate is always local.  Yes, securing credit is the issue today, no matter if it is for a mortgage, or a business loan.  We are very fortunate we are not in the London real estate markets.  A serious collapse is underway in their housing market.  There are almost no mortgage options available to anyone.  Thank goodness that we still have money flowing through FHA, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.  And, there is still jumbo money available for those with 20%+ down and great credit for around 6% interest.  See, there is always a silver lining, it just depends what your vantage point is.  Plus, the British pound  is in the tank as a further ingredient of British economic crisis.

No matter what the economic conditions in the world we will still figure out a way to make lemonade out of lemons regarding real estate sales.  In fact, a quote that our London friends gave us was, “When life gives you lemons, add gin.”   Stay tuned for my next report.