by Roberta Murphy

I have always felt such a sense of peace when I am in the garden fooling around with dirt and plants, but never gave it much thought until this morning.

I read an article today relating research that confirms my senses: Garden Dirt actually serves as an anti-depressant. And could take the place of Prozac.

I don’t suffer from depression and have never taken Prozac, but I do notice a difference in myself when I am in the garden, fooling with dirt, and daring to go barefoot (which has different research supporting the practice). I feel a delicious sense of peace and connection with the earth. It now turns out that beneficial microbes in the soil can enter the body through both breathing and our skin (Perhaps I should remove gloves more often?).

It appears that antidepressant microbes, specifically Mycobacterium vaccae, in the soil cause our cytokine levels to rise, resulting in the production of increased levels of serotonin. There may also be some evidence that the microbes help create an increase in cognitive ability and better concentration on tasks. These effects may be felt for up to 3 weeks, if current research with rats is any indication. According to the article in Gardening Know How.

“Mycobacterium antidepressant microbes in soil are also being investigated for improving cognitive function, Crohn’s disease and even rheumatoid arthritis.”

After reading this article, I can’t help but wonder how a garden might be helpful for memory care residents, or even those in assisted living of some sort. Not only would they get the gratification of growing flowers or vegetables, but it just might elevate spirits and cognition. I know a couple of elementary schools in Encinitas and Carlsbad have cultivated gardens as a learning experience for the children. Might the soil organisms also make them more attentive in class?

Makes you wonder.

I know that in an hour or so, I am going to go fool around in the garden, play in the dirt, and spread more worm castings while I’m at it. And this time,  I’m not wearing gloves!

 Want to know more?

Read more at Gardening Know How: Antidepressant Microbes In Soil: How Dirt Makes You Happy https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/antidepressant-microbes-soil.htm

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Many years ago, our two younger sons acquired their very own parakeets at the same time. Eric nurtured his bird, played with it, taught it tricks and called it Puff–who went on to live 14 wonderful years. Mark-the-Younger at the age of 13 basically ignored his little bird in favor of girls, motorized scooters and the like. I would go into Mark’s room to clean the un-named bird’s cage or check on food and water levels– all while the bird squawked and flitted around the cage trying to avoid me. Sweet talk and my chirping did no good. This green parakeet wanted nothing to do with me or any other human. This bird was, at the least, psychotic.

Or so I had diagnosed it.

So what to do with an anti-social and apparently very angry bird? Is there a rescue shelter for parakeets?

I knew of no shelters, so plotted a plan of lesser evil one evening.

The next morning I spent at least 30 minutes chasing this little bird around the cage trying to capture it gently into my fist. At last I succeeded, suffered a few bites, and managed to get this green parakeet into a brown paper bag.

I quickly twisted the top shut, dropped it gently into my oversized handbag and jumped into the car. The bird was silent as I drove to the nearest PetSmart in Encinitas. I parked and walked like a normal shopper into the Big Box pet store. Feeling guilty, I sauntered over by the empty fish aisle, all the while keeping an eye out for cameras and security personnel. Seeing neither, l pulled out the brown paper bag and whispered a little prayer as I untwisted the bag, looking around one more time to see if anyone was looking–and set that little bird free. It immediately flew toward the ceiling as I stuffed the paper bag back into mine. I sauntered over to the dog food, glanced up at the ceiling and saw this little green bird flitting around. Someone would surely see it and assumed one of their parakeets had escaped from a cage..

Or so I imagined.

As soon as possible I exited the store. And breathed a big sigh of relief. This was a trip that resulted in a store ending up with excess inventory as a result of my visit. And is a story we still chuckle over occasionally. And I like to imagine that this little green parakeet found a home more suited to his or her hostile approach to the world.

And so I learned an important and alternative lesson in life: If you hate it, set it free.

The post If You Hate It Set It Free appeared first on Luxury Home Digest.

Between Rancho Santa Fe and the beaches in Encinitas sits an irreplaceable plot of land that surely belongs to another century.

The wide and expansive rear lawn backs up to pasture, wetlands and forest beyond.  Family of deer come grazing and cows come to visit when the lawnmower is at work.

Late afternoons, it is not unusual to see colorful hot air balloons gliding across the sky–and the stars at night twinkle just a little brighter than in the surrounding suburbs. Love the ocean? Encinitas and Cardiff beaches are just a couple of miles away.

• The 4-bedroom home itself has aged gracefully–and has many possibilities for expansion and improvement.  It could truly be a decorator’s dream-come-true.
• Oversized 3-car garage and ample guest parking.
• Close to excellent public and private schools and Mira Costa College (San Elijo Campus).
• Home feels rural, but is very close to Harvest Ranch Market, fine restaurants and upscale boutiques.

Asking price is $1,350,000.

This property is not yet in the MLS, but private showing can be arranged. For additional information, call Roberta Murphy 877-818-8197 or 760-402-9101.

The post Between Rancho Santa Fe and the Beach… appeared first on Luxury Home Digest.

In the blogging world, an absence of six weeks is almost unforgivable.

But had I draped a black cloth over it on April 24, 2009 you might have understood. That’s the day my Dad and best friend, Bob Michelson, died in Encinitas, CA after a lengthy illness.

It’s really tough to become an orphan when the last parent exits–especially if the relationship has been a close one. I shared this loss equally with my sister Gayle, in Houston, who also misses the sage advice and counsel of our patriarch.

Our mother, Edith Michelson, died in 2006. Her

husband of 59 years and a heroic pilot of three wars, Retired Lt. Col Robert Michelson, would spend the next three years of his life gently encouraging the dreams of his two daughters and five grandsons. On a personal level, Bob Michelson in his late 80’s also abandoned a lifetime of agnostic views, and to our absolute amazement, developed a wondrous faith in God the last two weeks of his life.

He was also enormously curious about new technologies. Dad was the first person I knew to download Window’s Vista–and wished for stem cell technologies that might one day cure his own illness as well as those of others. He loved our country, watched Wall Street closely, was an Astros and Padres fan, and hated Nancy Pelosi. Dad’s idea of a perfect meal would be a bowl of spicy bean soup and a crusty piece of bread. He was modest, generous to a fault, and promised to be a guardian angel for us all.

We miss him terribly.

And that is probably why my writing gears have been frozen this past month or so. And though our real estate business continued and even flourished, I just couldn’t bring myself to write about San Diego real estate, market conditions or luxury homes–and remain indebted to my husband and partner Mike as well as associates in our company who so kindly aided me and our clients during this personal and unprecedented period of grieving.

I spoke with a Philadelphia food writer a week or so ago and she could not understand how I could abandon writing during this grieving period–because writing would be her salvation.

I didn’t write because I feared alienating you with my sadness and the process of putting a deceased parent’s affairs into final order. At the same time, I didn’t feel able to write about the things I usually favor because of this big life transition. A simple diagnosis might be writer’s block. And that is something that just has to work itself out.

Those writing gears, though, have begun to thaw and life’s rhythms are returning to normal. Laughter is easier, tears have subsided and reconnecting with friends–and you– is now a priority. It feels good to be home. –Roberta Michelson Murphy

The post No Luxury in Loss appeared first on Luxury Home Digest.

Luxury Home Foreclosures?

It appears that even the luxury real estate market will not fully escape the financial ravages that are taking down less-expensive neighborhoods.

Housing Wire asks: Has REO gone jumbo? To find out, they consulted with Integrated Asset Services, LLC in Colorado to see if foreclosures are moving up the real estate food chain. And though not all properties with loans in excess of the the conforming $417,000 are luxury homes, it appears that an increasing number of residences in that loftier lending arena are heading to short sale or foreclosure. In California, for example, IAS and Housing Wire saw 102 REO’s sell for more than $417,000 during April, compared to just 13 in April, 2007.

Anecdotally, we have seen a spike this past year in San Diego luxury homes that are closing as short sales (where more is owed on the property than what it is worth), or which end up as foreclosures and REO’s (real estate owned bank properties). We have also seen that it takes lenders far longer to reach an agreeable sales price compared to smaller loans–and that may be understandable.

On one hand, more money is at stake and greater care must be taken in reaching a fair valuation; on the other, carrying costs (taxes, insurance, maintenance, security and HOA fees) run far higher than ordinary REO’s. And that those are bills most lenders and services do not want to shoulder.

In a recent transaction in coastal Encinitas Ranch, Washington Mutual required two appraisals and took almost four months processing time before reaching an agreed-upon sales price. And during that time, foreclosure sale was delayed twice. The original loan amount was $1.2 million and the final sales price was $880,000. It was a major hit for the lender/investor , but costs would surely have been greater if this Encinitas home had gone to foreclosure.

We are currently involved with two other sellers who have loans exceeding $1 million and whose custom homes could end up as foreclosures if Countrywide and First Franklin investors cannot come up with pricing that reflects current San Diego market realities. Neither home is coastal (which would help prop up valuation) and neither have area comparable sales that would support pricing anywhere near what is owed on these homes.

Outside of our San Diego real estate practice with Villa Sotheby’s International Realty in Del Mar, we are hearing whispers that there will be more luxury short sales and REO’s before the real estate market recovers. And out of the confusion and delays in disposing of these luxury properties will be opportunities that luxury investors have been long awaiting.

And even the ultra-luxury real estate market appears to be experiencing some correction. In 2006, we wrote about Donald Trump’s luxury estate in Palm Beach being offered at $125 million. Recent reports say it sold at just $100 million.

What may have been painful for The Donald would have been a coup for the lucky buyer. I guess every market has silver linings–for someone.

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I awoke at 4:30 a.m. yesterday morning with a sense of dread, quickly remembering that there is a demon called the Witch Creek Fire raging in the communities around our home in La Costa. It is just one of several mega firestorms raging in San Diego County–but is the one we fear(ed) the most.

Monday afternoon, our Reverse 911 system called to inform us we are under “volunteer evacuation” guidance. We chose to remain home because the fires were distant and the ocean even closer. A half-packed suitcase still sits by the bedroom door, and we are ready to leave with minimal notice.

As I tiptoed downstairs in the dark, I wondered which of our sons had been burning incense. I then realized that threads of smoke from the fires had slipped into our home. Why did it smell almost-fragrant?

Stepping outside in the pre-dawn hours, I saw reassuring stars in the sky. Monday, the sun was red as it glowed behind huge layers of smoke. The air is still full of floating ash and other waste from the fires. The winds are still, there are fewer lights in the hills and the bottoms of my feet stay black because of barefoot habits.

Television news stays on. Over 500,000 people in San Diego County have been evacuated, 25,000 are without power and we all hanging onto news reports and trying to sort out the rumors that are raging with the fires. I am following the aptly-named Witch Fire, because it is the one which endangered our own community.

Coastal Del Mar, Encinitas, La Jolla, Solana Beach, Carlsbad and Oceanside are still intact. Rancho Santa Fe has suffered losses. Parts of The Bridges were in flames; several homes off Via de la Valle and across from Morgan Run Golf Club were burned; that Fairbanks Ranch was in the path of flames, and it appears firefighters were able to stop the Witch Fire at Escondido Creek, which would have put Encinitas and South Carlsbad in danger.

The Witch Fire, as it is now called, has very expensive taste.

The post The Witch Creek Fire appeared first on Luxury Home Digest.

Its always interesting to know how metropolitan communities stack up when it comes to median household income, and San Diego is no exception.

There were a few surprises.

I had no idea Carlsbad would outrank Encinitas, or that Poway would beat out Coronado. San Diego is full of surprises.

When to comes to compiling such reports (and a host of others), there is no finer source than the San Diego Business Journal. Their data is fresh, well-researched and provides some interesting reading.

This latest report regarding median household income within San Diego Countys incorporated cities is no exception.

Note: Rancho Santa Fe and La Jolla were not included, as Rancho Santa Fe is not an incorporated city and La Jolla is part of the City of San Diego.

The post Show Me the Money: San Diego appeared first on Luxury Home Digest.

Thinking of buying a well-located $1 million luxury flat in London, Paris or Tokyo? Think you’ll get a bargain?Think again:

1. In London, you’ll get 328 square feet.

2. In Paris, you’ll do better with 522 square feet.

3. In Tokyo, you can really spread out with 594 square feet.

These are averages reported by the most recent issue of Forbes magazine. The weakened dollar against the Sterling, Euro and other currencies has contributed much to a real estate situation where, for example, the U.S. dollar purchases 25 percent less in London than it did just five years ago.

But if the tables are turned, premier areas of the United States are relative bargains for many international real estate buyers. We have a client who recently retired in Belgium, then moved to the San Diego suburbs, and purchased a lovely coastal Encinitas pool home (around 3000 sf) for just under $1 million. This jolly client still chuckles when mentioning that his retirement comes in Euros, which helps to create a very comfortable retirement given current U.S. exchange rates. He also loves that he can play tennis year round. For him, the purchase was a bargain.

This is a situation that might be repeated throughout premier real estate markets in the United States. Excluding a few areas, real estate prices in this country have softened in the last couple of years. An international real estate buyer might be able to purchase a prime property at a substantial discount not only because of weakened market conditions, but also because of the increased purchasing power of his or her native currency.

Given this interesting and favorable set of circumstances, we are actively courting international real estate buyers. Prime U.S. real estate has become a relative bargain for these shoppers. It is a market that cannot be ignored.

by Roberta Murphy

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