Archive for February, 2010
From Inc. Magazine
Inc. Magazine lives in New York City. I live in the Boston suburbs. So for three years I’ve been working out of my home office with nothing to look at but the Ozark-esque compound across the road and nothing to listen to but squirrels striking the back porch when they miss the bird feeders. It gets lonely at times. My house lacks both a water cooler and peers to engage in conversation around one. I miss the random hallway conversations that unexpectedly ignite ideas or forge alliances. When I know my colleagues are staying late to close an issue, I work late too, out of solidarity. The managing editor offers to order in dinner and sends out a link to the menu. I mentally place my order.
On the whole though, working at home has been a satisfying experience. I’ve managed to remain productive, and the stress reduction from not commuting has probably added a year to my life. So, as my New York colleagues embark on their telecommuting experiment, I offer them—and others new to working from home—eight lessons for thriving away from the mother ship.
1. Language is important. Tell people you “work out of my home office” or that you “work from home.” Never say, “I work at home.” That suggests you create window treatments freelance in your spare time. “Home office” sounds more professional when you’re giving someone your phone number for work. Also, if friends and relatives believe you are less than seriously employed they will start adding you to their lists of People Who Can Easily Host a Last-Minute Book-Club Meeting or Pick Up My Child After School.
2. Some people like to dress for work, even though they never set foot outside their houses. Others like to lounge around in sweats or pajamas. It’s a matter of personal choice. But if you prefer the latter, change clothes at least once at night and once in the morning. Casual is fine. Crusty isn’t.
3. Talk to someone from the office at least once a day. Long silences are nervous-making. After three days I start to feel like a kid at camp: worried that in my absence the rest of the family has moved away without telling me. Managers are best because they know when there’s reason to panic. Their calm becomes your calm. (I find Dan Ferrara, Inc.’s deputy editor, the most soothing person to talk to. A conversation with him is like half an hour sitting in the Lotus Position.)
4. Gossiping, Web surfing, popping out to do a little shopping at lunch—those are healthy ways to decompress when you’ve spent an hour commuting and another three hours sitting in an uncomfortable chair drinking pallid coffee from the kitchenette and trying not to overhear the conversation in the next cubicle. At home, where all is relative peace and luxury, such activities seem to me Caligula-scale decadent. Still no one can work eight hours without pause. So establish some useful, non-fun things to do during work breaks that don’t induce guilt. Do your laundry or clean your gutters or catch up on your work reading. Stock your bathroom with the collected oeuvre of Peter Drucker. If you have exercise equipment, work out. Unless you enjoy working out, in which case avoid that at all costs.
5. If you have children, explain that when your door is closed they should not disturb you. If they fail to comply, explain that if they continue to interrupt then you will miss your deadlines and lose your job, which will force the family to live on the streets and sell all their toys for food.
6. Larks will love working from 4 AM to 1 PM; owls from 3 PM to midnight. But remember some commitments (interviews, teleconferences etc.) will likely fall outside your preferred work hours. For the first few months I worked at home, I got up before dawn every day and put in a solid five hours before most people had arrived at the office. But often I still had people to talk to in the afternoon, and by that time I was seriously dragging. So while it’s tempting to create a routine customized for how you like to work, instead schedule yourself fresh every day based on how the world requires you to work.
7. At our house we have three phone numbers: one for the family, one for the kids, and one for my work calls. When someone calls the family number the phone rings once. When someone calls one of the kids it rings twice in quick succession. When someone calls for me at Inc., it rings three times in quick succession. That way no one else ever accidentally picks up my work calls (“Hey Mom, it’s for you. Some guy named Steve Jobs. Can I have Julia over?”) Also, I always know whether to answer in professional mode (“This is Leigh Buchanan”) or personal mode (“Yeah, what?”)
8. Stay caffeinated. The Saeco Incanto Sirius is a totally awesome espresso maker, even if it does sound like something out of Harry Potter.
Please note the new price below and inquire about the possibility of separating both lots!!!
A Century on the Hermosa Beach Strand
“You don’t see views like that anymore,” a woman says as she glides by multiple windows lining the western wall of the master bedroom.
A bluish light from the coast fills every corner of the wide expanse, painted wall-to-wall in brilliant white. On an antique wooden desk, a WWII-era portrait of a man in uniform overlooks a small box of vintage personalized stationery. Notwithstanding the mounted plasma screen and a few modern dressings, many of the original charms appear intact, from shutters to ornate fixtures. Indeed, you don’t see views like this anymore.
Nestled alongside the contemporary beach residences that line today’s Hermosa Strand, this 5,172-square-foot home between 24th and 25th Streets was built and owned by the Doheny family in the early 1900s. In 1947, Lucy Smith Doheny Baston handed the property down to her daughter, Lucy Doheny Washington or “Dickie”, opening the doors for new generations to enjoy.
Cynthia Niven Griffin, Dickie’s daughter, spent many a summer at the beach house with her two older brothers. “The house was always full of friends,” she remembers fondly. “It just sucks up guests. There was always room for more.”
“People would stop by for drinks or conversation,” says Laurence Van Cott Niven, recalling his childhood at the house, swimming by day and sleeping to the sounds of the surf by night. “It was a friendly neighborhood.” He reminisces about running to The Green Store with the other kids, collecting bottles and turning them in for nickels to buy candy.
One year, their father built a catamaran that lived on the sand in front of the house. On weekends they would take it out through the surf and catch sand dabs in the Redondo Channel and eat them for breakfast. “Our winter life was much more structured,” Cynthia says. “Hermosa was heaven.”
Visiting the home today, one can trace the visual layers of the property’s 100-plus-year history. Lauren Forbes, notes the multi-room kitchen in the back portion of the first-floor. “Back in the day, this was the servant’s pantry,” she says. “The children were never permitted to go through those doors. That was the rule of the house.” She then points out a mid-century gazebo, resembling a giant birdcage, sitting in the middle of the patio area. She says the family planned to remove it until they learned it was built by a famous architect of the period and is quite valuable.
Still owned by Lucy’s children, the decision was made to put the home on the market this past summer. Though the structure itself still offers incredible appeal, the true value of the property is the enormous piece of land it sits on, 7,632 square feet in all. In addition to the main house that faces The Strand, a separate building with a three-car garage that once housed the servant’s quarters above, reaches all the way to Hermosa Avenue in the back. “The lot is more than twice the size of an average Strand lot,” says Lauren. “It spans twice the width and one-and-a-half times the depth.”
While the future of the home and lot remains unknown, the days and nights of summers’ past live on in the minds and hearts of its former residents. “My husband proposed to me in the den,” says Cynthia who, in recent years, spent time at the house with her own children and grandchildren. “So many memories as a child, and many as a young woman.” Long showers in the basement after a day of swimming, surf burgers on 22nd Street and watching their dogs chase the tides are only of few of the most treasured. Her brother, Michael C. Nevin, affirms the sentiment: “It was the hardest place to leave.”
This article appears in the Holiday 2009 issue of South Bay Magazine by Darren Elms
Reduced to $13,250,000 call Lauren Forbes for more info..310-901-8512
Check out the Green Hive website at http://www.thegreenhive.com/
Here is a little Bit about them:
Created specifically to advance the movement of sustainable design and building practices, The Green Hive is an integrated forum/marketplace that promotes community interaction, education, products and a green lifestyle.
Answering a market need
Consumer demand for information and access to green alternatives is growing rapidly. However, presenting this information and access to qualified products and services continues to be the greatest challenge to the growth of this market.
Currently, most green entities exist online and provide a very limited view of what is currently available. The Green Hive fills this void in the marketplace for deep insights and best practices on integrating sustainability into every facet of the community.
A one-stop physical and virtual solution
The Green Hive providing all of the necessary touch points to the process of accessing and embracing sustainable alternatives. In this way, The Green Hive promotes new lifestyle habits and business practices by providing an integrated market forum, for the professional, consumers, and public in the following way:
Helping build a skilled workforce
The Green Hive will also provide a venue for the development of a skilled workforce to meet the overall demand for “green” workforce education and skills. Training for both entry-level and incumbent workers in the design, construction, skilled trades, and the energy industry will be offered.
Targeting specific user groups within the construction industry
The Green Hive will be the link between a growing number of manufacturers and retailers of products, services, and innovative technologies, and the rapidly expanding number of educated eco-minded consumers.
The Green Hive will deliver information, education and training and will be an exhibition space and real marketplace for materials, products and systems required to fulfill the goals, mandates of eco-design, building and living.
Agencies and cities—an integral part of the offering
The Green Hive provides compelling rationale for users in terms of mandate and also incentives. As government driven mandates and incentives continue to grow, The Green Hive is positioned as a bona fide leader to help transform the market.
From LA Times:
Holger Schubert built a 10-foot bridge to connect his sports car’s living-room parking spot to Tigertail Road. But, now, residents are complaining that the structure was improperly approved by the city.
 Architectural Digest magazine’s Design Driven contest. Ricardo DeAratanha |
His pristine Ferrari 512 BBi “Boxer” sits in the middle of Holger Schubert’s living room in Brentwood, right next to stylish furniture, a built-in bookcase and a flat-screen TV that slides on tracks past walls of glass that frame an ocean view.
But Los Angeles officials are about to slam shut forever the garage door that leads to the city’s most extravagant parking space
City planners have withdrawn permission for Schubert to use a bridge to connect his Ferrari’s third-floor resting spot with North Tigertail Road.
The ruling by the West Los Angeles Area Planning Commission tosses a mechanic’s wrench into Schubert’s hopes of using the showpiece garage that last year won Architectural Digest magazine’s Design Driven contest.
Neighbors complained about the bridge, alleging that the city erroneously approved its construction to create both a safety hazard and a development precedent that could degrade hillside neighborhoods throughout the city.
Schubert, a 43-year-old product designer, contends that neighbors turned against the bridge in retaliation for his home-remodeling project taking so long — about five years, so far.
The ruling sets the stage for the city to issue an enforcement order that will force Schubert to tear down the 10-foot-long, 15-foot-high bridge if he does not obtain a zoning variance for it or win a court reprieve that preserves it.
That would mean that his prized gray 1984 Ferrari would have to give up its unique living-room parking spot.
Schubert blames the lengthy structural engineering design work needed for the garage for slowing down the remodeling project that he and wife, Yuriko, have undertaken at their two-acre property in the Brentwood hills.
Along with its ocean view, its crisp skylight-accented ceiling and modernist furniture, the garage features a hydraulic ramp that lifts the front end of the Ferrari up to allow Schubert to coast his gleaming car back out onto his bridge without starting the engine. No Ferrari fumes in this house.
“I wanted to create a backdrop for the car as a piece of art,” Schubert said last year after winning the architectural magazine’s contest. “This is a space whose only purpose is to enjoy the car.”
Neighbors say that Schubert first tried to get permission to build a pedestrian bridge to connect the living room area with the street. They say they balked at that on grounds that such a walkway did not comply with the city’s building rules.
Critics contend that Schubert then sought permission to build an even wider driveway bridge.
At Wednesday evening’s commission session, they argued that the city approved the bridge only after being told that the top-floor garage was necessary for Schubert to comply with city off-street parking rules.
In reality, Schubert had ample parking space near a three-car garage that he demolished in order to make room for the remodel, said Victor de la Cruz, a lawyer for neighbor William Burnside.
De la Cruz said Schubert was warned as he began building the driveway bridge that there was opposition to the bridge and that he was constructing it at his own risk.
Burnside, 58, a senior vice president of a Los Angeles consulting group who has lived on Tigertail Road for 22 years, said neighbors and the Brentwood Homeowners Assn. oppose the bridge for a variety of reasons — not because Schubert’s remodeling project has dragged on seemingly forever.
“I think the major issue here is the precedent it would set in the city” he said.
Residents are also worried about the safety of Schubert backing his Ferrari over the narrow bridge and onto the curving hillside street.
“That, plus he has a two-acre property that has perfectly good access from elsewhere,” Burnside said.
Schubert said he has spent about $1.5 million on the remodel and doesn’t relish the thought of losing his Ferrari garage or ripping out the bridge. He only drives the rare, vintage sports car when Westside traffic is light, he said. He hunted for 11 years before he found the car and purchased it.
“This is how people with money and power can make white seem black,” Schubert said after the commission vote.
His attorney, Jerold B. Neuman, complained to planners that after Schubert received the permit to build the bridge 18 separate city inspections occurred “and no one raised an issue” signaling any problem with its legality.
“They’ve set the stage for the city to say, ‘Tear down the bridge,’ ” Neuman said.
That means the next rumbling sound heard from Tigertail Road will probably be lawyers’ copy machines churning out court briefs, not the throaty full-throttle of a Ferrari 512 BBi.
bob.pool@latimes.com
Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times
We are seeing new inventory and an uptick in interest, as fears of the bottom of the market subside.
As seen in Manhattan Beach Confidential
Wondering about local real estate in January this year? Think: 24/7.
You don’t have to think about it all the time. But that’s the number of new listings last month, plus the number of sales (new escrows) in the same period, among SFRs west of Sepulveda.
This is all seen in the new MB Market Update for 1/31/10, viewable online through our custom spreadsheets (click that link to view).
It felt like inventory was bouncing back quicker than normal from the typical holiday-season wave of short-term cancellations. With 24 new listings – including returnees – we did outpace 2009 by a trifling 3 new offerings, versus 21 new listings in January last year.
Our 7 sales (new escrows) this January were equal to the 2009 pace. Yes, while these included a few quick sales that could be interpreted as a bullish sign, the fact is, last year – deep in the doldrums of ongoing economic collapse – MB saw the same number of sales of SFRs west of Sepulveda.
Total inventory this year remains much lower.
We wrapped January 2010 with 74 public offerings west of Hwy. 1 (click chart to enlarge), whereas last year we saw a new high point of inventory reached at 122.
As the chart here shows, we’re back over the level of inventory seen as of Nov. 30, 2009, but still well below the levels seen at Labor Day or Halloween.
Intriguingly, the inventory data for 2010 are precisely the same as for 2008. As of Jan. 1, 2008, and 2010, inventory west of Sepulveda stood at 59. At month’s end, 74 in each case. It was 2009 that was the big balloon year.
By (minor) contrast, there were 8 sales in Jan. 2008, instead of the 7 in 2009 and 2010. It’s not a busy month.
More on the action west of Sepulveda in our next few posts.
Posted by MBWatcher at 8:40 PM
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