I saw this release a couple of months ago and never got around to posting it. We don’t see many chances to talk about luxury real estate in Alabama, but the Legacy Condominiums at Talladega have provided just that opportunity. With the help of publicity from Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Lori G. McDowell of RE/MAX United is hoping that racing fans will flock to these condos just as they flock to the Superspeedway.

-Mark

DALLAS — The "Grande Dames of Texas Realty" is among the panels headlining the National Association of Real Estate Editors (NAREE) conference, slated to draw media from around the nation to Dallas May 7 through 10.

D Magazine real estate editor and panel moderator, Mary Candace Evans, will quiz Dallas real estate luminaries Allie Beth Allman, Lucy Billingsley, Virginia Cook and Ellen Terry about realty trends in the nation. The panel takes place in the famous Zodiac Room of the original Neiman Marcus. The downtown flagship store, which opened 100 years ago, is a block from NAREE’s headquarters hotel, the Magnolia.

Evans, a prolific blogger with "Dallas Dirt" and a real estate columnist in D Home and Garden Magazine, is widely read in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and known for turning information around in a heartbeat via her iPhone. She is a veteran journalist who understands the ins and outs of the area real estate scene and its major players. Evans began writing for D magazine in 1981 with a story entitled, "How to Burglarize a Home" after interviewing the experts inside a Huntsville prison. She has a masters degree from Columbia University.

"This session will ignite the interest of the visiting journalists from around the nation since Texas holds a certain mystique and is still seeing job creation and an influx of new people, " said NAREE conference chairman Ralph Bivins, who covered real estate at the Houston Chronicle for many years before starting RealtyNewsReport.com.

"Candy Evans is top notch, and will ask her expert panelists some hard hitting questions in a newly renovated Dallas landmark," said Bivins who met with Evans recently in Dallas.

Scores of real estate writers and communicators, from the nation’s leading newspapers, magazine and electronic media, have registered for the 42nd Annual NAREE Real Estate Journalism Conference, which runs May 7 -10 at the historic Magnolia Hotel. Call 1-888-915-1110 and ask for the $129 NAREE rate.

Conference registration is available through www.NAREE.org.

Another highlight of the conference will be the Newsroom Expansion Vignettes.
Texas real estate editors Steve Brown, Dallas Morning News and Emily Spicer, San Antonio Express-News will join Noelle Knox, Associated Press and Jessica Swesey, Inman News to talk about growth, hiring and expanded real estate news coverage in an era blighted with media mergers, buyouts and budget cuts.

Real estate editor Carl Larsen, who worked at the San Diego Union-Tribune for 34 years, will lead a writing and journalism workshop immediately after the Evans panel.

Breaking news on the subprime crisis is expected at the NAREE conference. FHA Commissioner Brian Montgomery; Urban Land Institute Chairman Todd Mansfield; and Charles McMillan, president-elect of the National Association of Realtors, are among the headliner speakers.

NAREE’s “Home Selling in the Internet Era” will feature speakers from Zillow, Realtor.com and Google. Other panels cover Boomer housing, the apartment market and the economic outlook. The conference ends Saturday after morning panels on foreclosures and vacation homes.

Top contestants in NAREE’s 58th Annual Real Estate Journalism competition will pick up $10,000 in prizes during the Friday, May 9th banquet. Winning entries will be displayed.

Conferees will tour the trendsetting brownfield redevelopment, Victory. Developed by Ross Perot, Jr. — who will speak to the group — this 75-acre new urban neighborhood has green office buildings and shop-lined streets with condos above. NAREE will see a $10 million penthouse in the stylish “W” Hotel and condo there and hear about Dallas’ future plans for the arts district, downtown and the Trinity River area.

Linda Owen of The Real Estate Council will highlight Dallas’ plans to cover over part of the Woodall Rodgers freeway to link residential with the arts district during the "Parks as a Redevelopment Magnet" discussion at Lucy Billingsley’s One Arts Plaza opening night.

In a tour of historic redevelopment May 8, conferees will learn how the Bass Brothers turned 36 blocks of downtown Fort Worth into "Sundance Square." Train buffs will love the historic T&P train station, still in operation, with adjacent lofts dwellings.

NAREE will board helicopters to tour the Circle T Ranch and the 17,000-acre Alliance development, where a panel will discuss large-scale projects also on May 8.

NAREE, founded in 1929, is a nonprofit organization of 700 writers, editors and communicators.

SAN DIEGO – The Grand Del Mar in San Diego was the site of the 6th Annual Luxury Real Estate Spring Retreat, a vital industry event that attracted more than 250 high-end experts and earned rave reviews from attendees.

The Spring Retreat, which ran from Tuesday, April 15 to Friday, April 18, 2008, featured Ben Stein as the keynote speaker. Mixing in-depth knowledge and humor, the famous actor, economist and lawyer spoke on “The Psychology of Buying Luxury Property.” His participation in the conference was sponsored by Harry Tishler, senior vice president of BVG Incorporated (www.seasonsatsandpoint.com) in Tampa, Fla.

“Real estate is the only good which is both a consumption good and an investment good,” Stein noted in his speech. “Real estate is the best investment in the history of the world. Buy low and sell high, just like the stock market. Prices are low now, which means anybody who is smart will be investing now.”

The other main speaker at this event was Kaira Sturdivant Rouda, president of Real Living, Inc., one of the fastest-growing real-estate franchises in the United States. Her presentation was entitled “Real Marketing for Today’s Consumer.” More than a dozen other experts in a variety of fields moderated discussions and breakout sessions on targeted topics. These topics included generating international referrals, utilizing new technology, understanding current market conditions, marketing across borders and more.

At this event, John A. Daugherty, president and CEO of John Daugherty, Realtors since 1967, was honored with the Luxury Real Estate Lifetime Achievement Award. This is the second time LuxuryRealEstate.com has given this award. The first person to receive it was Diane Turton of Diane Turton, REALTORS® in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J. at the Fall Conference in October 2007.

Attendees offered exceptional praise for this LuxuryRealEstate.com event. “I got more out of three days at this conference than I did in seven years with Sotheby’s [International Realty],” said Tom Palumbo, founder and president of Islands International Realty in Satellite Beach, Fla.

“What had the greatest impact on me was the wonderful energy throughout the three days with a lot of caring and sharing,” said Patricia Hoferkamp, president of New Jersey-based Burgdorff ERA, who led a discussion on creating a culture of service. “The Grand Del Mar was a spectacular venue. This was truly one of the best conferences I’ve attended in a long time.”

“A great adventure has begun,” said Jim Walberg and Ann Marie Nugent, brokers/owners of The Bay Area Team at Keller Williams Realty in Danville, Calif. “The Spring [Retreat] has been the best use of our time in years as we continue to grow and expand our real-estate company.”

“Besides having wonderful networking opportunities at the conference, the breakout sessions were packed with information relevant to today’s marketplace,” said Marie Montchal, vice president of relocation and ancillary services for Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty. “I believe we will all be able to implement some new and exciting ideas as a result of attending the meetings.”

The next LuxuryRealEstate.com event will be the 13th Annual Fall Conference in Philadelphia from October 11-14, 2008. This event will also feature a Post-Conference Networking Trip to New York City. For more information, visit www.luxuryrealestate.com/conference.