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May29

CLIENT SPOTLIGHT: Marcellus Wiley speaks with Kofi

This past weekend I caught up with friend and client, NFL Veteran Marcellus Wiley. We talked about what he has been up too, his new life ventures and his time in the NFL. Check out the interview below.

 

 You are on ESPN Radio and a TV Show. How do balance your schedule?

Thank God for the iPhone and a little patience. I never look too far ahead. I try not to peak into the future with my calendar, just day to day big dog….day to day!

What do you miss, if anything, about playing in the NFL?

I don’t miss the game. I rarely miss the locker room. The checks weren’t bad, but I really don’t miss anything about it. It was super rewarding and equally as painful. It was a means to an end, and I’m far from the end! Forward we go!

Which NFL player, former or current do you admire the most?

Eric Dickerson was my idol growing up, so I have to stick with the original. Their are many guys I highly respect, but it all started with #29

What is your favorite restaurant in Los Angeles?

Bamboo’s on Venice. Caribbean food that is affordable with the best seasonings and spices I’ve ever tasted.

Most families hang out around the kitchen. What dish would Marcellus make to keep them there?

Tacos with Ketchup. That’s right, Ketchup! Nothing is better! I can eat them all day and most of my family would agree with me.

What do you like best about living downtown?

I can walk downstairs to work. My commute involves flip flops! Also, I love all the restaurants, bars, and the short walk to Staples Center. Everyday it seems like the community is growing. New York West!

Any future projects we should know about?

Yes, I’m working on a podcast, a very exciting project around the Espys, and a book is in the works! Your boy is trying to keep pace with the spirit of Downtown LA…hustle hard!

**Be sure to listen to Marcellus on the “Max & Marcellus” show on 710 ESPN Radio weekdays from 3-7pm.  You can also watch him daily on Sports Nation.

May19

Iggy Azalea Wins Top Rap Artist at Billboard Music Awards

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Iggy Azalea is officially the No. 1 rapper, at least according to the Billboard Music Awards.

 

The “Fancy” hit maker won the award for Top Rap Artist on Sunday night, but you probably didn’t know that since her win wasn’t televised during the awards show. Azalea bested 2013 winner Nicki Minaj, as well as Drake, J. Cole and Rae Sremmurd. Some may be left pondering one question, though: I-G-G-WHY?

Azalea’s win shouldn’t be much of a surprise, since she made Billboard history last year as the female rapper with the longest run on the Hot 100 chart. The rapper’s hit “Fancy” with Charlie XCX spent seven consecutive weeks at No. 1 and was namedBillboard’s Song of the Summer last year.

In addition to “Fancy,” Azalea’s “Problem” featuring Ariana Grande became the rapper’s second biggest single in the U.S. and remained in the top 10 of the Hot 100 for sixteen weeks. When “Problem” peaked at the No. 2 spot, Azalea made even more history, matching with The Beatles as the second act ever to appear in the top two spots of the Hot 100 with their first two Billboard Hot 100 hits in the U.S. The rapper was also only the third woman to have the top two spots on the chart, alongside Mariah Carey and Ashanti.

This is Azalea’s third Billboard Music Award. She also won Top Rap Song for “Fancy” and Top Streaming Artist. Azalea was also nominated for Top New Artist, Top Female Artist, Top Hot 100 Artist, Top Digital Songs Artist, Top Rap Album for “The New Classic,” Top Hot 100 Song for “Fancy,” Top Streaming Song (Audio) for “Fancy,” the fan-voted Billboard Chart Achievement Award, and again in the Top Rap Song category for “Black Widow.”

Azalea also performed alongside Britney Spears at the award show, belting out their new single “Pretty Girls.”

May19

James Van Der Beek ‘CSI: Cyber’ Renewed

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With its original franchise about to come to its end, freshman spinoff series “CSI: Cyber” has been renewed for one more season.

CBS announced last Wednesday that “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” will be ending its 15-year run. As a parting gift, a 2-hour special will be airing on Sept. 27. William Petersen and Marg Helgenberger, two of the show’s original cast members, are said to come back for the finale show.

Starring Academy Award winner Patricia Arquette, the procedural series follows the same format as “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” but it mainly focuses on cases involving cyber criminals. Arquette solves weekly cyber crime cases with help from her team of tech experts.

“CSI: Cyber” already wrapped up its debut season and is already preparing for its next offering.

With “CSI: Cyber” renewed for one more season, CBS teased several changes to the spinoff, including a fairly new character joining the show and another one exiting. The freshman show, which started off with so-so ratings, will also be undergoing some “creative tweaks” in an effort to improve the story.

According to Deadline, the “CSI” franchise won’t be letting Ted Danson go despite “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” getting the boot. He will reportedly be helping Special Agent Avery Ryan (Arquette) as his already established character D.B. Russell.

The two characters have already met in “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” season 15 when the Las Vegas team investigated a blackmailing case that involved a hacker using an innocent woman’s face as an online prostitute.

Meanwhile, “CSI: Cyber” season on regular Peter MacNicol, who played Assistant Director Stavros Sifter, won’t be coming back for a second season. Will Danson be taking his spot as Avery’s supervisor next season?

According to The Inquisitr, Danson’s transfer wasn’t the reason for MacNicol’s decision to exit the freshman show.

Aside from Arquette, Danson will be joining the show’s other regular cast members, James Van Der Beek, Bow Wow and Charley Koontz.

What do you think about “CSI: Cyber” being renewed and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” being cancelled by CBS?

May16

The Agency Selected To Sell Chicago Estate Owned By Hall Of Famer Michael Jordan

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The Agency is thrilled to share that they have been chosen to represent the longtime personal residence of Michael Jordan. Considered the greatest basketball player of all time, Jordan will be relisting his 7.39 acre compound on the marketplace at a price of $14,855,000, a number totaling his iconic “23” jersey.

Co-listing the property will be The Agency’s CEO and Co-founderMauricio Umansky along with Kofi Nartey, Director of The Sports and Entertainment Division, and assisted by Chicago listing agent, Katherine Malkin of Baird Warner. Mauricio and Kofi just returned from their trip discussing marketing strategies with Jordan’s business team. “We are excited to take on one the most significant celebrity properties of our time. This is an estate built on hard work, legendary success, and enjoying the fruits of your labor,” said Kofi.

Collectively, Mauricio and Kofi have successfully sold the homes of some of the world’s best athletes, from Barry Bond’s $25M Bel Air residence to those belonging to Kevin Durant, Nick Young, Candace Parker and LaDainian Tomlinson. Through The Agency’s unique partnership with real estate powerhouse Savills, they’ll be able to tap into an extensive network of more than 600 offices worldwide, extending their marketing reach to new heights and territories.

Set just north of Chicago, the city where Jordan spent his entire NBA career, is the secluded compound comprised of more than 56,000 square feet of living space, including nine bedrooms, 15 baths, 5 fireplaces, and a generous guest wing. The property truly spoils the athlete in all of us by featuring an NBA-quality indoor basketball court, tennis facility, outdoor pool area and putting green.

May15

Michael Jordan Slashes Price on Chicago-Area Estate The numbers in the new asking price add up to 23.

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Ready for a steal? Michael Jordan has relisted his Chicago-area estate for a little more than half what he originally asked three years ago.

Although His Airness called the property home for nearly 20 years — including at the height of his career with the Chicago Bulls — unloading it has been no slam dunk.

The longtime king of the court now wants $14.855 million for the 7-plus acreage near Lake Michigan in th

That’s down from $16 million earlier this year and $29 million in early 2012. It’s also nearing the $13-million minimum bid Jordan wanted when he failed to sell the place at auction in late 2013.

The three-story, 56,000-square-foot home is built for a champion, with 9 bedrooms, 17 bathrooms and — naturally — a full-sized basketball court including locker rooms, showers and a lounge with a glass observation area.

A guest wing sits alongside a sky-lit entertaining pavilion, and other luxury amenities include a circular infinity pool plus a putting green, tennis court and cigar room.

“My kids are grown now, and I don’t need a large house in Chicago,” Jordan told The Wall Street Journal before the 2013 auction. “It was time for some warmer weather down at my new home in Florida.”

Jordan also owns homes in North Carolina and Utah.

And about that new price tag: “This is the magic number,” says Kofi Natei Nartey, who is co-listing the property with Mauricio Umansky, both of The Agency, and Katherine Malkin of Baird & Warner. “The numbers add up to 23,” he explains, “and you have to have a special number for a special listing.”

To read this article on Zillow click the link below:

May15

Michael Jordan takes yet another shot at selling mansion at half-price

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Basketball superstar Michael Jordan has been trying to sell this Chicago-area mansion off and on for three years.

It’s on again.

Legend Point, as he dubbed the Highland Park estate, was listed in March 2012 at $29 million, then marked down less than a year later to $21 million.

When that didn’t take, he put it on the auction block in a highly publicized but ultimately fruitless sale. The November 2013 sale was delayed by a month, supposedly to accommodate interest that was “even stronger than we anticipated,” according to Concierge Auctions. But no one placed even the minimum bid — which by then had fallen to a mere $13 million.

Jordan is giving it another shot with the same Chicago listing agent, Katherine Malkin of Baird & Warner, but he’s also enlisted the help of Los Angeles power brokers Mauricio Umansky and Kofi Nartey of The Agency, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The new price tag: $14,855,000.

 

chairs-crop See the Jumping Man logo in the backs of these stools in the basketball lounge?

“If you take a look at those numbers in the price and add them up, they equal 23” — Jordan’s jersey number with the Chicago Bulls —Nartey told the Times.

The 56,000-square-foot home is on more than 7 acres in the tony Chicago suburb of Highland Park. He and his then-wife, Juanita, bought the land in 1991, and three years later they moved into the mansion they’d built.

Both the living room and the family room of the main house are double-height. There are also two dining rooms; the formal one has a table modeled on a map of Baghdad, and the informal eating area is capped by a large, round skylight. The main house has six bedrooms, all with en suite bathrooms — including the master suite, which has his-and-hers closets, a lounge, a steam shower and a Jacuzzi tub, a microwave, a refrigerator, and more. The guest wing has three bedrooms with en suite bathrooms and built-ins, plus a gourmet kitchen.

According to the 2013 auction listing, the estate also has:

“A card and cigar room with a custom-built, walk-in humidor.”

A “gentleman’s retreat” that you enter through the original Playboy Mansion doors from Chicago. It’s equipped with a “billiard parlor” as well as a bar, a library and one of the estate’s five fireplaces.

“A fully equipped in-house beauty salon. (Because that’s what she wants, that’s why.)” The salon has a Sub-Zero under-cabinet refrigerator, the listing notes.

“A regulation-size, NBA-quality basketball court” with adjacent locker rooms and a circular lounge with a “glass observation overlook.”

A wine cellar that holds more than 500 bottles, plus a “wine tasting room.”

A putting green and a tennis court.

A “pool pavilion” that connects the main residence with the guest wing. A retractable canopy “can transform the enclosed room to an extraordinary indoor/outdoor experience geared for entertaining.”

May15

Michael Jordan lists 56,000-square-foot mansion at a significant price

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Michael Jordan is enlisting new representation in a bid to sell his mansion-estate in Highland Park, Ill.

The legendary sports figure and Charlotte Hornets majority owner on Thursday relisted the 7.39-acre compound for $14.855 million, tapping Mauricio Umansky and Kofi Nartey of The Agency to handle the listing in collaboration with Chicago agent Katherine Malkin of Baird & Warner.

michael-jordan-mansion

“The price reflects a number that is more significant,” said Nartey, the director of the sports and entertainment division for the Beverly Hills-based brokerage. “If you take a look at those numbers in the price and add them up, they equal 23.”

Twenty-three, of course, was Jordan’s longtime jersey number with the Chicago Bulls, and a number that has since become synonymous with the player and his brand.

Fittingly, the number marks the gated entrance to the compound that served as the Jordan family home for more than two decades. Within the sprawling grounds is a range of sports facilities including an indoor tennis court, a putting green and a pond. An indoor basketball court customized by Jordan himself is outfitted with a regulation-sized court, motorized backboards and the “Jumpman” logo at center court.

Built in contemporary style in 1995 and renovated in 2009, the home has nine bedrooms and 15 bathrooms across three stories. Among features are large-scale formal areas, a movie theater and a lounge/retreat complete with a cigar room, a poker room and a wet bar.

In between the main house and a guest wing is an entertainer’s pavilion set beneath a row of skylights. Elsewhere on the property is a climate-controlled garage with parking for up to 15 vehicles.

“This is one of the most significant homes in the world,” said Nartey, whose athlete clientele includes Kevin Durant, Nick Young and LaDainian Tomlinson, among others. “When you think about the White House, celebrity properties like Madonna’s home, architectural properties — they are instantly recognizable. This property falls into that realm.”

Jordan, 14 times an all-star, amassed six NBA titles, five most valuable player awards and 10 scoring titles over the course of his Hall of Fame career. He became the majority owner of the Bobcats in 2010 with a bid of $275 million.

In addition to the Highland Park mansion, Jordan maintains a 28,000-square-foot estate in Jupiter, Fla.

May11

The Most Expensive Streets in America

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No helicopters, no mega yachts. At first glance, Indian Creek is just a small private island in Biscayne Bay. But South Florida real estate agent Cory Waldman begs to differ.

“It’s a city within a city,” the Coldwell Banker associate said. “They have their own police force. The lot sizes are enormous. It’s top-notch.”

Across the country, luxury real estate agent Kofi Natei Nartey has a similar reaction — but not about Indian Creek.

“Beverly Park is the most exclusive gated community in Los Angeles,” The Agency‘s Sports & Entertainment Division director said. “With guard-gated access only, it attracts some of the highest net worth individuals and celebrities in the world.”

They’re not exaggerating. New data shows Indian Creek Island Road and Beverly Park Circle are the most expensive streets to live on in the U.S.

Indian Creek, known locally as Billionaire Bunker, is home to four of the richest people in America, the Miami Herald reports. Beverly Park Circle is home to Denzel Washington and Eddie Murphy, among other big names.

So what does it cost to live there? Based on Zillow’s analysis of streets with at least 10 homes, here’s a look at the median home value for the top 15:

Rank

Street

State

Median Home Value

1.

Indian Creek Island Rd

FL

$21.48 million

2.

Beverly Park Cir

CA

$16.238 million

3.

Beverly Park Ter

CA

$15.813 million

4.

Lazy Lane Blvd

TX

$15.42 million

5.

Conyers Farm Dr

CT

$13.033 million

6.

Strawberry Park Ct

CO

$12.421 million

7.

Field Point Cir

CT

$12.113 million

8.

Coopers Neck Ln

NY

$11.872 million

9.

Nimes Rd

CA

$11.445 million

10.

Arvida Pkwy

FL

$11.209 million

11.

Cameldale Way

AZ

$10.834 million

12.

Nelsons Walk

FL

$10.496 million

13.

Broad Beach Rd

CA

$10.272 million

14.

Tahiti Beach Island Rd

FL

$10.267 million

15.

Copa De Oro Rd

CA

$10.264 million

 

Interestingly, all of the priciest streets are names, rather than numbers. In “Zillow Talk: The New Rules of Real Estate,” co-authors Spencer Rascoff and Stan Humphries explore what’s in a street name. By digging into the data, they’ve found a named-street premium exists across the country.

Among the 20 largest metro areas, “we only found three places in the entire nation where named streets don’t have the advantage,” they write. “In Atlanta and New York, named and numbered streets come out roughly equal. Denver is the solitary example of a place where numbered streets are more valuable — probably because homes in its premier neighborhood of Country Club are located on numbered streets.”

What gives named streets a higher price tag? Rascoff and Humphries say in general, the most valuable street names describe something about a home’s location. Indian Creek Island Road is a great example because “island” indicates the homes are near water, and therefore probably worth more than non-waterfront homes in the area.

It’s easy to gloss over the letters tacked on at the end of a street name. But as shown above, living on Beverly Park Terrace versus Beverly Park Circle could cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In their analysis, Rascoff and Humphries discovered the most common suffixes — street, boulevard and avenue — tend to be the least valuable. Way and place, meanwhile, make up only 4 percent of street name suffixes nationwide, and their homes are typically worth more.

These findings shed light on the myriad factors at play in local real estate markets. Of course, at the end of the day, a lot comes down to perception.

“There’s nothing else like [Indian Creek] in South Florida,” Waldman said. “It’s the most prestigious address.”

May11

Secret real estate listings you won’t find on the market

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Just because there isn’t a “For Sale” sign in a yard, doesn’t mean the homeowner isn’t taking offers. You just have to know the right person.

Despite strong demand in many markets across the country, some homeowners are skipping the process of officially listing their home on the multiple listing services, leaving agents with the task of finding a buyer without publicly advertising it.

And real estate professionals say these “secret” listings — commonly known as “pocket listings” — are becoming more popular.

Kofi Nartey, a real estate broker at The Agency in Los Angeles, has recently seen an uptick in off-market lists. He says they currently make up around 10% to 15% of his firm’s sales.

Related: Here’s what’s driving up housing prices

But in a seller’s market with bidding wars driving offers well above the asking price in some areas, why would a homeowner sell their home in secret?

The reasons vary: some want privacy, others are testing the waters and some think the exclusivity can draw a higher sale price.

“Many times I’ve had pocket listings where people will say, ‘If I get this number I will sell, otherwise I have no desire,'” said Jade Mills, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Beverly Hills, who recently sold a $38 million home off market. These secret listings make up about 10% of her sales, an increase from previous years.

Not publicly listing a home can reduce the pool of buyers, which could potentially mean missing a top offer.

Mills said nonpublic listings tend to be advantageous for properties listed at $10 million or higher. “In the upper price ranges, you don’t have as good of a chance of getting multiple offers.” She recently sold a house for $1.35 million, more than the asking price and after getting multiple offers, something that she said probably wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t publicly on the market.

Tool: How much house can you afford?

Off-market listings can be beneficial to agents by upping their commissions if they represent both the buyer and seller. But connecting the right buyer for an off-market listing or drumming up new listings can be a challenge, experts said.

Nartey frequently plays real estate matchmaker at social events.

“Any time I hear at a cocktail party or birthday party … if a [guest] mentions they are considering selling, I make a mental note of it,” he said. “And then when I am another event and hear someone who is looking, it becomes a matching game.”

He added that public sales can lead to off-market sales when a neighbor stops by an open house and questions the asking price of the home. When the home sells for that once-thought inflated price, Nartey will sometimes approach the neighbor about selling. “We have the buyer demand to pair them with a home that isn’t even on the market.”

Pocket listings are also sold among agents representing buyers and sellers. Those with an offline property will work with other professionals to find a seller.

Some use a distribution list to connect an off-market seller with a buyer, said Brett Forman, managing director with Dolly Lenz in New York City. “There are people we know in trusted markets and companies that we believe have the Rolodex to insert themselves into a unique situation,” said Forman.

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