Each Friday, Robbie Briggs, president and CEO of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty, writes about luxury, trends, business and more in the advertising pages of the Mansion section of The Wall Street Journal. Below is his letter of March 19, 2021.

FROM MY PERSPECTIVE

As places to escape, ranches and land are hotter than ever. Since this same time last year — right as the pandemic became a pandemic — we’ve seen a real upswing in people buying ranches in Texas and [...]

Each Friday, Robbie Briggs, president and CEO of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty, writes about luxury, trends, business and more in the advertising pages of the Mansion section of The Wall Street Journal. Below is his letter of March 12, 2021.

FROM MY PERSPECTIVE

A pandemic may have surprised us, but our agents didn’t.

The numbers are in from Sotheby’s International Realty® and there are some eyebrow-raisers: The entire network — that’s 24,000 agents [...]

From working to socializing, people are doing more at home than ever before because of shifts from the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, how people interact with their spaces has changed more in the last year than — well — a very long time. Because of the evolving nature of home life, what people are prioritizing in their home search is also changing. Instead of favoring open floor plans and easy access to public transit, new — and sometimes unexpected — features are taking [...]

If you’re buying or selling a condominium, a property in a subdivision or a town house in Texas, you have specific rights and responsibilities to consider in relation to your Homeowners Association (HOA). These organizations wield considerable power to apply regulations and even foreclose on a home. Here’s what you need to know about the Texas HOA and Texas HOA [...]

Each Friday, Robbie Briggs, president and CEO of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty, writes about luxury, trends, business and more in the advertising pages of the Mansion section of The Wall Street Journal. Below is his letter of March 5, 2021.

FROM MY PERSPECTIVE

Texas and ice: They don’t mix well.

Just a couple of weeks ago, we were hit with one of the hardest winter storms our state has ever faced. In Dallas and Fort Worth, when the two fronts came through, [...]

Renovations can play a big part in the value of your home. In fact, almost 80 percent of sellers in the U.S. do at least one renovation before their house goes on the market. But, sellers, beware: Renovations do not always add value to a home’s appraisal. Here’s how to distinguish the smart investments from the costly vanity projects. 

Start Any Project with Expert Advice

U.S. homeowners spend around $400B a year on renovations and repairs, but while house prices continue to rise, returns on renovations are shrinking. That’s largely because the cost of labor and materials is steadily increasing. According to the benchmark report from [...]