Find out how this West Virginia team leader creates exceptional outcomes for her team and the clients they serve.
Courtney Smith’s penchant for operations and love for strategy, finance and design turned into a recipe for success. It’s the latest in Melanie Klein’s Finding Financial Freedom series.
Showing up with integrity, clarity and authenticity allows you to build a brand that’s in alignment with your own experience, Debra Trappen writes.
Whether you want a small, agile team or a full-scale operation, your business should support your lifestyle, not the other way around, coach Verl Workman writes.
Former National Association of Realtors project manager Roshani Sheth updated her complaint with more details, but the trade organization insists her additional allegations “doom” her claims.
86 Lang Rd, Centennial Park has sold recently for $18.5m. The interiors wouldn’t be to everyone’s taste.
It was described as capturing “the romance and timeless beauty of a Mediterranean villa”, and the house known as ‘Formentera’ certainly does that.
You won’t find too many grand Australian homes with internal finishes quite like this. Even its latest vendors, sources say, considered them a bit “over the top”.
The grand six-bedroom home at 86 Lang Rd, Centennial Park, has just sold for $18.5m after 27 days on the market via Ray White Double Bay’s Ashley Bierman and Thomas Popple, in conjunction with Ben Collier and Daniel Acocks at The Agency.
But it had been on the market since last September with Collier, initially with hopes of $23m.
The result fell at the lower end of its latest $18.5m-$20m guide, with the buyers known to be banker Andrew Cox and his partner, Pru, moving from 22 Attunga St, Woollahra that’s listed with Collier.
They no doubt factored in a reno for the Lang Rd mansion, to bring it more in line with Australian contemporary tastes.
MORE:
Fashion icon’s splurge after $20m sale
But the landscaped grounds, complete with “huge” pool, look amazing.
All the mod cons are in the kitchen, but no doubt the buyers will give it a makeover.
The recent Wentworth Courier House of the Week property, which gets its name from the smallest of the Spanish Balearic Islands, is currently owned by Rob Speedie, former Novotech CFO, and Annabelle Mooney, the former JPMorgan managing director.
The pair bought the four-storey house in 2021 for $12.5 million from car dealers Paul and Elizabeth Warren, of the Peter Warren Automotives clan.
Perhaps it was these previous owners who were behind the “exquisite hand-painted ceilings, architectural detailing, and a warm Mediterranean palette”.
The marble kitchen, with its island bench, Ilve cooker and integrated Sub-Zero fridges, has all the mod cons, but is probably set for a makeover.
What would have sold the place, though, was the 854sqm landholding in a prime location on millionaire’s row in Centennial Park, with the buyers looking beyond the current design of the 650sq m of internal living space.
Fine dining at Lang Rd, Centennial Park.
Making a statement.
What an entrance!
As Kirsten Craze wrote in her recent feature: “Outdoors, the landscaped grounds include a European parterre front yard with a pond and manicured hedges, as well as a rear yard with a huge pool, a paved terrace and lawn.
“The first floor is home to a family bathroom plus four bedrooms including the palatial primary and secondary suite, both with large dressing rooms, balconies and deluxe ensuites.
“One more level includes a fifth bedroom or teenager retreat with adjoining sitting room, a walk-in wardrobe and ensuite.
Above the double lock up garage and utility room, a convenient one-bedroom au pair or guest apartment comes complete with a kitchen and bathroom, as well as its own private entrance.
“Across from Centennial Park, Formentera is within easy access of Woollahra shops, Oxford St, the Allianz Stadium precinct, Entertainment Quarter, horse riding and the Sporting Club of Sydney.”
The post ‘Over the top’ house sells for $18.5m appeared first on realestate.com.au.
Alex Cooper’s family home has been sold for $US780,000 ($A1.1 million) just five months after the podcaster surprised her parents with a new house in Los Angeles.
During her show, the “Call Her Daddy” host revealed that she had purchased an L.A. residence for her mum, Laurie, and her dad, Bryan.
She insisted to her listeners that she and her husband, producer Matt Kaplan, wanted “nothing in return” for the gesture, Realtor reports.
The media personality did admit that having her parents live so close to her own $US10.7 million ($A16.4 million) Studio City pad would make it easier for her to enlist their babysitting services in the future
“My parents are officially moving to Los Angeles, California, and I bought them a house,” the former Barstool Sports star announced in the episode.
“It makes me emotional thinking about it because when I started ‘Call Her Daddy,’ I had somewhat of a vision of what I hoped this would turn into.”
MORE: Aus warned: Squatters move into man’s home
‘Wrong side’: Ellen loses $8m+ overnight
‘Gone, everything’: Gibson on trashed pad
Alex Cooper’s childhood home has been sold. Picture: XNY/Star Max/GC Images
Bryan and Laurie Cooper purchased the property in 1993 for just $US211,250 — and sold it on May 6 for $US780,000. Picture: Google Maps
Now, it seems Bryan and Laurie’s cross-country move is officially complete.
Property records indicate that their longtime Newtown, Pennsylvania, property was sold on May 6 — 32 years after they purchased it for just $US211,250.
The property, which boasts four bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms, is where Cooper spent much of her childhood alongside her brother, Grant, and her sister, Kathryn, before she relocated to Boston in order to attend Boston University on a full-ride soccer scholarship.
Cooper and her husband, Matt Kaplan purchased a new home for her parents in Los Angeles. Picture: Instagram/Alex Cooper
The property is located just 10 minutes from Cooper and Kaplan’s Studio City, California, home, which they bought for $US10.7 million in 2022. Picture: Google Maps
That decision plays a major role in her new documentary “Call Her Alex,” in which she accuses her former coach, Nancy Feldman, of sexually harassing her while she was on the college team.
She alleged that Ms Feldman, who has yet to publicly respond to Cooper’s claims, began to “fixate” on her, noting that she found her coach’s behaviour “confusing” at the time.
“[It] was all based in her wanting to know who I was dating, her making comments about my body and her always wanting to be alone with me,” Cooper says in the documentary, according to People.
“It was this psychotic game of, ‘You want to play? Tell me about your sex life.’ I felt so deeply uncomfortable.”
The couple both appear in their daughter’s new Hulu documentary, “Call Her Alex.” Picture: Hulu
Cooper further claimed that she felt unable to speak up about the alleged harassment because she was attending BU on a “full-tuition scholarship” and believed she would have been “gone” if she didn’t “follow [Feldman’s] rules”.
The podcast host said she did tell her parents about Ms Feldman’s behaviour, revealing that the family hired a lawyer, who warned them that a potential case could be dragged out for years.
Addressing the allegations during a Q&A at the New York City premiere of her documentary, Cooper admitted that she had initially been unsure whether she wanted to open up about that time in her life.
Cooper revealed that she had surprised her mum (pictured) and dad with a new dwelling. Picture: Instagram/Alex Cooper
The Podcaster recalled the difficult moment when “Call Her Alex” director, Ry Russo-Young, asked her to return to the soccer field that she trained and played on during college.
“The minute I stepped back on that field, I felt so small,” she shared.
“I just felt like I was 18 years old again, and I was in a situation with someone in a position of power who abused their power, and I felt like I wasn’t the ‘Call Her Daddy’ girl.
“I wasn’t someone who had money and influence or whatever.
“I was just another woman who experienced harassment on a level that changed my life forever and took away the thing I loved the most.”
After graduating from BU in 2017, Cooper went on to launch “Call Her Daddy” alongside her then-roommate Sofia Franklyn, before going on to ink a solo deal as the host of the podcast in 2020.
In the years since, Cooper has signed two multimillion-dollar deals with different audio streaming services, the first of which came in 2021 — when she inked a three-year contract with Spotify, which was reportedly worth $US60 million ($A92 million).
Cooper’s documentary was released on June 10 and charts her rise to fame. Picture: Instagram/Alex Cooper
After that contract came to an end in 2024, Cooper moved on to SiriusXM, which reportedly offered her a multi-year deal worth a staggering $US125 million ($A191 million).
Having founded her podcast in New York, Cooper relocated to Los Angeles at the start of 2021, and in 2022, she purchased a Studio City abode with her then-boyfriend Kaplan, with whom she tied the knot in April 2024.
The couple carried out an extensive renovation on the home after purchasing it, revealing to Architectural Digest in 2023 that the process took just over a year to complete.
“I was a little overwhelmed by how much of an undertaking it would be, because [the home] was not our style whatsoever,” she told the publication.
“It was so far from our taste that it allowed us to tailor every single room to our liking.”
Parts of this story first appeared in Realtor and was republished with permission.
Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox.
MORE:‘It’ll blow up’: Meghan reveals wild new gig
Australia’s secretive religious groups exposed
Sneaky bank trick stopping Aussies saving
The post Alex Cooper’s family home sells for $1.1 million appeared first on realestate.com.au.
Following his nomination for the role in March, the Senate on Tuesday confirmed Andrew Hughes as the deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under Secretary Scott Turner.
Hughes succeeds Adrianne Todman, who effectively served as HUD secretary for the final 10 months of the Biden administration. Todman left HUD prior to the inauguration of President Donald Trump.
Hughes entered politics in 2016 as a staffer for Ben Carson’s presidential campaign that year, later joining HUD. There, he initially worked as the White House liaison to the department before rising to become its chief of staff under Carson, where he remained until Inauguration Day 2021 at the onset of the Biden administration.
Following the first Trump administration, Hughes joined Carson’s conservative think tank, the American Cornerstone Institute. He remained there until the commencement of the second Trump administration, when he rejoined HUD as chief of staff.
Hughes was seen in March speaking with Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) in the lobby of the HUD headquarters when the California congresswoman attempted to hand-deliver a letter to Turner that opposed cuts to department staff and programs.
Tuesday’s Senate vote was a partisan affair. Hughes was confirmed with a vote of 51-43, with all of the affirmative votes coming from Republicans and all of the negative votes coming from 42 Democrats and one Independent.
Six senators — including two Republicans, three Democrats and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) — did not cast a vote.
In a statement, Turner lauded Hughes’ work and what he’s expected to bring to the table now that he’s confirmed and seated.
“Andrew Hughes is a servant leader and is the right person, at the right time for this assignment to carry out HUD’s mission,” Turner said. “I had the pleasure of serving alongside him during the first Trump administration and witnessed firsthand his leadership, wisdom, and love for this country. We share a clear vision for HUD’s future, and it is truly a blessing to have him in this role. He will serve the American people well.”
Hughes characterized work for HUD as a “calling,” adding that he is “humbled to help lead an agency that expands opportunity for all communities – rural, tribal, and urban.”
Hughes, Turner and Trump are “focused on ensuring more Americans can achieve not just housing, but the stability, self-sufficiency, and upward mobility that define the American Dream,” Hughes added.
Shortly after the vote was tallied, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released a statement of congratulations.
“We look forward to continuing our important work with him, Secretary Turner, and HUD staff on policies and initiatives that lower single-family and multifamily financing costs and increase homeownership and rental housing opportunities for all Americans,” MBA president and CEO Bob Broeksmit said.
But several key vacancies at HUD remain, most of which do not have nominations.
Key roles that await nominations from the White House include the commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the president of Ginnie Mae, the government-owned company that fuels the secondary mortgage market. In April, Ginnie Mae named Joe Gormley as its executive vice president and chief operating officer.
HUD is also currently without a COO, senior and general counsel, and an assistant secretary for public affairs. Hughes remains listed as chief of staff on the HUD leadership webpage, but it’s unclear if he will perform both roles or if the chief of staff position will become vacant.
Xactus on Wednesday announced the completion of its integration with MSP, the loan servicing system operated by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). The integration enables mortgage servicers to receive automated flood zone determination updates directly into their systems without manual intervention.
“This integration is a market-changing development for both Xactus and mortgage servicers who rely on systems like MSP,” said Michael Crockett, chief operating officer at Xactus. “By automating the delivery of flood certification updates directly into a servicing system, Xactus is expanding servicer options with a seamless, efficient solution that streamlines compliance while delivering exceptional value.
“This integration represents a significant advancement in our strategic growth within the servicing ecosystem.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) updates flood maps 26 times per year. The maps directly impact thousands of properties nationwide and create compliance challenges for servicers.
Before this integration, servicers had fewer flood provider options that could deliver automated updates directly into their platforms, often driving up costs and limiting flexibility.
The integration now automatically identifies when a FEMA map change affects a property in a servicer’s portfolio, and it instantly updates the flood zone status in the servicing system.
In turn, Xactus360 then prompts the servicer to take appropriate action, such as notifying borrowers about new flood insurance requirements or potential insurance cost savings.
The integration does not require manual intervention, which eliminates real-time monitoring of the FEMA changes and associated compliance risk.
“This connectivity marks a major milestone and expansion of our servicing capabilities, deepening our ability to serve the broader servicing ecosystem with the automation and efficiency that today’s mortgage servicers deserve,” Xactus President Shelley Leonard said. “We are thrilled to offer users this compelling new option that combines innovative technology with exceptional value.”
JKDS is a licensed New York State real estate brokerage firm. #10351200205