Unreal Estate

In "Spend It and Save It, Too" (May 28), Michael Cieply wrote that "Luxury housing prices in the Golden Triangle--Brentwood, Bel-Air, Beverly Hills . . . are surging more wildly than ever, with some prices doubling in less than two years. . . ." I would certainly like to see the statistics on which this statement is based. As a real estate professional for more than 12 years in the areas mentioned, I and my colleagues find this statement astonishingly inaccurate. Prices have certainly risen, but they have not doubled, and you do both buyers and sellers a great disservice by printing unverifiable statements that lead to false expectations on the part of all. JAYCIE ZIMMERMAN Fred Sands Estates Beverly Hills

We've heard it before — Americans don't like to read, they just want to ogle celebrities and watch shows about houses on TV. So how about a book that allows the reader to ogle celebrities and their homes to bring them back to reading? That's just what Michael Gross has provided in "Unreal Estate: Money, Ambition and the Lust for Land in Los Angeles," which chronicles the history of L.A.'s biggest mansions and the people who have inhabited them over the last century. Gross' subjects are A-list characters out of the city's history, like oil man Edward Doheny, who fell in love with the voice of a telephone operator and married her in his private railroad car, then went on to build the mansion Greystone for his son and his family.

Unreal Estate Money, Ambition, and the Lust for Land in Los Angeles Michael Gross Broadway Books: 533 pp., $30

Unreal Estate Money, Ambition, and the Lust for Land in Los Angeles Michael Gross Broadway Books: 533 pp., $30

We've heard it before — Americans don't like to read, they just want to ogle celebrities and watch shows about houses on TV. So how about a book that allows the reader to ogle celebrities and their homes to bring them back to reading? That's just what Michael Gross has provided in "Unreal Estate: Money, Ambition and the Lust for Land in Los Angeles," which chronicles the history of L.A.'s biggest mansions and the people who have inhabited them over the last century. Gross' subjects are A-list characters out of the city's history, like oil man Edward Doheny, who fell in love with the voice of a telephone operator and married her in his private railroad car, then went on to build the mansion Greystone for his son and his family.

Did you see where the Disney folks plan to install defibrillators at Disneyland? I hope they install them at the entrance for people with weak hearts who are shocked by the price of admission. Unreal estate: Marjorie Sorenson came upon an ad for residents who don't know what to do with their garage (see accompanying).

A small enclave of eight custom houses materialized in Newport Beach on Friday morning--inside Fashion Island. Yet the size and location of the structures are secondary to their purpose--after being on display for a month, the children's playhouses will be auctioned to help the homeless. Volunteers for Project Playhouse hoisted the houses, each about 10 feet wide and 9 feet tall, into place early Friday in the Bloomingdale's courtyard.

When I saw the ad for the "Santa Barbara Dream Home Raffle," I figured what the heck. A $150 ticket gave me a 1-in-18,000 chance of winning a weekend home in this gorgeous little whitewashed city by the sea. A home worth a cool million. Judging by the seascape photo in the ad, I could see myself on the porch of my lavish new digs with a stiff gin and tonic, feet up, watching the dolphins frolic in the bay.

Seven years ago, Tony Baxter drove by a house in the hills and fell in love with its basic floor plan. Although he couldn't afford to buy the home, the then chief designer of Disneyland's Splash Mountain and Fantasyland kept its image in the back of his mind as he continued to channel his creative energies into other Disney dreams.

So here's "Basic Instinct" star Sharon Stone on the cover of People magazine. Then there's Stone pictured inside the publication, lounging by the pool "in the back yard of her L.A. home." Next we see Stone on the cover of Hello, a British magazine, "photographed for the first time ever in her beautiful Los Angeles home." "She's bought her dream home," the British publication announced. The only trouble is, it is only a dream. Stone hasn't bought any new home at all, says her publicist.

When I saw the ad for the "Santa Barbara Dream Home Raffle," I figured what the heck. A $150 ticket gave me a 1-in-18,000 chance of winning a weekend home in this gorgeous little whitewashed city by the sea. A home worth a cool million. Judging by the seascape photo in the ad, I could see myself on the porch of my lavish new digs with a stiff gin and tonic, feet up, watching the dolphins frolic in the bay.

Did you see where the Disney folks plan to install defibrillators at Disneyland? I hope they install them at the entrance for people with weak hearts who are shocked by the price of admission. Unreal estate: Marjorie Sorenson came upon an ad for residents who don't know what to do with their garage (see accompanying).

A small enclave of eight custom houses materialized in Newport Beach on Friday morning--inside Fashion Island. Yet the size and location of the structures are secondary to their purpose--after being on display for a month, the children's playhouses will be auctioned to help the homeless. Volunteers for Project Playhouse hoisted the houses, each about 10 feet wide and 9 feet tall, into place early Friday in the Bloomingdale's courtyard.

So here's "Basic Instinct" star Sharon Stone on the cover of People magazine. Then there's Stone pictured inside the publication, lounging by the pool "in the back yard of her L.A. home." Next we see Stone on the cover of Hello, a British magazine, "photographed for the first time ever in her beautiful Los Angeles home." "She's bought her dream home," the British publication announced. The only trouble is, it is only a dream. Stone hasn't bought any new home at all, says her publicist.

JILL DIETCH COULDN'T AFFORD A THERAPIST TO HELP HER COPE after she and her irregularly employed husband, Tom Hindy, stopped making the $2,500 payments on their West Hills home last April. So she has drawn on her network of friends to share her troubles and has devised her own stress-reducing method. Once a day, Jill shuts her eyes and calls forth a mental image of her bank. She can see the walnut desks, the crisply attired loan officers, the great mound of paperwork.

Seven years ago, Tony Baxter drove by a house in the hills and fell in love with its basic floor plan. Although he couldn't afford to buy the home, the then chief designer of Disneyland's Splash Mountain and Fantasyland kept its image in the back of his mind as he continued to channel his creative energies into other Disney dreams.

By most standards, Bombay is one of the poorest cities in the world. More than half of its 8 million people live in squatters' slums. About 350,000 of them live on sidewalks. Yet, real estate in prime areas such as Malabar Hill and Nariman Point is among the most expensive on earth, as expensive as in Hong Kong or Manhattan. To rent a comfortable apartment here, one must usually pay, in advance and under the table, several hundred thousand dollars in "black money." The U.S.

JILL DIETCH COULDN'T AFFORD A THERAPIST TO HELP HER COPE after she and her irregularly employed husband, Tom Hindy, stopped making the $2,500 payments on their West Hills home last April. So she has drawn on her network of friends to share her troubles and has devised her own stress-reducing method. Once a day, Jill shuts her eyes and calls forth a mental image of her bank. She can see the walnut desks, the crisply attired loan officers, the great mound of paperwork.

In "Spend It and Save It, Too" (May 28), Michael Cieply wrote that "Luxury housing prices in the Golden Triangle--Brentwood, Bel-Air, Beverly Hills . . . are surging more wildly than ever, with some prices doubling in less than two years. . . ." I would certainly like to see the statistics on which this statement is based. As a real estate professional for more than 12 years in the areas mentioned, I and my colleagues find this statement astonishingly inaccurate. Prices have certainly risen, but they have not doubled, and you do both buyers and sellers a great disservice by printing unverifiable statements that lead to false expectations on the part of all. JAYCIE ZIMMERMAN Fred Sands Estates Beverly Hills

By most standards, Bombay is one of the poorest cities in the world. More than half of its 8 million people live in squatters' slums. About 350,000 of them live on sidewalks. Yet, real estate in prime areas such as Malabar Hill and Nariman Point is among the most expensive on earth, as expensive as in Hong Kong or Manhattan. To rent a comfortable apartment here, one must usually pay, in advance and under the table, several hundred thousand dollars in "black money." The U.S.