Kurfiss Sotheby's International Realty

One of our listings was featured on CBS Sunday Morning! Be sure to watch the “There’s no place like home” segment featuring Kevin Steiger‘s gorgeous listing in Cinnaminson, NJ.

View the listing here.

By Emma Dooling  –  Reporter, Philadelphia Business Journal

May 8, 2023

A Bucks County inn with 12 bedrooms, a heated in-ground pool and gardens has been put on the market for an asking price of $4.5 million. 

The property, located at 518 Lurgan Road in New Hope, is currently home to The Inn at Bowman’s Hill, but the 5-acre lot is being marketed as a single-family property. 

Owner Michael Amery purchased the property and opened the bed and breakfast in 2005. It has a AAA Four Diamond rating, which denotes a property with “upscale style and amenities enhanced with the right touch of service,” according to the travel company’s website. 

Amery decided to put the property up for sale because he wants to retire. Whether the property remains an inn or is used solely as a residence will be up to the buyer, he said. 

The Inn at Bowman’s Hill is still open for visitors and will remain so until a sale is finalized. Prices start at $495 per night and span to $1,270 for the Regal Tower Suite with a garden view.

The property is located a few miles southeast of downtown New Hope and near the 134-acre Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve. The nature preserve, botanical garden and museum is a popular Bucks County destination, welcoming 70,000 visitors annually from across the region. 

Built in 1978, the Upper Makefield Township property has 12 bedrooms, 12 full bathrooms and two half baths, according to the listing. Nine of the bedrooms are available for reservation by guests, while the rest are a part of Amery’s private residence at the property.

A tree-lined driveway leads visitors from the road to the manor house, a four-bedroom carriage house with a gated private motor court, six oversized garages, and gardens. The two buildings together have a combined 6,943 square feet of space.

The three-story manor house, or the main building, features six bedrooms, five of which have en suite bathrooms with fireplaces and one that has a hall bathroom. From the foyer, which features a circular staircase leading up to the second floor, a formal living room with a fireplace and a sitting room sit to the right, while a formal dining room sits to the left.

Also on the ground floor are a gourmet kitchen, glass conservatory and a breakfast room with a walk-in fireplace that overlooks the heated, in-ground pool and hot tub. The glass conservatory opens out onto the terraces on one side and the “secret gardens” on the other, according to the listing.

A library in the main house also provides access to a terrace. 

The lower level of the main house has another bedroom, a full bath, a full bar, a game room with a pool table, a workout room and storage rooms.

Next door to the manor house, the carriage house has four en suite rooms with outdoor living spaces and a large conference room with a hallway bathroom.

Beyond the pool and the hot tub sits a pond with a fountain surrounded by landscaping and a foot bridge to the hen house. A potting house and a fenced orchard are also located on the property. 

The property includes a full irrigation system and a security system. 

Laurie Madaus and Chris Preston with Kurfiss Sotheby’s International Realty are marketing the property for sale.

View the listing here.

Deborah is a true professional in every sense of the word, and offers her clients the highest level of expertise, service, and integrity. 

Driven by a deep dedication to her buyers and sellers, she operates with great patience, care and thoroughness to fulfill their real estate goals.

Deborah has been a premiere real estate agent in Manhattan for the past 12 years and has now brought her expertise to Bucks County. Her tenure in the business as a professional working with resales as well as a Director of Sales for numerous prominent new developments throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn gives her valuable insight that has been extremely beneficial to her clients. 

Whether she is working with first time home buyers or sellers, or securing the right investment property, Deborah believes the process of selling and buying real estate should be one of ease and efficiency. She has helped buyers find their dream homes and sellers realize the value of their properties resulting in sales from $500,000 up to $20,000,000. 

Her career experiences as well as her marketing and negotiation skills are invaluable to her real estate career. Her warm professional attitude provides her clients with a pressure-free and enjoyable buying or selling experience.

Before coming to real estate Deborah enjoyed a successful career in sales and marketing, representing national radio and television stations throughout the country.

Deborah is a licensed realtor in both Pennsylvania and New York. 

To contact Deborah, visit her agent page here.

‘Nothing Compares to What’s Next,’ developed with design agency Huge, builds on the firm’s 2021 campaign, positioning clients for a hopeful new era working with a Sotheby’s agent

ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN

Nothing compares to what’s next is a natural evolution of the Nothing Compares campaign. It retains the core brand components that allowed the campaign narrative to flow, while elevating the role of the agent. They are experts in understanding their clients’ wants, needs, and aspirations — all while curating the next chapter of their lives.

The campaign has evolved towards an aesthetic that leverages a modern design approach through an editorial layout style.

Read the Inman report here.

April 20, 2023 by Anywhere

First-of-its-kind leadership and succession planning program for real estate professionals graduates 39 participants from Anywhere network of affiliates and employees

MADISON, N.J., (April 20, 2023) – Anywhere Real Estate Inc. (NYSE: HOUS), a global leader in residential real estate services, today celebrated the eighth graduating class of Ascend: The Executive Leadership Experience (‘Ascend’). The cohort includes 39 aspiring real estate leaders, including broker-owners from each of the company’s family of brands – Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate, CENTURY 21®, Coldwell Banker®, Coldwell Banker Commercial®, Corcoran®, ERA®, and Sotheby’s International Realty® – in addition to employees from Anywhere, Anywhere Integrated Services, and Cartus.

Ascend is a first-of-its-kind program in real estate, designed to provide rising leaders with the skillset and tools to help shape the future of the industry. Anywhere offers the program to its brand-affiliated real estate broker-owners, senior members of large multi-office franchisees, and high-performing individuals from its service businesses, helping companies identify future executives and potential leadership successors.

Since its launch in 2015, Ascend has now graduated more than 270 professionals, many of whom have since become owners of their own businesses. Participants have a unique opportunity to engage in a rigorous 46-week educational journey, featuring a variety of leadership topics presented by industry thought leaders, to hone their personal and professional leadership acumen.

Read more about the program here.

By Sotheby’s International Realty’s Extraordinary Living Blog

Featuring curated videos from the most sought-after destinations the world over, discover this  week’s Video of the Week.

Situated on 32.1 acres in one of the Philadelphia Main Line’s most exclusive areas, Linden Hill is a singular opportunity to experience estate living at its historic finest. The main residence and its dependencies are in excellent condition, having been magnificently maintained by the present owners. The property is notable for its world-class architecture and its very private, park-like setting. Designed between 1928 and 1931 by Edmund B. Gilchrist for stockbroker Rodman Ellison Griscom, the property was owned for more than 50 years by the Dorrance family of Campbell’s Soup Company.

Enter Linden Hill’s very secluded grounds and travel past fenced pastures and stone outbuildings reminiscent of a quaint French village. An initial courtyard formed by a turreted guest house, a 10-car garage, stables and an additional two-bedroom guest house leads to the crest of a hill. At the end of a narrow-walled lane, the magnificent manor house reveals itself, a majestic example of French Normandy-inspired design of breathtaking scale and symmetry.

Listed by Lisa Yakulis, Broker Associate | c. 610-517-8445

View the listing here.

By Sotheby’s International Realty’s Extraordinary Living Blog

Dana Lansing – Kurfiss Sotheby’s International Realty

Is wabi sabi a philosophy or a design style? It’s notoriously difficult to delineate as a concept—so much so that in Wabi Sabi: The Japanese Art of Impermanence, author Andrew Juniper notes that “even the most ambitious Japanese scholars would give it a wide berth and uphold the Japanese tradition of talking about it in only the most poetic terms.”

Unlike a typical Western understanding of philosophy, wabi sabi can’t be reduced to tenets, axioms, or principles, nor can it be summed up by a set of stylistic rules. Instead, it’s a lived, aesthetic experience that permeates the everyday—making the mundane appear sublime.

To see the ethos of wabi sabi at work as both a visual style and a lifestyle, look to Villa Terra—a tranquil, 14-acre estate in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

An All-Encompassing Sense of Serenity

Surfaces weathered and textured by time. Craftsmanship bearing the tell-tale traces of the human hand. Natural elements enhanced by objects, plants, and outdoor scenery. These are signature themes of a wabi sabi look, where contrived symmetry and artifice are superseded by a tangible appreciation for materiality and mutability.

At Villa Terra, a hewn entryway of stone steps leads straight to the heart of the home, where a foyer of simple, elegant furnishings leads to an expansive living room. Look underfoot at the tiles; unlike a typical show home where floors are uniform, every panel here is unique in tone and texture, unifying the organic, artistic, and authentic. The hearth is majestic because of its coarseness, matched by the coffee table—minimalistic in style, but maximalist in substance.

Embrace the Perfection of Imperfections

The name “Villa Terra” translates literally to “country house of the earth,” and the kitchen, with its rustic beauty and rough edges, demonstrates this with a distinctly wabi sabi aesthetic.

Notice how each of the hourglass stools differs slightly in structure, and how they’re neither planar, polished, nor even. Observe how the blemishes on the terracotta floors are flaunted rather than concealed, and how the woven rugs contribute layers of warmth and color without distracting from the functional simplicity of the space.

The Beauty and Warmth of the Well-Worn

How can wabi sabi be conveyed in words? “Wabi” (侘) has multiple meanings: simplicity, humility, melancholy, and an appreciation for serenity. Likewise, “sabi” (寂) is rich in possible interpretations, including the recognition that faded and worn-out objects have an intrinsic beauty. Together, they emphasize the value of reality and ephemerality—taking time to take stock of incredible beauty in an imperfect world.

With its remarkable views of the surrounding environment, Villa Terra’s primary suite invites quiet contemplation. Rugged stonework and raw textiles, juxtaposed with soft blankets and plush pillows, create an ambience of blissful, rejuvenating harmony.

Admire the Nuances of Natural Textures

Comfort is crucial. While wabi sabi interiors often appear spare, they’re not meant to be museums—seen but not touched; nor are they monasteries, where purpose overrides pleasure. Instead, they’re well-worn because they’re well-loved and built for a life well-lived.

The ensuite in Villa Terra epitomizes this, from the luminous wooden paneling of the custom sauna to the rich radiance of the terrazzo surfaces. It’s a space that’s beautiful in form because it’s beautiful in function, infused with an earthiness that feels as fabulous as it looks.

Celebrate Transition and Transformation

Wabi sabi is about engaging all the senses, which is why the grounds and gardens of Villa Terra are so spectacular. The breeze blowing through the canopy of the trees and the gentle babbling of Cooks Creek provide a soothing backtrack while enjoying the veranda, fire pit, and sunbathing patio. So too do the therapeutic aromas that change with the seasons, from blooming spring flowers to falling autumn leaves.

If there’s a lesson to learn from wabi sabi, perhaps it’s that the only true flawlessness can be found in flaws, and the only true timelessness can be found in age. It’s in this spirit that homes like Villa Terra continue to awe and inspire their residents.

Interested in learning more about features of Japanese design? See these six popular interior design trends.