Most Fascinating to Me

 

To me, one of the most fascinating piece of real estate would have to be Richard Branson's Necker Island (seen above).

The island currently is owned by Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin brand. The island acts like a resort, able to hold up to 28 guests at a time, while still holding the feeling of being one's own private island.

Many years before it was built up into a luxury property, two reporters once spent two weeks on the island in 1965, describing it as "... inhabited by snakes, scorpions and tarantulas (…) The mosquitos and other insects were more venomous and persistent than any I had encountered in Vietnam or the Congo." - Don McCullin

Clearly that's not the sort of real estate a luxury property would want to be associated with, and the fact that Richard Branson was able to turn the island into such a stunning resort was quite impressive, and one of the main reasons that I find this place so fascinating. He was able to purchase the island itself in 1979 for £175,000, totally undeveloped. He spent approximately $10 million developing the island, and the result was tremendous. The main building, a Balinese-style villa crowning a hill above the beach, has 10 bedrooms, each of which has open walls giving a 360 degree view of the surrounding island and ocean. Exotic hardwood from Brazil, local stone, Asian antiques and Indian rugs, Branson made the island a getaway fit for the rockstars who had signed with his record label.

Now the island resort is staffed by 60 and is ready and waiting for you, as long as you're fine paying $53,000 a day. If that's not an issue, I'd suggest taking the next flight to the island.

The only unique thing about myself that I can think of at the moment would be that I studied abroad in the northwest of England for a year. It was great fun, and I learned a lot about myself and other cultures while I was there.

Before I pass away, I'd certainly want to live in many different countries other than my own. Moving from place to place has always been appealing to me, and experiencing different cultures would be wonderful. I'd also love to learn how to drive a Formula 1 car, or quite honestly any car that can make it above 200 miles an hour.

When it comes to my favorite sites, I really don't go to many other than youtube, howdy, google, facebook, and maybe a little Wikipedia here and there when some information is needed.

I'd just like to start off by saying howdy, my name is Andrew Weinstock and I'm a senior finance major from Austin, Texas.

I'm a big fan of most sports, but I particularity enjoy playing tennis and basketball. I'm quite into cars and most things dealing with motor sport, but I don't follow any competitive racing too closely at all. Watching the Texas A&M football games in the fall is definitely something I hate to miss, which was sad while I studied abroad in England last year, as I wasn't able to find a source that was showing the game. Luckily enough though, this was the year that I didn't want to miss.

I hope that after I have completed this course, I will have a much better understanding of real estate and the many professions that come out of this sector of the economy. Even thus far, I've been able to expand my knowledge on the subject much further than I ever assumed I would, and I hope that can continue throughout the year.

As per my short term career goals, I'd really like to be working for a small-middle sized financial firm, doing what exactly, I'm not quite certain yet, but will continue to update on that through the blog when I know of any new developments. In the long term, I'd love to be working at a hedge fund, or in some way managing a portfolio of many financial assets.