At first glance, this home seems like any other three-bedroom, three-bath ranch in California’s San Fernando Valley. However, it includes a recording studio where greats including Barbra Streisand, Stevie Wonder, and Prince have recorded music. Then you realize the owner is producer, composer, and musician Craig Huxley—who’s worked on a number of soundtracks for iconic movies—and it dawns on you that this is a music fan’s wonderland. Huxley recently put the place he’s lived and worked in for 40 years on the market for $1.95 million. In fact, he says he’ll be happy to help a new owner create music in the studio. Now that’s a real-deal sweetener for aspiring artists. Within the home studio high on a hill south of Ventura Boulevard is an iconic instrument Huxley created himself: a 16-foot-long blaster beam, which has been used on hundreds of TV and movie soundtracks and albums. The studio was christened “Enterprise Origins,” in a nod to the Starship Enterprise. So it figures that William Shatner himself has spent many hours there. Currently, Huxley is working on music for the virtual reality game “Raw Data” and the Seth MacFarlane Fox series “The Orville.” Co-listing agent Sally Forster Jones, executive director of luxury estates with Coldwell Banker, says the 2,703-square-foot home from the ’50s “definitely has a cool vibe.” “The new owner will want to do some work on it, but will also definitely appreciate the great energy,” she adds. “The history makes it so much more enticing.” Another enticing feature is the location, according to co-listing agent Shauna Walters, director of luxury estates with Coldwell Banker. “It’s located up a long, private drive, with views of Ventura Boulevard, and has been very popular with artists and musicians.” Case in point? Famous next-door neighbors have included rhythm and blues legend Barry White and Slash of Guns N’ Roses, both of whom have recorded in Huxley’s studio. “It’s a very artistic, private hillside in the Sherman Oaks Hills near Beverly Glen,” says Huxley. He told us it’s so private and secluded, Streisand was comfortable recording there for an entire month. “Her bus took up all five parking spaces out front,” he recalls. He explains that the two-room, soundproof studio makes up an entire wing of the house, which sits in the middle of a large lot, which further keeps any sound from bothering (or intriguing) the neighbors. The large lot also backs up onto Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy space, which is “like your own private park,” says Huxley. So why is Huxley parting with his beloved studio? He’s planning on using the proceeds to fund a documentary on his studio, and a documentary on elephants. With his daughter, vocalist Fiona Huxley, Huxley founded the nonprofit Wildlife Wakeup Call to bring awareness to endangered wildlife. “Selling this home will help us to save elephants and other wildlife,” he says. So if you buy this property, you’ll not only receive musical guidance from a production genius, but you’ll also help the animal kingdom. Huxley got his start in the entertainment industry as a child actor. At 14, began focusing on music, touring the world as both a concert pianist and the leader of his own jazz band. He then turned his talents to electronic music, creating several instruments and playing on albums for Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, and Earth, Wind & Fire. He went on to found the Enterprise Interactive in 1984 and has worked with superstars such as Beyoncé, Britney Spears, and Paul McCartney. And yes, most of those famous folks have visited his studio on the hill. Who will be next? The post This Home Comes With a Studio—and a Legendary Producer to Help You With Your Music appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/unique-homes/studio-and-legendary-producer-music/
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Chip and Joanna Gaines, the plucky design duo from Waco, TX, have a lot to answer for. Their signature style—”modern farmhouse”—is literally everywhere these days. We’re pretty sure if you went to Mars right now, you’d find apron sinks installed on those rovers. It’s time for an intervention, people! Listen, I’m not a hater. I have watched and loved many episodes of “Fixer Upper.” But I’ve watched and loved many episodes of “Star Trek,” too, and you don’t see me trying to make my house look like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. I’m just over it, and I don’t think I’m the only one. Here are five reasons why some of us believe modern farmhouse needs to go. 1. You can’t get away from it
“Chip and Joanna are the hottest things right now,” says Jenni Lantz, a manager at DesignLens.com. “We’re in that frothy peak. But when something hits everywhere, it’s going to be done soon. People will get real tired of seeing shiplap.” Yes, hi, I am one of those people, and I’d wager many more will soon come out of the refurbished woodwork. This trend has to reach saturation at some point, right? 2. Those kitschy signsI call it “modern grandma.” Whether it’s individual metal letters hanging out above the upper kitchen cabinets, ordering me to “EAT” or the “live, laugh, love”–style wall signs, you’re just taking classic grandma style and putting it in a cool font. Like truly, what’s the difference between your Etsy weathered barn wood inspirational quote and my Nana’s duck-stenciled “bless this mess” sign? The line is a lot finer than some people think. 3. All that stuff stuck to the wallsOversize clocks. Battered farm implements. Rusty birdcages. You guys know you’re ripping your design style straight from the walls of a TGI Friday’s, right? I don’t care how black-and-white-with-only-one-accent-color your room is, or how many oversize flower arrangements you include, sticking random stuff to the walls is always going to scream “fast-casual restaurant flair” to me. Can we please just stop? 4. Sliding barn doors
They always feel kind of rickety, like the bottom of the door really wishes that it could be in a more secure track. Plus they are essentially designed to squash the fingers of young children left unattended near them. I’ve just never understood the appeal. Furthermore, you have to give up an entire section of the wall for when the door is in the open position, so when it’s closed you’re staring at a blank wall topped by a heavy metal track. Mark my words, barn doors are going to be the beaded curtains of our age. Our grandchildren are just going to look at them and ask, “Someone did this on purpose?” 5. It doesn’t even make sense anymoreModern farmhouse, as practiced by the Gaineses, is a way of reclaiming Waco’s local design elements and making them desirable. Before “Fixer Upper,” Waco was the kind of town that even other Texans made fun of. Nobody would have believed that Waco could be ground zero for the next big trend in design. In a story about the Gaineses’ meteoric rise in “Texas Monthly,” Taffy Brodesser-Akner uses Waco’s rusting downtown water towers as a metaphor for what the couple have done for the city. Locals who had considered them an eyesore their entire lives suddenly saw their beauty when fixed up and repurposed. A point of shame became a point of pride. Modern farmhouse, at its core, was a bold statement about place: No, we’re not New York or L.A. or London or Paris. We’re Waco, and we’re proud of it. How ironic, then, that modern farmhouse is the hottest new trend for urbanites. I’m certainly not saying you need to live on a literal farm to make modern farmhouse make sense. But when you’re in a high-rise condo on a block full of high-rise condos miles from the nearest green space, that reclaimed barn wood can look a little silly. Likewise with brand-new McMansions filled with faux-weathered pie cabinets. Luxe-aspiring and farmhouse just don’t really jibe. “I don’t see modern farmhouse going well with soaring ceilings,” says Lantz. Like with any trend, modern farmhouse will never go away entirely. In places like Waco, filled with, well, modern farmhouses, it makes sense. But for the rest of us? It’s time to move on. “My gut says in the next few years, we’re going to find a new style,” says Lantz. And get sick of that, too. But for now, let’s please stick a quaint vintage fork in this one first. The post I’m So Over Modern Farmhouse: 5 Reasons to Put This Trend Out to Pasture appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/modern-farmhouse-is-so-done/ Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has hit a rocky stretch of his tenure as boss of the world’s largest social network. After an earnings call in which he warned investments in security and privacy would cut into profitability, bearish investors began shedding their holdings. The massive sell-off caused the tech mogul’s personal wealth to plummet $16 billion in one day. While we’re sure he’ll get by on the $66.8 billion he’s now estimated to be worth, there’s always Plan B: His real estate holdings. We took a tour through Zuckerberg’s impressive network of pricey properties, and there’s plenty to like. Zuckerberg’s childhood homeThe 34-year-old entrepreneur grew up in Dobbs Ferry, NY, a small village in Westchester County, about 30 minutes outside of Manhattan. As recently as 2012, his parents, Edward and Karen Zuckerberg, were still living in the place they purchased in 1981, where they raised Mark and his three sisters. Edward ran his dental practice out of the home, and the hassle of communicating between floors inspired middle-school student Mark to create one of his first successful programs. The young Zuckerberg created an instant-messaging service for the home and dental practice that he dubbed ZuckNet (pre-AOL instant messenger). By the time he got to college, he was known as aprogramming prodigy. Facebook houseFast forward to 2004. The startup concocted at Harvard headed to Silicon Valley. Zuckerberg dropped out of school to focus on getting his company off the ground, and moved into a rental in Palo Alto, CA. Now known as the “Facebook house,” the vibe of the abode was vividly captured in the movie “The Social Network.” The Facebook team lived and worked in the home, which is now rented by students at the Stanford Graduate School of Business during the year, and aspiring entrepreneurs over the summers, according to Business Insider. The four-bed, three-bath, single-story abode includes a pool out back. An apparent true-to-life scene in the movie re-creates a moment when the residents secured a zip line from the roof to the pool, busting the chimney. (Business Insider reports the landlord now expressly forbids this.) “It was run like a frat house. Kids sleeping two or three to a room, basically just like mattresses on the floor, people crashing everywhere,” former Facebook President Sean Parker once recounted, according to Business Insider. And, of course, there’s a Facebook page for the house. Palo Alto propertiesAs it began to grow, the company was headquartered in Palo Alto (until 2011, when it moved to a much larger space in nearby Menlo Park). Zuckerberg also made his home in the tony town. Or shall we say, homes. In 2011, the entrepreneur shelled out $7 million for his first home in the Crescent Park neighborhood. The modest (by tech standards) residence has been restored and offers 5,617 square feet of living space, wood floors, a saltwater pool, banquet-size dining room, glassed-in sunroom, five bedrooms, and five bathrooms. Built in 1903, the property includes an outdoor entertainment pavilion, fireplace, barbecue, and spa, according to Architectural Digest. After Zuckerberg’s marriage to Priscilla Chan in 2012, the two invested in four more surrounding homes, for a total of $30 million, according to Architectural Digest. Although the homeowner identities are masked, the LLC associated with the purchases is Iconiq Capital, a money manager said to represent Zuckerberg, Forbes reported. Not all the transactions were smooth. One seller filed a lawsuit against the tech titan, claiming that Zuckerberg had promised him networking introductions, but never followed up after the sale went through. Zuckerberg’s lawyers countered that the agreement had become way overblown in the seller’s mind. The reason for the land grab? Privacy, of course. Zuckerberg then announced plans to demolish the recently purchased homes to build anew. But city officials gave that idea a “thumbs-down,” leading the billionaire to scale back his compound scheme, opting to renovate rather than rebuild two, and replacing the other two. By the way, Mark isn’t the only real estate wheeler-dealer in the family. His sister Randi Zuckerberg put her Georgian-style Los Altos spread on the market in 2015 for $5.5 million, and it sold for $6.5 million. Considering the home was purchased in 2011 for $4.7 million, that’s a pretty sweet profit. San Francisco pied-à-terreThe Bay Area shopping spree wasn’t over. Zuckerberg reportedly bought a San Francisco pad in an off-market deal in 2013, according to multiple news reports. (And once again, the Facebook CEO’s name isn’t attached to any purchase documents.) The $10 million he paid for a 5,542-square-foot home in the city’s Dolores Heights neighborhood was just the beginning. According to reports, Zuckerberg put in permits for a $1.6 million renovation and expansion of the space, including an office, media room, half-bathroom, mudroom, laundry room, wine room, and wet bar, plus new roof and reconfigured landscaping. The ambitious plan led to a 17-month renovation caught on Google Street View, and was described by irritated neighbors as “an ordeal that has torn up their sidewalks, left them without street parking, and put the block under the watchful eyes of a 24-hour security detail,” according to Curbed SF. Kauai kerfuffleThe Facebook founder values his privacy. How much? In 2014 the Zuckerbergs reportedlyshelled out $100 million for two huge tracts of land on Kauai’s North Shore, creating a 700-acre spread for family getaways. The land has 2,500 feet of ocean frontage as well as a working organic farm. The couple made plans to build a 6,100-square-foot, two-bedroom residence on the property, along with a 16-bay garage complex and a “ranch administration building” that includes keycard-protected offices and security headquarters. The plantation includes plots of land passed down through the generations that dotted the acreage. In 2016, the Zuckerbergs filed eight lawsuits to force locals out of the plots they owned. Most of these holdings were less than an acre each and, as you can imagine, the move didn’t go down well with longtime residents, who called Zuckerberg “the face of neocolonialism.” The couple eventually dropped the suit, calling it a mistake. The post We Poke Into Mark Zuckerberg’s Network of Real Estate appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/mark-zuckerberg-real-estate-holdings/ Odds are, you can’t afford your rent. The average household needs to make at least six figures to comfortably afford the average fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the seven largest U.S. cities., according a new SmartAsset study that looked at how much it would cost to afford a two-bedroom apartment in America’s 25 largest cities. A household that spends more than 30% of its income on housing is considered “cost-burdened,” according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, but for the majority of the largest cities in the U.S., renters require incredibly large incomes to stay under that percentage. San Francisco, Calif. is the most expensive city for renters on the list, where in order to avoid being so rent burdened, someone would need to make $188,000 per year. The average household income in the area is $103,801 per year. The numbers are similar for New York, the second least affordable place on the list, where New Yorkers would need to earn a minimum of $162,400 in order to pay no more than 28% of their income on a place in the Big Apple,where the average 2-bedroom apartment runs at $3,800 a month. And Boston renters would need to make $143,800 to cover the $40,300 required for a two-bedroom apartment per year. But the average household income is only $63,600. Here is how much income is needed to pay rent in America’s 25 biggest cities: The gap between what renters earn per hour and what it costs to afford a modest apartment at average market levels across the U.S. is just as wide: The hourly wage needed to make a modest two-bedroom apartment affordable is $22.10, according to a recent report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s annual “Out Of Reach” report, which documents the affordability of rental housing to low-income families across the U.S.; for a modest one-bedroom, it’s $17.90. Meanwhile, the average hourly wage of U.S. renters stands at $16.88. In fact, someone working a 40-hour week on the federal $7.25 minimum wage can’t afford to rent a “modest” two-bed apartment in any state in the country, according to the report. And renters would need to make more than three times the minimum wage to afford a two-bedroom apartment. In other words, renters would need to work a 122-hour week for all 52 weeks of the year — or work three full-time jobs in order to afford a modest two-bedroom rental home. For a one-bedroom, renters would need to work 99 hours per week throughout the year. “The report’s Housing Wage is an estimate of the hourly wage a full-time worker must earn to afford a rental home at HUD’s fair market rent (FMR) without spending more than 30% of his or her income on housing costs,” Diane Yentel, the president and CEO of NLIHC, told Moneyish in an email. “FMRs provide an estimate of what a family moving today can expect to pay for a modestly priced rental home in a given area. This year’s findings demonstrate how far out of reach modestly priced housing is for the growing low-wage work force, despite recent wage growth, and for other vulnerable populations across the country.” The most expensive state is Hawaii, where workers would need an hourly income of $36.13 to afford rent, in contrast to the state’s average hourly wage of $16.16. Arkansas is the least expensive state at $13.84 — not including Puerto Rico at $9.24 — where workers would need to make $13.84 an hour, while the average hourly wage is $13.05. The study finds that numbers are even worse for low-income households, defined as households earning less than the poverty level or 30% of the area’s average income. Four-person households making an annual $26,420 or less can only afford to spend $660 a month on rent, while the national average fair market rent for a one-bedroom rental is $931. The rule of thumb is that no more than 30% of your income should be going toward housing costs including utilities, Erin Lowry, financial blogger and author of the book “Broke Millennial,” told Moneyish. “However, it is incredible hard for people to achieve this,” she added. “Realistically, hopefully no more than 50% should be going towards your rent.” “There are many factors contributing to the current affordable housing crisis,” Yentel said. “But the simplest explanation is that wages are not keeping pace with rapidly rising rental housing costs. This will be a challenge for the foreseeable future – seven out of the ten occupations projected to add the greatest number of new jobs by 2016 provide a median wage lower than the one-bedroom Housing Wage.” And as important as higher minimum wages are, they are not the silver-bullet solution for housing affordability, Yentel said. The report found that 38 local jurisdictions have their own minimum wages higher than the state or federal minimum-wage, but all fall short of the local one-bedroom Housing Wage. For those who are struggling to afford fair market rent, Lowry offered a few tips: Focus more on earning — and less on cutting things out of your life“Hearing advice like ‘Don’t eat out,’ which most personal finance advisors give, is not helpful when you’re already in such an intense situation because you’re probably already doing that,” she said. She recommends figuring out how to earn more money instead. To do this, she suggests starting at your current position and speaking directly with your boss to negotiate ways to take on more responsibility. Be flexible about your living situation“This can be difficult advice, but consider moving to where the jobs are,” Lowry said. “If you’re in a place where there aren’t a lot of opportunities, this might be an answer at least in the short-run.” Consider moving back in with family members to mitigate costs of living, she advised, or moving out of high-cost, trendy neighborhoods. Negotiate with your landlordIf you’ve proven that you’re a reliable tenant who pays rent on time, negotiating with your landlord could be a way to reduce how much you’re paying for bills. “Maybe offer to do some things around the building like being a handyman or doing superintendent chores,” she suggested. “What I did when I knew rent was going to take up a huge chunk of my paycheck was to take every opportunity I could to make things work — like turning off my AC when I could in the summer,” she said. Paying rent on time showed her landlord that she was a reliable tenant — so every time the rent was raised, she was able to counter so it didn’t increase that much. The post This Is Exactly How Much Money You Need to Make to Pay Rent in the Biggest U.S. Cities appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/exactly-much-money-need-make-pay-rent-biggest-u-s-cities/ Actress, singer, and timeless treasure Cher is parting with her home in Beverly Hills for $2.49 million, one of many choice properties she’s owned in the greater Los Angeles area. It doesn’t really matter why Cher is selling the home, we can just chalk it up to her doing what she does best—whatever the heck she wants. The home is a cozy country cottage with four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and just over 3,000 square feet. Cher purchased the property from “Modern Family” star Ed O’Neill in 2013 for $2.15 million. The lot is over a half-acre, with mountain views, and set behind iron gates for security. The interiors are light, airy, and maintain a natural, calming Zen vibe throughout. They provide a perfect match for the lush gardens, meditation area, waterfall, koi pond, and other soothing outdoor areas scattered throughout the property. The planked ceilings and hardwood floors are made from reclaimed wood, and the massive master suite includes roomy closet space, a fireplace, and a private deck with spa. Essentially, the home is the antithesis of the glitter, glam, and high drama we’ve come to associate with the living legend. Thanks to her recent appearance in “Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again,” Cher has been gracing fans with new interviews and details about her fabulous life at home. In US Weekly, she revealed that she makes 5-inch beaded earrings for all her friends and can whip up a mean Chicken Bolognese, which she is likely to have produced a time or two in this home’s kitchen. Of course, there are other properties in the Los Angeles area she’s bought and sold over the years, including a grand Beverly Hills estate that recently bounced back onto the market for $68 million. Whether you can afford to contemplate making an actual offer on this tranquil gem or just want to gaze at pictures of the home Cher inhabited, there’s no denying, even after all these years, that the original diva still has the ability to give everything she touches just a little bit of her magic. The post Cher Selling a Sedate and Soothing Retreat in 90210 for $2.5M appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/cher-selling-beverly-hills-home/ Should I stay or should I go? For many homeowners, that’s the question. Conventional wisdom strongly dictates that homeowners should live in their place for at least five years if they want to walk away with a legit return on their investment—or sometimes the shirts on their backs. But in an era when even “honesty is the best policy” is a matter of debate, aphorisms aren’t what they used to be. In some parts of the U.S., homeowners seem afflicted with wanderlust—pulling up roots, moving early and often. But in others, they’re more apt to stay in their cherished homes for decades. The realtor.com® data team identified the housing markets where folks are holding onto their residences the longest—and where they’re putting their properties back on the market in record time. Generally, for the past decade or so, more homeowners have been staying in their residences longer, according to the National Association of Realtors®. They went from living at the same address for a median six years in 2008 to a median 10 beginning in 2014. That’s partly because so many folks found themselves unexpectedly underwater on their mortgages when the housing bubble burst. (This figure includes only primary residences whereas our analysis includes home flips, rental properties, and vacation homes, which tend to be held for fewer years.) “I’m seeing people bottled up in their homes because they have nowhere to move to,” says Dowell Myers, an urban planning and demography professor at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles. “We have burgeoning demand and an insufficient supply of homes for sale, which creates gridlock.” On the flip side, “higher rates of construction will stimulate more turnover” in many markets as there are more homes to choose from, he continues. Some of “the markets where people had been underwater following the Great Recession, now have equity for the first time. You may have a surge in sellers as people try to act on their long-delayed plans to move on.” In some markets, lots of churn is good for both buyers and sellers. It means there are more properties for would-be homeowners to choose from. And in the best-case scenario, home appreciation is so strong that sellers can walk away early—and still make a profit. To find where owners are staying put for the longest and shortest periods of time, we looked at homes that sold over the past 12 months in the 100 largest metros. (Metros include the main city and the suburbs surrounding it.) We compared those sales with their previous ones going back as far as 2000, enabling us to calculate the average number of months that homes were owned between sales. We included only one metro per state to ensure geographic diversity. Now let’s go the places where homeowners are holding on tight. Metros where homeowners are staying the longest1. El Paso, TXAverage time between sales: 99 months Located along the U.S.-Mexico border, El Paso has an abundance of Texas charm and great eats. But many residents of this border town, where most of the employment comes from government jobs and the oil and gas industry, are struggling. The median household income here is just $43,222—33.3% less than national levels.. “Lower wages mean homeowners are less likely to sell and try to trade up,” says Tom Torres, a real estate agent at Clear View Realty in El Paso. The folks who do sell are often nearing retirement and looking to downsize, he says. El Paso might not have lots of deep-pocketed homebuyers or megamansions, but the three-bedroom, two-bath homes on the market here are usually within buyers’ budget. In fact, realtor.com named El Paso one of America’s middle-class meccas earlier this year, with 69% of the homes here being within reach of middle-income buyers. 2. Albuquerque, NMAverage time between sales: 98 months The largest city in New Mexico, Albuquerque is packed with the pueblo homes so common throughout the Southwest. These two-story abodes have flat roofs and walls that are good for staying cool during the region’s hot summer. Residents here don’t seem to have an overwhelming desire to trade up to McMansions. “There’s a strong cultural bent to stay to put,” says Ben Levine, an associate broker at Re/Max Select in Albuquerque. He contends that Albuquerque is a decidedly down-to-earth, family-oriented community. “People here are not so driven to own luxury cars and designer clothes.” Albuquerque has a mix of lifelong residents and retirees who moved here because of the mild winters, dry heat, and affordable home prices. While homes here aren’t as cheap as those in El Paso, they’re still well under the $299,000 national median price. Just because folks like to stay where they are doesn’t mean there aren’t properties for sale. Homes sell the fastest near downtown, in areas such as Nob Hill, a historic neighborhood with nightlife, shopping, and restaurants. This two-bedroom, pueblo-style home built in 1951 in Nob Hill is on the market for $149,000. 3. Oxnard, CAAverage time between sales: 97 months On one side of Oxnard, which sits along the Pacific Ocean on the coast, is Los Angeles, where the median home cost is a whopping $762,600. But the other side is even more unaffordable, with median prices in Santa Barbara hitting a nosebleed-inducing $1.4 million. That may be why folks hoping to save a few bucks by living in Oxnard aren’t looking to go anywhere. “A million-dollar home [in Santa Barbara] costs $500,000 in Oxnard,” says Julia Otero, a local real estate agent at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties. “It’s its little own world, and you don’t have to get out of Oxnard for beaches, shopping, or a night out.” Most of the sellers Otero works with have been in their homes for about a decade and are moving to retire outside of the city. Meanwhile, most of her buyers are purchasing their first homes, which they hope to live in for years to come. 4. Greensboro, NCAverage time between sales: 97 months Many Greensboro residents may dream of moving into a new home—but fast-rising prices and a lack of homes on the market are keeping many of them right where they are. Median list prices are up 11.1% in the past year alone. That’s not an easy increase to stomach for those looking to trade up or down. “If there’s not a reason to move, what are you going to get in this frenzy?” asks local real estate agent D.J. McGarrigan of Allen Tate Realtors. “A lot of people are doing renovations to their house … because it’s so hard to replace what you’ve got.” Those who are selling—particularly anything under $400,000 in a good school district—are in for a windfall. Just recently, he showed a four-bedroom home in a nice area 40 times and received eight offers. It’s now selling for well over its $220,000 list price. But then what? “In order to replace what you have, you’re going to have a hard time finding something new,” McGarrigan warns. 5. Philadelphia, PAAverage time between sales: 96 months The City of Brotherly Love is filled with neighborhoods where folks know everyone and wouldn’t dream of leaving their community behind. Many of these areas are packed with brick,100-year-old row homes often passed down from generation to generation. “There aren’t lots of people moving from neighborhood to neighborhood,” says Liz Lutz, a real estate agent at Re/Max One Realty in Philadelphia. They’re “so tied into their community they can’t imagine being anywhere else.” Another reason more folks are staying put is some of the schools in the city have been improving. That puts less pressure on families to move into the suburbs. The rest of the top 10 metros where homeowners are staying the longest are Cleveland (95 months), at sixth, followed by Seattle (94 months); Baltimore (93 months); Rochester, NY (93 months); and Jacksonville, FL (92 months). Got it? Now let’s look at U.S. cities with the most peripatetic homeowners. Metros where homeowners are staying the least amount of time1. Providence, RIAverage time between sales: 33 months The reason for the constant churn in Providence is simple: It’s filled with here-today-gone-tomorrow college students—and the teaching professionals who mold ’em. The state capital is home to Brown University, Rhode Island School of Design, and Johnson & Wales University among others. The savviest of students, recent grads, and their families are buying homes for a few years and then putting them on the market for a quick profit. “We have a lot of transient professors from Brown and Johnson & Wales that will only stay for a year or two,” says Joshua Deaner, real estate broker and owner of the Rhode Guide Real Estate Co. in Providence. “I’ve seen one house that has sold three times in 10 years. It’s not haunted or anything—it’s just that academics tend to like similar things. The houses go from one professor to another.” Single-family homes priced under $350,000 sell fast. And homes on the east side of town, where they tend to be nicer and larger, are even more in-demand, Deaner says. But the short buy-sell time frame isn’t stopping local homeowners from walking away with some serious money. In fact, earlier this month the realtor.com data team found that home sellers in the past year in Providence made a roughly 11% return on their initial investment. 2. Cape Coral, FLAverage time between sales: 35 months Located two hours south of Tampa Bay along the Florida Gulf Coast, Cape Coral is a hotbed for retirees, snowbirds, and vacationers. And they’re constantly on the move. “We are a vacation community with lots of second homes,” says Mike Lombardo, a broker in Cape Coral. A standard second home here is this three-bedroom, two-bath ranch in a private cul-de-sac for $209,900. “People don’t hold those as long as primary residences.” Like many other parts of Florida, Cape Coral was hit hard by the housing crash, with a deluge of foreclosures and plummeting home prices. Those who bought when the market was low, around 2011 and 2012, are realizing they now have quite a bit of equity in their abodes. And many are choosing to cash out. 3. Greenville, SCAverage time between sales: 36 months Government officials and business leaders in Greenville have worked hard to sell the region as a go-to spot for young families. With low taxes, a business-friendly environment, and a charming downtown with a damn fine whiskey distillery and boutiques oozing Southern charm, Ameco, Michelin, and General Electric all have established a big presence there. Those improvements and good salaries have brought lots of new residents into the area. (The population of just Greenville County swelled 12.3% from April 1, 2010, to July 1, 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.) Some stay for a few years before moving to other cities in the South, such as Atlanta. Others simply keep trading up as they earn more money. “They are here for three or four years. But to move up the ladder, they take a new job or assignment in a different city,” says Melissa Morrell, a local real estate agent at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices. 4. New Orleans, LAAverage time between sales: 44 months Moving to NOLA may make your friends jealous, particularly come Mardi Gras. The region is constantly attracting new residents, particularly younger folks who dream of debauched strolls down Bourbon Street. “Most folks move here simply for a lifestyle change,” says Michelle LaBanca, a real estate agent at French Quarter Realty. “They’ll stay for a few years hoping to get the New Orleans experience and then move on to something new.” (The metro is also a college town, home to Tulane University, Loyola University, and Xavier University of Louisiana, among others, which contributes to the churn.) First-time buyers often pick up duplexes in parts of New Orleans like Mid-City, a hip neighborhood filled with restaurants and bars, where they run about $300,000, LaBanca says. They own these homes for a few years and then upgrade into something bigger. “Some neighborhoods have lower inventory but a really high demand,” LaBanca says. “So people will buy and sell two or three years later just to make a profit.” 5. Madison, WIAverage time between sales: 47 months Madison is another big college town, centered on the University of Wisconsin-Madison and its 44,000 students. “Parents will buy two units and income properties for their kids to live in while they’re at UW,” says Sara Alvarado, owner of Alvarado Real Estate Group. “After their kids graduate, they’ll either sell the units or rent them out.” In addition, she sees many folks who come to the area for work only to be relocated by their employers a few years later. “That can happen quickly, and they’re forced to sell,” Alvarado says. Single-family homes in the suburbs are the hottest segment of the market. This three-bedroom home with granite countertops and a big backyard in nearby Waunakee is going for $324,900. And because they’re so in-demand, many of these abodes can fetch as many as 15 offers, Alvarado says. The rest of the top 10 metros where homeowners stay the least amount of time are Grand Rapids, MI (51 months), at sixth, followed by Knoxville, TN (54 months); Boston (57 months); Omaha, NE (66 months); and Augusta, GA (66 months. Sources: realtor.com and Corelogic Allison Underhill and Clare Trapasso contributed to this report. The post Cities Where People Own Their Homes the Longest—and Those Where They Pack Up Fast appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/top-10-cities-homeowners-staying-put-or-selling/ In 1951, “The African Queen” debuted on the big screen and earned four Oscar nominations. Nearly seven decades later, a home dubbed “The African Queen” in the unlikely locale of Springfield, MO, has floated onto the market for $8.9 million. Time will tell if the home is as successful as the iconic film starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. The movie inspired Michael Willhoit, who needed a place to showcase the artwork and animal skins he collected from across Africa. He also needed a project. “I lost my dad, brother, and mom in the same year,” says Willhoit. “I needed something to busy myself into.” And busy himself he did. Willhoit and his wife, Lisa, purchased the property on a creek in 2013. It was a 1961 residence designed by local architect Don Russell, and the Willhoits had wanted it for a decade before finally acquiring it. “It was just a run-down house that had a lot of potential. We got involved and got psyched up,” Willhoit says of their renovation, which took about two years (and some serious dough). Locals were curious about the ongoing construction at the “mystery house.” A mystery no more, the renovation included about $1 million in landscaping and $1.5 million in African-themed decor and furnishings. In the home you’ll find a 3,000-pound elephant sculpture from Thailand, a 3,000-pound bronze rhino from London, and an African warrior statue standing guard. The bar stools were made from zebras, and an eight-legged zebra chair was custom-made for Willhoit. The surprises don’t stop there. There’s a toilet shaped like a lion, light fixtures made of horns and tusks, and a leopard skin couch from Paris. Wooden, carved tusks frame the master bed. And a 500,000-piece mosaic wood floor features a 17-foot-long crocodile in the kitchen. You’ll also be amazed by the 2-inch-thick glass floor in Willhoit’s office, which sits over a creek, allowing you to see fish swim underneath your feet. “The pictures don’t do it justice,” Willhoit says. “When you pull up to the electric gates, it’s like entering a different world.”
The 3,300-square-foot home sits on 4 acres and has two bedrooms and two bathrooms. It comes with everything visible in the listing photos. A buyer can begin an African safari without ever leaving the home. Alex O’Brien of Housekey Flat Fee Realty holds the listing. The post ‘African Queen’ House in Springfield, MO, Floats Onto the Market for $8.9M appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/unique-homes/african-queen-house-springfield-missouri/ Fox Sports broadcaster Charissa Thompson has trimmed the price of her beach house in Malibu after a few weeks on the market, from $3 million to $2.9 million. She bought the fully renovated residence in 2016 for $2.5 million, and then spiffed it up even more—especially the beach deck on the first level. Where once there was only a hot tub, Thompson added a fire pit, suspended TV, Sonos sound system, built-ins, and electrical wiring to facilitate ambient lighting. There’s also an extra incentive for buyers: All the furniture comes with the house. Buyers won’t have to worry about decorating the home or moving furniture, says listing agent Mitch Hagerman of Coldwell Banker. “It’s an incredible home for the price,” he adds. “You don’t often find homes that are this tasteful and complete for under $3 million in Malibu.” A sub-$3 million price usually indicates structural issues or dated interiors, but that isn’t the case here, he explains. Although Thompson loves the house, there’s no yard for her two big dogs, Hagerman says. Thompson is ready to give up the beach life for a place that’s more pet-friendly. The three-bedroom, 2.5-bath home is located right on California’s scenic Pacific Coast Highway, making the location ideal for both vacationers and permanent residents. But with the beachfront home featuring the fabulous entertaining deck and two balconies overlooking the sea, among many other luxe amenities, setting out on the PCH to socialize might be unnecessary. The exterior of the three-story, 1,646-square-foot home is Cape Cod, but the interior has a Moroccan aesthetic, seen in the colorful tiles accenting the staircase, kitchen backsplash, bathrooms, and fireplaces. Fleetwood walls and doors of glass are used throughout. The chef’s kitchen has Viking appliances, wine storage, a walk-in pantry, and even a television, which makes sense for someone in the biz. Thompson is currently hosting “Fox NFL Kickoff” and is the Sunday game-break anchor for the NFL on Fox. The post Sportscaster Charissa Thompson Trims Price of Her Lovely Malibu Beach House appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/charissa-thompson-malibu-price-trim/ Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios President Ed Catmull recently sold a classic San Francisco home in an off-market deal. Property records reveal the home was sold for $12.3 million a couple of weeks ago. The movie exec had purchased the place in 2015 for $9.95 million, according to property records. So in addition to bringing animated stories to life, the 73-year-old is savvy in his real estate dealings. So what did the new owner score for the hefty price tag? According to the listing, this beautiful beaux arts–style home in Pacific Heights is all about elegance. The grand mansion was designed by famed architect Arthur Brown Jr., who also created prominent San Francisco landmarks such as City Hall and Coit Tower. The 6,700-square-foot layout spans four levels and features five bedrooms, six bathrooms, and two half-baths. Built in 1915, the home has been extensively renovated and “updated for modern family living,” the listing states. Some original architectural details remain, including 11-foot-high ceilings, floor-to-ceiling French doors, custom moldings and paneling, a wood-paneled library with built-ins, hardwood floors, and arched doorways. Modern amenities include a chef’s kitchen and breakfast bar, gym, home theater, elevator, wet bar, wine cellar, and remodeled bathrooms. Outdoor space features a dining area, covered patio, and stone fountain. There’s also a separate, two-car garage. The four-time Oscar winner has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his pioneering contributions in computer graphics. The Pixar co-founder is also the co-author of “Creativity, Inc.” Lori Docherty represented the listing. The post Pixar Exec Ed Catmull Sells San Franciso Mansion for $12.3M appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/ed-catmull-sells-san-franciso-mansion/ More Americans became homeowners in the spring, and the number of renters decreased, adding to evidence that consumers still aspire to ownership despite ongoing housing market headwinds. The national homeownership rate rose to 64.3% in the second quarter, the Census Department reported Thursday, up from 64.2% in the first three months of the year. What’s more, that marked the sixth-straight quarter of yearly increases. Over the past 12 months, 1.77 million more Americans became owners, while the number of renters declined by about 100,000. Even better, the biggest jumps in ownership were among younger people. For those under 35, 36.5% were owners in the second quarter, compared to 35.3% a year ago. Americans aged 35 to 44 saw a correspondingly hefty jump, to 60% from 58.8% in 2017. “Homeownership today is a full percentage point below the 50-year average, and this lag reflects the long-lasting scars from the Great Recession and the lopsided nature of this recovery,” said Sam Khater, chief economist for Freddie Mac. Still, the new data may quell some worries about younger generations missing out on the wealth-building opportunities inherent in homeownership, even as more economists raise concerns about the staying power of the housing market. The post Homeownership Rate Jumps to 4-Year High as More Americans Make Gains appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/real-estate-news/homeownership-rate-jumps-4-year-high-americans-make-gains/ |
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