AOL Real Estate - Blog http://realestate.aol.com/blog AOL Real Estate - Blog http://realestate.aol.com/blog/media/feedlogo.gif AOL Real Estate - Blog http://realestate.aol.com/blog en-us Copyright 2013 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Bet They're Peeved: Texas Town Wrongly Named America's Angriesthttp://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/angriest-city-in-america/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/angriest-city-in-america/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/angriest-city-in-america/#commentsFiled under:

man and woman angrily shouting at each otherThe people of Longview, Texas, have something to really be ticked off about after a news article used outdated information to classify the town as the angriest city in America. Esquire magazine crowned Longview with the dishonor in a recent blog post based on data from Gallup's 2012 Well-Being Index. The 2012 survey did not break down anger information by city but pointed to data from 2008 to 2010 that bestowed the dishonor on Longview all three of those years. It was found during that time that 18.7 percent of the population in Longview said that they were angry on any given day, while only 9.2 percent of people in Oceanside, N.J. -- the best-performing city on the anger metric -- said the same.

But after the Esquire post caught the attention of local media outlets in Longview, Gallup quickly changed its lineup with more up-to-date information, telling the Longview News-Journal that Rockford, Ill., is now the angriest city in America. (That oughta make folks in Longview happy.) "It's a good thing to not be, and that's something we can all be happy about," Longview public information officer Shawna Hara told the News-Journal.

Esquire acknowledged in an update to its article that it had used outdated information to determine Longview's standing, but said the updated information was not available at the time of publication. Gallup's Well-Being Index has not been updated online and still indicates Longview as the angriest city in America. Gallup told the News-Journal that in Rockford, 22 percent of residents reported being angry on any given day in 2012, making it the angriest city in America.

Makes sense considering Rockford placed high on Forbes' list of most miserable cities back in February. Forbes tallied the 10 happiest and 10 most miserable cities, which you can see in the gallery below.

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More about places with anger issues:
Man Shames Wife He's Divorcing With Angry Sign Hung on House
Hell's Kitchen Steaming Over Sewage Stench
Idaho's Empty Governor's Mansion a Thorn in Residents' Sides

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How to Control Your Anger

 

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]]>angriest city in AmericaLongview TexasRockford IllinoisGraham Wood2013-05-14T17:00:00 00:00Are Real Estate Commercials Skirting Realities of Homebuying?http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/real-estate-commercials-homebuying-reality/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/real-estate-commercials-homebuying-reality/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/real-estate-commercials-homebuying-reality/#commentsFiled under: ,

You've probably seen those real estate commercials. You know, that one where where the guy's brushing his teeth, the woman's blow-drying her hair and singing in operatic tone, and the overweight man's coming in to take a bath. All in the same bathroom:



Or that one with that sweet song and the woman clicking on a house and envisioning her little boy jumping in the pool:



Realtor.com's hysterical "Find It First" and Zillow's touching "Find Your Way Home" ad campaigns are just a couple of pushes hitting the airwaves and the Internet to grab homebuyers' attention at a critical time in real estate: the ever-important spring homebuying season. The ads by Realtor and Zillow (both of which are AOL Real Estate partners) are clever, that's for sure. But are they sending the right message to buyers who are nervously re-entering the market after years of housing tumult?

While it's a smart time to put ad dollars to use, some critics say that these real estate commercials are skirting a larger responsibility to actually educate people about what's happening in the housing market. Now's the time, they say, because people could be jumping back into homebuying based on the louder and louder message that housing is back -- without knowing what they're doing any better than they did years ago. (But of course it is advertising -- which by its nature is meant to make us want stuff we don't necessarily need or can afford.)

Alexis Moore, a financial risk management consultant and consumer advocate who has been a Realtor in California, said that the commercials don't go deep enough into the factor at play in the housing market today. "The advertisements are missing the boat in a big way and frankly are insulting in a lot of ways to the industry," she said, "because they are not in tune with the real issue: rebuilding public confidence in the entire industry."

Here's a fact not mentioned in the Realtor or Zillow commercials: While home values have roared back in many parts of the country, for-sale inventory is at a startling low (much lower than typical levels during the busy spring homebuying season). That suggests that a whole lot of sellers aren't confident enough in the housing market to put their homes up for sale. And though home prices in February reached a seven-year high, that was driven largely by fat-pocketed investors, not everyday homebuyers. That could be because many still can't qualify for a mortgage under stricter regulations.

"Instead of using the same marketing tactics and campaigns of years past during the real estate boom years, they are missing a chance to build public confidence and restore the industry as a whole as being 'renewed' with real information about what has changed in the industry," Moore said.

Barbara O'Connor, executive vice president of marketing at Move Inc., which powers Realtor.com, argues that Realtor's "Find It First" campaign does what any ad should do: grab people's attention. But once viewers are hooked and persuaded to visit Realtor.com, that's where they'll get real information on housing statistics in individual cities and neighborhoods. Both Realtor and Zillow (like AOL Real Estate) have home-value tools, mortgage calculators and other housing information broken down by area.

"These ads use humor to grab people's attention, pointing a lens at the current historic competitiveness of the marketplace," O'Connor said. "Once consumers click through to Realtor.com, we have comprehensive information available to educate potential homebuyers on the current state of the housing market."

"People will shop for a new home when they're ready to shop for homes," said Amy Bohutinsky, Zillow's chief marketing officer. "The objective of our ads is not to convince people it's time for them to buy. Rather, our objective is to help people understand what Zillow has to offer -- that it's a great resource for shopping for homes -- so that when they're ready, they'll try us out." She added that Zillow's ads do show features such as its home value calculator to show what tools the company offers to aid homebuyers' decisions.

Jason Sherman, a real estate investor and founder of Sherman Communications & Marketing, said real estate companies are wise to be advertising now while the market is hot. "But, to be more credible, they should also speak to why now's the time -- address the fundamentals that are in place [in the housing market] -- in their PR and advertising," he said.

Before ads seduce you with the promise to convert the dream of homeownership into reality, prospective homebuyers should take the time to see if buying a home is affordable for them to begin with. Find out what current mortgage rates are, and use mortgage calculators to estimate what your monthly payment would be, for starters.

What do you think? Do today's real estate commercials have a responsibility to present deeper information about the factors at play in the housing market? Tell us in the comments below.

See more about real estate ads:
Realtor Raps on Tight Inventory: 'All the Houses Gettin' Sold'
The World's Most Deceptive Listing?
Give These Realtors a Reality Check!

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]]>advertising campaignhome priceshousing markethousing recoveryreal estate commercialsRealtor.com Find It FirstZillow commercialsZillow Find Your Way HomeGraham Wood2013-04-30T23:59:00 00:00Homeowner Robert Phipps Says Neighbor's Solar Panels Are Blindinghttp://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/homeowner-robert-phipps-blinding-solar-panels-/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/homeowner-robert-phipps-blinding-solar-panels-/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/homeowner-robert-phipps-blinding-solar-panels-/#commentsFiled under:

robert phipps blinded solar panels

There are plenty of environmental and budgetary benefits to installing solar panels on your roof, but there could be one health drawback: permanently blinding your neighbor. Robert Phipps, a homeowner in England, claims that the glare of the sun off of the solar panels on his neighbor's home is so bright that his entire family has to use blackout curtains to keep from going blind, the U.K.'s South West News Service reported. Phipps said that there's no escaping the reflected light when it floods the home from end to end -- he's even worried that the glare could cause permanent retinal damage to members of his family.

Phipps said that because of the slope his neighbor's house sits on and the angle at which the solar panels were installed, the intense light is pointed directly at his home. "If you go into the garden, there's this huge wall of light pointing straight at you from 12 meters away," Phipps told SWNS. "It's worse than looking directly at the sun. If you look at it and turn away, you'll have blobs in front of your eyes for 10 minutes. I'm really worried it's causing us retinal damage."

Phipps told the North Devon Journal in Devon, England, that he has tried building a 6-foot fence at his home in Torridge to block the light, but that hasn't worked. Phipps is out of work on disability, and he said the stress of the glaring problem is worsening his health. But the neighbor, Trevor Chase, told SWNS that his solar panels were a bright idea to "do our bit to save energy and help the planet. ... We can see other people's solar panels. On the house in front we can see sets of solar panels, and there is glare from them when the sun catches them, but we don't mind. We just think, 'Live and let live.' It happens everywhere."

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Phipps has asked local officials to do something about the glare, but the local Torridge District Council told SWNS that Chase's solar panels were installed under appropriate guidelines. However, an official told the news agency, the district's "planning system should of course ensure there are no resulting problems affecting neighbouring properties by making it a requirement for installers to provide evidence that glare from roof-mounted panels won't affect neighbours."

Solar panels became popular in England in 2010 when the government started subsidizing homeowners who installed them to lower energy use. However, the subsidies were paid for through increases on other people's energy bills -- and now it's gotten out of control. In January, it was discovered that the subsidies had added 1 billion pounds to the cost of people's every bills over the course of a year, according to the Daily Mail. (Perhaps the amount due on an energy bill is even more blinding than Chase's solar panels.)

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See more on solar panels and green living:
Solar Power at Home Saves Money
Green Living for Renters
7 Green Home Trends: From Baby Steps to Extreme Updates

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Solar Panels Cause Clashes With Homeowner Groups

 

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]]>energy-efficient homesglare from solar panelsgreen homesgreen livingRobert Phippssolar panelsTrevor ChaseGraham Wood2013-04-26T16:23:00 00:00World War II Vet John Potter, 91, Faces Eviction by Daughterhttp://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/vet-john-potter-eviction-daughter/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/vet-john-potter-eviction-daughter/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/vet-john-potter-eviction-daughter/#commentsFiled under:

John Potter at home in Columbus, Ohio

A family feud could end with a 91-year-old World War II veteran (pictured above) on the streets after his own daughter gained ownership of his home in southern Ohio and served him with an eviction notice. Now John Potter's granddaughter, Jaclyn Fraley, is racing against the clock to keep the war vet in the home that he cherishes. But come June 12, he could be thrown out of the house for good.

Fraley told AOL Real Estate that when the elderly Potter fell ill in 2004, he signed power of attorney over to his daughter, Janice Cottrill. (Fraley is Cottrill's daughter.) Cottrill then had Potter's Zaleski, Ohio, home -- which he built and lived in for 54 years, according to WCMH-TV in Columbus -- transferred into her name. Cottrill also took custody of her autistic brother, who is Potter's son and Fraley's uncle, after he had lived in Potter's home all his life, Fraley said. A feud had erupted between Cottrill and Potter over visitation rights, and culminated with Cottrill serving Potter with eviction, Fraley said.

"He doesn't share that this hurts him, but you can tell that it's hurting him," Fraley told AOL Real Estate. (Both Fraley and Potter are pictured at left.) She said it hurts her, too, explaining that she hasn't spoken to her mother, aside from communication through lawyers, in two years. Fraley and Potter went to court to try and get his home back, but it sided with Cottrill in a May 2012 decision that the statute of limitations for Potter to bring suit had passed. Potter is still living in the home, but a judge is expected to hand down an eviction time-frame to Potter on June 12.

When contacted by AOL Real Estate, Janice Cottrill and her husband, Dean, declined to comment. Their lawyer, Lorene Johnston, told AOL Real Estate that Potter and Fraley are "attempting to stir up public sentiment for themselves." She called the upcoming eviction hearing "a simple eviction process for someone who doesn't own the home and doesn't pay any rent."

Dean Cottrill did tell WCMH, which first reported this story, that Potter had been filing suit against him and Janice for visitation rights with his son. "For him to stay in that home, it is real simple. Leave Joe alone and stop the lawsuits," Dean Cottrill told WCMH, referring to Potter's autistic son.

Now Fraley says that she is taking matters into her own hands to keep her grandfather in the home he loves. She's set up a fundraising site on GoFundMe.com, asking people to donate money to help her buy back Potter's home from her mother. Her goal is $125,000, and she's hoping to get there before her grandfather's eviction hearing. As of Wednesday evening, she had raised $9,442 through 242 donations -- and a lot of support.

"I hope he gets his house back, and lives out his best years in his house," donor John Pirrone wrote on Fraley's fundraising page. "Thank you for coming through for us in WWII, I hope that we can come through for you," wrote donor Robert Sharpe.

Fraley said her grandfather has been bowled over by the support. One veteran even donated $1,000 to her effort, she said. "The veterans community has been overwhelmingly supportive," Fraley said. "To see this go almost viral, it's what happens when one of your wildest dreams come true."

Potter thanked everyone who has helped him so far in a video Fraley recorded and posted to YouTube:



See more on evictions:
Robosigning Scandal Targeted Hundreds More Military Members
Gun Owner Says Landlord Is Evicting Him Over Firearms
98-Year-Old's Birthday Surprise: Eviction Notice From Her Son

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]]>Dean Cottrillfather eviction by daughterJaclyn FraleyJanice CottrillJohn Potterveteran evictionworld war II veteranGraham Wood2013-04-24T19:00:00 00:00Courtney Sale Ross Officially Lists Hamptons Home for $75 Millionhttp://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/courtney-sale-ross-officially-lists-hamptons-home-for-75-millio/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/courtney-sale-ross-officially-lists-hamptons-home-for-75-millio/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/courtney-sale-ross-officially-lists-hamptons-home-for-75-millio/#commentsFiled under: ,

Courtney Sale Ross home

At the end of January, we got all worked up when we heard that Courtney Sale Ross, widow of Time Warner kingpin Steven J. Ross, had slapped her $75 million Hamptons home on the market. At the time, it was a pocket listing -- not open to the public. What must this place look like, we wondered. Well, Ross' monstrous home has now officially hit the market publicly -- and we're still left wondering.

There are a few photos of the 7,500-square-foot beachside behemoth via the Sotheby's International Realty listing, but they don't give us a sense at all of the home's grandiosity. Don't you just hate that? Recently, Manhattan's priciest penthouse -- the late investor Martin Zweig's $125 million triplex atop the Pierre Hotel -- came on the market after a firestorm of media hype. And all we got for that was eight photos' worth of eye candy. What's up with that?

Anyway, we digress. The Real Estalker first reported the public listing of the seven-bedroom, six-bathroom home in the elite Georgica Pond neighborhood near East Hampton, N.Y. It's nicknamed "The Cody House," after a nickname for Steven Ross. According to Realty Today, Steven Spielberg, Kelly Klein and Harry Macklowe are among the celebs populating the beachfront community.

The sale of the 5.42-acre property, which includes a three-bedroom guesthouse and a kidney-shaped swimming pool, seems to be Courtney Ross' latest effort to downsize. Last year, she sold her 20-room condo at 740 Park Ave. in Manhattan for $52.5 million. Well, that must have been a weight off her shoulders. We wish we could tell you more about her Hamptons estate -- and why she should be so bold as to ask $75 million for it -- but alas, details are slim.

See more photos of the home below.

Find homes for sale in the Hamptons, or search listings in your area.

Courtney Sale Ross home

Courtney Sale Ross home

Courtney Sale Ross home

Courtney Sale Ross home

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10 Most Expensive Houses In The World

 

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]]>Courtney Sale RossCourtney Sale Ross Hamptons homehamptons real estateSteven J. RossGraham Wood2013-04-22T16:26:00 00:00Realtor Raps On Tight Inventory: 'All the Houses Gettin' Sold'http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/all-the-houses-gettin-sold-rap-video/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/all-the-houses-gettin-sold-rap-video/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/all-the-houses-gettin-sold-rap-video/#commentsFiled under: ,,




There are two things you can learn from the video above: housing inventory is really, really tight. ... and Realtors should never rap. Of course, that's just our opinion. And we're sure not everyone will heed our warning.

Brian Block in rap video Anyway, Realtor Brian Block of Re/Max Allegiance -- now the Lil' Wayne of home selling -- created a rap video called "Houses Gettin' Sold" about homes flying off the market in the Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., area. Housing inventory has been strikingly low across the country, frustrating many house hunters who have been finding themselves in fierce bidding wars for almost every home that is for sale. And that's particularly true for the D.C. area, where "there's just over one-month supply of homes on the market," Block said in a blog post on ActiveRain.com.

Block illustrates that point in a rhyming duet with a lovely lady in his video. The woman raps: "I'm lookin' for a house / drivin' all around / it's a very hot area / I've been told." Block pops up with a stop sign and a lyrical retort: "Stop! ... All the houses getting' sold."

Yeah. Despite its information about the local market, after watching it don't say we didn't warn you.

See more on on housing inventory:
Realtors Try Cold-Calling
Housing Is Back! Best Moves for Homebuyers
U.S. New-Home Sales Jump to Highest Since July 2008

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]]>all the houses gettin soldbrian blockhomebuying tipshousing inventoryrealtorsviral videoGraham Wood2013-04-22T13:11:00 00:00More Young Couples Say 'I Do' to Buying a Home Before Marriagehttp://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/millennials-buying-home-before-marriage/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/millennials-buying-home-before-marriage/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/millennials-buying-home-before-marriage/#commentsFiled under: ,,

Homebuying before marriage

First comes love ... then comes a house ... then comes marriage. Getting hitched may not be the ultimate sign of commitment these days as more and more couples opt to buy a house together before walking down the aisle, new research shows. Nearly 1 in 4 married couples ages 18 to 34 purchased a home together before getting married, according to a recent Coldwell Banker Real Estate survey released this week. That compares to just 14 percent of married couples ages 45 and older.

That's a reflection of millennials' shifting attitudes toward commitment, said psychotherapist Dr. Robi Ludwig. "People are very commitment oriented, but millennials are much more pragmatic," she told AOL Real Estate. "I think millennials are saying that if we want to have the life we want, we need to make smart decisions early on. ... The home becomes the new engagement ring -- and in some ways, the new wedding."

Buying a home before marriage, Steve Roman, Zina MirandaIt's not that these young couples are less committed by putting the purchase of a house before a wedding. According to the Coldwell Banker survey, 80 percent of all married couples who bought a home together at any stage of their relationship said that purchase strengthened their bond more than any other purchase they've made. (The survey of 2,116 adults was conducted March 8-12, reported USA Today.)

For Zina Miranda and her fiance, Steve Roman, both 24 (and both pictured at left), buying a house was the next logical step after getting engaged. They're not due to marry until May 2014, but this June will mark their five-year anniversary, and they were just ready to take the real estate plunge. The couple recently bought a house in Patchogue, N.Y.

"We got engaged, and I was like, 'OK, let's start looking [for a house]," Miranda told AOL Real Estate. "It was just a really good opportunity to buy a house. We had been saving a long time."

Does she think that buying a home proves their commitment to each other even more than getting married? "On some level, yes," Miranda said. The couple's venture into homeownership is doubly important to them: It's the first time they've lived together. "This is the house I could live in through the rest of my life," she added.

While that might be a beautiful thing for young couples in love, the legal ramifications of buying before marriage could be a little uglier. John Braun, a real estate attorney at Thomas Law Group in Minneapolis, said that he has one word of advice for couples buying a home before marriage: Don't.

If you buy a home before marriage, Braun explained, you basically sign a contract that gives you both equal ownership of the house, but not joint ownership (at least until marriage). In the event one of the partners dies, their share of the house goes to their heirs, not the other partner. And if you never make it to the altar and break up, well, "you are left owning a piece of property with someone who is wishing that you would die," Braun joked.

"When I am not scaring people away from [buying a house before marriage] altogether, I usually recommend that they have an agreement that governs their ownership interests whatever happens," he said. "This kind of contract sets forth the contributions made by each party, establishes a right of either party to demand that the property be sold and makes a bunch of other decisions by agreement in advance that are impossible to make by agreement when the parties hate each other. This is an area where an hour or two with an attorney can really pay off in the long run; untangling these interests down the road is a time-consuming -- and expensive -- undertaking."

See more on young homebuyers:
Millennials Forge Fresh Trends in Homebuying
What Homebuyers Want the Most in Their New Houses
Should Young People Buy Homes? Weighing the Pros and Cons

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3 Things Homebuyers Hate

 

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]]>buying a home before marriagehomebuyingmillennialsGraham Wood2013-04-18T15:56:00 00:00Landlord Dennis Alan Van Dusen's Smoke Detectors Hid Spy Camerashttp://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/dennis-alan-van-dusen-spies-tenants/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/dennis-alan-van-dusen-spies-tenants/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/dennis-alan-van-dusen-spies-tenants/#commentsFiled under: ,

Dennis Alan Van Dusen's smoke detector conceals camera

A landlord in Chevy Chase, Md., has pleaded guilty to spying on female tenants living in his suburban home and watching them have sex. Dennis Alan Van Dusen, 64, stuck hidden cameras inside smoke detectors in the home to record his tenants' intimate moments with their boyfriends and also filmed them through windows, NBC Washington reported. Van Dusen, a Harvard-educated lawyer, was convicted of a misdemeanor and faces sentencing in July.

Dennis Alan Van Dusen spy camera video"He's a modern-day Peeping Tom," Montgomery County state's attorney spokesman Ramon Korionoff told NBC Washington. "He stole not only these women's privacy, he stole their peace of mind." One of the victims expressed disbelief that Van Dusen's crime was classified as a misdemeanor. "The criminal justice system needs to keep up with technology," the victim, who asked not to be identified, told WUSA-TV in Washington, D.C.

According to prosecutors statements to local media, Van Dusen's spying was discovered by one of the victims when she noticed that the smoke detector in her room was not flashing and beeping like the other detectors in the home during power outages. The victim had read an article in Cosmopolitan magazine about other landlords using fake smoke detectors to spy on tenants and that's when she checked out the smoke detector in her room and found the cameras.

The Washington Post reported that Van Dusen was accused of charging below-market rents of $600 or less to entice female tenants to live in the home, though Van Dusen denied this. His home is reportedly worth $1.1 million. Police searched Van Dusen's house and found sexual images on his computer, the Post said. Prosecutors have said they are seeking an 18-month jail sentence for Van Dusen. According to the ABA Journal, two of Van Dusen's tenants are pursuing lawsuits against him.

Unfortunately, stories of electronic spying landlords aren't uncommon. In a prominent case from October 2012, a landlord in tony East Hampton, N.Y., was accused of using hidden cameras to spy on a family "in the nude" and capture their "bedroom activities." The family was suing for $4.6 million. And a second lawsuit reportedly was filed against the landlord, Donald Torr, in January by a different family -- seeking $14.1 million.

View more videos at: http://nbcwashington.com.

See also:
Tenants: Keep Your Landlord in Check
Gun Owner Says Landlord Is Evicting Him Over Firearms
Tenants at Brooklyn's Greenpoint Hotel Battle Squalor and Landlord

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]]>chevy chase marylandDennis Alan Van Dusenlandlord hidden cameraslandlord spying on renterslandlordsPeeping TomGraham Wood2013-04-18T14:45:00 00:00Kalamazoo Homeowner Wins $115,000 After Lead-Paint Scarehttp://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/04/17/brandi-crawford-johnson-lead-paint-home/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/04/17/brandi-crawford-johnson-lead-paint-home/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/04/17/brandi-crawford-johnson-lead-paint-home/#commentsFiled under: ,,

Crawford Johnson home, Kalamazoo, Mich.

A family in Kalamazoo, Mich., that bought a home from that city for only $3,200 -- ended up getting $115,000 in return when the fixer-upper turned out to be potentially toxic. The 1,800-square-foot home (pictured above) was a tax foreclosure that the city of Kalamazoo sold to Brandi Crawford Johnson, her husband, Adrian Johnson, and their 8-year-old son. But city officials didn't warn them of the hazard that the home posed before the family bought it: The house was found by a contractor to be caked in layers of lead-based paint, the Michigan news site MLive.com reported.

Lead has been called the "number one environmental threat to the health of children in the United States" by the Environmental Protection Agency. High levels of lead exposure can lead to convulsions, coma and death, and lower levels can have harmful effects on almost every system in the body. It is particularly harmful to children because lead can severely damage their physical and mental development. The Consumer Product Safety Commission banned the use of lead in household paints in 1977, but homes built prior to 1978 may still contain lead-based paint. The home that the Johnson family bought is 110 years old.

Layers of lead paint on siding of Crawford Johnson homeIt wasn't until earlier this year -- after the family purchased the house -- that the city notified them of its failure to provide information related to the possibility of lead-based paint in the home. The U.S. government requires and explicitly states that sellers and landlords must disclose any knowledge or risk of lead-based paint in homes built prior to 1978 before a contract with a buyer is signed.

The family's contractor, Mike Fehler of Midwest Training & Environmental Services, told MLive that the exterior siding of their house (pictured above left) could be coated in as many as 10 layers of lead-based paint. Other parts of the home also tested positive for lead, including the dining room floor, kitchen, windows and soil on the property. "This is a huge job, a very, very huge job," Fehler said.

"I've always wanted to live in the city since I was a little girl," Crawford Johnson told MLive.com. "I always wanted to have one of those big porches to look out of since I was a little girl. I believe that God intended for me to buy this house." She said that her family already had spent $25,000 renovating the place and had hoped to rehab the home and help restore the neighborhood. "We knew we were going to get windows and we had planned on getting a lot of stuff done to this house," she said.

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Crawford Johnson filed a lawsuit against the city of Kalamazoo after the discovery of lead-based paint in the home. The city recently approved a $115,000 settlement in the case, acknowledging that officials failed to provide appropriate documentation about possible lead in the home. However, the city said that it did not know that lead actually existed on the property, and it was not required to test for it before selling the property.

Crawford Johnson told MLive that the settlement money is already spent: $75,000 to $80,000 for removing the lead from the property, $15,000 for attorney's fees, $5,000 for savings and the remainder for renovating the house and paying for temporary shelter. "It was a huge, huge stressful situation," she added. "It's not like I'm getting rich off the city by any means."

If you're concerned about the presence of lead-based paint in your home, the EPA has tips on how to reduce lead exposure. And for the safety of children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has information on how to prevent lead poisoning in young children.



See more about lead paint: Lead Poisoning in Old Homes: DIYers Beware

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]]>Brandi Crawford Johsonhome improvementhome maintenancehousehold hazardsKalamazoolead paintGraham Wood2013-04-17T12:41:00 00:00Signs the Housing Recovery Has Moved Into Your Neighborhoodhttp://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/housing-recovery-signs-your-neighborhood/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/housing-recovery-signs-your-neighborhood/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/housing-recovery-signs-your-neighborhood/#commentsFiled under: ,,

Housing recovery signsJust because all the talking heads are saying "housing is back!" doesn't mean everyone is buying it. There's a high degree of skepticism surrounding the housing recovery, according to a recent survey by the MacArthur Foundation. According to the survey, 77 percent of homeowners don't believe the housing crisis is over, with some saying the worst is yet to come. That hasn't stopped the overwhelming chorus of economists and housing experts chanting about the real estate market being in a full-swing recovery. So how do you know if the housing recovery is real? Well, see for yourself.

There are a number of signs just outside your front door that can tell you whether your own neighborhood is experiencing a recovery. Housing is local, after all, and just because some parts of California are experiencing a housing frenzy doesn't mean people living on the opposite coast are. Click through the gallery below to see seven signs that can tell you whether your neighborhood is being nursed back to housing health.

Find homes for sale in your neighborhood.


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CEFs Banking on a Housing Recovery

 

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]]>housing markethousing recoveryhousing recovery neighborhoodssigns of housing recoveryGraham Wood2013-04-10T17:15:00 00:00Intricate Underground City for Homeless Uncovered In Kansas City, Mo.http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/http:/realestate.aol.com/blog/on/underground-city-homeless-kansas-city/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/http:/realestate.aol.com/blog/on/underground-city-homeless-kansas-city/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/http:/realestate.aol.com/blog/on/underground-city-homeless-kansas-city/#commentsFiled under:

Underground suburb tunnel, Kansas City

Police in Kansas City, Mo., have uncovered an "underground suburb" where homeless people have been living, the likes of which homeless outreach groups have never seen, local station KMBC-TV reported. An intricate network of tunnels and caves had been carved underground, some as far down as 20 to 25 feet. Inside, police found rooms with bedding and candles. There were tents propped above ground, suggesting that several people were calling the unlikely place home.

"This one kind of goes back," Officer Jason Cooley said, in describing a tunnel to KMBC, while surveying the grounds. "The tents over here, I can guarantee you they're still lived-in because of the condition they're in. They're clean. They were more than likely used just last night."

According to The Kansas City Star, some of the entryways to the underground tunnels were concealed, while others had wood stacked around them or were completely open. Police discovered the underground complex while investigating cases of copper theft in a nearby industrial area. They came back to evict the homeless "tenants" because of squalid conditions, KMBC reported. "We're working to find out if, in fact, they've got kids down here because this is not a safe environment for that," Cooley said. A pile of diapers had been found at the scene. Police used Bobcat bulldozers to dig up the debris surrounding the campsite and to fill in the tunnels dug underground.

When police returned Friday with Hope Faith Ministries, an outreach group, to disassemble the camp, they found four people there. It wasn't clear when the underground network was built or how many people were living there. Those suspected of living there are also thought to be connected to the rash of thefts in the area.

Hope Faith Ministries offered services to the homeless residents, and three of the four said they would accept the help, the Star reported. "By providing help for these people in this manner, maybe they won't feel the need to go out and steal because they're getting services they need to be able to live and survive," Cooley told KMBC.

This is a sad case of people trying to survive by literally going underground, but we've seen much happier uses of underground spaces. Our favorite is the case English homeowner John Wiggins, who built a replica of an iron mine under his backyard. The mine has a 150-foot corridor that looks exactly like the mines that were prevalent in his area back in the 1800s.

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See more on homelessness:
Homeless Man's Camouflaged Shack Shielded Him From Authorities for Months, Police Say
U.S. Homeless Rate Stays Steady Despite Government Efforts to Curb It
Homeless Man Allegedly Rents Out Vacant Home to Tenants

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]]>Hope Faith MinistriesJason CooleyKansas Cityunderground cityunderground homeless cityGraham Wood2013-04-09T14:45:00 00:00Jane Bashara Murder Home: Scene of Notorious Crime Up for Salehttp://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/jane-bashara-murder-home-grosse-pointe-park/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/jane-bashara-murder-home-grosse-pointe-park/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/jane-bashara-murder-home-grosse-pointe-park/#commentsFiled under:



On the market: A cute and spacious 2,800-square-foot Colonial in Grosse Pointe Park, Mich., with four beds and baths, remodeled kitchen, wine cellar and bar -- and one heck of a backstory. This quaint abode can be all yours, if you're OK with the fact that it's the notorious scene of a national-headline-grabbing murder.

The unassuming house on Middlesex Road is where Jane Bashara, the wife of successful businessman Bob Bashara, was killed. Jane Bashara's death snatched national attention in January 2012 when her body was discovered strangled in her Mercedes-Benz SUV in a Detroit alley. A handyman named Joe Gentz told police that he killed Jane in the garage of her home, claiming her husband paid him to do it and threatened to kill him if he didn't follow through. Bob was never charged in his wife's murder, but the plot thickened when he admitted to putting a hit out for Gentz's death while Gentz was serving a prison sentence for Jane's death. Both men are now behind bars.

The Bashara home was put on the market this week, and there's something curious about the listing. It's being offered for $415,000, more than its assessed value, Detroit TV station WXYZ reported. It's unusual that a home with ties to such a terrible event isn't being offered at a discount. Most famous murder homes are deeply discounted to entice buyers who may be put off by their sordid histories. (Of course, that may not be the case with the "Black Dahlia" murder home in Los Angeles, where the famous murder of Elizabeth Short was thought to have taken place in the 1940s. That home is on the market for $4.89 million.)

WXYZ reported that prosecutors are still discussing the possibility of charging Bob Bashara in Jane's death. Bob is serving a prison sentence of 80 months to 20 years for the attempted hit on Gentz, and Gentz is serving up to 28 years for Jane Bashara's murder.

See the listing for the Bashara home.

Find more homes for sale in Grosse Pointe Park, Mich., or search listings in your area.

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Who Lives in Famous Murder Homes Now
Full Disclosure Laws: Woman Sues Seller, Realtor Over Home's Notorious Past
Jeffrey Dahmer's Former Home On the Market

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]]>Bob BasharaDetroitDetroit real estateGrosse Pointe ParkJane BasharaJane Bashara murder homeJoe Gentzmurder homesstigma homesGraham Wood2013-04-04T15:45:00 00:00American Dream of ... Renting? Survey Finds Shifting Attitudes Toward Homeownershiphttp://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/macarthur-foundation-survey-housing-attitudes/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/macarthur-foundation-survey-housing-attitudes/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/macarthur-foundation-survey-housing-attitudes/#commentsFiled under:

The American dream of homeownership for many could be turning into the American dream of renting. Despite a battered housing market that is bouncing back nicely, coupled with historically low interest rates and affordable home prices, a large swath of Americans are beginning to look at renting as an equal or better long-term option than owning, according to a new survey on housing attitudes.

The MacArthur Foundation found that even though a majority of Americans still aspire to own their own home one day, they're shifting their ideas of what it means to achieve the American dream. Fifty-seven percent of survey respondents said they believe "buying has become less appealing," while 54 percent said that "renting has become more appealing" since the housing crash.

"The public is recognizing that owning is not the only acceptable option, and the sense that renting is somehow undesirable appears to be fading," the MacArthur Foundation said in its announcement of its survey results. That shows in the 45 percent of current homeowner respondents who said they could see themselves renting at some point in the future, and the 61 percent of overall respondents who said they believe that "renters can be just as successful as owners at achieving the American Dream."

The survey questioned 1,433 adults between Feb. 27 and March 10 and is part of the MacArthur Foundation's "How Housing Matters" initiative, which pays for research looking at "if and how housing leads to improved outcomes in child well-being, physical and mental health, education and economic opportunity," according to The New York Times.

These findings might seem startling in the face of a housing recovery that's steaming full-speed ahead. Home prices have been posting the best year-over-year gains since 2006, sales have been healthy and confidence has been returning to the housing market. But the major driver of the recovery has been investors who often snap up distressed properties at discounts and rent them out. Still largely missing from home buying activity are first-time buyers and everyday homeowners trading up. The MacArthur survey perhaps sheds light on the psyche of those everyday buyers, who are still staying on the sidelines.

The survey also found a high degree of skepticism around the housing recovery. Seventy-seven percent of respondents weren't ready to jump on board with the notion that the housing crash is over, saying they believe the country is still in the middle of a crisis or that the worst is yet to come. And 65 percent said they think national housing policy should be evenly focused on renting and owning, instead of promoting one over the other.

See more:
Most Young Consumers Want to Buy a Home, Survey Finds
Another Housing Bubble? Recovery Shows Dangerous Signs, Reports Say
People Are Becoming More and More Confident in Housing Market

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]]>america dreamamerican dream of homeownershipbuy vs rentbuying a homeHomeOwnershiphousing attitudesMacArthur Foundationrentingrenting better than buyingGraham Wood2013-04-04T12:00:00 00:00Pierre Penthouse: What Makes a Home Worth $125 Million?http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/pierre-penthouse-martin-zweig/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/pierre-penthouse-martin-zweig/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/pierre-penthouse-martin-zweig/#commentsFiled under:



Though The New York Times got the first look inside New York City's unbelievably opulent Pierre Hotel penthouse (pictured above), the $125 million listing officially stormed the Internet on Tuesday. It's the three-story home atop one of Manhattan's ritziest hotels that was once owned by the late investor Martin Zweig, who predicted the 1987 stock market crash three days before it happened. The home's jaw-dropping black marble staircase and sweeping living room -- which used to be the hotel's ballroom -- has garnered real estate fame for years.

But even with all that, is it really worth $125 million?! What exactly makes a home worth that much? Well, it's all in perspective. If you ask Pierre penthouse listing agent Elizabeth Lee Sample, you're paying for art.

"Because this is a one-of-a-kind penthouse, it was hard to set a price because nothing really compares," Sample told the Times. "I think of it, and I believe the buyer will see it, as a work of art." The New York Observer opined that this notion of homes as art is the crutch that many agents of uber-expensive listings fall on to justify the sky-high prices. And it's true: People will shell out ungodly amounts in the name of art. (Edvard Munch's iconic painting "The Scream" fetched $120 million last May, for example.)

Indeed, there are a number of cases where Realtors pull the "art card." Take the most expensive listing in America at the moment, the Crespi/Hicks estate (pictured at left) in Dallas. The 42,500-square-foot home originally built for an Italian count has a $135 million price tag. And why not? It's an "Architecturally Significant Home," according to the listing's website (which is actually called SignificantHomes.com). With a headline that reads "Architecture as Art," the listing boasts that the Crespi/Hicks home is the kind that hits the market "once in a generation. ... The finest estate homes elevate the cultural consciousness."

And who can forget New York City's $100 million octagonal triplex penthouse? It supposedly had the highest wraparound terraces in the city, plus 135 windows so you wouldn't miss a view anywhere in the place. The home's owner, real estate developer Steven Klar, was trying to sell it as -- can you guess? -- a piece of art. "Art is what people are willing to pay for, and an apartment like this is like a piece of art," Klar told the Times last July. (Never mind that inferior $90 million penthouse in the building going up next door, which was already beginning to block the $100 million Central Park views.)

So next time you see a crazy-expensive home on the market and you think, "Who on earth would pay that?!" Just remember, it's art -- and art is worth a lot.

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]]>home valuesMartin Zweigmost expensive homesmost expensive homes in AmericaPierre HotelPierre penthouseGraham Wood2013-04-03T14:30:00 00:00Man Shames Wife He's Divorcing With Angry Sign Hung on Househttp://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/04/01/robin-baker-divorce-sign-house/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/04/01/robin-baker-divorce-sign-house/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/04/01/robin-baker-divorce-sign-house/#commentsFiled under:



Most unhappy couples might prefer that their divorce dramas play out privately in their own homes. This man had a different idea: He's taking the battle with his wife public and letting the drama play out on his home. With a 6-foot-by-4-foot sign blasting his wife affixed to the front of his house, now the whole neighborhood knows Robin and Jeanette Baker's business.

Robin Baker (pictured above), 45, of Leicestershire, England, is divorcing his wife of 22 years, Jeanette. Robin claims that one day after a fight, he came home to find their house emptied of all of their belongings. "I came home after one row and the house was stripped bare," he told the Daily Mail. "[Jeanette] and her family had taken literally everything -- they hadn't even left me a teaspoon. The curtains were gone, the curtain rails were gone, even the plants from the garden had gone." (The emptied home's interior is pictured below.)

So Robin decided to respond -- to the whole world. He scrawled a message to his wife and hung it on their house, reading: "Woman you stripped this house bare. I proved you a liar in court. Your (sic) getting f--- all." (That's a British colloquialism meaning "you'll get nothing.")

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"I thought I would put this sign up to show her that she wasn't getting anything," Robin told the Daily Mail. "I did it to get the message out that she won't walk all over me." The couple is currently fighting over their $193,000 house. Robin said his wife is seeking half of the equity in the house, "but I'd sooner get it repossessed than her have some of it. ... It's our house but I paid the mortgage and paid everything. I wanted to prove to other [men] that they don't have to let their ex walk all over them."

Robin said he's gotten a positive response to the sign, with people driving by and honking in support and even one man who knocked on his door just to shake his hand. Neighbors seem to find it amusing: One woman who lives in the neighborhood told the Daily Mail, "It's one way of putting his point across, I suppose. I think he's a little bit upset. I've never seen anything like it before. I think he wants to get his message across in a big way. It is quite eye-catching."

Jeanette Baker has not responded publicly to her husband's claims and makeshift sign. Robin's in good company: A woman from Oregon attracted national attention last year when she posted a sign in front of her home advertising her husband's philandering ways and their divorce. Elle Zober of Beaverton, Ore., was trying to sell her home with a for-sale sign that read: "Husband left us for a 22-year-old ... House For Sale by scorned, slightly bitter, newly single owner."

See more:
Jessica Simpson's Parents Having Trouble Offloading Home in Divorce?
Buying a 'Divorce' Home Has Its Perks
Living Apart Together: Separate Spaces Keep These Married Couples Close

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]]>divorceJeanette BakerRobin Bakersign on houseGraham Wood2013-04-01T17:30:00 00:00Tampa Apartment Complex to Get Renovations to Curb Violencehttp://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/30/central-court-apartments-tampa-renovation/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/30/central-court-apartments-tampa-renovation/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/30/central-court-apartments-tampa-renovation/#commentsFiled under:



Crime, violence and conditions in which people "are living like pigs" has turned a notorious apartment complex in Tampa, Fla., into a stain on the neighborhood. In the stairwell of the Central Court Apartments is where police shot and killed a 16-year-old who they said was armed last July, sparking a firestorm of controversy in the community. (Family and friends, however, have said he was not armed.) While that outrage still lingers, local officials are hoping a new measure will help heal the pain of reeling residents and wipe clean the bad reputation of the complex: a total renovation.

Tampa City Council leaders and Mayor Bob Buckhorn announced that they are putting $2.5 million toward the rehab of Central Court in hopes that the improvements will curb violence at the complex, the Tampa Bay Times reported. The upgrades will include a security gate at the front of the complex, new security cameras throughout the building, landscaping and other rehab work to the courtyard, and new cabinets, floors, dishwashers and air-conditioning units for all 68 apartments.

"It was a tragic incident that took place that brought a lot of tension in this community," said Councilman Frank Reddick at a news conference. "You will see a complete transformation of this complex, and it's going to be beautiful." Residents of Central Court said they've been complaining about problems at the complex for years. Michael Molinari, vice president of Southport Development, told Tampa station Bay News 9 that his company has been trying to get funding to renovate Central Court for three years -- long before last year's tragic shooting death of 16-year-old Javon Neal. But for residents, it's never too late.

"This is going to change a whole lot of other kids' lives up in here, and maybe they will be able to live in peace instead of having to dodge and run from bullets," Neal's mother, Kethessa Fordoms, told Bay News 9. In an interview with Tampa's ABC Action News, Fordoms added: "I think it's a better chance that these kids can come up doing right now, because all they got is negativity around them. They are living like pigs."

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Central Court resident Vernette Jackson (pictured above left), who has lived in her apartment for 13 years and said Neal was a family friend, told ABC Action News that her own family doesn't want to come visit her at her home because of the complex's reputation. "I have nieces, nephews -- I know they don't like to come over here no more," she said as tears streamed down her face. "And these are babies. Just imagine how a baby feels -- well, imagine how a grown-up feels." Jackson took ABC Action News into her apartment, where there is a hole in the wall under her A/C unit, cracks in her kitchen, a bathroom floor that has been ruined by leaks and a closet that leaks when it rains. "When it rains real, real hard, I have to take all my clothes and put them on the bed," Jackson said of the closet leak.

The renovations to the complex are set to start in April and be completed by Christmastime. In the case of the death of 16-year-old Neal, police said the teen was pointing a gun at them and they shot him in self-defense. Residents who witnessed the shooting, however, have said that Neal was not armed and put his hands up when police told him to, but the authorities pulled the trigger anyway.

 

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]]>Central Court ApartmentsrenovationTampaGraham Wood2013-03-30T12:30:00 00:00Ex-NFL Star Warren Sapp's Florida Mansion Finally Sellshttp://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/28/warren-sapps-florida-mansion-sold/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/28/warren-sapps-florida-mansion-sold/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/28/warren-sapps-florida-mansion-sold/#commentsFiled under: ,,

Warren Sapp home, Windermere, Fla.

It's been a long road for ex-NFL star Warren Sapp. The former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Oakland Raiders defensive tackle filed for bankruptcy in April 2012, with reportedly nothing left in his bank accounts but a little more than $1,000 from his $77 million in NFL earnings -- and $6.7 million in debt to pay off. He threw his prized possessions on the auction block to scrounge up some quick cash: his collection of more than 200 pairs of sneakers, a boxing glove signed by Muhammad Ali and, perhaps hardest of all to part with, a drop-dead gorgeous 10,000-square-foot Mediterranean mansion in Windermere, Fla.

Warren SappThe house was listed for $3.774 million by a bankruptcy court in September, and at an auction, celebrity fitness guru Brenda Dykgraff won out with a $2.1 million bid. But a judge rejected the offer, and the court began seeking a higher one. Now, six months later, it looks as if the court has snagged a bid that it can live with. Not more than two weeks ago, Sapp's estate hit the market again, this time for $2.9 million -- and it's already sold, according to Realtor.com. (The listing has since been taken down.)

It's too bad that Sapp got himself in such a financial tangle. The Windermere home originally was worth more than $7 million. Sapp did sort his money problems out (though he still owes a chunk to the IRS for unpaid taxes), but that house is officially out of his hands. Cheers to the new owner, though. In case you hadn't heard, the mansion has maybe the most eye-popping pool and water slide you've ever laid eyes on.

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See also:
Ravens' Ray Lewis Lists Palm Beach Home
Michael Jordan Buys Massive North Carolina Home for a Great Deal
Miami Heat's Chris Bosh Renting Home in Pacific Palisades for How Much?!

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]]>bankruptcy auctionwarren sappwarren sapp bankruptcywarren sapp homeWindermere FloridaGraham Wood2013-03-28T17:30:00 00:00Is California's Wild Housing Market a Sign of a Bubble?http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/28/california-housing-bubble/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/28/california-housing-bubble/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/28/california-housing-bubble/#commentsFiled under:

Housing bubble: California may be the site of a new one.California is the comeback kid of the housing recovery. Though home prices are making annual gains not seen since 2006, The Golden State sticks out as one where they are on a startlingly dramatic swing upward. California prices have posted double-digit hikes on a year-over-year basis for eight consecutive months. In other words, they're rising fast -- very fast.

And now California is sweeping the top cities where home list prices are rising the fastest. Six of the top seven cities -- which all saw list prices jump more than 20 percent year-over-year in February -- are in California, according to Realtor.com. That's great, but perhaps a little scary.

As some experts have been warning recently, housing conditions like California's could be an early sign that we're headed into another housing bubble. Buyers all over the state are getting into bidding wars, home prices are on a steep incline that some say is unsustainable, and open houses are once again attracting a frenzy of house hunters. This is what we saw in 2005 and 2006. So should California, despite all its encouraging news, be making us worried? Not necessarily.

"It's important to put these increases [in home prices] into perspective," said Errol Samuelson, president of Realtor.com. "Despite these gains, home prices nationally in January were still 21.4 percent lower than they were at the peak of the housing boom in June 2006. In California, the losses were much worse. Homeowners lost more than half the value of their homes when prices fell. Today, California prices are still 34.8 percent below the peak level. California prices haven't even recovered half of what was lost."

There's another reason today's sharp increase in prices differs from the days of the housing bubble: There are real fundamentals behind them. It's not pure speculation. Jed Kolko, Trulia's chief economist, noted that solid job growth in California's coastal areas are putting more buyers in the market, allowing sellers to raise prices because of demand. At the same time, housing inventory is lower than it has been in a decade, another element that typically drives prices higher. (But that should ease as more homeowners become confident about trying their hand at selling.) Plus, Samuelson added, government regulations are preventing another housing boom based on unqualified buyers being able to snag mortgages that they couldn't afford in the first place.

So for now, what's happening is just a strong recovery, not a bubble. Still, it is rather surprising how fast prices are bouncing back in California. Click through the gallery below to see the seven cities where list prices are rising the fastest.

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See more:
In the 10 Best Cities for Jobs, Hot Housing Markets, Too
10 Best Cities to Own a Home
5 Best Cities to Sell a Home Right Now

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Chinese Buyers Snapping Up U.S. Real Estate

 

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]]>california home pricescalifornia housing bubblecalifornia real estatefastest rising list priceshome priceshousing bubblehousing recoveryGraham Wood2013-03-28T08:00:00 00:00This Is How Comedienne Rita Rudner Sells a Home (VIDEO)http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/26/rita-rudner-home-listing-video/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/26/rita-rudner-home-listing-video/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/26/rita-rudner-home-listing-video/#commentsFiled under: ,




Wanna know something funny about Rita Rudner? She can sell the pants off a home -- if a home wore pants. The legendary comedienne, who became a household name with her sensational stand-up antics, is taking the lead role in selling her own beach house in Dana Point, Calif. And she's hoping that she can make somebody laugh all the way to the bank ... to shell out $8.975 million to snap up her home.

Rita Rudner home tourThe YouTube video above is a house tour of Rudner's gorgeous oceanfront spread hosted by none other than the funny woman herself. "I'm Rita Rudner, and welcome to my beach house. I call it that because this is a beach and this is a house," she says matter-of-factly in the video as the camera pans across a gleaming white-sand beach. As she strolls through her 5,000-square-foot home, she lands joke after joke. We have to say, it's funny as heck. The only thing not so humorous? The hole in our pocket where there is definitely not an extra $9 million bucks lying around to buy this beauty.

The home speaks for itself -- or at least Rudner speaks for it -- so instead, we'll outline the funniest jabs you can expect Rudner to make about the home's features in this hilarious video:

On the living room: "This is the living room, where we do roughly 33½ percent of our living. Some nights, my husband and I stare into the fireplace and drink and ... argue."

On the kitchen: "[The kitchen has] something I have always wanted ... a warming drawer. You can keep your food warm while you're cooking other food, but don't limit yourself to food. You can warm just about anything, including braziers and fake jewelry."

On the patio: "This patio is so private that Kate Middleton sunbathed naked right here. Nobody took a picture. It is such a private patio that a hummingbird has just given birth in our palm tree."

On the elevator: "One of the great things about this house is it has an elevator, which is great for groceries -- and my mother-in-law."

On the house in general: "If you buy this house, do you know what you get? You get a free -- that's right, I said free! -- tissue."

Rudner's five-bedroom, five-bath home is truly a steal, recently given a $1 million price chop, according to the listing. It has retractable glass doors that disappear into the wall, letting the inside and outside flow into each other. The private patio off the master bedroom has an in-ground spa and barbecue. There's also a home theater, gourmet kitchen and jaw-dropping ocean views. See more of Rudner's fabulous abode in the gallery below.

Harold Noriega and Danielle Bowen of Sotheby's International Realty have the listing.

Find more homes for sale in Dana Point, Calif., or search listings in your area.

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]]>dana point homes for saledana point real estateRita RudnerRita Rudner beach houserita rudner homeRita Rudner listing videoGraham Wood2013-03-26T15:15:00 00:00Petition: Want Marriage Equality? Paint Capitol Building Rainbowhttp://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/22/petition-want-marriage-equality-paint-capitol-building-rainbow/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/22/petition-want-marriage-equality-paint-capitol-building-rainbow/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/22/petition-want-marriage-equality-paint-capitol-building-rainbow/#commentsFiled under: ,

Gay-pride-colored Capitol dome

Pictured above is what the dome of the U.S. Capitol might look like if painted in the rainbow colors of the gay pride flag. Would you love to see that in real life? So would one real estate firm, which has filed a White House petition to do just that.

Online listings site Estately.com is lobbying for the home of the House and Senate -- and one of the most famous landmarks in American history -- to be splashed with the colors of gay pride for as long as it takes for all 50 states to legalize gay marriage. "Since not every congressional representative has a gay son to personally remind him/her that marriage equality is a basic human right, it is deemed necessary to paint the U.S. Capitol the colors of the gay pride flag," the petition states. "For those who find it easy to ignore the LGBT community's quest for the same basic rights [as] heterosexuals, this blast of color would provide a clear reminder of the injustice millions experience in this country."

Planting Peace house, Topeka, Kan.In a blog post on Estately's website, the firm says it got its inspiration for the petition from the head of nonprofit group Planting Peace, who recently painted his house -- which sits across the street from the outspoken anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan. -- in rainbow colors (pictured at left). Estately wants to see the exterior of the Capitol building and the carpeted floors of the House and Senate changed to bright rainbow colors in hopes that the coloring "might help [anti-gay marriage politicians] realize the absurdity of their stubborn views," Estately spokesman Ryan Nickum told AOL Real Estate.

So far, the District of Columbia and nine states have legalized gay marriage. The nine states are: Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and Washington. Rhode Island recognizes out-of-state marriages, and California briefly recognized same-sex marriages in 2008 before a voter-approved ban passed. That ban was found to be unconstitutional by a federal appeals court and that ruling is being reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Estately's petition to change the colors of the Capitol Building needs 100,000 signatures by April 20 to be considered by the White House. As of Friday evening, it only had 10. Now the firm said it has no expectations of its petition actually becoming reality, but it's an interesting statement as public opinion and political figureheads continue to coalesce around the issue of legalizing gay marriage. (Hillary Clinton recently announced her support for gay marriage, and on the GOP side, so did Ohio Sen. Rob Portman.) AOL Real Estate spoke to Nickum to learn more about Estately's bold (and colorful) move.

Q. What do you expect this petition to accomplish?

A. We have no delusions of grandeur that this will be the White House petition heard round the world, but our hope is to draw further attention to the absurdity of those who work to deprive same-sex couples the right to marry. We think a senator sitting in a ridiculously bright rainbow-colored office would eventually see the absurdity of his outdated views and change his or her vote.

Q. Do you think it's risky for a company like Estately to so closely align itself to a social cause like gay marriage? Any fear of alienating clients?

A. Yeah, it's a concern, but gay marriage is something that affects our business, too: Preventing people from marrying makes buying and selling homes immensely and unnecessarily more complicated and expensive. Our energies are spent trying to improve our real-estate search to make finding a home to buy easier, so the challenges homebuyers experience is always on our mind.

Beyond the business decision, making a statement that same-sex couples deserve the same rights and opportunities to be happy that heterosexual couples enjoy is simply the right thing to do, and it's something people and companies across this country do every single day.

Q. Say your petition does get the needed 100,000 signatures. What's your next move?

A. I guess we'd have to wait and see how the White House responds to the petition, but in the unlikely chance the paint job gets the OK, I guess we'd celebrate with a jumbo bag of Skittles and a round of beers. If they needed volunteers to paint the Capitol, I'd be happy to fly back to D.C. to help. I bet the cherry blossoms would look beautiful offset by the sun reflecting off the rainbow-colored dome. Might be a real boost for tourism.

Q. If you could paint and design the U.S. Capitol, what would it be like?

A. Personally, the Capitol building as it is now is an inspiring site -- not just for its architecture but as a symbol of what it represents. I just wish the decisions made under its dome would live up to its promise.

Visit Esately.com to learn more and sign Estately's White House petition.

See also:
Painting Tips for Home Staging
Top Tips for Interior Painting Projects
Sell Your Home With These Paint Colors

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]]>capitol building rainbow colorsestatelyestately gay marriage petitiongay marriagehillary clinton gay marriagemarriage equalitypetition capitol building rainbow colorssupreme court gay marriageGraham Wood2013-03-22T19:30:00 00:00