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Unique Homes of the Word - Mexico City
The Nautilus
Background: This seashell-shaped home was completed in 2006. The stone steps running along the shrubs lead to the front door, which blends into the mosaic façade.
Why It’s Unique: Architect Javier Sensonian practices what he calls “bio-architecture," a style that has led him to design buildings shaped like snakes, whales and several other creatures. The Nautilus was created to imitate a crustacean’s shell, and its cavernous interior is filled with vegetation and small trees. “It’s not common that you would see a home of this design ascetic," Koliopoulos says. “However, it’s very enlightening and something that we can all learn from.
A house is not a HOME until you make it yours! Ready to create your masterpiece today? Call Laura Key at 310.866.8422 for a free homebuying consultation!
"Read more: Source: Popular Mechanics
Remodeling’s ‘Value’ on the Upswing
Now that the housing market is back, home improvements are, too. And they’re paying off better than in years past. 2013 is shaping up pretty sweetly for home owners.
First, there were the home owner-centric tax benefits (energy tax credits, PMI deduction,mortgage debt forgiveness) that Congress and the President extended through 2013; and now, we’re seeing that our home improvement dollars are working harder.
After several bruising years, spending on remodeling projects is up and so too is your return on your remodeling dollars. The national average percentage recoup on all 35 projects in Remodeling Magazine’s 2013 Cost vs. Value Report rose since last year.
What a different story from 2012, when the ROI dropped in all but three categories.
The annual report is based on a survey that asks REALTORS® around the country to estimate what specific projects, from adding an attic bedroom to installing new windows, would recoup in their market at resale under current conditions.
Of course, what you recoup depends on the specifics of your project, your market, and when you sell. But the report offers a great bird's-eye view of project costs and returns.
So which projects offer the best value for the money?
Exterior projects like siding, window, and garage door replacements took seven of the top 10 spots in this year’s list.
Makes sense since REALTORS® always say curb appeal is half the battle when you’re trying to sell.
Although it’s not in the top 10, I was gratified to see that the backup generator project is up about 5 percentage points since 2012. One of our bloggers, Lisa Kaplan Gordon, invested in a portable generator last year after one too many storms and power outages, and despite the learning curve, she was glad she did. She had power when a lot of her neighbors didn’t; she even shared power.
Indoors, the top-10 projects include a minor kitchen remodel (involving cabinet refacingand new countertops and appliances), which recouped 75.4% nationally.
Kitchen redo aside, replacement projects, such as installing an entry door or new siding,tend to have a higher cost-to-value ratio than remodeling projects. But now that housing has turned a corner, home owners are stepping up their remodeling plans.
Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies saw 9% growth in remodeling in 2012 and predicts that trend will continue as more and more distressed properties are bought and rehabbed.
The housing group says interest in energy-efficiency updates will keep on trucking, too. It’s the one area where spending on remodeling projects rose during the recession.
I’m betting the revived energy tax credit will add fuel to that trend.
By: Christina Hoffmann Published: January 24, 2013
www.KeyCaliforniaHomes.com • Laura.A.Key@gmail.com
The U.S. Foreclosure Crisis, Beverly Hills-Style
The dynamics of the residential real estate collapse are very different in elite neighborhoods
The careworn house not far from Santa Monica Boulevard resembles millions of other homes that have been foreclosed on since the calamitous U.S. housing crash four years ago.
Garbage spews from trash bags behind the property. A smashed television leans against broken furniture. A filthy toy dog lies on its side, an ear draped across its face. The garden is overgrown. The house needs a paint job.
Yet the property on North Rexford Drive, Beverly Hills, California, is no ordinary foreclosure.
A sprawling, Spanish-style estate, fringed by majestic pine trees and located near the boutiques of Santa Monica Boulevard, its former owners were served with a default notice in 2010; they were $205,000 behind in their payments on mortgages totaling $6.9 million.
Welcome to foreclosure Beverly Hills-style.
Some 180 houses in Beverly Hills, the storied Los Angeles enclave rich with Hollywood stars and music moguls, have been foreclosed on by lenders, scheduled for auction, or served with a default notice, the highest level since the 2008 financial crash, according to a Reuters analysis of figures compiled by RealtyTrac, which tracks foreclosures nationwide.
As in the default-ravaged suburban subdivisions of Phoenix, Arizona, and Tampa, Florida, plunging realestate
prices are the root of the problem in Beverly Hills.
But the dynamics of the residential real estate collapse are very different in elite neighborhoods such as this. The majority of delinquent homeowners here owe more than $1 million. Many are walking away not because they can't pay, but because they judge it would be foolish to keep doing so.
"It's a business decision, not an emotional one which it is for normal people," said Deborah Bremner, owner of the Bremner Group at Coldwell Banker, which specializes in high-end properties in the Los Angeles area. "I go to cocktail parties and all people are talking about is whether it is time to walk away, although they will never be quoted in the real world."
She said she had seen in Beverly Hills a big increase in "strategic defaults," in which owners who can still afford to make their monthly mortgage payment choose not to because the property is now worth so much less than the giant loan used to buy it during the housing bubble.
Bremner said she helped a client buy a Beverly Hills mansion last year that the prior owner had bought for over $4 million. He decided to stop paying his $3 million mortgage - even though he could easily afford it - when the value of the property had dropped to $2.5 million.
"They were able to comfortably cover the loan," Bremner said. "They were just no longer willing to see the value of the property drop."
A huge "shadow inventory" is building of elite homes that are in default but have not been put on the market. Of the 180 distressed properties in Beverly Hills, only 12 are up for sale.
The backlog reflects the pent-up flood of foreclosed properties of all price ranges that are expected to hit the U.S. market this year, especially after five major banks reached a $25 billion settlement last week with the U.S. over fraudulent foreclosure practices.
'Jumbo' loans
Across the United States, the largest increase in foreclosures and delinquencies, compared with 2008 levels, is with "jumbo" mortgages - loans too large to be insured by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government controlled mortgage finance providers. Foreclosures on jumbo loans are up 579 percent since 2008, greater than any other form of loan, according to a report last month by Lender Processing Services, Inc.
Strategic defaults are now more likely among jumbo loan-holders than any other type of borrower, according to a report issued late last year by JPMorgan Chase & Co. Nearly 40 percent of delinquencies among non-governmental mortgages, which are mostly jumbo loans, are strategic defaults, the report said.
"Now that these homeowners with jumbo loans are finding out you can do this, more and more are doing strategic foreclosures," said Jon Maddux the CEO of YouWalkAway.com, which advises homeowners who are "underwater," the term for those whose loans exceed the value of their home.
Nathaniel J. Friedman, a Beverly Hills lawyer, insists he is not a strategic defaulter - that he never missed a mortgage payment in his life. But he stopped making payments on his five-bedroom, six-bathroom Beverly Hills house on Schuyler Road three years ago.
Friedman, who had mortgages totaling $3 million with the now-defunct Countrywide Home Loans, returned home one evening in January 2009 to find a letter from Countrywide freezing his $150,000 line of credit, which was linked to his second $900,000 loan. His primary loan was $2.1 million. The property is worth about $2 million today.
Friedman says he decided to stop paying out of a sense of vengeance from the moment he received that letter. He has been in negotiations for months with Bank of America, which took over Countrywide after its collapse, to modify the loan.
"I thought to hell with it," he told Reuters. "Why should I keep feeding a dead horse if the bank has no confidence in me?"
"I was able to maneuver things my way because of the inertia of the banking sector," Friedman said. He believes the bank will blink first, and eventually modify his loan.
Source: Thomson Reuters, www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46411361/ns/business-real_estate/#.Tz1aT8VSSKY
The Realty Goddess is Moving from Denver to Los Angeles
Just a few short weeks ago I was very content and happy in Denver. Business is good, family is well, life is....well...LIFE! Then out of the blue "change" hit me. There are many reasons for my move to Los Angeles. I am going to miss Denver very much as well as all of my clients. (I will not leave you without guided hands! - more to come) As I reflect upon this change, I see it as a wonderful adventure. Most of you know I am just a little ole' country girl from Prospect Kentucky with an accent to match. When we moved to Denver in 2000 I thought I would never get use to the "big city". At the time "T-REX I-25" project was starting and the traffic scared me half to death! Somehow as time moved on things got better. I worked as a secretary in Genesee for about five years then "change" hit me hard and I decided to become a Realtor. That change was one for the better. I love people and that makes my job a perfect fit for me. Even though I got in when the "bottom" started to sink, I survived! I have been in the business for five years and out of about 12 people who started with me at the Real Estate School, I am the only one left in the business. I am pretty proud of that! I have made many wonderful memories here in Denver. One's I can share with my grandchildren one day, but now it's time to move on. Los Angeles is going to be such a huge change for me. I am currently packing, working, and studying for my California real estate license. Change can be good. I look forward to running with the big dogs....only I will be running in heels! (wink) There are some things I am a bit afraid of, but what is life for if you don't face fears and grow? I'm ready for the challenge and I plan to take the lessons learned here in Denver and put them to wonderful use there.
I have picked which office I will align myself with. More on that to come! But for now I want you to share my journey, join me on this new path and watch me grow.
I want to say "THANK YOU" to all my clients, friends and mentors. As I reflect over the past 10 years, I see I have made WONDERFUL friends in all of you! Your support has been so fabulous and I am forever grateful!
So here we go...just a few more weeks of packing, renting the house, finishing business and studying....then this Realty Goddess is going to join the City of Angels!
Share my world!
Great Eats in Denver Colorado
What a fabulous place I found this week! I was being my usual "Realty Goddess" self by taking a great Real Estate class. The place it was held was the "Brio Tuscan Grill" in Cherry Creek. Now usually when we have realtor seminars and classes we go to a boring and cold lecture room, but this was a pleasant surprise! When our server brought a fabulous "Bacon & Egg Sandwich" to our table I was a bit shocked! We were getting spoiled! Let me tell you something.....that sandwich was FABULOUS and it left me wanting to visit "Brio" for more!
If you are in the area, please stop by and give them a try!
Brio Tuscan Grill 2500 East 1st Avenue Denver, CO 80206
Thinking of moving to the area? Start here!
Laura Key is Denver’s Realty Goddess. She had taken the time to educate herself so she can work hard for you. As a Full Time Realtor, she can guide you through all the mud that you may face in your home adventures. Known to spoil her clients, she takes her job serious but also makes it fun! Contact her today! 720.939.1401 Laura@Realty-Goddess.com