Home values rose for the second month in a row in April, and saw the biggest increase since January 2006. The Zillow Home Value Index rose 0.7% from March to April, to $147,300.

It’s another positive sign for the housing market, and continued increases will mean a drop in the number we put out yesterday, which showed 31.4% of homeowners with mortgages are underwater.

Of course, as demand heats up, we’re seeing an even more interesting dynamic in the housing market. Many want to buy, but not enough homeowners are selling. Negative equity at least partially explains that. Because it ties homeowners to their homes, making it more difficult to sell. In turn, that can mean not enough homes for hungry buyers.

Our chief economist Dr. Stan Humphries explains it further: “The housing market continues to show positive signs, with home values increasing significantly in April. The recovery is moving in the right direction, but we caution that negative equity will cast a long shadow over the housing market. With almost one-third of homeowners with mortgages underwater and unable to sell their homes, inventory is having a hard time keeping up with increasing demand in many areas. We’ll continue to watch this signal as increasing home values turn from a blip into a trend.”

For more information, visit our Research Page.

To make this data available to each and every one of you, we’ve worked with Stamen Design to create an interactive tool to allow you to explore the rates of negative equity in your local area. Just enter in your county, city, or ZIP code to narrow into your area. Click on the image below to enter the interactive map.

Source: showbiz411.com

She must really want it sold.

Otherwise, why would media mogul Oprah Winfrey slash the price for her stunning 4,600-square-foot Chicago condo?

Winfrey has re-listed the 3-bedroom, 4-bathroom co-op at 199 E. Lakeshore Drive for $2.8 million, which is exactly half of the $5.6 million she paid for the place in 2006.

According to the Chicago Tribune, which reported the news Wednesday, Oprah spends most of her time at her palatial digs in California and Hawaii since leaving her show last year. She still owns a duplex nearby in Chicago’s coveted Gold Coast real estate market, but has apparently ramped up efforts to divest of the condo she bought in 2006 but never moved into.

After trying to sell the condo in 2008, Winfrey had it listed as a rental for $15,000 a month. According to the Tribune, the pressure is on to finally get the elegant abode sold.

The unit that Winfrey is trying to sell is one of 13 apartments in a Beaux-Arts-style building that was built in 1913 and designed by architect Benjamin Marshall.  It has three full baths, two half baths, 10-foot ceilings, two fireplaces, an inner foyer, a library, a solarium, a formal dining room, a butler’s pantry, a wine room, a custom eat-in kitchen, a 1,241-square-foot master bedroom with his and hers bathrooms and an en-suite guest bedroom.

Related:

• Hunger Games’ Josh Hutcherson Buys Home Once Owned by DeGeneres, Ledger
• Leonardo DiCaprio’s Malibu Home for Rent
• Donna Summer’s Lasting (Real Estate) Legacy

Zsa Zsa Gabor’s home has bounced on and off the market over the past few years, with the Bel Air home sustaining a steady series of price cuts.

Until now. The home’s list price has actually been increased by $2 million to $14.9 million.

Maybe Gabor, 95, and husband Frederic Prinz von Anhalt caught wind of the latest news: The real estate market  has yielded the biggest monthly gain in home values since 2006.

Or, as was explained to The Hollywood Reporter: The home was priced too low.

It’s true that you can’t put a price on a property’s legacy and Gabor’s home definitely has Hollywood history to spare. The silver screen starlet purchased the place in 1974. Over the years, the 26-room home has welcomed a parade political and Hollywood elites, such as Ronald Reagan, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor and both former Presidents Bush: George H.W. and George W.

The home was also leased by recluse Howard Hughes for most of the 1960s, but one bit of historical fact has been debunked as fiction: The home was never owned by Elvis Presley, something that Gabor claimed when the home was last on the market.

Elvis or no Elvis, the home is still a grand property, sitting on over an acre with views of downtown Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean. According to one interview with von Anhalt, the massive home is too large for the couple. And with increasing medical bills for Gabor, the financial burden is too great.

According to the lawsuit filed for conservatorship by Gabor’s daughter Constance Francesca Gabor Hilton, von Anhalt hasn’t been paying mortgage payments on the home. A notice of default was recorded against the property in February.

The 8,878-square-foot property has 7 bedrooms, 7 baths and several indoor/outdoor entertaining spaces. An enormous master suite, pool, grand salon and formal dining room round out the rest of the celebrity home.

According to the mortgage calculator, a monthly payment on Gabor’s home would be $54,294, assuming a 20 percent down payment on a 30-year-mortgage.

Related:

• Hunger Games’ Josh Hutcherson Buys Home Once Owned by DeGeneres, Ledger
• Leonardo DiCaprio’s Malibu Home for Rent
• Donna Summer’s Lasting (Real Estate) Legacy

Chances are you know someone in this boat. Maybe yourself. According to the Zillow Negative Equity Report, which was released today, nearly one in three homeowners with a mortgage — 15.7 million people — were underwater on their mortgage in the first quarter of this year.

Chicago's Cook County shows it is among the highest 10% in the U.S. in terms of negative equity

Those are sobering numbers. Homeowners this week were quick to point out the most frustrating downside to being underwater: putting dreams of a new house on ice because selling would mean taking an unaffordable loss.

In Chicago’s Ravenswood neighborhood, Georgia Gaconnet said the two-bedroom condo she and her husband bought in October 2009 has started to feel cramped since the birth of their daughter last year. Their condo, bought for $199,000, has dropped at least $50,000 in value, Gaconnet said, and their plans for a second child have had to wait.

“It’s kind of like we’re at a standstill,” Gaconnet, a hospital research technician, said. “We’d take such a loss to walk away.”

Michael P. Smith, a 38-year-old clinical chemist, said he owed $200,000 on his house in Lansing, MI when a job offer came up in Detroit, 85 miles away, that he couldn’t pass up. Because the move was voluntary, a short sale wasn’t an option. Their house sold for $170,000, and Smith and his wife resorted to borrowing $40,000 from his parents to cover the shortfall, plus closing costs.

“It was a good home,” said Smith, who moved into their new home in Troy, MI last month. “It wasn’t that we couldn’t afford it; it just took a dive and we were stuck.”

“Paper loss”

A drop in home value is usually what pushes a homeowner underwater — an increase in mortgage debt can, too — so it may seem surprising that the volume of underwater homeowners, which fell slightly last year, has seen a new uptick even as home values are starting to rise. In part, this is because the pace of foreclosures slowed after banks came under scrutiny for using “robo-signers.” Fewer foreclosures has meant more homeowners left with a home, but underwater.

As swollen as negative equity levels are, the problem has proved manageable — so far, anyway. Four in ten underwater homeowners owe less than 20 percent more than the value of their home. Ninety percent continue to make their loan payments on time.

So for the vast majority of underwater homeowners it remains a “paper loss,” Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries said. “As home values slowly increase and these homeowners continue to pay down their principal, they will surface again,” he said.

That said, Humphries points out that a spike in unemployment or a slow-down in economic growth could push more homeowners into delinquency and foreclosure.

Homeowners stretched

Rita Baumgartner counts herself in this danger-zone category. Baumgartner, who retired and moved to Spring Hill, FL  from Atlanta in 2005, had planned to spend five years in her two-bedroom ranch then sell and upgrade. Instead the house she bought for $159,900, which sits on a golf course and 15 miles from the Gulf coast, is now valued by Zillow at $88,000. She owes $145,000.

Baumgartner said her small pension and Social Security earnings are getting harder to stretch. Recently she’s taken to clipping coupons most mornings from her neighbor’s newspaper. “The bottom line is: come the end of the year I’ll be looking for a job,” said Baumgartner, who is in her early 60s.

Florida is a sea of red with 46.3 percent of all homeowners facing negative equity.

The new Zillow Negative Equity Report, released today, aims to give a more comprehensive look at how deeply American homeowners are underwater. To calculate negative equity, other reports rely on estimates of the original amount of a homeowner’s mortgage. Zillow instead compares the current outstanding amount of a homeowner’s loan, or loans, against the estimated value of their home.

Florida ranks fourth in terms of negative equity. First is Nevada, where two in three homeowners with mortgages is underwater. In hard-hit Las Vegas — like 2.4 million homeowners across the country —  more than one in four people with mortgages owe double what their home is worth.

Editor’s note: To see the full negative equity report, visit Zillow Research. Additionally, to see how homeowners in your area are faring, visit our interactive negative equity heat map in Zillow’s brand-new “Zillow Visuals” section.

But we didn’t stop there! We made the most popular real estate app on Android even better by adding a suite of new features to both our tablet and smartphone apps. Home shoppers now have the ability to:

• Draw one or more boundaries around neighborhoods of any shape and size with the touch of a finger
• Save personalized boundary searches to a list of saved searches
• View notifications, (new homes added to saved searches), and favorite homes on a map
• Email or delete multiple homes from the favorite homes list

Users with the Zillow app on their Android phone get an additional bonus of now having access to the rich experience of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace. With this integration, users have easy access to important financial information and tools whenever they need it during the home-shopping process – whether they are standing in the living room of their dream home for sale, or getting ready to make an offer. Zillow Android app users can now utilize:

• The payment calculator, which helps consumers estimate what their monthly payment will look like for a particular home that interests them.

• The refinance calculator, which allows consumers to compare their current loan and new loan quote to estimate potential savings if they refinance.

The mortgage shopping experience also enables users to request and receive personalized loan quotes, read lender reviews, and connect with a lender to start the pre-approval process with one tap of a finger.

Zillow Mortgage Marketplace is integrated into the  Zillow iPhone app and is available as a standalone app for iPhone and Android.

Our next update is coming soon, so stay tuned. Don’t have a Zillow Real Estate App yet? Join the house hunt today and download a free Zillow app for your device here!

Source: IMDb

Although the divorce is finalized, there are still a few strings remaining between Kelsey and Camille Grammer. Namely, their two homes have yet to sell, including a ski home in Colorado and an estate in Beverly Glen.

While both homes  have bounced on and off the market, the Grammers’ former hideaway is back on the Beverly Glen market for $17.999 million, which — believe it or not — is a discount from the previous price tag.

The couple bought the 10,567-sq ft house for $13.7 million in 2007. Like a few other celebrities, Kelsey has a habit of buying and flipping homes. After completely remodeling, he attempted to sell for $19.9 million in 2008. With no bites and a pending divorce, the house fell off the market.

The 7-bedroom, 9-bathroom home sits on one acre and features a spacious living room, media room, dining room, gourmet kitchen, gym, motor court, and large, outdoor swimming pool.

The Emmy-award winning sitcom star and producer amassed quite the real estate portfolio while married to Camille. In addition to the Colorado and Beverly Hills homes, the two had over $100 million worth of properties, including:

• 1.88+ acre parcel on Weave Hollow in Andes, NY (Delaware County). Reports show that Grammer owns a 19th-century, 2,800-sq ft farmhouse that was built in 1900.

• 2 properties in Hawaii — one which was purchased for $6 million in 2003, and the other for $1.75 million in May 2006.
• a Bridgehampton estate
• several New York apartments

Kelsey recently added another house to his suite of properties — a 6-bed, 7-bath residence in Beverly Hills he picked up for $6.5 million with his new wife, Kayte Walsh. The pair is expecting twins this summer.

The home is listed by Christopher Dyson of Keller Williams Realty. According to this home affordability calculator, a monthly payment on the home would be $65,554, assuming a 20 percent down payment on a 30-year-mortgage.

Related:

• New Jersey Real Housewife Wants Out — Of Her Home That Is
• Real Estate Woes of Real Housewives
• Real Housewife Beverly Vanderpump Sells Mansion

A home buyer is driving around a neighborhood, scoping out potential homes. (Not so hard to imagine, is it?)

They stop by a lovely home with a for-sale sign in the yard. They whip out their iPhone, Android, or whatever is their smart phone of choice, fire up a real estate search app, and enter the address. (Also not so hard to imagine, is it?) This is what they see on their screen:

“Huh,” they say to themselves. Maybe they jot down the agent’s name and number from the sign. Maybe they jot down the address to search more when they get home. Maybe they call the agent on the sign.

Or, maybe they just drive down the street to the next home for sale and see this on their mobile device:

Now they can look at 17 full-screen photos, they know the list price, the square footage, the number of beds and baths, when it was built, the pricing history, the property tax history, and recent comparable sales.

With one click they can get a map that shows nearby schools and restaurants.

They can save the listing, make notes, even share the listing via email, Twitter or Facebook.

“Hey honey, how about this one?”

All that from the comfort of the front seat of their car, without ever stepping out into rain, snow, sleet, hail, blistering heat, or whatever the case may be.

That’s the power of having your listing on a website with a top-rated mobile app.

Where do home buyers start?

Some will say that every home buyer goes through Google.

Not necessarily.

If you don’t think home buyers are using mobile search apps, think again. In April, 150 million homes were viewed on Zillow Mobile – that’s 58 homes per second*.

Each month, more homes are now viewed via Zillow on a mobile device than on the Web.

Shouldn’t your listing be on Zillow’s Mobile platforms?

Think you can’t afford it?

Sure you can. It’s free.

Personally, I used to think the “You’ve got to be on mobile!” mantra was more overhyped, next-greatest-thing-ever that was going to fix all my real estate woes nonsense. Then I watched as mobile access to my own real estate site increased to well over 20% of visitors (and that’s on a non-mobile optimized site). Then I looked at my iPhone and realized the VAST majority of my interaction with it, and I spend significant time on my iPhone, was via native apps.

“Go mobile!” isn’t just hype. It’s the real deal. Consumers are there, and I am 100% convinced your listings need to be there too.

As always, I’m here to help, or discuss this further. Drop me a line at JayT AT Zillow DOT com and let’s chat mobile!

* Source: Google Analytics, April 2012

“For bathrooms, minimizing utility costs is a principal concern for homeowners and products such as LED lighting, dual-flush and water-saving toilets are in increasing demand,” said AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker.

Energy-Saving Features

The green movement in home design and home decor is far from a passing fad. Eco-friendly features have become more mainstream each year, with both the AIA and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reporting an increase of energy-efficient products, features and design. Those numbers have transferred to the bathroom, where the AIA reports that more homeowners are asking for LED lighting and water-saving or dual-flush toilets.

Invented in Australia, a dual-flush toilet changes the water volume depending on the type of waste being flushed. The toilet uses more water for solid waste, less for liquid waste and can save 67 percent water and lessen your water bill.

This bathroom in an Issaquah home for sale (above) lists a dual-flush toilet as one of its features.

Accessibility and Universal Design

The next biggest movement in home design is implementing features that improve accessibility. Twenty-five percent of America’s population of more than 300 million are Baby Boomers — people born during the post-World War II years of 1946 to 1964. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, by 2030 there will be 70 million Baby Boomers over the age of 75. The median age will increase from 35.5 in 2000 to a peak of 39.1 in 2035. As the Baby Boomers age, home design will need to adapt.

Twenty percent of home builders expect new construction to embrace aging in place with more universal access in new homes, reports the NAHB. Both the AIA and NAHB note that age-friendly features don’t have to be institutional. Simple changes like grab bars, floating vanities that allow for wheelchair access and wider doorways make a big impact on accessibility.

Open Showers

One of the biggest changes in design noted by the AIA comes in the way of showers. “Curbless” showers that are easily accessed by those with limited mobility are finding their way more and more into homes.

This Huntington Beach home (above) has a curbless shower, pictured above, which gives a person with limited mobility easier access.

Wet Bathrooms

Another trend in home showers are doorless showers or “wet bathrooms.” Rather than create a separate shower unit, more homes have showers without doors that blend seamlessly into the space.

This Phoenix home for sale (above) features a door-less shower, a feature that is increasingly requested by homeowners.

And while many of these features are green in nature, the survey also found that people still like comfort and convenience. Radiant heated floors scored high as well as linen/storage closets.

Related:

• Architectural Study Reveals Latest Kitchen Trends
• New Design Trends Embrace Aging in the Home
• Green Homes are Here to Stay as Demand for Energy Efficiency Grows

While all of this is good news for sellers, buyers remain in the driver’s seat in many parts of the country. To determine the metros where buyers had the most negotiating power, Zillow looked at factors including percentage of listings with price cuts, the median price cut, foreclosure re-sales, and the difference between the final list price and the final sale price. You may be surprised at which places made our Best Places to Bargain list.

Rockford, IL

Home values in Rockford are quite affordable compared to the rest of the country. The Zillow Home Value Index shows the median home value in Rockford is currently $77,700, well below the national average of $146,200. Nearly 40 percent of listings in March had a price cut and the median price cut was 8 percent.  Price cuts usually signal to buyers there is room to negotiate and that’s no exception here. Buyers in Rockford were able to negotiate another 6 percent off the listing price for this home for sale for $97,000 (below):

See other Rockford homes for-sale

Punta Gorda, FL

Florida was hit hard by the housing crisis but things are starting to turn around in certain areas. Home values in Punta Gorda were up over 3 percent from last quarter. In Punta Gorda, 36 percent of all listings in March had a price cut (median price was almost 8 percent).

This Punta Gorda home is for sale for $115,000 and recently added a $10,000 price cut (below):

See more Punta Gorda homes for-sale

Cleveland, OH

Listings with price cuts are on the rise in Cleveland with nearly 36 percent of listings in March taking a hit. Twenty-six percent of all sales in March were foreclosures, which means there is a lot of distressed inventory that helps keep a lid on the price of non-distressed listings. All of this means there are bargains for buyers in Cleveland.

This Cleveland home is for sale for $106,900 (below) and  just recently experienced a $2,100 price cut.

See more homes for sale in Cleveland

Chicago, IL

Home values in Chicago have fallen almost 38 percent since the Chicago market peaked in 2006, which means buyers are looking at home values back at 2003 levels. Thirty-eight percent of listings in March had a price cut, up nearly 6 percent from a year ago. Median price cut was around 7 percent and buyers were able to negotiate another 5 percent off the last list price.

This Chicago home (below) is for sale $156,500

See more homes for sale in Chicago

Sarasota, FL

Another Florida market is experiencing some good news, with home values rising over the past quarter and month.  Despite the rise in values, buyers still have a lot of power here as 34 percent of the listings in March had price cuts and buyers were able to negotiate 6 percent off the list price.

This Sarasota home is for sale for $124,977 (below) and just recently experienced a $3,800 price cut.

See more homes for sale in Sarasota

New Haven, CT

Almost 37 percent of all listings in March had price cuts in New Haven, up 10 percent year over year.  The median price was 6 percent and buyers were able to knock off another 6 percent off the last price by the time of close.

This New Haven home (below) is for sale for $199,000:

See more New Haven homes for sale

Philadelphia, PA

While home values in Philadelphia weren’t hit nearly as hard as most of the country, they are still down 20 percent from their peak in 2007 to a current median home value of $103,700. Thirty-five percent of listings had a price cut in March, with the median price cut at almost 6 percent. Zillow’s data shows buyers are able to negotiate 5 percent off the list price.

This Philadelphia home is for sale for $184,900 and just recently had a price cut of $5,000.

See more Philadelphia homes for sale

Source: IMDb

Josh Hutcherson was no stranger to the big screen when he was selected for blockbuster film “The Hunger Games. The 19-year-old had previous roles in “Bridge to Terabithia,” “Journey to the Center of the Earth” and “Kids are Alright,” but his role as Peeta Mellarck firmly put Hutcherson on Hollywood’s hot list.

With a contract inked out for the second and third installment of The Hunger Games trilogy, Hutcherson decided to cement his arrival in Tinseltown with a purchase of a Hollywood Hills home.

Of course the 19-year-old didn’t buy just any property for his first L.A. home; Hutcherson picked up a place that was previously owned by two Hollywood heavyweights: Heath Ledger and Ellen DeGeneres.

According to listing records, Ledger purchased the property from DeGeneres in August 2005 for $2,100,021. He and his girlfriend, Michelle Williams, lived there throughout their relationship and the birth of their daughter until their split in 2007. After Ledger’s death in Manhattan in January 2008, the Hollywood Hills home was put on the market and sold that July for $2.5 million.

Since then, the mid-century has bounced on and off the real estate market, most recently listed for $2.995 million. It’s unclear whether Hutcherson snatched the home for a deeper discount.

Built in 1951, the mid-century has only 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and 1,861 square feet of living space, but it has over 2,000 square feet of outdoor living spaces including a multiple decks hidden by the greenery of trees, which lends to its nickname as “The Tree House.” One of the decks has a movie projector and lounge area; other spaces feature more seating, a barbecue and dining area.

Like many of the celebrity properties in the area, the home sits behind on a long, gated drive.
Related:

• Leonardo DiCaprio’s Malibu Home for Rent
• Donna Summer’s Lasting (Real Estate) Legacy
• Ryan Seacrest Sticks Hollywood Hills Home on Market

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate hovered between 3.55 and 3.6 percent for the majority of the week, jumping to the current rate this morning.

“Mortgage rates remained historically low during the past week as continuing concerns about eurozone economic stability offset the positive tone G8 leaders set with a united commitment to support growth in that area,” said Erin Lantz, director of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace.

“In the run up to the Memorial Day weekend we expect rates will remain fairly flat, still depressed by lingering concerns about Europe,” added Lantz.

Additionally, the 15-year fixed mortgage rate this morning was 3.93 percent and for 5/1 ARMs, the rate was 2.54 percent.

What are the rates right now? Check Zillow Mortgage Marketplace for up-to-the-minute mortgage rates for your state.

*The weekly rate chart illustrates the average 30-year fixed interest in six-hour intervals.

And with Facebook’s long-awaited IPO on the NASDAQ last week, the social website’s creator and execs have officially joined the technology billionaires’ club.

Facebook’s stock price may have retreated from its opening mark, but even that surprising price fade could not keep it from being the third-largest IPO ever.

In honor of Facebook’s heralded entry into the public domain — and the billions in cash it generated for the company and investors — we’re taking a look at the Facebook founders’ real estate holdings as well as other titans of the tech industry.

Mark Zuckerberg

Source: DigitalTrends

Facebook founder and CEO
Net worth: $15.5 billion

For years, the 28-year-old Facebook founder was a renter, preferring modest homes within walking distance of the company headquarters in Menlo Park. Despite a net worth topping $15 billion, he bought a 5-bedroom, 5.5-bath home for $7 million. The 5,617-square-feet Palo Alto home (above) has more than enough room for Zuckerberg, including an outdoor gazebo with wood-burning fireplace, salt-water swimming pool, and spa. The home is set back from the street, covered partially by greenery. It’s luxe, but pales in comparison to some of Zuckerberg’s peers.

Sean Parker

Napster founder and former Facebook president
Net worth: $2.1 billion

Sean Parker still has a 4 percent stake in Facebook, meaning the recent IPO upped his net worth significantly. Parker purchased a Greenwich Village party house nicknamed the “Bacchus House” for $20 million in January 2011 after renting it for $45,000 a month. The Beaux Arts-style home (above) is situated on one of the best streets in Greenwich Village, adjacent to a row of aristocratic mansions. The 7,500-square-foot home includes 6 bedrooms, 7.5 baths, a highly coveted private garage, indoor pool and a landscaped atrium.

Sheryl Sandberg

Facebook COO
Net worth: $2.7 billion

Sheryl Sandberg owns a stately home right in the heart of the Bay Area with her husband David Goldberg, CEO of SurveyMonkey. The power couple hosted President Barack Obama at their Atherton house (above) for a $38,500 per person fundraiser in September 2011. Sandberg and Goldberg purchased the 12,470-square-foot home in 2004 for $7.995 million.

Peter Thiel

PayPal co-founder and Facebook early investor
Net worth: $1.5 billion

Thiel prefers to live outside of Silicon Valley in a home above the Sunset Strip. The property — coined the Chasen residence (above) — was originally built in 1950 by Hollywood designer Paul Revere Williams for restauranteur Dave Chasen. Like other billionaires, Thiel had the home completely customized, so the current property facts (4 bedrooms, 5 baths) may not tell the true story of the home’s interior design. Reuters reports he owns 2.5 percent of Facebook.

Bill Gates

Source: Flickr user TikTik

Microsoft founder
Net worth: $61 billion

It’s safe to say that the second-richest man in the world — checking in at $61 billion — could live wherever he wants. But Seattle is home for the Microsoft founder, who has long lived in a custom family compound on Lake Washington in Medina, an enclave that looks directly across the lake to Seattle. Gates’ 5-acre estate includes both a family and guest wing, 6 kitchens, a 60-foot swimming pool, domed library, 1,000-sq ft dining hall and is said to be chock full of tech-savvy amenities (secret bookcases, sound-activated lighting and underwater music system.)

Larry Ellison

Source: Business Week

Oracle founder
Net worth:$36 billion

Ellison racks up an approximate $1.84 billion salary as the CEO and founder of Oracle. In addition to making sizable charitable donations, Ellison shows no shame in spending his self-made millions on personal items. His prized possessions include a private yacht, private jet, numerous exotic cars and a Woodside, CA estate, inspired by ancient Japanese architecture (pictured above.) Ellison’s unique property spreads over 23 acres, includes a 7,800-sq ft main house, 9 other buildings and sits on a 2.3-acre, man-made lake.  Before constructing the custom compound, Ellison sifted through a 5,000-square feet Manhattan penthouse, 8,000-sq ft Atherton mansion, and spent over $180,000,000 on 12 properties in Malibu. His most recent real estate investment includes a $10.5-million splurge in January 2010 on the historic Astor’s Beechwood Mansion in Newport, RI. His Woodside home is his main residence.

Eric Schmidt

Google executive chairman

Net worth: $6.3 billion

Eric Schmidt enjoys his non-Google time with his family in the affluent neighborhood of Atherton. Located on a large, private lot, Schmidt’s home has approximately 4,840 square feet with 5 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. Schmidt also owns a $20 million Montecito property that he purchased in 2007 from Hollywood couple Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi. It’s him (and Google) we have to thank for many of the aerial photos in this post.

Related:

• Leonardo DiCaprio’s Malibu Home for Rent
• Donna Summer’s Lasting (Real Estate) Legacy
• Ryan Seacrest Sticks Hollywood Hills Home on Market

Being a month defined by transition, May is an ideal time to take care of basic maintenance inside and outside the house. Better to find out now that you have a faulty air conditioner, roof leak, or deck in need of refinishing than to later disrupt the more pleasurable pursuits of summer.

Here are my five top “must-dos” for the month of May:

1.  SEAL YOUR DRIVEWAY

We all know that winter has a way of taking its toll on the exterior of the house, but don’t overlook the driveway. Damage from the sun, oil and gas spills, rain, wind and fluctuations in temperature all contribute to the breakdown of asphalt over time. As water permeates cracks in the material, it can settle down at the base and compromise the asphalt composition. Cracks filled with water can also freeze, causing expansion in winter and grass outgrowths in summer.

If you haven’t sealed your driveway in the past two years, do it now to preserve its good looks and durability. And don’t be afraid to tackle the job yourself. It is the perfect DIY weekend project (provided you choose a weekend with no rain in the forecast). Here’s how:

Step 1: Prepare the surface. If there are gas and oil spills, clean them with a mild detergent (not doing so will only result in the stains “bleeding” through the sealer). Remove any grass that might be growing in cracks and use an edge trimmer to reduce grass along driveway edges. Repair cracks and fissures with a crack sealer or patch compound. Use a broom to sweep the driveway clean of dirt and hose it down with water. Let dry for 24 hours.

Step 2: Ready the sealer. Open the container of asphalt sealer and stir well. Be sure to read and follow manufacturer’s directions and precautions. Pour enough sealer onto the driveway to cover an area of about 4 x 4 feet. Working the sealer in smaller sections will give you the time necessary to apply an even, overall coat.

Step 3: Sealing the asphalt. You can use a brush or squeegee to apply the sealer, whichever you find easier to use. Push the sealer back and forth until you have a good, even coat. Be sure to feather the edges to avoid ridges or evidence of a patchwork application process.

Step 4: Clean up. Soap and warm water should be all that’s required to clean tools — and yourself — when the job is complete. Be certain to refrain from walking on or using the driveway for at least 24 hours. Block the entrance to the drive with the turned-over sealer containers.

2.  CHECK AIR CONDITIONING

May is a good time to make sure that air conditioning units are in good working order for the warmer months ahead. Change the filter, check hose connections for leaks, and make sure the drain pans are draining freely. In addition, vacuum any dust that has settled on the unit and connections; over time it can impact the air conditioner’s effectiveness. If you suspected problems with the efficiency or performance of the unit last summer, now is the time to call in a professional to check it out. Since the warm weather can also elevate humidity in the basement and garage, be sure to set up a dehumidifier to reduce the problem early.

3. TEND TO YOUR LAWN

During the winter, soil compaction, along with chemical changes altering your soil’s PH, may have left your lawn vulnerable to weed growth and other issues. Even if you can’t see weeds, they are more than likely waiting for optimum conditions to propagate. If you want to prevent them from germinating, consider an organic herbicide; fertilizers are better suited to the fall. Also, consider reseeding on a regular basis, as it will continue to make a denser lawn, while helping to prohibit weed growth, too. You don’t have to layer on the artificial fertilizers and toxic pesticides to achieve a greener lawn.

4. READY THE GRILL

If your gas grill has remained idle over the winter months, check burner jets for clogs and obstructions, and be sure that gas hoses and connections are sound and secure. You’ll also want to check for propane. For charcoal grill owners, make certain your grill is clean of ash and free of grease residue. It’s a good habit to adopt throughout the grilling season, not just in spring.

5.  INSPECT DECK AND PATIO

If you have a deck, look for warped, loose or splintered boards, and do a good sweep to remove any leaves and debris, which may accumulated in the space between boards. Whether it’s wood, plastic or composite, a deck should be cleaned every year to extend its life. If the finish on your wood deck is faded or worn, now is the time to clean, stain, and reseal it.  If you have composite decking, follow the manufacturer’s recommendations on seasonal care. The same is true for wood and composite fences, pergolas, trellises and other lawn structures. If you have a stone patio, a simple hose down is generally all the maintenance required (unless you detect moss or staining, in which case a more serious cleaning may be necessary).

Related:

• 10 Fire Pits We Love
• 12 Sensational Deck Designs
• Outdoor Lighting: 12 Products to Light Your Way

Bob Vila is the home improvement expert widely known as host of TV’s This Old House, Bob Vila’s Home Again, and Bob Vila. Today, Bob continues his mission to help people upgrade their homes and improve their lives with advice online at BobVila.com. His video-rich site offers a full range of fresh, authoritative content – practical tips, inspirational ideas, and more than 1,000 videos from Bob Vila television.

Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of Zillow.

Source: IMDb

A little over 30 miles down the highway from Los Angeles, Malibu is a welcome spot for stars looking for a reprieve from the bright lights of Hollywood.

The beaches and cliffs of the area are filled with homes of A-listers, including Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Bette Midler and Leonardo DiCaprio.

DiCaprio, in particular, owns two homes in the area, and one of them, an oceanfront property in the Malibu Colony area, is listed for rent for a whopping $75,000 a month. Of course, if you want to rent the home for a shorter time period, the rent jumps to $115,000 a month.

While the steep rent? For one thing, the DiCaprio’s home sits on a nearly half an acre of prime Malibu real estate with full beach access. Additionally, according to current data, the rental market is hotter than ever, with rents increasing nationwide.

The property holds two homes: the main house is 4 bedrooms and faces the ocean, and a side, detached guest house has an additional two bedrooms. According to the listing description, the home was recently updated.

DiCaprio also owns another home in Malibu, and sold a third Malibu home in 2008. Other properties in his real estate portfolio include two homes in Los Angeles, and his most recent purchase: an eco-friendly penthouse in Battery Park, Manhattan.

Despite his several luxury properties, DiCaprio isn’t often spotted relaxing at home. Most recently he was in Australia, where filming just concluded on the remake of “The Great Gatsby.”

Source: IMDb

With a voice that defined a decade of popular music, Donna Summer’s lasting legacy was born in a time when radio was king.

That meant that the “Queen of Disco” could be heard blaring from every boombox and stereo in the 70s and 80s — making her a cultural force that no one could escape.

Love or hate disco, she commanded the airwaves and everyone’s attention, with sultry hits like ”Love to Love You Baby” to the women’s rights anthem “She Works Hard for the Money.”

With her death this month at the age of 63, Summer leaves behind a career that spanned four decades, five Grammy awards and numerous chart-topping albums.

But there’s more. Summer’s success allowed her to create a personal real estate empire.

The Boston-born singer preferred the South for real estate after her disco days, holding properties in both Florida and Tennessee.

In honor of the “Last Dance” singer’s career, we’re taking a aerial tour of those homes.

Brentwood, TN

As Summer’s singing career cooled down in the 1990s, following controversial remarks she made about her many gay fans, the singer moved with her family to Nashville. Summer purchased a new home in 1994 situated on 25 acres in Brentwood. The rural home has 13,279 square feet of living space and 11.5 baths.

College Grove, TN

In 1996, Summer bought another Tennessee property, this time in College Grove for $370,000. The 3,179-square-foot home was built in 1920 and sits on over 104 acres.

Shelter Island, NY

While most stars prefer the Hamptons for their New York vacation homes, Summer chose the less glitzy lifestyle that Shelter Island offers, picking up a home there in 1997. Her Shelter Island house sits on a 2.20-acre bay-front lot.

Naples, FL

In 2000, Summer made the move to sunny Florida, buying a condo in the gated community of Bolero. It’s here that she spent her last days battling cancer. It’s reported that Summer was a private person, and it wasn’t until she passed away that her neighbors were aware that they lived next to an icon.

Englewood, FL

Although Summer spent most of her time at her Naples home, she also owned a beachfront home in the Florida Keys that she purchased in 2007 for $3.6 million. Built in 1950, the 4-bedroom, 4-bath Englewood home has a private dock and boat slip.

Related:

• Ryan Seacrest Sticks Hollywood Hills Home on the Market
• It’s Official: Ellen DeGeneres Buys Brad Pitt’s Home
• Brad Pitt’s Malibu Mid-Century Home Listed

Coziness is definitely a factor when I look at homes on zillow #seventeengoingonthirty

— Stefan Styk (@sstykshift) May 17, 2012

I love @zillow I save favorite houses in all the possible job cities so when he finds one I’ve already got houses narrowed down #imprepared

— Sarah (@sarah_hbic) May 15, 2012

Looking athouses on zillow; so ready to move!!!!!!!

— ☆★Juicy Juice★☆ (@BlkDiva_Ali) May 13, 2012

Well Zillow is the best app ever

— aSouthernGentleman (@Prince_Bradford) May 12, 2012

I could daydream on Zillow for hours.

— Megan Gallagher (@megansd) May 8, 2012

As the real estate market starts to heat up again in some markets, we sometimes forget what’s happened in the past. We get caught up in the home search and the desire to own. Some buyers even forget the old real estate adage: location, location, location.

So it helps if you step back for a second. Look into the future. Think about the home you want to buy now and imagine yourself selling it years later. What problems might you face then? If you take this into consideration, you might avoid making a mistake that all too many people make: Buying — or building — the best house on the block.

For example, consider the fate of what became a conspicuously large house for sale in an Atlanta suburb.

Don’t Super Size!

A few years ago, at the top of the market, the owners purchased a small fixer-upper, then renovated and significantly expanded it. Once completed, the owners tried to sell their McMansion in one of the worst real estate markets ever. After a year without success, they had to lower the asking price multiple times — and ultimately walked away with a big loss.

The fact that they bought at the top of the market and tried to sell during a decline in values certainly didn’t help. But it wasn’t the only factor by any means. On one side of the house was an apartment building. On the other sat a home that was an eyesore.

The proximity of these two properties should have been a warning to the owners: Don’t super-size your house when it’s surrounded by properties that aren’t at least equal in value. Instead, the owners had gotten caught up in the market frenzy. They didn’t think about what would happen when it came time to sell.

Look at Comps

In today’s market, potential buyers — having weathered the real estate bust and the recession — should take one look at the biggest, best house on the block and say to themselves: “No way.”

From an investment standpoint, owning the biggest house on the block has never been a good strategy. Home values in a neighborhood are intertwined because comps are so important in determining how to price — and what to pay for — a home. So the value of your McMansion will be limited if it’s surrounded by homes of considerably lesser value.

For similar reasons, you should avoid buying a house on a block with a parking garage, one full of apartment buildings,or rented homes. It is thought that renters don’t care for the properties where they live, as are absentee property owners. Their indifference can only hurt the value of nearby homes.

Buy the worst house on the block best instead

A better strategy, no matter what kind of market, is to buy the worst house on the best block. You can always improve the property and therefore increase its value. And because it’s on a great block, improvements you make to the home will be practically guaranteed to give you a top return on your investment.

Just don’t get carried away and turn the worst house on the block into the biggest and most expensive one.

Related:

• Why Your First Offer is Your Always Best Offer
  
• Advice for Buyers Bidding on Home With Multiple Offers
• Why Sellers Shouldn’t Be Present at Open Houses

Brendon DeSimone is a Realtor® and real estate expert based in San Francisco and New York. He is a contributor to Zillow Blog, has collaborated on multiple real estate books and is often quoted by major media outlets. Follow Brendon on Twitter.

Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of Zillow.

885 Hill Ln, Lake Tahoe NV
For sale: $3,700,000

When Paul Arnold and his wife Elizabeth decided to build their custom home, they wanted something beyond fun. They wanted something fantastic.

Hence, “The Hobbit House” was born.

“As a framing contractor, I do hundreds of homes a year,” explained Arnold. “To do something different and beautiful was always our mindset if we were going to do something for ourselves.”

For years, Arnold has worked alongside Jim Brashers, a local expert in designing, constructing and renovating historic and period homes.

“We have built lots of really cool Disneyland-looking mountain cottages,” explained Arnold. “My wife has always wanted to have a Jim Brasher-designed house.”

The resulting property is something that belongs in a fairy tale — literally: A forested lot complete with a waterfall, views of a lake and a 1700s European-style cottage that is more the size of a castle, ringing in at 6,640 square feet.

It is a most fascinating mix of whimsy and formidable architectural styling.

A carved stone entry and 3-foot thick door, built from trees on the property, lead into the home where visitors are greeted by a handmade dragon chandelier holding court over an enormous entryway with hickory floors. Most of the woodwork was hewn from trees on the property, including the cabinetry and paneling — a decision made by Arnold’s wife.

“She asked me if we could build the house without taking down any of the trees,” said Arnold. His compromise was to build the house the best he could around the trees, and to incorporate the few trees that fell into the home’s design.

Other whimsical details in the Reno-area home include a giant wood-burning fireplace, guest suites with small windows looking over a great hall, and an indoor pool that is only accessed by a stone bridge. An outdoor wine cellar is built into the side of the hill.

And of course, detailed murals cover many of the walls.

“That’s a very favorite part of the house,” Arnold says. “There was an artist in that house for months, and the artwork on the walls is spectacular; we just cut him loose.”

Despite the rustic appeal, the home is firmly planted in the 21st century — a blend of a “yesterday and tomorrow,” says Arnold, who amped the home with technological details, including a controlled lighting system by Creston.

The 4-bedroom, 5.5-bath home is listed by Ronda Moll of Sierra Sotheby’s International Realty.

According to Zillow’s mortgage calculator, a monthly payment on the home would be $13,616 a month, assuming a 20 percent down payment on a 30-year-fixed mortgage.

According to real estate agent Brendon DeSimone, “nearly every home buyer considers the outdoors in some way as a requirement for a property they’re considering.”

Certainly this is in the case with luxury real estate, where outdoor spaces are often as opulent as the interiors. Stone patios, infinity pools meeting ocean and sky; outdoor gas fireplaces, private cabanas and curated greenery: All combine to create the perfect garden — and a major selling point for buyers looking for their personal Shangri-La.

Pond-perfect

17872 Via De Fortuna, Rancho Santa Fe CA
For sale: $8,950,000

A small private lake? Check. Green willows, lily pads and a small guest house overlooking it all? Check. Swan? Well, a swan is about the only thing missing from this watery wonderland. And if the private lake isn’t enough to sway you, the grounds of this Encinitas house also feature a full equestrian facility, tennis court, pool and spa.

Conservatory chic

22380 NW Meier Rd, Hillsboro OR
For sale: $15 million

This Hillsboro home for sale sits on 93 pastoral acres with pools, barns, a lake, landscaped gardens and trellises, as well as an enormous green house filled with foliage and charming places to sit. The home is just as expansive at 9,516 square feet with 5 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms.

Bringing Outdoors In

2406 – 2408 Carver Bay, Whitefish MT
For sale: $12,950,000

Sure, this Whitefish home features 224-square-feet of lakefront, but even more impressive are the ponds and water features that abut the home’s enormous flagstone patios. The 7,905-square-foot main home is accompanied by two separate guest houses to total 9,575 square feet of living space on over an acre of land.

Italian loggia

5050 Alpine Rd, Portola Valley, CA
For sale: $15,950,000

This Portola Valley home, coined “Villa Laurison” by its first owner, is designed to embody the grandeur of a Florentine estate. Stone arches, marble outdoor terraces and lush greenery add to a property comprised of over 30 rooms, including 7 bedrooms and 11 baths.

Tree house territory

1857 NW Roundhill Cir, Seattle WA
For sale: $2,250,000

Putting a new spin on the backyard picnic area, how about this platform tree house surrounded by gardens? This home sits in the urban center of Seattle, but you wouldn’t know it. The property is an oasis of greenery. Built in 1931, the Spanish-style estate also features water views from its bluff location.

Greening the concrete jungle

196 W Houston St, New York NY
For sale: $14,950,000

A patio with a few trees may not seem like a whole lot, but in Manhattan real estate, private outdoor space is at a premium, like the one found in this 7,500-square-foot Greenwich Village townhouse. According to DeSimone, “New York City apartments with a deeded, usable outdoor space often sell for 20-to-30-percent more than the same apartment without the highly sought-after outdoor access.”

Secret garden

Undisclosed address, Charleston SC
For sale: $5,900,000

Dine al fresco out of the Charleston humidity under a leafy canopy, hidden in the corner of the yard. The historic property, while updated, still contains much of its Southern charms with hardwood floors, high ceilings and intricate moldings.

Botanical wonder

1401 Rubio St, Altadena CA
For sale: $2,995,000

The listing description for this Altadena home has it right. It is a “botanical wonder,” boasting two acres of property laden with foliage, green houses and an extensive, vine-wrapped arbor.  Listed for the first time in 50 years, the estate contains two parcels, which hold an elegant Colonial as the main house and a generously sized guest house.

Water features

37W756 Woodgate Rd, Saint Charles IL
For sale: $7,900,000

Although the exterior of the modern Saint Charles home is minimalist, the grounds are far from it. The home features a five-acre Japanese garden with numerous waterfalls, pools and ponds, all surrounded by Zen-inspired sitting areas to make for a true “spiritual oasis.”

Related:

• Indoor Pools Offer Ultimate Laps of Luxury
• Impressive Staircases Big Enough for Scarlett O’Hara
• Homes With a Past: Missile Silo, Caboose, Schoolhouse and More

Why, it hardly looks like the home of an evil queen.

In fact, with its classic mid-century modern lines and minimalist decor, the house owned by “Game of Thrones” star Lena Headey exudes the taste and sensibility of someone far more cool and reasonable than the incestuous character Queen Cersei.

You can judge for yourself, now that Headey has listed the Beverly Glen house for $1.395 million. It’s an interesting price drop from the $1.685 million Headey paid for the 3-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom home in 2008.

Of course, much has happened since then, including a real estate market implosion and the cult-like following that “Game of Thrones” has won since its debut in 2011, not to mention the bevy of awards for which the show and cast have been nominated.

Maybe she wants to give up Hollywood for the mythical “Thrones” land of Westeros, who knows? But given the desirable style of the home, not to mention the star quality of its owner, no doubt the place will attract buyers — or at least curiosity seekers, especially those who will appreciate the clean, modern space in the prime Los Angeles neighborhood.

With 2,500 square feet set on a quarter acre, Headey’s home boasts  separate living room and dining area with walls of glass, bamboo floors, fireplace and cocktail bar that are perfect for entertaining. The listing reads like rave reviews — which is fitting given the kudos Headey and her “Thrones” co-stars have been racking up.

The gorgeous well-appointed gourmet kitchen with stainless steel appliances opens to a grand media/family room with Terrazzo floors and skylights for a relaxed and fun hangout. The amazing master retreat has dual vanities, a spa tub, a separate shower stall and walk-in closet. This sun filled home with many architectural details has walls of glass and sliders from all living areas and bedrooms which allow a seamless transition to the private and tranquil exterior entertaining areas including a grassy yard.

Related:

• Report: Jennifer Aniston Renting Beverly Hills Home
• Ryan Seacrest Buys Ellen DeGeneres’ Estate
• Brad Pitt’s Malibu Mid-Century Home Listed

Most decks are supported on one side by the building, and on the opposite side by the earth.  The photo below shows a deck collapse that happened in Minnesota. This is exactly how most decks collapse. The cause of collapse is quite obvious. It wasn’t attached properly.

The best way to avoid deck collapse is to know the answer to this question: Is your deck properly attached to the building?

It’s not always possible to know for sure, but let’s go over  a few different ways of attaching a deck to a building.  It all centers on something called “the ledger.” The piece of wood that connects a deck to a building is called the ledger, or ledger board.  So get ready to hear this word used a lot!

Lag Screws

Traditionally, lag screws have been the most common method of attaching decks to buildings.  To properly attach a deck ledger using 1/2″ lag screws, 5/16″ holes need to be pre-drilled through the ledger and rim joist.  After that, a 1/2″ hole should be drilled through the ledger only.

For specific spacing and installation instructions, you can turn to page 12 of the Prescriptive Residential Wood Deck Construction Guide. There’s no way of knowing if all of these steps were followed just by looking at a deck, but if lag screws are visible, you can feel a little better about the deck attachment to the building.

One problem that I occasionally find with lag screws is that they’re not attached to anything substantial behind the ledger.  When a home is constructed with floor trusses and there is no rim joist for the deck to attach to, it’s important to figure out what the screws are going in to.  In the photos below, the lag screws at this townhouse were only attached to the fiberboard wall sheathing, which is basically worthless.  You wouldn’t want to put too many people on that deck.

Lag screws are fairly inexpensive, but they take special steps to install correctly.

Special Ledger Screws

Because of the tedious process involved in drilling several pilot holes in the wood to use lag screws, there are a few products available that are designed for the specific purpose of attaching a deck ledger to a building.  One such fastener is the FastenMaster LedgerLok®, which is pictured above. Simpson Strong-Tie makes a similar fastener, called the Strong-Drive® SDS Screw. These fasteners are designed to be installed without any pilot holes, and they already come with a washer attached to each head.

While these fasteners may cost a little more, they’re fast and easy to install, and they’re code approved to be used in place of 1/2″ lag screws.

Through-Bolts

Through-bolts can be used to attach a ledger to the house when the interior of the rim joist is accessible.  This is typically done using carriage bolts, pictured above.   When through-bolts are used, you’ll either see the head of the bolt or the end of the bolt at the ledger.  Lag bolts work in a similar manner.

All things being equal, a through bolt makes for the strongest connection per fastener.  Without all things being equal, there are certainly ways of installing through-bolts improperly.  In the examples below, you can see the end of the bolt where a washer and nut were fastened.  The problem with this installation is that someone didn’t have long enough bolts, so they had to chisel out a bunch of holes in the ledger to sink the washers and nuts in to.

This is probably the least common method of deck attachment because it takes more time, and requires more running in and out of the building.

Nailed Ledgers

Nails are not an acceptable way of attaching a ledger to the building, because they can pull out.  I don’t have any statistics to quote, but this is probably the most common cause of deck collapses.  If you look at a deck ledger and all you can see are nails holding it in place, it should be addressed. This is one of the most common deck problems that home inspectors find, and the repair is usually an easy fix.

Related:

• Problems with Flipped Houses
• How To Choose a Home Inspector
• Difference Between Ionization and Photoelectric Smoke Alarms

Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections, Minneapolis, Minn., is a second-generation ASHI Certified Inspector whose experience with home remodeling and construction began at age four when he helped his father steam wallpaper. He has worked for Structure Tech since 1997 and joined ASHI in 2004. Visit his blog at www.structuretech1.com/blog/.

Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of Zillow.

Detroit is hardly lacking for symbols of its Great Recession free fall, but there’s fresh evidence that the Detroit real estate market continues to be the most troubled in the United States.

While some regions are starting to report a bottom for housing prices, Detroit continues to offer some of its majestic past for just pennies on the dollar. That includes the grand old home once owned by the family of James Scripps — the man who founded in 1873 what is now the Detroit News.

Elaborate woodwork in the Scripps home. SOURCE: Curbed

According to Brian O’Connor, Detroit News Finance Editor, the wood paneling that adorns some of the walls at Scripps home in the historic Indian Village real estate market of Detroit looks a lot like the paneling inside the News headquarters. That makes sense, since the News building and Indian Village homes were built at the same time.

But whereas the News has been able to hang on despite the newspaper business downturn, the former Scripps home is in foreclosure, another symbol of Detroit’s slide.

Now, for $195,000, a buyer can own the 12,000-square-foot home at 2535 Iroquois Street that has for a century stood as a stately reminder why Detroit of the Gilded Age was once called “The Paris of the West.”

Taxes are the issue

According O’Connor, the city’s fiscal woes haven’t just hurt the list price of the Scripps home, but the home could be hit with higher taxes.

“Whoever buys this house may also get hit with a big jump in property taxes, thanks to a state amendment that limits how high taxes can rise on any one homeowner. Once the home is sold, however, the tax rate resets to the new price which, even now, can be more than the old limited value,” O’Connor said.

With 6 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, the property needs work but has the grand space that would make it a worthy rehab project, given the library, family room and large entertainment hall. Who knows, maybe restoring this home would coincide with a Motor City comeback — although O’Connor offers a bleak forecast for Detroit’s fiscal recovery, especially the real estate market.

• Detroit values are in a free fall. While other major cities in the U.S. have seen home values decline, all of them except Detroit remained above at or above their 2000 values even during the depths of the Great Recession.

• In Metro Detroit, however, values dropped down to levels not seen — on average — since the 1980s. The city also has been hit by an ongoing financial crisis in the schools, cutbacks in city services, very high insurance rates (due to crime and fraud) and a virtual exodus of the middle class. A city that was home to nearly 2 million people in the 1960s is now down to 700,000 residents — but still faces keeping up the same infrastructure with a far lower tax base.

• Investors have scooped up scores of foreclosed homes in Detroit for cash, some selling for just a few thousand. Real estate experts say they assume one-fifth or so of the properties will be uninhabitable, but that the rest can be inexpensively fixed up and rented, while the investors wait for values to rise. We’ve had organized bus tours of Chinese investors come through town, for example.

• Right now, the city is on the verge of bankruptcy, while the state tries to negotiate an emergency financial manager who can come in and cut budgets, tear up union contracts and restructure or privatize services.

James Scripps original home on Trumbull Ave., now burned down.

Other Scripps properties

Meanwhile, James Scripps’ original mansion at Trumbull Ave. and Grand River Ave. burned down, leaving only a gated entrance. Among other public buildings left by James Scripps is the Detroit Institute of Art.

Scripps’ son, William, went onto the embellish the family legacy, taking over the News and becoming an aviation buff and, in 1927, building the real Scripps Mansion — a mammoth Tudor-style mansion at 1840 W. Scripps Rd. in Lake Orion, MI.

The property remains on 45 acres of what was original 3,200 acres of sprawling farmland — so big that Amelia Earhart once used the Scripps’ airstrip. In 2007, the Scripps Mansion was entered into the National Register of Historic Places.

Scripps Mansion in Lake Orion, MI, was built by James Scripps son, William, and is no longer open to the public. SOURCE: Wikipedia

When asked during this week’s Facebook Apps webinar if just having a profile on Facebook is enough, I’d like to share my response and suggestion. I think there are three big reasons why an agent SHOULD have a Facebook business page in addition to their personal Facebook profile page.

HOW TO INSTALL ZILLOW’S FACEBOOK APPS/TABS TO BUSINESS PAGES:

Log in to Zillow.com. Hover your mouse over the “more” link located on the main page. Select “Widgets, Badges, and Data” option and link from the pull-down menu, then click on the “Facebook real estate apps” link.  Choose the app that you want to add, then click the “add this tab” link.  Simply connect your Facebook to Zillow, select the business page where you want the tab, and you’re done!

TIP/Hint: You can also save a little time just using the links I provided in the previous paragraph

John Mayer's non-traditional look

A striped tie with a checkered shirt; tennis shoes with a tuxedo (hello John Mayer?). Or painting your house bright orange: Technically, each of those combinations functions properly — you need a tie, you need shoes, and your house needs paint …  but is that really how you want to look?

The same applies to the windows in your house; any window style fills the holes in the wall, but they’re either the right type for the house’s style or they’re not.

Fortunately, it’s not hard to get started on picking the right style for your house, since the great majority of traditional homes in America have either double hung or casement windows.

Quick definitions:

• Double hung windows are the ones with two pieces that slide up and down.

• Casement windows are the ones with the cranks, and that swing outwards like a door.

Double hung windows on an English Colonial.

Traditional house styles in America can be (very) roughly divided into a couple of broad categories that reflect their origins. A quick look should tell you which style category your traditional house falls into, and which type of window is appropriate for it.

Houses with English Colonial roots typically have double-hung windows. Homes with this lineage are easy to identify, as they vastly outnumber any other house style in America.

If you’ve been to Williamsburg, VA you’ve seen double-hung windows on early English Colonial home.

Casement windows on a French Country home.

Casement windows are common to homes with European Medieval heritage. Tudor is the most common medieval style. They’re also found in some early 20th-Century American styles such as Craftsman and Prairie, and some newer “styles” like French Country.

In a new home, choosing the right window style is one of the most important decisions you and your architect will make.

In an existing home, maintaining the character of the original home can be just as critical.

Get the right windows and your house will look proper and complete…get them wrong, and well – it’s like tennis shoes with a tux!

Related:

• How to Choose Exterior Paint Colors for Your Home
• 4 Keys to Choosing Where to Site Your House
• How to Save Space and Money on Smart Bath Design

Richard Taylor is a residential architect based in Dublin, Ohio and is a contributor to Zillow Blog. Connect with him at http://www.rtastudio.com/index.htm.

Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of Zillow.

1. Not known to the brokers and agents they were intended to help, or
2. Very misunderstood by that same audience, or
3. Major concerns of brokers and MLSs could be better addressed and discussed in a more collaborative environment

I also found that many of the misconceptions about Zillow had become urban legend, accepted as fact merely by token of being repeated so frequently without rebuttal or correction.

We are now unveiling what I think will be a giant step toward correcting those issues.  We are introducing the Zillow Partnership Platform (ZPP), an invitation from Zillow to its industry partners (both present and future) to clearly define in a written covenant the commitment Zillow is prepared to make to any party that wishes to participate.  The ZPP creates mutual benefit for all parties.

What is Zillow Partnership Platform?

ZPP is a foundational approach to listing display management created by a direct contractual relationship between Zillow and the originators (brokers) or keepers (MLSs) of the listing information.  The channel through which the data is delivered is of less importance than the commitment by both parties to work toward a common goal – accurate listing data that serves the consumer well and meets the agents’ needs.  Zillow is committed to that goal and we are looking for partners who share that vision and commitment.

Key Points of ZPP

ZPP starts with Zillow’s commitment to accuracy, completeness and timeliness of the listing data that everyone wants and values, including these major points:

• Listings will be updated as frequently as the broker or MLS partner allows
• Listings are published ONLY on the Yahoo!-Zillow Real Estate Network and displayed ONLY on the websites Zillow powers
• Listing data are NEVER re-distributed elsewhere
• Registered agents are given attribution and receive inquiries on their listings at no cost
• Zillow will honor any broker’s opt-out decision

The Ultimate Goal

Frankly, agents and consumers expect Zillow to work with the MLS and its brokers to deliver a true picture of the market.  Toward that end, ZPP strives to eliminate the confusion associated with stale data, lagging price changes, and incorrect statuses.  But we can only do that by getting listing updates from the most reliable curated source in near real time.  That’s our goal with ZPP.

There are many more commitments Zillow is offering to make to its partners as part of their participation in the program and delivery of contemporaneous listing updates to Zillow.  Zillow Partnership Platform details are here for all to see.  If you would like to discuss how your brokerage or MLS can participate in the program, please contact me directly by writing to partners@zillow.com and let’s find a time to talk.

Source: People.com

The queen of real estate, otherwise known as Jennifer Aniston, is at it again!

Or, rather, the queen of real estate turnover is at it again.

In the past year alone, Aniston sold her beloved “Ohana” estate, bought and then sold two New York City penthouse apartments, and plunked down $20.97 million for a new love nest in Bel-Air.

More recently, the celebrity real estate rumor mill has been buzzing with news that the Aniston and current boyfriend Justin Theroux are on the move yet again while they remodel their  Bel-Air mansion. The “Wanderlust” co-stars have reportedly scooped up a rental property in the highly-sought-after 90210 neighborhood.

The $40,000-per-month rental first hit the market last summer as a for-sale listing at $14.9 million. But after a series of price reductions, Aniston snatched it up for temporary quarters. The gated contemporary features 5 bedrooms, 6.5 bathrooms and 6,500-square feet of living space.

A Zen-like vibe is quite apparent upon entering the property. The entryway is suspended above water features and leads to a hand-carved front door. According to the listing, views of the ocean can be seen from nearly every room and there’s the kind of open space that makes for perfect entertaining. Amenities also include a zero-edge pool and spa, an outdoor cooking area, outdoor shower, state-of-the-art home theater and temperature-controlled stone wine room.

Given all these amenities, maybe Aniston is test-driving the features she’d like to add to her new home? Then again, probably not. She’s no real estate renovation and decorating novice!

Related:

• Rumor Has It: Jennifer Aniston Buys Bel-Air Home
• Jennifer Aniston Buys West Village Penthouse for $5.6 Million
• Jennifer Aniston’s Beverly Hills Pocket Listing: $42 million

But be prepared!

Scrolling through this compilation of natatorium-enabled manses is enough to stir up a swirling case of freestyle envy. Private lap pools? Single-family splash centers?

And because of the space and climate requirements to house these shimmering examples of the good life, the pool rooms we’ve found are often architectural show stoppers, whether the pools are decked by ceramic, marble, brick or heavy timber.

Everyone in!

Wisconsin Wonderland

6011 E Big Lake Loop Rd, Three Lakes, WI 54562 (above)

For sale: $3,500,000

Three Lakes, plus an indoor pool. Sweet! Located on the Three Lakes real estate market in north-central Wisconsin, this 9,000-square foot cedar lakefront home has a 24-foot by 80-foot indoor lap pool with its own kitchen, vaulted Alaskan cedar ceilings, and fireplace.

Roman Holiday

Undisclosed address, Southampton, NY 11968 (above)

For sale: $28,000,000

This Hamptons home has the best of both words: it’s sited on 2.5 acres with dramatic southwestern views across Lake Agawam (300 feet of lake frontage) and has immediate access to the Atlantic Ocean beaches. “Longview” is listed on the Southampton real estate market for $28 million. The current median home value of Southampton is $812,00.

Idyllic in Illinois

37W756 Woodgate Rd, Saint Charles, IL 60175 (above)

For sale: $7.9 million

Challenging Illinois winters make this indoor pool a necessity to help keep away the winter blues. Located on the Saint Charles real estate market, which is located about 40 miles west of Chicago, this 6-bedroom, 7-bath modern home is situated on 26 acres and includes a 5-acre Japanese garden.

Timber-lined Temptation

498 Eppley Dr, Aspen, CO 81611 (above)

For sale: $9,995,000

Rough-hewn timber beams fill the air above this spacious indoor pool that is just one of luxurious amenities for this home for sale on the Aspen real estate market. The completely remodeled 6-bedroom, 6.5-bath estate offers views from Independence Pass to Mt. Sopris, including all four ski areas.

Oregon Oasis

2782 Siskiyou Blvd, Ashland, OR 97520 (above)

For sale: $4,559,000

Not only does this estate contain a generous-sized glass-atrium indoor pool — complete with its own slide — but it also has a vineyard that offers Tempranillo, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, and Viognier grapes, perfect for making your own wine. Located on 120 acres on the Ashland real estate market with miles of hiking trails, the 7-bed, 6-bath house also has a 3,836-square foot guest house, and recreation barn with art studio.

Greenwich Gem

39 Doubling Rd, Greenwich, CT 06830 (above)

For sale: $4,495,000

Due to its proximity to New York City and abundance of wealthy residents, Greenwich real estate is always a pricey affair where the median home price is currently $1,102,000. Here’s a taste of Greenwich luxury, as witnessed in this 6-bed, 7-bath, 8,210-square foot Spanish Colonial Revival classic, which offers an exciting indoor pool complete with bold colors and playful mosaics.

Ultimate in Utah

1500 Red Fox Rd, Park City UT (above)

For sale: $6,595,000

Located on the Park City real estate market, this home’s nearly 16,000-square foot interior offers unique features including a golf simulator, sports bar with four TVs, a pizza oven and heated porches. More importantly, the luxury ski chalet also boasts a stunning indoor pool overlooking 10 acres of mountainside vistas.

26900 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, CA 90265 (above)

For sale: $22,500,000

Known as “La Villa Contenta,” this magnificent neoclassical-style natatorium on the Malibu real estate market was used in the HBO miniseries, “True Blood” as the fictional home of the vampire queen of Louisiana, Sophie-Anne Leclerq (played by Evan Rachel Wood). Read more about the True Blood home.

New York’s Rarest

232 W 15th St, New York NY (above)

For sale: $9,950,000
No doubt, even by New York standards, this is a rare find. Located in the Chelsea neighborhood, this 5-floor private oasis features a rare and no longer permitted 26-foot long indoor swimming pool with a swing. And if that’s not enough, the home also has a sauna, hot tub, rooftop sun deck and a 16-foot-high solarium sanctuary.

For a Rainy Night in Georgia

7460 Wildercliff Dr NW, Atlanta, GA 30328 (above)

For sale: $3,900,000

Not only does this home have a heated driveway — yes, a heated driveway in Georgia — but it also has an indoor lap pool, which we assume is heated, too. Located in the Sandy Springs real estate market, this 4-bed, 6 bath contemporary home has all the tricks for grown-up fun: exercise room, chef’s kitchen, media room, wine cellar, and playroom.

Related:

• Scarlett O’Hara: Eat Your Heart Out. Take a Look at these Luxury Staircases
• Homes With a Past: Missile Silo, Caboose, Schoolhouse and More
• House of Week: Mushroom House in Cincinnati (VIDEO)

Even in Hollywood circles, $49 million is a hefty chunk of change to put down on a home. But for uber-producer, television host and radio personality Ryan Seacrest, Ellen DeGeneres’ and Portia de Rossi’s custom and very private estate, pictured above, was worth it.

Shortly after Seacrest listed his longtime Hollywood Hills home on the market, he made an offer on DeGeneres’ and de Rossi’s enormous Beverly Hills home, TMZ reports.

DeGeneres and de Rossi listed it as a pocket listing through the Westside Estate Agency in October 2011 and bought their own new place, Brad Pitt’s former Malibu bachelor pad, for $12 million in December 2011. And although DeGeneres earns a whopping $45 million a year, even she may have been feeling the pressure of having a home linger on the market.

What accounts for the hefty price tag? Beverly Hills real estate comes at a huge premium. According to property records, DeGeneres bought the home for $27,000,270 in September 2007. Shortly after, she bought the neighboring parcel to add to the estate, creating a property that takes up nearly a full city block. Add in the gated drive leading to the mid-century modern house, high-end security, a pool, tennis court and guest houses: It’s easy to see how the value of the property escalates.

Seacrest is paying a ton, and he can afford it, but at least he’s also getting a slew of custom interior features like multiple private home offices, a mediation room, personal gym, lap pool, enormous shoe closets — all serving to boost the home’s appeal.

Despite the custom design, DeGeneres is known for hopping houses. When Architectural Digest featured the home, she revealed that her family always rented growing up and since then, she’s had an affinity for buying homes, designing them and then moving on to the next one.

Whether Seacrest will follow suit remains to be seen. With a new gig at NBC and continued earning power as Hollywood’s A-list host and American Idol frontman, he’s earned the right to plunk down his millions on one of Los Angeles’ priciest celebrity homes.

Related:

• Ryan Seacrest Sticks Hollywood Hills Home on the Market
• It’s Official: Ellen DeGeneres Buys Brad Pitt’s Home
• Brad Pitt’s Malibu Mid-Century Home Listed

This represents the lowest rate reported since Zillow Mortgage Marketplace launched in April 2008 and the first time rates have dropped below 3.6 percent. The previous low was 3.65 percent, first reported one week ago on May 8. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate hovered between 3.6 and 3.66 percent for the majority of the week, dropping to the current rate this morning.

“Rates reached a new low on concerns that a disorderly departure of Greece from the euro zone might trigger turmoil in other European economies, pushing more investor demand away from European debt and towards the relative security of U.S. mortgage backed securities and Treasuries,” said Erin Lantz, director of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace.

“Headlines out of Europe will determine rate trends this coming week. We expect rates to remain at or slightly below this historically low level as Greece tries to form a new ruling coalition and European policymakers work to prevent worries about Greece from spreading to more systemically important countries,” added Lantz.

Additionally, the 15-year fixed mortgage rate this morning was 2.91 percent and for 5/1 ARMs, the rate was 2.57 percent.

What are the rates right now? Check Zillow Mortgage Marketplace for up-to-the-minute mortgage rates for your state.

*The weekly rate chart illustrates the average 30-year fixed interest in six-hour intervals.

Do your research and shop around

This past year saw rent increases in 70 percent of markets. The good news about the demand: the market is spurring investors to purchase distressed inventory to convert to rental properties, which may help bring rents back down. Shop around by checking free real estate websites with dedicated rental features, including maps and local information on desirable locations. Some websites have rental mobile apps that make exploring a particular neighborhood on the ground even more convenient. Additionally, research fair rent prices so you don’t find yourself overpaying for a place.

Work with your landlord, but know your rights

Keep the lines of communication open with your landlord, but know the laws that protect you. On a federal level, the Fair Housing Act protects against discriminatory housing practices, so if your renter’s application has been turned down, be sure to find out why.

Read up on your state’s landlord-tenant laws, as tenants often do not realize their specific rights. Attorney Ryan J. Weatherstone of Mercer Island, WA, offers one example: “Seattle tenants are required to be given a packet stating their rights under landlord-tenant law when they begin a tenancy each time a lease is renewed. Failure of the Landlord to provide these documents allows a tenant to break the lease early and/or seek a fine of $100 plus attorney fees.”

Read the fine points of your lease before you sign

Typically, a lease protects you from rent increases while committing you to pay rent for the full term of the lease, even if you have to move out. But read your lease closely to prevent surprises. If you don’t agree with certain provisions, see if you can negotiate with the landlord and make sure any changes are made on all copies of the lease. Pay attention to provisions about the security deposit, which is legally refundable — provided you leave your rental in the condition you found it. To ensure there is no dispute, first walk through with your landlord or property manager and document any damage in a written checklist as one would with a rental car. Send copies of date-stamped photos to your landlord.

Beware of  illegal provisions that absolve the landlord of liability for negligent acts, waive the landlord’s duty to repair the building or its systems, or allow the landlord to seize the tenant’s personal property if the tenant fails to pay the rent. Weatherstone warns of general leases that some landlords use, such as those available “at Staples or other office supply stores or even on the Internet,” which often contain terms that contradict state law and thus are void. One common error in Washington is “requiring the tenant to provide more than 20 days’ notice prior to the end of a regular rental period to terminate a month to month agreement.”

Understand your rights to privacy

While the general rule is that your landlord cannot enter your home without advance warning, notice requirements to enter the rental property vary from state to state. Landlords don’t have to give notice in cases of emergency or when there’s a court order. Check your state’s privacy statutes or contact a lawyer or tenants’ rights group to find out how much privacy protection you can expect.

Consider an eviction notice seriously

An eviction costs more than money; it damages tenants’ credit scores: “The eviction will stay on their credit history basically forever,” said Elizabeth Rankin Powell, an attorney based in Tacoma, WA. “And it gets there the day the landlord files the action, win or lose.” However, some states have safety nets. In Washington, evicted tenants have five days to “pay off the judgment and be restored to their tenancy, if they have a lease that has not expired,” said Powell.

Buy rental insurance

Rental insurance offers an affordable form of protection from a range of hazards, from theft to fire damage. While you’ll need to sift through insurance policies with a fine-toothed comb to see what protection will and will not be included, rental insurance is a good bet, especially when it can cost as little as $10 per month.

Get the assistance you need

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has a list of helpful resources and links for renters. Find information about tenant rights, laws and protections in your state. Many states and counties also have programs for low income renters that include legal counsel and sometimes even representation. Whatever your situation, take the time to learn your rights; it can make for a happy home.

Related:

• Why Landlords Charge High Security Deposits
• What To Do If You’re Facing Eviction
• Why Renter’s Insurance Is Important

Whether it’s scintillating or offensive may be a matter of personal opinion, but few can deny the incredible buzz surrounding the erotic novel “Fifty Shades of Grey.”

Posted online by British author E.L. James as a piece of “Twilight” fan fiction, the trilogy of books were picked up by a small publisher out of Australia in 2011. In March 2012, Vintage Books of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group bid a seven-figure sum to gain rights to the manuscript. Even more recently Universal Pictures paid $5 million for filming rights.

Banned, embraced and parodied (here’s Ellen DeGeneres “reading” from the text) for its graphic sexual content, “Fifty Shades of Grey,” like the “Twilight” series, is putting Washington state on the map again. But instead of small-town Forks, where “Twilight” is set, “Fifty Shades …” is set in downtown Seattle in the luxury condominium building Escala. It’s in this high-rise penthouse where the submissive-domination sexual relationship between billionaire Christian Grey and naïve college student Anastasia Steele takes place.

While author James did take some creative liberties with her fiction — you can’t land a helicopter on the penthouse roof like it was done in the book, says Escala’s Director of Sales Erik Mehr — he agrees that the Escala is still the best pick for a billionaire character like Grey.

“If you were going to pick something opulent,” Mehr said, “This would be the building.”

Situated in the downtown Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, the Escala is unlike many of the other luxury condo buildings. It’s all about size, and how well-appointed the place is.

Amenities include a private spa, a gym with yoga studio, private dining room, full catering kitchen and dining area with room for 140, theater room, dog run: Escala is a little more like a five-star hotel than a condo building.

That makes sense, says Mehr. The hotel concierge staff is run by a company that provides services to high-end hotels like the Salish Lodge and Four Seasons.

Needless to say, it’s a condo building with everything a billionaire bachelor would want, and a place that many “Fifty Shades” fans are aching to learn about. Mehr said that about a year ago, his team began  to get phone calls from people who wanted to know “the layouts of the penthouse and the details of the condos.” Clearly, something was up. When the Escala held open houses, visitors included “Fifty Shades … ” fans who wandered about, checking on the amenities and basic floor models.

But with 70 percent of the units sold, the building is now only available for tours by appointment. And those who want to see one of the 5,200-square-foot, fully customizable and private penthouses are required to be pre-qualified.

While base models in the Escala started around $400,000, a penthouse runs between $4 to $6 million. Only one has been purchased, and although San Francisco Giants’ star pitcher and Seattle native Tim Lincecum lives in the building, he bought the “sub-penthouse” layout for about $1.5 million instead.

Related:

• “Deep Throat” House Ready for New Owner
• Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart’s LA Hideaway for Sale
• Pitcher Tim Lincecum Living High and Mighty After Deal

Click here to view the embedded video.

What’s more important — a great idea or perseverance? Or both?

And, is there science to creating something viral?

These are some of the questions angel investor and startup advisor Hadi Partovi answered as he stopped by Zillow’s Seattle headquarters last week as the latest guest in the Zillow Speaker Series.

Prior to entering the entrepreneurial space, Partovi was Group Program Manager at Microsoft for Internet Explorer and General Manager of MSN.com. He co-founded Tellme Networks (which he sold to Microsoft for $800 million), was a co-creator of iLike (which he sold to MySpace) and he is currently an investor in Facebook, Dropbox, and BlueKai (to name a few), Partovi has had plenty of experience in the startup space.

Partovi shared that he often looks more at the people behind a start-up than the idea itself. For example, when he first became interested in Zappos, he thought selling shoes online seemed strange. The year was 1999 and he felt the slow download speeds would make shopping and viewing multiple shoes time-consuming and slow, but now it’s the way most people buy shoes, he said.

He explained, “I was not psyched about Zappos, but I was psyched about Tony Hsieh, [the current CEO of Zappos.]”

Partovi also said that more than a great idea is the perseverance and execution of the idea.

“It’s doing an idea in a way that is efficient, cheap and your customers love it,” he said.

Interested to hear more? Click the video above to learn more from Partovi’s lunchtime chat.

Imagine a job where you get to have lunch and listen to interesting people like Partovi — for free. We have it at Zillow. Check out Zillow’s job pages — we’re hiring!

Previous Zillow Speaker Series guests include:

• GrubHub Co-founders Mike Evans and Matt Maloney
• Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn
• Adam Goldstein of Hipmunk
• Adam Lashinsky, Author of “Inside Apple”
• Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
• John Cook of GeekWire
• FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski
• Gordon Stephenson of Real Property Associates
• Bill Gurley of Benchmark Capital
• Richard Tait of Cranium
• Adrian Hanauer of Sounders FC
• Steve Souders of Google

Looks like it’s a good real estate idea to forgo Hollywood and head for the hills — the hills of upstate New York, that is.

Just look at the size of the spread actress Blake Lively and her beau Ryan Reynolds are cozying up in these days (photo above).

Smitten as they appear with each other, no doubt Lively and Reynolds have equally passionate feelings about the 4,700-square-foot country house they just purchased for $2.35 million. The 3-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom house opens to a stone terrace that overlooks the Cross River Reservoir.

It’s even better than a Hollywood movie set, and at a fraction of the cost, given that the property includes 1.75 acres in the exclusive Pound Ridge real estate market. The Westchester County community is about 90 minutes from the bright lights and pricey condos of Manhattan, and about 2,700 miles away from Los Angeles, but the couple had been combing the area for exactly this kind of deep suburban getaway.

But lest anyone think that canoodling and cohabitation means that the couple purchased the home together, The Real Estalker reports that Reynolds alone (via a trust) is the owner.

… all circumstantial signs point to having been purchased in January 2012 not by Miss Lively $2,350,000 but by Mister Reynolds who, according to a cross-referencing of property records, used the exact same trust name he used to buy his house in Los Angeles.

In due time, the couple’s coming and goings from this tranquil suburban mini manor will more firmly develop the plot of this real estate purchase and their country life together. In the meantime, this Hollywood A-list couple has made a decidedly non-Hollywood real estate move.

Everyone needs a place to escape from the absolute torch and twang of worldwide concert touring, not to mention the generally prying eyes of Los Angeles celebrity gawkers. But k.d. lang has given up her retreat in the sycamore-secluded Beverly Glen real estate market.

The Canadian-born crooner sold her 2,900-square-foot hideaway at 8062 Woodrow Wilson Dr. in Los Angeles to Maroon 5 band member Jesse Carmichael for $1.9 million. According to public data, lang purchased the home in August 1997 for $1,075,000.

The sale comes just a few months after lang broke with her longtime partner, Jamie Price.

The chanteuse with the bellowing pipes may not be missing the homestead, given that “Miss Chatelaine” is performing concerts all across the U.S. and Canada, a tour that will keep her on the road through September.

Meanwhile, the 3-bed, 2-bath home is described in the listing as a “perfect sanctuary for a celebrity client” and is “extremely private and gated on a large wooded lot set among beautiful sycamore trees.” Perhaps Carmichael took description to heart and leapt at the chance on the heels of his own personal announcement that he is taking “…a temporary break from the band to pursue more full time studies in music and the healing arts…”

The home has hand-hewn beams, hardwood floors, Craftsman influences and includes three stone fireplaces (living room, dining room and master bedroom). It also includes a pool, spa and large, outdoor entertaining area.

Or at least, Investopedia can.

If you’re a stay-at-home mom, you know as much as anyone what it takes to run a household. Keeping the house in order and prepping breakfasts, lunches and dinners are nothing to sneeze at — but those tasks are just the tip of the iceberg.

As a stay-at-home mom, you’re probably also shuttling kids to and from activities, helping them with homework, entertaining other people’s kids after school … the list goes on and on.

So, have you ever taken the time to sit down and do the math? If your family had to hire someone to do all the tasks that you take on in your daily routine, how much would it cost?

The way Investopedia did it was to only take into consideration those tasks which had a monetary value assigned to them, then they used the lowest value for each calculation.

[Related: Young People Moving Back Home in Droves]

Here’s what they found:

• Private Chef: The American Personal Chef Association reported that a personal chef makes between $200 and $500 per day. Grocery delivery services charge a fee of $5 to $10. Total cost for services: $1,005 per five day work week x 52 weeks = $52,260 per year
• House Cleaner: Professional maids or house cleaning service providers charge by the hour, number of rooms or square footage of the home. For example, twice weekly cleaning of a 900-square-foot, two-bedroom apartment with five rooms costs somewhere between $59 and $124. Total cost for services: $118 per week x 52 weeks = $6,136 per year
• Child Care: The International Nanny Association’s 2011 survey found that nannies make on average $600 to $950 per week in gross wages, plus perks including health insurance, paid vacation and sick days, as well as dental and vision coverage and bonuses. Total cost for services: $600 a week x 52 weeks = $31,200 per year
• Driver: Companies like Red Cap provide personal drivers that use the client’s own car as the means of transportation. An elite membership, which includes 365 days of unlimited, round-trip service is $1,000 a year plus 33 cents to $2.03 per minute. Total cost for services: $1,000 per year + (estimated miles driven 8,000 miles/50 MPH) x 60 min/hr x $.33 per minute] = $4,168 per year
• Laundry Service: Susie’s Suds Home Laundry Service, Inc. in Texas charges $0.90 to $1 per pound to wash, dry, fold, hang and steam your clothes. Items that take longer to dry, like comforters, blankets, rugs and winter clothes are assessed at $12 to $15 each. Total cost for services: $0.90 per pound x 4 pounds of clothes per day x 5 days per week x 52 weeks = $936 per year
• Lawn Maintenance: It’s possible that a stay-at-home mom would take on the duties that most lawn care services do, like mowing, debris removal, edging and trimming the lawn. Services like these cost, on average, $30 per week. Total cost for services: $30 per week x 52 weeks = $1,560 per year

[Related: Real Estate Advice From Moms]

So what’s the overall damage? In their estimation, according to the numbers above, a homemaker who takes on all these duties would be worth around $96,260.

It’s great that Investopedia did all the work here, but we have one better. Our “What’s Your Mom ‘Salary’ Worth?” calculator below allows you to input your own numbers to determine how much you would have to pay someone else to do everything you do around the house — whether you’re a stay-at-home mom or not.

Go ahead, take a stab at it. You know you’re curious …

More From LearnVest:

• Ready to buy a home? Down Payments & What You Need to Know
• If you are thinking of refinancing: What Rising Interest Rates Could Mean
• The story behind the loan: How Banks Decide How Much To Lend

This post originally appeared on LearnVest.com on May 2, 2012 and was written by Cheryl Lock. It is republished here with permission from LearnVest.

Did you know that in April, 150 million homes were viewed on Zillow Mobile? That means 58 homes per second. Now, more than 30% of Zillow’s traffic comes from a mobile device; on weekends, it’s over 40%*.

Here are some tips for Zillow Premier Agents using the Zillow Mobile Apps on any of the above platforms:

• Download the app to your own device so you understand how your clients are using it.
• Respond to mobile contacts within 2-5 minutes, they are mobile and in your neighborhoods and communities.
• Use the built-in GPS mapping tool to explore “farming” opportunities in your local communities.
• Access local real estate listings and Zestimate home values on over 100,000,000 homes right from your hands.
• Android users and iPhone users now have access to the Zillow Mortgage Marketplace App.
• Get real-time rates, easy-to-use calculators and more on the elegantly designed mortgage app.
• Search apartments for rent, homes for rent, condos, townhouses and more on-the-go using the Zillow Rentals App for Android. The rental market is hot and on-the-go.
• Draw your preferred neighborhoods and custom searches with your finger on a map. (not available on all devices)
• Share homes via email, Facebook, and Twitter and connect with prospects in your local market.

Zillow’s Mobile real estate apps are helping local agents generate more contacts and business.

Zillow Premier Agents are showing up all over Zillow and on the popular mobile apps as the local real estate experts and go-to professionals.  These agents have the best opportunity to convert mobile Zillow app users, from every platform, into long term valued clients.

The app is FREE to download, the reach is to millions, but the rewards and results… priceless.

> Get Your Zillow Mobile App here

*Source: Google Analytics, April 2012

As with all tenant issues, the first way to try to handle this situation is in a fair, reasonable, respectful and professional manner. This will almost always give you the best outcome, even if you do lose some money from the situation.

The reason I stress this point is simple. If you’ve treated your tenants with respect, (who by the way are paying for your retirement and should be the most important people in your life) there is a much lower chance that you will get into a dispute that will undoubtedly cause you stress and loss of funds.

Of course, this approach doesn’t always work and sometimes, the tenant-landlord relationship can become tense and things unfortunately can sour. Welcome to real estate!

Luckily, because these kinds of things have long been part of the rental business, there’s been plenty of time to develop ways to handle these events. So let me offer some general guidance that could be helpful to your circumstances.

Every Situation is Different

There are different state and local laws. Each tenant is different. Each issue presents different circumstances.

Only you can decide how to handle your particular situation, including whether you need legal advice. If things do not go well, it may unfortunately cost you a lot of money. They key is to reduce your losses, should a tenant refuse to vacate at the end of the lease.

Scenario 1: They are paying rent but won’t move

They are still paying rent but you want them out because you want to renovate, you want to move in, you have an issue with their tenancy that violates the lease, you want to up the rent. Talk to them on the phone first and alert them to the issues. A good approach is to give them extra time on a month-to-month basis so they can find a good place to move to.

Make sure you comply with all the local tenant notice laws and give them the proper written notice after you’ve discussed it with them. This is critical. Let them know that a written notice is coming. Always try first to negotiate a fair resolution for all parties. This will better ensure that they will move out on a scheduled date, that they’ll leave the property in good shape, and you can move on with your plans for the residence. If they just refuse, we’ll cover unlawful detainers below.

Scenario 2: They are broke!

They are not paying rent because simply do not have the money to pay. They may have contacted you to alert you to this, or they may not be answering your calls. Again, your best chance to mitigate damages is to work with them on a plan to vacate the premises. So … reach out! You will probably never see a dime of the money they owe you, nor what you’ll pay for an unlawful detainer (UD) eviction lawsuit. Make sure you give them that proper legal notice of their lease violation/failure to pay, as per the local laws.

Try to work with them and get them to agree to move out in a reasonable time frame. Suggest that they move in with family or friends. Suggest that this is a way they are helping you reduce your losses. Tell them you will give them a good rental recommendation if they handle this unfortunate situation responsibly. This is where the “treating tenants with respect during their lease” comes in. Hopefully, you have built up good will and they will want to help mitigate or reduce your losses.

• Potential solution: My attorney, a long-term real estate owner, will meet with the tenants and offer them $750 to move out — if they do it within a few weeks, leave the place in good shape, and let him show the house during that period. He says it gets the tenant out quickly, gets the house back in close to rental shape, and lets him re-rent the property without delay. And it works!
• Bring in a mediator: If you are ticked off at your tenant, it’s still worth trying to negotiate. It’s a lot better then spending twice as much on legal fees, and it drags through court for three months while you are not collecting rent, and they leave the place trashed! So if you are too upset to negotiate, get someone who is neutral, like a mediator, to work a deal to get your tenants out.

Relations Deteriorating, Eviction Needed

If they just won’t leave, filing a UD eviction lawsuit may be the only option — just make sure you gave the proper legal notices from the start of the process, per above, so you aren’t slowed down in a UD suit.

Cost and time frames vary by state, so do some research. Once you file, they will be served notice, but still offer and negotiate to drop the lawsuit and spare their credit report if they move out. The longer they stay, the more you lose regardless. It’s going to test your ability to stay cool and make good decisions, but getting them out quickly so you can re-rent the property should by far and away give you the best outcome.

If you do enter the rental property game, you’ll find that dealing with tenants in financial trouble is one of the least enjoyable parts of the business. But it is inevitable, so try to make the best of it — for a good solution for all parties.

Related:

• What is a Good Real Estate Investment?
• Why the Property Price is of Low Importance
• The Ins and Outs of Homeowners Insurance

Leonard Baron, MBA, CPA, is a San Diego State University Lecturer, a guest blogger on Zillow.com, the author of several books including “Real Estate Ownership, Investment and Due Diligence 101”, and loves kicking the tires of a good piece of dirt! See more at ProfessorBaron.com.

Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of Zillow.

Whether the place is too small, or the design is not conducive to kids or it’s not near the right schools, many celebs end up looking for a new home right before or after they have children. And no group of people are as prone to this cause and effect behavior than the A-Lister set. From Miranda Kerr to Alicia Keys, when news of baby arrives, moving boxes aren’t too far behind.

In honor of Mother’s Day, we’re looking at a few of the recent baby mama movers. (Psst: Be sure to check out “Moms Advice to Their Kids About Real Estate“).

Tori Spelling

6614 Dume Dr, Malibu CA
For sale: $2.675 million

People.com

Soon-to-be-mother of four Tori Spelling announced her pregnancy in March, five months after giving birth to her third daughter Hattie. Spelling and husband Dean McDermott had only been in their Malibu home since late September 2011, but already outgrew their 3-bedroom, 2.5-bath and 2,300-square-foot home. The couple pumped in $100,000 worth of renovations, listed the house for $2.675 million and reportedly have already found a Thousand Oaks rental.

Alicia Keys

30 Crosby St #PH-B, New York, NY
For sale: $17.95 million

IMDb.com

It’s glassy, it’s modern and perhaps it’s not all that practical for a baby. Alicia Keys and husband Swizz Beatz recently listed their Manahttan penthouse for $17.95 million, only two years after buying it from Lenny Kravitz for $12.5 million. The SoHo apartment for sale has 6,167 square feet of living space plus another 3,000-square feet of terraces, 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, and 4 powder rooms.

Penelope Cruz

8914 Devlin Pl, Los Angeles CA
Sold for $2.88 million

IMDb.com

Penelope Cruz bought the Balinese-modern home in 2005, several years before marrying long-time boyfriend Javier Bardem and giving birth to first son Leo Encinas Bardem. The 3,334-square-foot house was on the small side for an Oscar-winning celebrity and grew even smaller once Cruz’s family grew. She and Bardem listed the Hollywood Hills home for sale in 2011 for $3.695 million and after a few price drops, sold in 2012 for $2.88 million.

Miranda Kerr

Undisclosed address, New York, NY
Sold

IMDb.com

Shortly after super model Miranda Kerr gave birth to her first son with husband Orlando Bloom, she listed her single-lady New York City loft for sale. The couple’s primary house is in Los Angeles, and with a new baby in tow, a one-bedroom pad is not as practical. The two listed the Flatiron District home for sale in 2011 for $1,395,000.

A pocket listing is an unofficial, off-market listing

Also known as a “quiet” or “off-market” listing, a pocket listing is a property that an agent keeps tucked away in his or her “pocket.” Though the seller has a signed listing agreement with a real estate agent, the property for sale isn’t officially listed in the MLS. Other traditional forms of marketing may be downplayed, too.

Pocket listings started many years ago as a way for high-profile people or expensive homes to be quietly marketed. They were seen as exclusive because they were listed under the radar of mainstream agents, buyers and even the press.

Pocket listings are growing in popularity

As the real estate market has become more challenging, pocket listings have become more mainstream.

In many markets, there are few good properties and low inventories, coupled with buyers who are motivated to see more homes. You’d think that would be a perfect reason to push homes on to the market.

And yet, there are sellers who have been interested in selling but aren’t comfortable with current home values. These sellers may sit on the sidelines and will only sell if they can get the price they want.

As soon as a home is listed in the MLS, the infamous “days on market” clock starts ticking. The longer your home sits on the market, the more “stale” it becomes and the less money you’re likely to be offered. Buyers, seeing that a home has been for sale for 30 or 60 days or even longer, will inevitably make low-ball offers. And so, instead of going on the market, a seller who wants a certain price may engage their real estate agent and put the listing out there as a “pocket” listing.

Pocket listings let sellers test the market

With a pocket listing, a seller and their agent can quietly test the market without adding it to the MLS. They can gauge reaction to the price they’re asking and see what kind of traffic they get and how the market receives the property without the MLS clock ticking.

The agent can get the word out about the home using various marketing methods except the MLS — maybe even holding a small open house, doing a private broker’s tour, and stimulating word of mouth with other agents.

Sometimes, pocket listings eventually get entered into the MLS. But in other cases they’re sold without ever making it into the database.

Pocket listings have become a secondary home market

In some markets, there are entire websites devoted to pocket listings or networking opportunities with other agents about upcoming listings and properties. What started as a way to get the word out about future listings has turned into a secondary market of homes for sale for well-connected real estate agents.

While sellers may agree to a pocket listing and dictate how the information about their home is disseminated, many boards of Realtors have procedures and rules for how listings are to be input into the local MLS. Those rules include fines for agents who don’t input their listing within a certain time period.

Time will tell if pocket listings are here to stay or just a direct result of our current real estate market.

What pocket listings mean for sellers and buyers

If you’re a seller, you should consider testing the waters with a pocket listing, even if it’s just for a week or two. You’ve got nothing to lose.

For buyers, it’s important to work with a local agent who has established relationships with other agents in the community. That way, you can be certain that you’ll be made aware of all potential homes for sale.

Related:

• Why Your First Offer is Your Always Best Offer
  
• Advice for Buyers Bidding on Home With Multiple Offers
• Why Sellers Shouldn’t Be Present at Open Houses

Brendon DeSimone is a Realtor® and real estate expert based in San Francisco and New York. He is a contributor to Zillow Blog, has collaborated on multiple real estate books and is often quoted by major media outlets. Follow Brendon on Twitter.

Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of Zillow.

How do you evaluate a site for your house?  How do you find the right part of the site to build on?
Start with the four “S’s” – Slope, Sun, Soil, and Sewer.

A house and site working together with great results.

Slope

The slope of the property can have a big effect on the cost of your project – a house placed on a slope will most definitely cost more to build than a house on a flat lot.

Does your house have to be placed on the slope?

Perhaps it can be placed at the top or bottom – taking advantage of the views from the slope but not incurring the costs of building there.

Many owners of sloping lots want to take advantage of that situation by including a “walk-out” basement in the design. It’s one way to increase the space in your house for a relatively small cost. The steepness of the slope will partly determine how much excavation and/or fill is necessary to create the walkout.

Homes on sloped lots often require more (read: costly) gravel backfill material at the foundation; they might need expensive retaining walls to create a flat area for a driveway or hold back soil at the walk-out; and they usually have a full basement – whether you want it or not.

Here’s the bottom line – carefully analyze (with the help of your design professional) the impact that your sloped lot may have on your design; design a house that’s appropriate for the lot without unreasonably expensive construction techniques.

A room built for light. Note how deeply into the room sunlight reaches.

Sun

Many homes are designed with the primary family living spaces at the back (kitchen, breakfast room, family room). These are the rooms you want sunlight in; the rooms with all the expensive windows.

And you’ll get that sunlight through those windows, too – if the back of the house faces more or less south. That’s where the sun is, remember?

If your lot is on the south side of the street, great.

But what if your lot is on the north side? All that living space, all that glass, isn’t going to get any direct sunlight at all. Or worse, your lot faces east, and the afternoon sun pours through that wall of west-facing glass like a blast furnace – heating up the house and fading the furniture and carpeting.

Since we’re talking about sunlight, now’s a good time to bring up the subject of energy consumption. Houses are designed to keep heat in, or to keep heat out, depending on the season. The easiest and least expensive way to keep heat out of the house is with proper orientation of the windows and doors. The easiest way to keep heat in is to reduce the number of windows. So, pay close attention to the number and location of windows in your design.

A properly oriented plan can save you a lot in fuel bills and give you a lot more enjoyment of your house and your building site.

A good house-site relationship.

Soil

It’s amazing, every time a backhoe starts a new house foundation, how different soils can vary from one building site to another. From loose sand to solid rock and everything in between, and sometimes all on the same site!

Soil type can have a big impact on the cost of construction. Even if you know a lot about the underground conditions on your site, it’s a good idea to keep a little cash in reserve to deal with potential surprises lurking under the turf.

How much do you know about the soils on your home site? It’s relatively easy to learn the basic characteristics from your County Extension Service or local building department. You might also contact builders and excavators with experience in the area and ask them what they’ve encountered on other projects they’ve built near you.

Some types of foundation systems that are popular in one region are unheard of in others. Typical practice in many areas is poured concrete walls — a potentially expensive option if your plans call for concrete block. It’s important to know what foundation systems are common where you’re building.
But even a house with the proper type of foundation for your site may need to be specifically engineered to accommodate the local soils, and the local building department.

Soils drain and retain water differently, and soils have vastly differently capacities to bear structural loads. In most areas, you’ll have to show the building department that your foundation is designed for the local soil conditions.

Additions should also take advantage of "the four S's."

Sewer

The Plumber’s Credo – “everything flows downhill” is extremely important to remember when designing your home. On a developed lot, the municipal sanitary sewer line is buried near the front (usually) of the lot. The height of this pipe will determine the depth below grade of the basement slab since the effluent from the house must “flow downhill” to the sewer line.

An undeveloped lot is one where the utilities – electricity, water, gas, and public sewer – aren’t brought from the street to the buildable area of the lot. On larger undeveloped properties there may not be any public sanitary sewer to connect to at all. On such a lot, you’ll need some type of private sanitation system.

Several types of private sanitation systems are in use today including the traditional septic tank and leach field, aeration systems, and “mound” systems. They can vary widely in cost, and not all health districts allow all types. The choice of system will also be heavily weighted by the soil type and slope of the lot, and the available area(s) for the system. A typical leach field system will require a large clear area for a primary and second field.

Since a private sanitation system is more expensive than connecting to a public system, the cost isn’t typically considered in the “base” cost of building a house. A private sanitation system is usually an “extra.”

Slope, Sun, Soil, and Sewer – keep these in mind when selecting a property to build on and when designing your home and you’ll have a more successful project!

Related:

• How to Choose Exterior Paint Colors for Your House
• 9 Unconventional Ways to Improve Your Home
• Top 5 Requests for Home Design

Richard Taylor is a residential architect based in Dublin, Ohio and is a contributor to Zillow Blog. 

Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of Zillow.

We found some impressive staircases in homes for sale, ranging from marble spiral staircases to seemingly floating structures. The staircases below will make you feel like a million dollars and have you skipping the elevator more often that not.

Graceful Oval

120 E 70th New York, NY
For sale: $35,000,000

Although this New York townhouse has an elevator, the oval staircase (above) is much more interesting. The staircase forms a spiral up six floors of the home, which was built in 1930, reportedly as a wedding present for Charles C. Auchincloss, a New York lawyer, stockbroker and book collector. The 10,000-square-foot home is one of the largest homes in Manhattan, and with an equally large price tag of $35 million, one of the most expensive.

Rustic Log Staircase

6387 W Sturgeon Rd, Rathdrum ID
For sale: $6,900,000

Built from rustic logs, the staircase of this Idaho home (above) is no less striking than one of polished marble. The 8,400-square-foot home sits on nearly 298 acres and includes panoramic mountain views, and a creek and pond. The luxury home is ultra private and is located only a short distance from popular vacation spot Coeur d’Alene.

Floating in Florida

1611 Beach Ave, Atlantic Beach FL
For sale: $3,800,000

This Atlantic Beach home, and its staircase, are nothing short of dramatic. The steps appear to float as they stretch up to the modern home’s next floor. The oceanfront home also has extensive patios, infinity pool and spa.

Industrial Edge

14 Colony Rd, Edgewater NJ
For sale: $1,498,000

Whether it’s a painted front door, accent wall or sports car, the color red makes a splash. The homeowners of this New Jersey home for sale decided to make their modern staircase (above) even more a statement. The contemporary home is on the Edgewater real estate market and features walls of glass, stainless steel appliances and another pop of red paint on the gas fireplace.

Curvy Elegance

5550 N 40 Pl, Dallas TX
For sale $2,499,999

Floating staircases are both architecturally and visually interesting, as the curvy version shows in this Dallas home for sale. Other features of interest in the home include exposed brick walls and wood beam ceilings.

Dizzying Heights

6 Monarch Cv, Dana Point CA
For sale: $22,995,000

This California mansion has two statement staircases — one curling around its exterior (above) and another one spiraling multiple times as it connects interior floors. Of course, if that’s too much, the 12,000-square-foot Dana Point home also includes an elevator.

Double Vision

2800 Pacific Ave, San Francisco CA
For sale: $12,500,000

Is it one or two staircases? With the aid of a mirror, the style of this San Francisco home‘s grand staircase is, dare we say, magnified. Even without the mirror, it’s obvious that the staircase (above) is a significant piece adding to the grandeur of the Herbst Manor. Built in 1899, the home also features a French salon, formal drawing room, master suite with dressing room and paneled library.

Simple Spiral

2715 Shadow Canyon Rd, Diamond Bar CA
For sale: $6,889,000

This French-style home has a grand double staircase in its entry, but a smaller spiraled staircase is the structure that caught our eye. Leading to a study nook in its library, the narrow staircase is one of the many details in the custom-built home.

Walnut Beauty

1103 Apple Pie Ridge Rd, Alto GA
For sale: $6,900,000

Nestled in Alto, Georgia is a home that conjures up images of mountainside homes in Colorado and Utah. The home’s custom-built, free-floating staircase (above) is constructed of black walnut. Oak and tile floors, Douglas fir ceiling beams and six stone fireplaces complete the lodge ambiance.

Related:

• Homes With a Past: Missile Silo, Schoolhouse, Caboose & More
• House of Week: Mushroom House in Cincinnati (VIDEO)
  
• Glassy Home was Rumored Rendezvous for Marilyn Monroe and JFK (VIDEO)

Source: BobVila.com

Many years before DIY Network, Home and Garden Television or Bravo began tackling home improvement television, Bob Vila laid the groundwork with his hugely popular show, “This Old House.” Vila’s personable, folksy style educated homeowners about the way to redo a bedroom, tile a kitchen backsplash or handle a leaking toilet. U.S. homeowners were empowered and the do-it-yourself mentality took off like a shot.

Some thirty years later, Vila is still one of the most recognizable experts in home improvement. His website BobVila.com is filled with advice, forums and helpful videos about tackling home projects. Today, Zillow is excited to announce that Vila will also be the newest contributor to Zillow Blog.

Zillow: How did you get started in the home improvement field?

Bob Vila: I have a degree in journalism from the University of Florida and an associates degree in architecture. My love of architecture and building was my passion in life, but I found myself being counseled into the school of journalism. After graduating I found myself going through two years of the Peace Corps and two years of traveling. I came back to architecture when I moved to Boston and joined the Boston Center of Architecture. Then the career joining architecture and television can only be described as serendipity.

Zillow: You were a big pioneer of DIY and home improvement. Do you think there’s a bigger embrace of do-it-yourself and home improvement today?

Bob Vila: Without a doubt, there’s been a steady increase, especially if you look at the bottom line of the home improvement industry. It’s not just because of circumstance and economic needs, but a real kind of affinity in and delight in home improvement and home renovation. It’s part of the American pioneer spirit and it will never go away.

Zillow: What are the basic home improvement skills that every home owner should have?

Bob Vila: Homeowners should be able to troubleshoot the mechanics of the house. They should be able to determine why the coffee maker isn’t turning on this morning and what is a circuit breaker and whether there’s something wrong with it. They don’t have to be a master craftsman that can create a paneled library, but they should be aware of how a house works, how to decipher its problems and figure out solutions.

Zillow: What’s your favorite home improvement that you’ve done?

Bob Vila: It would be in the area of carpentry as opposed to plastering or painting or plumbing. Solving storage solutions is always challenging and fun.

Zillow: And of course, we have to mention architecture. What’s your favorite style of home?

Bob Vila: I have had the good fortune of living in several places. I grew up in Florida and lived in a home that was built in 1944 and much of the design sensibilities are mid-century. I have a home in Massachusetts that is actually two homes, and the one I live in is a 10-year-old Cape Cod-style house and the one my kids come stay in is a 200-year-old antique. I’ve lived in Victorians and one of them was subject to hours of programming. But I’m partial to a Cape Cod-style house.

Jersey girls Melissa Gorga (left) and sister-in-law Teresa Giudice face off. SOURCE: Bravo

The show is “Real Housewives of New Jersey.” But maybe a better name would be “Family Feud.”

What else are we supposed to infer from the newly re-listed New Jersey home of “Housewives” star Melissa Gorga, 32, and her husband, Joe Gorga? The couple has priced their 13,500-square-foot house for $3.8 million amid speculation that Gorga wants to leave the Montville real estate market and head to the hills — Hollywood Hills, that is, to pursue her singing career.

Of course, that’s just the rumor mill buzzing. Reality is that the couple is looking to move back to the Franklin Lakes, NJ, real estate market, which is just 16 miles away. Gorga said to US Weekly:

I’m a builder. I custom-built the houses we have lived in and will do the same with our next one. We tried Montville, but it just wasn’t for us. We want to go back to Franklin Lakes, which is closer to where I work, and we’re looking at a couple of properties now.

When Joe Gorga says it wasn’t for us, that could be confirmation that his wife of seven years and mother his three kids has had it with his sister, Teresa Giudice, who also lives in Montville. The 40-year-old Real Housewives’ star has apparently tried to patch things up, saying that her stint on Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice” has made her re-evaluate the cat fights she’s engaged in with her “Housewives” co-stars.

But with this lavish listing hitting the market this week, less is going to be more when it comes to social gatherings among the extended Gorga family.

Meanwhile, the home that was built in 2009 is being marketed as a home fit for royalty. Hard to argue with that sales pitch, given the oceans of Italian marble, stucco and hardwoods that anchor this lavish 6-bedroom, 7-bathroom estate set on over 2 acres.

Related:

• Bristol Palin’s Arizona Home Sold for $175,000
• Boston-Area Home Where Babe Ruth Lived Now on Market
• Listed for Sale: Home Where “Deep Throat” Was Filmed

He may hail from Long Island, where he crooned about hometown steadies Brenda and Eddie, but Billy Joel took his love of the beachy life all the way to the top — or to the bottom — of the continental U.S. with his waterfront home in the Miami Beach real estate market.

With a tip of the hat to The Real Estalker, we have come to learn the Piano Man is now seeking to divest himself of the 9,200-square-foot mansion he bought in 2006 for $13.5 million in cash. Joel is asking $14.75 million.

The 7-bedroom 8.5-bath Mediterranean waterfront estate at 82 Lagorce Circle is located on the exclusive La Gorce Island. And at 8,881 square feet, the manse is not lacking for places for the talented Mr. Joel to relax or create. Word is that winters are when he flocked to this haven, which boasts expansive areas indoors and out that have breathtaking views of the Biscayne Bay.

According to listing notes, the home also has a “luxurious bar with wine cellar, gourmet chef’s kitchen, formal living and dining room, office and sumptuous master suite all of which showcase the finest details and finished. Perfect home for entertaining w/ outdoor summer kitchen. Over 150 feet of water frontage.”

Joel most recently made headlines for praising the rendition of his famous Piano Man ballad as played by a 6-year-old boy with autism. Joel said he liked the boy’s intro better than his own.

From Real Estalker, we get the lowdown on the neighborhood where Joel has splashed around these past six years:

La Gorce Island has long been a favored enclave by celebs and big bizness types with the dough and inclination to maintain a mansion in Miami. Cher once owned a big house just down the street from Mister Joel as did Latin pop/crossover star Shakira. Bee Gee Maurice Gibb bought a La Gorce Island mansion only the year before he died in 2003 and tatted up, dope-smoking rapper Lil’ Wayne is well known to have leased a colossal, 20,000-plus waterfront contemporary on La Gorce Island once listed for sale at $13,900,000 and that he may or may not have purchased last year.

In addition to the mansion in Miami Beach bought a few years after they were married for $13,500,000 and now up for grabs for $14,750,000, Mister Joel and his much younger third ex-wife Katie Lee bought a slew of high-priced East Coast properties, some of which have been unsuccessfully up for sale and others that have been sold off.

 

Related:

• Bristol Palin’s Arizona Home Sold for $175,000
• Boston-Area Home Where Babe Ruth Lived Now on Market
• Listed for Sale: Home Where “Deep Throat” Was Filmed

The vast majority of smoke alarms in use today are the ionization type, but they’re more frequently being questioned as a valid detection method. In states like Iowa, Vermont, and Massachusetts, they’re no longer allowed as residential smoke alarms.

Why all the bad press about ionization smoke alarms?

One of the major problems with ionization smoke alarms is that they give off too many false alarms – mostly from cooking and showers.  When a smoke alarm goes off every time someone cooks bacon, people remove the battery or take down the smoke alarm. Manufacturers require them to be installed away from kitchens and bathrooms, but there is no hard and fast rule for clearance requirements across different manufacturers.

Some cities, such as Minneapolis, have implemented even stricter requirements for ionization smoke alarms; they require smoke alarms that are within 20 feet of a cooking appliance to either be of the photoelectric type, or to have a hush button.

Recent statistics show that in 24 percent of home fire deaths, smoke alarms were present but did not sound. In half of those cases, there was a missing or disconnected battery. This is a common problem that I find all the time while doing Truth-In-Sale of Housing evaluations. The reason people always give for the disconnection is that the smoke alarm goes off every time they cook or shower.

The other problem with ionization smoke alarms is that they take a long time to respond to a smoldering fire. They’re much slower than photoelectric alarms.  In fact, estimates show that at least one-third of fatal home fires involve a significant smoldering period.  This is the major reason that there is such a push to replace ionization smoke alarms with photoelectric smoke alarms.

The diagram and text below comes from a handout published by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), showing how a photoelectric smoke alarm will give occupants much more time to escape in the event of a smoldering fire.

In the event of a smoldering fire, a photoelectric smoke alarm clearly outperforms the ionization type. So why do we even have ionization alarms?  The main reason is cost.  Photoelectric smoke alarms typically cost about twice as much as the ionization type.  The other reason is that ionization smoke alarms will outperform photoelectric alarms in the event of a fast moving fire.  The faster reaction time can be measured in tens of seconds, but in the event of a fast moving fire, these are precious seconds.  The diagram below, again from the CPSC, helps to illustrate this.

Most Smoke Alarms are the Ionization Type

I’ve been hearing more and more about this push, but after recently listening to an impassioned speech on the benefits of photoelectric smoke alarms over ionization alarms, I started taking an informal inventory of the smoke alarms that are installed in Minnesota homes.  Over the past few weeks, I’ve taken a close look at every smoke alarm in every house I’ve inspected to get an idea of what’s the most common type used in Minnesota.  Out of the dozens of smoke alarms I’ve looked at, I found one dual-sensor smoke alarm, which employed both ionization and photoelectric technologies.  The rest of the smoke alarms were the ionization type only.  I didn’t come across a single photoelectric unit.

To know the difference between ionization and photoelectric alarms, you need to take the smoke alarm down and look at the back.  Ionization alarms all contain a trace amount of a radioactive material, Americium 241.  They’ll all have a warning about this on the back side.  I marked up the labeling that indicates these are ionization alarms in every photo.

My Recommendation

I recommend installing both photoelectric and ionization smoke alarms, or smoke alarms that use both technologies called dual alarms.  Some people argue that these alarms shouldn’t be used because there could be more nuisance tripping due to the ionization sensor, which would cause the occupants to disable the smoke alarm.  While this is obviously a possibility, proper placement of smoke alarms and better education about how they operate is the best way to make a home safer.

Related:

• Problems with Flipped Houses
• Is Your Deck Safe?
• How To Choose a Home Inspector

Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections, Minneapolis, Minn., is a second-generation ASHI Certified Inspector whose experience with home remodeling and construction began at age four when he helped his father steam wallpaper. He has worked for Structure Tech since 1997 and joined ASHI in 2004. Visit his blog at www.structuretech1.com/blog/.

Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of Zillow.

CORRECTION (5/11/12): This post published on May 9, 2012, originally stated a home for sale in the Broadmoor neighborhood of Seattle (slideshow above) was the site of President Obama’s brunch. It was actually a different house owned by the same family (photo below). We apologize for the error.

——-

President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Seattle Thursday for two fundraisers: Brunch at a private home, followed by an event at the Paramount Theater in downtown Seattle. The brunch will be held at the waterfront home of Democratic donors Ann and Bruce Blume (photo below), which has a current Zestimate home value of $19 million plus.

Source: Google maps

As the race heats up between President Obama and Mitt Romney, the likely Republican nominee, the candidates are hitting the road to fill their coffers in an election that most agree will be the most expensive in history.

President Obama counts NBA great and Seattle dweller Bill Russell as father figure and supporter. SOURCE: AP

While Romney hits up the Midwest — he was in Indianapolis on Monday and Lansing, MI on Tuesday — Obama is heading to the West Coast, with scheduled events in Seattle and Los Angeles.

Obama’s last visit to Seattle was more of a public affair — he visited Boeing’s plant in Everett and spoke to machinists there before attending a pair of political fundraisers. This time around, his visit focuses on fundraising and it starts with the private brunch at the Blume’s’ home in the Madrona neighborhood of Seattle.

Coincidentally, less than a mile and a half away is the Blume’s’ other home, which is currently listed on the Broadmoor real estate market in Seattle for $2.95 million. While it’s no waterfront house, the Blume’s home for sale is still quite impressive: a 1941 shingled Colonial with 6,880 square feet of living space on a generous lot and a half. The Broadmoor neighborhood is about three miles northeast of downtown Seattle, close to Lake Washington and the University of Washington’s Arboretum. The Broadmoor median list price is $2.2 million.

The listing for the home describes a “perfect floor plan” with plenty of formal and informal spaces.

After Obama’s visit to Seattle, his next stop is Hollywood, where he’s scheduled to dine at George Clooney’s home. That place is not reported for sale … at this moment.

Related:

• See Homes of U.S. Presidents (Obama, Bush, Clinton and More)
• What is the White House Worth?
• Homes of GOP Candidates

If there’s one thing most mothers carry in spades, it’s advice. Whether they’re exhorting us to eat our vegetables, or send thank you notes, moms have a tip for nearly every situation — even when it comes to buying a home.

In honor of Mother’s Day, we asked moms to share on our Zillow Facebook page the advice they gave their children when they were buying a home. Here are the few best tidbits.

Do any of them sound like something your mother would say?

Have Financial Sense

The most common bit of advice moms shared centered on their children’s financial well-being.

“Don’t confuse the highest quote a lender gives for you with how much you should spend on a house,” said Kristie Caron-White. “If you are pre-approved for a $150,000 house and you don’t have any other money saved, don’t look at $150,000 houses.”

Another tip? “Buy as if you have one income,” shared Melissa Nowak.

Overall, as summed up by Lisa Myers Gammill: “Buy what you can afford now… being house poor is not worth it.”

Do Your Research

From choosing a real estate agent to picking out the location for your dream home, many moms want first-time home buyers to do all the necessary legwork.

“Do your own research as to what the comps are in the market and really know the demographics of your neighborhood,” said Kameron Lavinder.

Dixie L. Henderson’s advice was similar.

“Do your homework,” she said. “This is the biggest investment in your future.  Pick a home which requires little immediate repair and can be resold, based on location, good school districts, walkability and security.”

Don’t Forget the Home Inspection

The perfect location and perfect home price won’t make up for a crumbling foundation or flooding basement.

“Write a contingency into the contract pending ‘your approval’ of the home inspection,” said Kathryn Hoffmann. “Then hire a CERTIFIED home inspector with experience and “errors and omissions” insurance, even for brand new homes.”

“Inspection, inspection, inspection!” reiterated Jennifer Brown.

So far, dozens have offered their motherly advice on real estate on our Facebook page. The comments show that some of the savviest minds reside in those we already knew we could count on!

(Thanks, mom! Now, can we talk down payment?  :)

This represents the lowest rate reported since Zillow Mortgage Marketplace launched in April 2008. The previous low was 3.66 percent, first reported on Feb. 7. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate hovered between 3.69 and 3.63 percent for the majority of the week, dropping to the current rate this morning.

“Rates slumped today as new concerns emerge about Europe’s ability to avoid a deeper debt crisis in the aftermath of the French and Greek elections, therefore encouraging investors to return to the relative safety of the U.S. mortgage bond and Treasury market,” said Erin Lantz, director of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace.

“Although ongoing uncertainty in Europe will keep rates volatile, we don’t expect a sustained decline or rise in rates in the coming week,” added Lantz.

Additionally, the 15-year fixed mortgage rate this morning was 2.91 percent and for 5/1 ARMs, the rate was 2.52 percent.

What are the rates right now? Check Zillow Mortgage Marketplace for up-to-the-minute mortgage rates for your state.

*The weekly rate chart illustrates the average 30-year fixed interest in six-hour intervals.

In my ongoing quest to do just that over the last couple of days, I’ve run into something that seems like it should never be a problem in this day and age…

I can’t find people’s contact information.

More specifically, I can’t find a phone number.

Oddly, most of the time I can get someone’s Twitter ID, or the URL to their Facebook profile, or their email address.

But sometimes I want to reach out and use the telephone for its original purpose — calling and actually speaking to someone. A phone call is after all the first, and still the best, social networking tool ever created.

When you boil it down to basics, as a real estate agent or broker, the primary reason you have an Internet presence is to make the phone ring.

And “make the phone ring” isn’t just some metaphor for “contact me”. You want the phone to physically RING. Having generated thousands of real estate prospects I can tell you unequivocally that moving someone from prospect to client is best done by talking to them. Technology is grand, and it greatly extends your reach but real estate is still very much a face-to-face, belly-to-belly business.

So please, for the love of puppies and bunnies, put your phone number on your website. Your Twitter profile page, in your email signature, On your Facebook pages and Zillow Profile. Slap that phone number everywhere, make it easy to find.

Try it. It might just get the phone to ring.