The Academy Award-winning actress and activist Susan Sarandon has listed her marvelous Manhattan loft for $7.9 million. The star of “Thelma and Louise” has lived in the spot for the last 30 years. She bought the Chelsea duplex in 1991, with her former partner, Tim Robbins. After the couple split, she took on sole ownership in 2011. Now, she, too, has decided it’s time to move on from the two-story abode, and has listed the home with Nikki Field and Mara Flash Blum, both with Sotheby’s International Realty. “The loft is over 6,000 square feet, and as hard as it is to let the wonderful memories go, she has made the decision to downsize. It is time for some lucky purchaser to make it their own,” Blum says. The layout combines two apartments connected by a staircase, and covers two floors. There are five bedrooms, plus an office or library, which could be converted into an additional bedroom, according to the listing details. Located in La Fabrique, a boutique loft building, the space features vistas of Manhattan from four exposures, which can be viewed from a terrace and balcony. Located on the seventh and eighth floors, each with a separate entrance, and accessed by private, keyed elevator, the storied apartment has hosted many an artist and actor. A blue bathroom is a showcase for Sarandon’s many accolades. The expansive interior features a large living space, open kitchen and dining area, lounge area, main bedroom, a guest suite, ample storage, and a laundry room. A main bedroom looks out onto the Empire State Building, and comes with a balcony, soaking tub, en suite windowed bathroom, and dressing room. The custom staircase leads down one floor for three more bedrooms, a den or playroom, open kitchen, two baths, and a huge, 43-foot terrace. According to the listing description, “The colossal living space was used for the Oscar-winning owner’s children’s theatre pieces, dance recitals, and celebrity dance performances, complete with a curved staircase used for audience seating.” Although it may have been designed with her large family in mind, this spacious place could now easily work as an urban oasis for a new owner to live in, work, and enjoy. “Exactly what today’s buyer is hoping to find: grand-scale rooms, architectural details, dramatic downtown views, outside space, private elevator landing in [a] boutique building, and interesting celebrity provenance,” says Field, who adds there is “plenty of room for friends and family on the private guest floor.” Sarandon is downsizing to an apartment nearby. As she told the Wall Street Journal, “I’ve always been a New Yorker, and I’ll continue to be a New Yorker.” The post Susan Sarandon Lists Dramatic Duplex Loft in NYC for $7.9M appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/susan-sarandon-selling-dramatic-duplex-loft-in-nyc/
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Thank you for being a friend! After the home used for exterior shots on “The Golden Girls” landed on the market last week, the web went bananas. Obsessive fans of Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia clicked like crazy and made the Los Angeles lair this week’s most popular home on realtor.com®. On the popular sitcom, the home’s address was in Miami. However, the home we saw onscreen is in the tony enclave of Brentwood. Built in 1955, the home hit the market for the first time ever, and nostalgic fans clamored for a peek. The home’s interiors weren’t used on the show, and are more modern and elegant than you might expect. A buyer might want to make some cosmetic changes, so we’ll stay tuned to see who winds up with the iconic residence. HGTV, perhaps? Aside from sitcom scenery, you also clicked on a couple of massive mansions in Connecticut, a historic home in Alabama, and a marvelous midcentury home in Minnesota built by a chief draftsman for Frank Lloyd Wright. We won’t ask you to name your favorite “Golden Girls” episode, but we will implore you to scroll on down, for a full look at this week’s most popular properties. 10. Undisclosed address, Manchester, CTPrice: $2,450,000 The 13,500-square-foot residence is filled with beautiful antiques and one-of-a-kind finishes. Built in 1860 and reconstructed in 1928, the home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. ——-- 9. 1805 Westwood Ct, S.W., Rochester, MNPrice: $750,000 Built in 1970, the three-bedroom home features all the hallmarks of organic design. You’ll find abundant windows, plenty of built-ins, and seamless indoor-outdoor living. Layered in wood and lovingly maintained, this classic beauty is a timeless choice. ——-- 8. 1403 N. Main St, Scotland Neck, NCPrice: $296,800 For the past two decades, the five-bedroom home has been in service as the Tartan House Bed and Breakfast, offering a charming historical escape for countless guests. Close to parks and a historical district, this Carolina charmer is a step back in time. ——-- 7. 1233 Rock Rimmon Rd, Stamford, CTPrice: $49,500,000 The European-style estate features the finest finishes, an indoor, Olympic-sized swimming pool, private lakes, gardens, and even a hedge maze for kids. According to the listing details, the current owners have poured over $30 million into expanding and restoring the classic residence. ——-- 6. 4037 Victory Pkwy, Cincinnati, OHPrice: $174,900 The four-bedroom home has hardwood floors and is loaded with quaint architectural details, like arched doorways and ceilings. It’s ready to be reimagined into something worthy of its charming exterior. ——-- 5. 648 Glenside Dr, Lafayette, CAPrice: $3,898,000 The three-time NBA champ has moved on from the Dubs, and is ready to part with his residence. The stylish, five-bedroom home was built in 2004, and its highlights include dual kitchen islands, beamed ceilings, and a putting green. ——-- 4. 2710 Rural St, Rockford, ILPrice: $259,900 The listing photos of this four-bedroom classic are a must-see for fans of vintage decor. There’s also a basement rec room, music room, screened porch, and plenty of storage. ——-- 3. 93 Forest Ridge Ct, Columbus, OHPrice: $569,900 The five-bedroom home has clearly been loved and updated throughout its 4,200 square feet. Outside, the large lot leaves plenty of room to relax on the patio or by the stone koi pond. ——-- 2. 1209 Government St, Mobile, ALPrice: $1,050,000 Its ornate interiors include the Louis XVI-inspired living room and a dramatic staircase. The 5,500-square-foot residence sits on 1.5 acres in the city’s Oakleigh Garden District and is accessible through two gated entries. ——-- 1. 245 N. Saltair Ave, Los Angeles, CAPrice: $2,999,000 Now the home used for exterior shots on “The Golden Girls” has landed on the market, and we’re seeing the pattern repeat. We’re curious to see if a buyer will pony up and try to replicate the success that HGTV had with renovating the Brady home. One big difference from the “Brady Bunch” house? This one is move-in ready. However, if a buyer chooses to recreate the soundstage look of the fictional residence of the four iconic ladies, there’s plenty of work ahead. The four-bedroom home currently features elegant, understated interiors without a hint of a Florida grandma vibe, although Dorothy might feel right at home in the original turquoise, avocado, and yellow kitchen. Stay tuned for the next episode of this sitcom home saga! The post ‘Golden Girls’ House in L.A. Is This Week’s Most Popular Home appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/golden-girls-home-most-popular/ An unexpected house in an unexpected place has landed on the market for $2.8 million in Herman, NE. The 4,700-square-foot home on Chippewa Cree Lane sits on a spit of land where a drainage chute meets the Missouri River. “You get off the highway, then you drive for a couple of miles on a dirt road. You take a couple of turns. You don’t see any house or any farm equipment—you don’t see anything—and then you just come up to this private gate,” says the listing agent, Michael Maley. As you’re going down the winding driveway, he says, “It’s probably the most unexpected thing you would expect to see at the end of such a drive. I call it the castle.” The interiors of the three-bedroom riverfront structure have a distinct industrial style. The offering also includes 42 acres of farmland adjacent to the riverfront. “It’s a three-story house, not including the basement,” Maley explains. The main floor features a family room, kitchen, dining room, and a bathroom. Upstairs is the primary bedroom suite and office. Another floor up are two more bedrooms and a sitting area. Built in 2002 by a telecommunications company executive, the home was constructed with a focus on sustainable materials and features exposed ductwork, stone, fireplaces, and wooden ceilings. “I love the exposed beams. I love the natural wood,” Maley says. The use of natural wood, he adds “makes it more homey and warm,” contrasting well with the industrial feel. The house has stunning views, especially from a crow’s nest four stories above ground, which is accessible by elevator. “You can get up there, and you can see 360 degrees all the way into Omaha,” Maley explains. “You can see all the way down the river in both directions. It’s such a special view.” A large deck on the river’s edge is ideal for entertaining. “It’s so peaceful when you see the river just floating on by,” Maley says. Although the home is on a narrow point next to a fast-flowing river, flooding is not a concern. “We had the biggest flooding we’ve ever seen in Nebraska last year, and it did not flood,” Maley says, adding that although the road leading up to the property was underwater, none of the structures on the point flooded. In addition to the main house, the property comes with three other buildings, including a ranch house with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The basement is where you’ll find the brains of the house. “It’s the most over-engineered house on the planet,” Maley says. There’s a geothermal system, water treatment, HVAC, generators, and much more. “It’s an engineer’s dream down there,” he says. “Just seeing all the pipes going around, and seeing all the wiring go around, is kind of neat.” While typically in a basement, things tend to be messy, he says it’s nice here “to see everything so organized and put together.” The home is in the far east of the Cornhusker State, right across the river from Iowa. Although the residence is secluded, it isn’t far from Herman, a town of a few hundred people. It’s also less than a half-hour from the larger city of Blair, and about an hour from Omaha. “It really just does feel incredibly different than any house I have ever been in. You kind of feel like you’re on a houseboat when you’re in here,” Maley says. “It’s incredibly scenic. Your blood pressure goes down when you go out there.” The post Right on the River, Nebraska ‘Castle’ Offers Unparalleled Views appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/unique-homes/riverfront-castle-nebraska/ An oceanfront estate in Palm Beach, FL, has floated onto the market for $110 million. The prodigious asking price makes the posh property the most expensive new listing on realtor.com® this week. Located on what’s known locally as Billionaires’ Row, the Mediterranean-style mansion, on over an acre, is about a half-mile south of President Donald Trump‘s Mar-a-Lago. The home is reportedly owned by a securities systems executive, Edward “Chris” G. Watkins, according to the Palm Beach Daily News. He reportedly paid $17.7 million for the property in 2001, and proceeded to have a grand estate custom-built on the coveted parcel. Construction was completed in 2003. It was available for a bit as a whisper listing at $105 million, then officially splashed on to the market for the slightly higher price of $109.5 million in 2018. Known as Pietra Mare, the estate caught our eye last year, as one of a handful of hundred-million-dollar-plus homes in the country. After a brief respite, the property has returned to the market with a tiny price bump, at the attention-getting sum of $110 million. With 28,399 square feet of living space, the massive mansion has seven bedrooms, nine full bathrooms, and six half-bathrooms. The oversized rooms include soaring ceilings, stone floors, and walls of arched windows. The residence opens to a dramatic, double-height formal entry hall, with a patterned floor and ornate staircase. An expansive living room has French doors that open outside. A wood-paneled library offers built-in shelves, a fireplace, and coffered ceiling. The layout also features a formal dining room with overhead chandelier, and a brightly lit, white kitchen, which flows to a glassed-in breakfast room. Upstairs, the main bedroom comes with a private balcony and a luxuriously large bathroom. The landscaped grounds include towering palms, a grassy lawn overlooking the beach, a pool, spa, and a covered outdoor space for dining and lounging. The property also has a separate guesthouse and includes 170 feet of beach frontage. Other perks include parking for six, an elevator, a wet bar, sound system, and a gym. Lawrence Moens with Lawrence A. Moens Associates holds the listing. The post $110M Oceanfront Mansion in Palm Beach Is Most Expensive New Listing appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/110m-oceanfront-palm-beach-estate-most-expensive/ President Donald Trump is doing away with a little-known rule created to prevent racial discrimination in housing that he claims is having “a devastating impact” on America’s suburbs. Just four months before the presidential election, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced on Thursday that it will end the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulation. The rule, introduced by President Barack Obama‘s administration in 2015, was a provision of the 1968 Fair Housing Act. Its aim was to force cities receiving federal housing money to assess and then address local housing discrimination. “At the request of many great Americans who live in the Suburbs, and others, I am studying the AFFH housing regulation that is having a devastating impact on these once thriving Suburban areas,” Trump tweeted on June 30. The president has accused his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, of wanting to “abolish” the suburbs. Biden supports the regulation. HUD called the AFFH “complicated, costly and ineffective” in a press release issued Thursday. “We found it to be unworkable and ultimately a waste of time for localities to comply with, too often resulting in funds being steered away from communities that need them most,” HUD Secretary Ben Carson said in a statement. “Washington has no business dictating what is best to meet your local community’s unique needs.” The original rule, if it had been left in place, would have likely resulted in communities allowing more affordable housing to go up. It may have also led to zoning changes to allow apartment and condo buildings, as well as smaller, more affordable, single-family homes to be built. This would have affected some wealthier communities that have long fought these developments claiming they could bring down property values. However, AFFH didn’t result in any sweeping changes nationally. The Trump administration took the teeth out of the regulation in 2018 by eliminating the requirement for cities to use the government’s reporting tool and granting them an extra two years to turn in their assessments. This latest move by the administration is just the final nail in the AFFH’s coffin. “This is coming at a time when we’re seeing the heavy price that communities of color pay when we allow segregation and discrimination to happen,” says Peggy Bailey. She is the vice president of housing policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan think tank. “The impact will be, communities will be allowed to sweep housing discrimination under the rug,” she says. “There will be limited, if no accountability, if communities enact policies that advance segregation and discrimination.” The replacement rule, called Preserving Community and Neighborhood Choice, is designed to ensure that housing is “affordable, safe, decent, free of unlawful discrimination and accessible under civil rights laws,” according to the press release. But some see the rule swap as a ploy in the presidential election campaign. Trump “is trying to win back the suburban vote by scaring them and claiming he is up against an opponent who wants to destroy the suburbs through racial and economic integration,” says Evan McKenzie, a political science professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “He’s invoking the idea of the suburbs of the past, that were uniformly white and prosperous.” The post Will Trump Really Save the Suburbs by Cutting a Rule To Stop Housing Discrimination? appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/will-trump-policy-save-the-suburbs/ Bestselling author Dennis Lehane has departed from his Santa Monica home. The “Gone, Baby, Gone” novelist is looking to sell the Southern California property for $2.1 million. Lehane, who hails from Boston, is known for writing about his hometown with “bleak bestsellers” that also became popular films, including “Mystic River” and “Shutter Island.” The Red Sox fan moved to the West Coast when Hollywood came calling for the novelist’s screenwriting skills. Far from Dorchester, MA, this quaint residence was built in 1947 and has a “California bungalow feel,” according to the listing. The author purchased the place in 2015 for $1.5 million. Located in the Sunset Park area, the compact 7,000-square-foot lot includes a pool, spa, and casita. It’s away from the “hustle and bustle” of the city, yet is close to the shops and restaurants of Santa Monica. The 1,700-square-foot home features an open floor plan with coastal design. The layout includes a living room with fireplace, family room, dining area, and eat-in kitchen with built-in workspace. The home has four bedrooms and three bathrooms. The master suite includes a walk-in closet, luxe bath, and private deck overlooking the pool out back. The grassy front yard with landscape lighting and a large shade tree completes the property. In a nod to the coronavirus pandemic, the listing notes the home allows “endless options for indoor-outdoor living, working/schooling from home, and entertaining.” The 54-year-old has published over a dozen novels, which have sold millions worldwide and been translated into some 36 languages. Lehane has also written for the HBO shows “Boardwalk Empire,” “The Wire,” and most recently, the gripping miniseries “The Outsider,” based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name. Stephanie Younger with Compass has the listing. The post Gone, Baby, Gone: Author Dennis Lehane Selling Santa Monica Home appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/dennis-lehane-selling-santa-monica-home/ The architect Frank Lloyd Wright had several clients who commissioned him for more than one property. Take the case of one couple, Alice Millard and George Madison, rare-book dealers for whom he designed homes both in Highland Park, IL, and Pasadena, CA. Their California home, known as “La Miniatura,” was one of Wright’s four textile-block designs, and was built in 1923. You may recognize it, because it features as Arnold Weber’s family home in the second and third seasons of HBO’s “Westworld.” Now, the home in Illinois that Wright designed for the couple—known as the George Madison Millard Home—has recently landed on the market for $950,000. Considered a prime example of his Prairie School style, the home has undergone an extensive restoration overseen by the seller, who bought it for $687,500 in 2015. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, ensuring that its integrity would be maintained. The listing has attracted much interest from buyers—it’s already in contingencies, after less than a week on the market. Built in 1906, the four-bedroom house features board-and-batten siding and sits on a large, wooded lot. A floor-to-ceiling fireplace in the living room, crafted from brick, is a signature Wright feature, flanked by a built-in bookshelf on one side. Other typical Wright touches include a built-in bench on the ground floor that’s surrounded by stained-glass windows in a diamond motif. The 68 art-glass window frames of the 3,061-square-foot home were painstakingly refurbished and can now be opened with ease. A recent renovation of the kitchen has made the space light, bright, and reminiscent of the era in which the home was built. Ample storage exists in a wall of drawers, as well as in the cabinetry surrounding the stove and a U-shaped countertop. Pendant-style lighting with Edison bulbs and a backsplash in neutral colors round out the look. The original radiator heating was redone, and air conditioning has been added. There’s also a second fireplace in a room that could serve as a bedroom, home office, or sitting room. The home’s greatest concession to modern luxury is in two of the bathrooms, which have free-standing soaking tubs, vintage-looking floor tile, and multipaned glass doors fronting large showers. The seller also added a master suite to the home to appeal to today’s buyer. A finished lower level features embedded ceiling lights, fresh coats of white paint, and lighter-toned carpeting. The fresh, clean look could be turned into a home theater, children’s play area, or additional sleeping space. The former maid’s room has been turned into a laundry room and mudroom with subway tile. The home is just a block from Lake Michigan. Multiple balconies are ideal spots to catch a lake breeze or enjoy morning coffee. Traveling to downtown Chicago is easy, thanks to the Metra stop nearby. According to SaveWright.org, in December, the seller announced she would donate proceeds from the sale to the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. The listing agent, Jamie Roth of Engel & Völkers, declined comment. The post Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie School-Style Home Is Listed in Illinois for $950K appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/unique-homes/frank-lloyd-wright-prairie-school-style-millard-home-illinois/ More than 43,000 households in the heart of Silicon Valley face eviction in the next few months even as local technology companies’ valuations soar, according to new research published Wednesday, in what could become a national crisis as eviction moratoriums expire during the coronavirus pandemic. With eviction bans scheduled to end next month, landlords feeling economic pain too are agitating to kick out tenants in California and elsewhere as COVID-19 cases continue to rise. In Santa Clara County, the home to Apple Inc., Google parent Alphabet Inc. and hundreds of other tech companies, lower-paid workers who have helped those tech giants prosper could soon find themselves without a place to live. Working Partnerships USA and Law Foundation of Silicon Valley estimate that 43,490 renter households in Santa Clara County are at risk of eviction, about 16 times the typical number of evictions in a full year for the county. Most of these tenants are disproportionately people of color, women, and families with children who are not receiving unemployment insurance or income help. In addition, Americans receiving unemployment benefits could soon see that aid reduced significantly, which could put thousands more families in a similar position, the nonprofit Working Partnerships, based in San Jose, Calif., reported. Jeffrey Buchanan, director of public policy at Working Partnerships and co-author of the newly published report, said some of the affected workers his organization has helped are janitors, cafeteria workers or security guards at tech companies in the valley. Many tech companies in the area have closed their campuses amid shelter-in-place orders. While mostly higher-paid employees are working from home, the workers whose jobs required them to be onsite have either had to show up or risk their hours being cut or their positions eliminated. The region’s Black and Latinx tenants are particularly hard hit, Buchanan said, while “we see billionaires here in Silicon Valley that despite a pandemic and recession are adding billions of dollars to their net worth.” For everybody in danger of being forced from their homes, time is of the essence as the Santa Clara County moratorium on evictions expires Aug. 31, and California’s statewide moratorium will end Sept. 30. “We could see a massive rate of evictions without intervention,” state Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, said. “It would be catastrophic during this pandemic.” The extra $600 a month some households are receiving from the federal government in unemployment benefit is set to end this month, and a bill dubbed the HEROES Act that would extend those payments and establish a national eviction moratorium has been passed by the House but not reached the floor of the Senate. Silicon Valley is already notorious for its high housing prices and an economic split between workers in the tech industry and others, but evictions could exacerbate not just the coronavirus pandemic but also double or triple the homeless population in the area, according to the report. “What I’ve seen in our community is so many single African-American women and Latino women who are struggling… because we can’t find the help in this very rich valley,” said Sharon, a renter who joined a call with journalists Wednesday. Sharon, who is Black, said she has lived in Santa Clara County for 45 years and lost her job working with at-risk youth in March because of the pandemic as well as losing a part-time job with an event company. Though she recently found a job in community outreach, she has fallen behind in paying for the room she rents. “I’ve received many 30- and 60-day notices and threats of calling the police” from her landlord, she said. “I go to work stressed.” Another tenant on the press call, Carolina, said she is a single Latina mom of four who has worked as a waitress and cashier but is ineligible for unemployment because she was being paid in cash. She is now looking for a job and has fallen behind on rent on her apartment as well as her other bills. The Law Foundation of Silicon Valley has received a couple of thousand calls for help since the shelter-in-place began in March, said Nadia Aziz, directing attorney of the organization. “Tenants aren’t going to be able to pay tens of thousands of dollars in back rent in the six months to a year that the county ordinance requires,” she said. The Law Foundation and Working Partnerships recommend making moratoriums permanent throughout this emergency, along with more legal assistance, resources for renters, and government action such as rent relief or cancellation. State lawmakers are working on potential solutions. Chiu has written Assembly Bill 1436, which seeks to ban evictions of tenants during the pandemic as well as provide mortgage forbearance to their landlords “We appreciate the incredibly acute situations millions of Californians are in right now,” he said in an interview with MarketWatch on Tuesday. Chiu said his bill addresses “two halves of a very challenging coin,” because both tenants and landlords are affected by the economic crisis sparked by COVID-19. AB 1436 has passed the state Assembly and is now being considered by the state Senate Judiciary Committee. A study published in May by the Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy at UCLA estimated that in Los Angeles County, 365,000 renter households — concentrated in neighborhoods with large percentages of low-income people of color — are in danger of being evicted. Buchanan pointed out that because California housing costs are so high, these scenarios could occur up and down the state. And the danger exists throughout the nation: In New York City, advocates say 50,000 renters risk eviction. At the national level, the HEROES Act includes a 12-month moratorium on evictions, $100 billion in emergency rental assistance, $15 billion to support homeless shelters and to prevent outbreaks of the coronavirus. It has been passed by the House but is awaiting a vote in the Senate. “This is really a call to action,” Buchanan said. “If Black Lives Matter, if we really care about racial justice, acting on this eviction time bomb is really critical.” The post Thousands in Silicon Valley in Danger of Eviction as End of California Moratorium Nears appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/real-estate-news/thousands-in-silicon-valley-in-danger-of-eviction-as-end-of-california-moratorium-nears/ The intrepid homeowners who sold their properties as the coronavirus pandemic ramped up in the U.S. this spring pocketed record-high profits. Nationally, home sellers made a profit of about 36% on their sales in the second quarter of 2020, according to a recent report from real estate information firm ATTOM Data Solutions. That translated into a median $76,000 gain over what they originally paid for the property. It’s also just over 14% more than what sellers made in the second quarter of the year. ATTOM analyzed recorded sales deeds, foreclosure filings, and loan data to come up with its findings. The firm calculated the difference between median purchase and resale prices to figure out seller profits in 104 metropolitan areas where sufficient data was available and where there had been at least 1,000 single-family home and condo sales in the second quarter. (Metros include the main city and surrounding suburbs and smaller urban areas.) “The housing market across the United States pulled something of a high-wire act in the second quarter, surging forward despite the encroaching economic headwinds resulting from the coronavirus pandemic,” Todd Teta, ATTOM’s chief product officer, said in a statement. “Profit margins hit new records as prices kept climbing, with few indications that the impact of the virus would topple the market.” The high profits are due to a scarcity of supply. The country was experiencing a severe housing shortage before COVID-19, and the pandemic made it worse. Many sellers pulled their homes off the market or decided to wait out the health crisis before listing. However, the virus hasn’t dampened buyer demand. Record-low mortgage rates, which fell below 3% for the first time, have spurred a rush of new buyers. They’re joining those who were planning to buy in the spring during the shutdowns and those who had hoped to purchase in the summer, as well as apartment dwellers and starter-home owners who realized in quarantine that they wanted more space. These buyers are bidding up the prices of homes—which means more money for sellers. Where are profits shooting up the most—and the least?Sellers in the Spokane, WA, metro area had the biggest annual gains in profit this quarter. They earned about 61.2% over what they originally spent on their home in the second quarter of last year. That jumped to 76% in this past quarter, according to ATTOM. The median home list price in the Spokane metro area was roughly $388,000 in June—about 8.1% higher than in the same month a year ago, according to realtor.com® data. Spokane was followed by Columbus, OH, where profits rose from 34% to 47%; St. Louis, from 19.9% to 31.4%; Chattanooga, TN, from 31.9% to 43.4%; and Indianapolis, from 30.5% to 41.9% On the other end of the spectrum were the places where sellers made less than in the previous year. Profits dropped in just 23 of the 104 metros analyzed. The biggest falls were in the Pittsburgh metro area, where the median home price was $274,500 in June. Sellers went from pocketing 28.6% over what they had paid for their homes to making 20.9%. Pittsburgh was followed by Modesto, CA, where profits declined from 58.7% to 51.1%; Honolulu, from 43.8% to 36.2%; Greeley, CO, from 41.5% to 35.4%; and Naples, FL, from 22.1% to 16.7%. The post Home Sellers Pocketed Record Profits as the Coronavirus Pandemic Surged in the U.S. appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/real-estate-news/home-sellers-make-record-profit-during-pandemic/ In recent years, Americans have been less interested in living in those sprawling McMansions in the suburbs, as people of all ages gravitated toward walkable urban neighborhoods. The prevailing wisdom: Who needs all that space, anyway? What does it matter if you have only 400 square feet of living space when you can just pop out of your condo or apartment and enjoy all the amenities of the city? Fascination with tiny homes and micro-apartments grew, and experts predicted those supersized homes in the suburbs would struggle to find buyers. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit. Suddenly, small homes felt very small. Millions of Americans were confined to their homes with their families—all the time. With kids interrupting Zoom meetings with the boss, bedrooms pulling triple duty as offices and fitness centers, and dining rooms being repurposed as online schools, itty-bitty living spaces no longer seemed to work. Instead, COVID-19 has made those boring big homes with large backyards hot again as folks are seeking enough space to accommodate being home around the clock, say real estate experts. An extra 300 square feet for a dedicated home office never sounded so good. So, are we looking at the return of the McMansion? “The pandemic has been long enough and deep enough that it might bring a change in collective thinking toward bigger homes,” says Sonia Hirt, an urban planning and landscape architecture at the University of Georgia in Athens. “The suburban home that was so stereotypical and boring suddenly proved itself to have benefits we’ve completely forgotten about.” The COVID-19 crisis has certainly led some city residents with means to trade their cramped apartments and condos for single-family homes in the burbs. But the virus isn’t the only factor at play. Record-low mortgage rates are also allowing buyers to afford more home for their budgets. Before the public health crisis, the median size of an existing (previously lived in) home purchased was 2,060 square feet, according to the National Association of Realtors® 2020 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report. Newly built single-family homes had a median 2,291 square feet in the first quarter of 2020, according to the National Association of Home Builders. The pandemic is likely to boost those footprints, real estate experts say. After being cooped up for months, buyers and homeowners want to “tack 500 to 1,000 square feet on top of” their previous goal, says Chris Brown, principal architect at b Architecture Studio in Winchester, MA, outside of Boston. Americans are seeking more space—but not McMansionsAmericans may want more space, but that doesn’t mean the 5,000-square-foot McMansions of the 1980s and 1990s are back. Many folks don’t want to deal with the sticker price—or the upkeep. Instead, millennials who remember the financial pain of the Great Recession are likely to make more reasonable trade-ups. They may go from an 800-square-foot condo to a 1,500-square-foot home, or sell their three-bedroom, 2,000-square-foot house and buy a five-bedroom, 3,000-square-foot abode. Folks are also finding ways to repurpose the homes they already have, says Brown. An unfinished basement can become a fitness center, an attic could be transformed into a bedroom or play space with the addition of skylights and windows. Homeowners are also building additions, like offices. “The market is not being driven by people looking for massive homes,” says Ken Perlman, managing principal at John Burns Real Estate Consulting. “It’s being driven by people looking for the right combination of functionality and price.” Multigenerational families could drive demand for larger homesFamilies may also need more space to accommodate adult relatives moving in because of the pandemic. Many college students and 20-somethings are returning to the nest as colleges have closed and entry-level jobs have dried up. Meanwhile, many folks have pulled their vulnerable parents out of nursing homes or assisted-living facilities, which have been ravaged by COVID-19. All of those extra people need places to sleep. “We’re going to see another bump in multigenerational living,” says Donna Butts, executive director of Generations United, a Washington, DC–based multigenerational advocacy organization.” By combining resources, they can afford a bigger house or a more comfortable lifestyle.” It happened during the Great Recession, when the number of multigenerational households swelled by more than 10% from 2007 to 2011, according to a 2011 survey from Generations United. Whether larger homes are just a passing fad or here to stay may depend on the length of the pandemic. When a vaccine is found and folks can go out and about again, these bigger homes may fall back out of favor. But if the crisis drags on for years, the change in housing preference could be more permanent. “I don’t think the 5,000 square feet will be as fashionable and popular as it was in the ’80s and ’90s,” says professor Hirt. However, “there will be some shift.” The post Big Homes Had Fallen Out of Favor—Then Came the Coronavirus Pandemic appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/bigger-homes-pandemic/ |