FEATURED POST

After a Colorado teacher's home burned to the ground, she started a blog chronicling her anger, frustration and moments of joy.

By Teresa at MSN Real Estate Mar 9, 2011 1:05PM

Firefighter's vehicle parked amidst the ruins of homes burned in the September 8, 2010, wildfire near Boulder, Colo. (© John Moore/Getty Images)When Andi O'Conor lost her home in Colorado to a fire, she was abruptly forced to re-examine her concept of home, to reconsider what really matters in life and what role "stuff" plays.

She is chronicling her journey of loss and renewal in a blog called "Burning Down the House," with the subtitle "Essays on the Poetry of Loss." The journey is "the essence of paradox" she told Caroline H. Dworin of The New York Times. We may all fantasize about starting over, but as O'Conor, 53, writes:

There is philosophy and there is reality. Deep down, we sometimes wish we were free of all this stuff, that we were 22 again, and everything we owned fit into the back of an old Honda Civic. But then we realize that, for the most part, we need stuff to make a life. And when it all goes away, we are plunged into a strange and spinning place, with nothing to hold onto — no house, no home, no stuff, no clothes, no papers, no books, no clutter. Nothing to own. Nothing to own you.

For O'Conor, a teacher and public-speaking coach, it was the second time she had lost everything to fire; her family home burned down when she was 12.

 

Zillow has calculated the break-even horizon down to the ZIP code level. In some cities, the time frame varies by 10 years.

By Teresa at MSN Real Estate Fri 6:12 AM

(© Gregor Schuster/Getty Images)The latest calculator to help you decide whether to buy or rent your dwelling lets you drill down to the ZIP code level.

 

Zillow’s new analysis of data from the first quarter of 2013 found that buying a home is a better financial move in 64% of U.S. metro areas if you plan to stay in the home at least three years.

 

But even within those metro areas, the decision varies by exactly where you want to live. For the first time, Zillow did the calculations down to the ZIP code. You can use the drop-down section below the map to break down the metro by city and then by neighborhood and also download more specific data.

 

The daughter of the original owners, who built the house in 1956, is selling the home. She used to roller-skate on the concrete floors.

By Teresa at MSN Real Estate Thu 2:07 PM

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Dudley Spencer House (Courtesy of Realtor.com)The only house in Delaware designed by Frank Lloyd Wright is for sale by the daughter of the original owners.

 

The Dudley Spencer house was built in 1956, three years before Wright died. He created the plans from a model of the topography drawn by Spencer, an engineer for DuPont. He and his wife, Dorothy, lived in the home until their deaths.

 

Asking price for the 2,538-square-foot home in Wilmington, with three bedrooms and two baths, is $1.35 million.

 

The zigzag numbers for single-family construction and permits are tracking the zigzag nature of the housing-market recovery.

By Teresa at MSN Real Estate Thu 11:45 AM

Apartments being built near Fresno, Calif. (© Mark Crosse/ZUMA Press/Corbis)Builders started construction on fewer single-family homes in April than they did in March, but the pace of construction is above last year’s pace, and the number of building permits rose.

 

Construction began on 2.1% fewer single-family homes in April than in March, but that was 20.8% above the rate of April 2012, according to monthly statistics from the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

 

Homes are still undervalued in 91 of the top 100 metro areas, according to Trulia's analysis. Several factors signal a bubble is not imminent.

By Teresa at MSN Real Estate Tue 11:57 AM

With the way home prices are rising in some areas, you can't help wondering if we are in another housing bubble.

 

Not so far, says Jed Kolko, the chief economist of the real-estate portal Trulia. For there to be a bubble, home prices have to rise beyond the homes' fundamental values.

 

According to his analysis, that is not happening, at least in 91 of the largest 100 U.S. metros. Nationwide, homes are undervalued by about 7%, he calculates.

 

Parents create secret passageways, a karaoke lounge, 'offices' for homework and other custom spaces to make their homes into the ideal hangout place.

By Teresa at MSN Real Estate Mon 12:04 PM

Teenage Boys Bedroom in the 2013 DC Design House (©John McDonnell/The Washington Post via Getty Images)When I was a kid, my idea of a luxury bedroom was one that I did not have to share with my sisters, though I did do a little experimentation with changing the furniture placement and bedspreads. When I was a teenager, I even got my family's original black-and-white TV working again and dragged it into my room.

 

No one in my circle even dreamed of having his or her own DJ station, though some families did have "rumpus rooms" in the basement that were essentially hangouts for children and teens.

 

Even today, the $750,000 teen suite chronicled in a recent Wall Street Journal article is unusual. But, the WSJ says, more families are creating kid and teen hangouts to keep their progeny happy at home. Those custom kid spaces include everything from secret passageways to karaoke lounges to "offices" for doing homework.

 

Virginia couple discovered their townhouse was riddled with black mold, which probably had been growing for decades. Problems with contractors made the solution more expensive.

By Teresa at MSN Real Estate May 10, 2013 8:50AM

© Steven Errico/Getty ImagesLiving in Florida, I've seen a little mold in my time. But I am thankful never to have experienced the ordeal detailed by one Washington, D.C.-area couple that resulted in a $478,500 cleanup.

 

That hefty bill includes the cost of renting during the nearly five years their townhouse was undergoing renovation, according to The Wall Street Journal. But by the time the work was over, the couple had spent essentially what they spent to buy the home, which was $479,000.

 

Not all mold problems are as dire, and you can clean up small mold infestations yourself. But the story is a reminder of how important it is to make sure there are no water leaks in your home.

 

Boxy 1970s home was turned into a unique Modernist retreat in the 1990s by prominent architect Tom Kundig. Now it's for sale for $1.8 million.

By Teresa at MSN Real Estate May 9, 2013 12:19PM

Courtesy of Realtor.comBack in 1998, a couple of retired high-tech executives presented Seattle architect Tom Kundig with a challenge: Turn their boxy 1970s home into something beautiful.

 

The result was a Modernist home with an industrial vibe, open to the elements and the view of Lake Washington. It is known as the Leschi Residence for its neighborhood. That home is now for sale, at an asking price of $1.8 million.

 

A 1999 news story about the renovation described the home as having 1,800 square feet, but the listing says it has 3,190 square feet with three bedrooms and four baths, suggesting that there may have been an addition at some point.

 

Nearly half the experts polled by Zillow see the possibility of a new housing bubble. Individual predictions for the next three years range from a 43.3% increase to a 5.1% decrease.

By Teresa at MSN Real Estate May 8, 2013 10:38AM

© JupiterimagesA panel of experts polled by the real-estate portal Zillow expects home prices to rise 5.4% this year, but their individual predictions are all over the map, with some fearing we are heading for another bubble.

 

The predictions of the 105 experts who participated in the Zillow Home Price Expectation Survey predicted an average 3.5% to 3.7% annual growth from 2015 through 2017, for a cumulative increase in home values of 22.3% by the end of 2017.

 

About Teresa Mears

Teresa Mears

Teresa Mears is a veteran journalist who has been interested in houses since her father took her to tax auctions to carry the cash at age 10. A former editor of The Miami Herald's Home & Design section, she lives in South Florida where, in addition to writing about real estate, she publishes Miami on the Cheap to help her neighbors adjust to the loss of 60% of their property value.

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