News About Properties

While all-cash purchases are accounting for a smaller share of U.S. homebuying than they used to, they’re still high: about 36% in the latest-recorded month, November. A year earlier, the total was 39%.House hunters face the most cash competition in Detroit and South Florida, says an analysis by real estate data firm CoreLogic.

The analysis notes that the peak of cash buying came in January 2011, when cash deals made up about 46% of all home sales.Investors or other buyers with cash in hand can be formidable rivals to homebuyers who have to get a mortgage approval lined up in order to complete their purchase.

via Real Estate Rivals: Where In The U.S. Are Most Homes Cash Buys?.

photo by Nanimo

Enjoying mealtimes together can be a fantastic way for families to experience each other’s company, and devour some tasty treats together. However, the dining room itself is often a neglected room, and many families choose practicality over style and comfort. Isn’t it time we learned to enjoy mealtimes in style?

Dining room dreams

Dining room design can be as diverse as the rest of your house; combining functionality and style is a fantastic way to create a space you’ll want to dine in for every meal. The first thing to consider is the look you’re seeking to create. Whether you would like a shabby chic style, a child-friendly space, a more minimalist look, or an open-plan kitchen and dining room, the design options are as limitless as your imagination. Are you a regular dinner party host? Are you more comfortable in a cozy, relaxed space? Do you have children to keep entertained at mealtimes? Think carefully about how your dining room will be used, as this will give your interior design dreams an important starting point.

It is also essential to consider the size and shape of your intended dining room. Not all homes have sufficient space to create a single function dining room, and you may find that a multipurpose room, combining a dining and living space, or open plan kitchen/diner, works better for your family’s needs. It is essential to measure and create plans for potential dining areas, and ensure that all of your furniture and accessories will fit. Working around the space you have available will often help you to plan the finer details; alcoves and original wooden features can work well with a vintage or shabby chic design, while light and airy kitchen/diners lend themselves to modern and minimalistic interiors.

Food for thought

Now you’ve decided what it is you want from your dining room, it’s time to let those creative juices flow. Never underestimate the power of color; whether you paint the entire room, add splashes of color in the form of wallpapered features, or simply add some bright accessories, a vibrant and inviting room can make mealtimes a proper occasion. Dining rooms that need to cater to children’s needs work well in Technicolor; they’ll be tempted up to the table no matter what’s on the menu. Looking for a more modern design, or something a little rustic? Patterned paper, black and white accessories, and neutral walls will give a contemporary feel, while warm beiges and creams ensure an air of country living.

Once you’ve decorated, it’s time to start thinking about furnishing. If you host regular dinner parties, then extending dining tables, beautifully upholstered chairs, and plenty of furniture storage are a must, while quieter family mealtimes can be complemented with cozy armchairs, friendly round tables, and sideboards. Try sourcing second hand or bespoke pieces, including distressed furniture for a shabby chic or vintage feel, or copper accessories and traditional oak furniture for a warm, rustic style.

Dining rooms are one of the most frequently neglected rooms. However, as more and more people seek to capture the magic of family mealtimes, renovating these tired spaces into fabulously stylish rooms is becoming more popular; get ready to dine in style.

With homes that average 20,000 square feet, a vacant lot asking nearly $30 million and enough resident movie stars and film execs to fill a red carpet, the gated community of Beverly Park is one of the most exclusive, expensive places in Los Angeles, a land of exclusive, expensive places.

Celebrity residents include Denzel Washington, who purchased his property from Michael Eisner. Eddie Murphy, media mogul Sumner Redstone and Sylvester Stallone also live in the enclave. Barry Bonds owned a Beverly Park home until March, when he sold his 17,000-square-foot, seven-bedroom, eight-bathroom home for $22 million.

via L.A.’s Star-Studded Neighborhood.

With institutional capital pulling back from the single-family rental market in recent months, the question of its future in this market remains. RealtyTrac has released a new report that studies the markets where Wall Street has invested the most in single-family rentals and predicts in which of those markets institutional investors are likely to remain in the near future.

Daren Blomquist, VP of RealtyTrac, tells GlobeSt.com, “Some of the markets that were originally darlings of the single family rental operators have fallen out of favor in part because of new construction that will now compete with the existing single-family rentals, but also because of rising prices that make acquisition costs much higher and therefore returns less attractive. These markets include parts of California as well as even markets such as Phoenix and Las Vegas and to a certain extent Atlanta.”

via Will Wall Street Remain Landlord? – Daily News Article – GlobeSt.com.

Diversification is essential since real estate can be just as volatile as stocks and other assets. Remember the housing bust when the market peaked in 2006 and declined for years?

In my book The Cul-de-Sac Syndrome I wrote about a southwest Florida couple who loaded up on real estate at the height of the housing boom more than eight years ago in hopes of quickly “flipping” the properties and making easy profits.

When the bust came, they got nailed and were stuck in a situation where they had to sell the properties, but couldn’t find any buyers. At the same time, they were clobbered with higher property tax and insurance bills on the homes they owned, which ate up all of their cash and nearly bankrupted them.

via Managing Real Estate Assets in Your Retirement Portfolio.

The latest weapon in the luxury high-rise arms race: a private pool in every unit on every floor.At ONE KL, a 35-story luxury building in Kuala Lumpur completed in 2009, the building’s tagline boasts, “94 Apartments, 95 Swimming Pools.” In the Bahamas, each of the 34 units at Honeycomb, a condominium with a hexagonal-patterned facade that’s expected to be completed in mid-2016, will have a 70-square-foot pool with a transparent edge, offering views of the marina and ocean.

And in Mumbai, 30 stories of about 100 residential units at Bandra Ohm will include crescent-shaped pools on balconies enclosed in acrylic, the same material used for large aquariums. Site work is expected to begin next year.

via Luxury Condos with Private Pools – WSJ.