5 Home Trends We Never Saw Coming

5 home trends we never saw coming

Some unusual items that more and more home buyers have on their wish lists. Plus: What's out.
By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com
December 5 2006: 11:26 AM EST

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Some of the latest trends in homebuilding and remodeling were not too hard to spot. Is anyone surprised that Americans, already living in monster homes, want even bigger ones?

But there were some developments we never saw coming.

Heated patios are a hot trend.

Here's a few that Mark Nash, author of Real Estate A-Z for Buying and Selling a Home, has gleaned from a survey he conducted questioning 923 real estate agents, brokers and industry executives.

Upscale garages: Who knew that those smelly, greasy spaces overstuffed with junk and empty boxes would morph into showplaces for Home Improvement types?

"Today's owners want [garages] decked out with cabinet and storage systems, matching refrigerators, air conditioning and residential looking flooring," says Nash.

The Web site contractor.com reports a garage remodeling starts at around $7,500 and goes up, sometimes steeply, from there depending on size and just how nice you want it.

Nash, a real estate broker himself, says he has had home sellers so infatuated with their upscale car storage unit that they become livid when house hunters get a bit of dirt on the floor.

Caving: People want more personal space - for both mom and pop. Apparently, married people often like time alone. Who knew?

So, an amenity of choice these days is "personal, dedicated space for one person in a household to go and work on projects or simply 'chill,'" says Nash.

Rejuvenation rooms: No, This is not simply to work out in. These are one-stop sites for exercising, meditating, yoga, sauna and fancy steam showers.

"This is kind of a new age, serenity room where you do these quiet exercise things and then jump in the spa," says Nash.

First you get your head together, then your body and then you steam off the sweat you expended doing it.

Heated patios: (See outdoor living rooms) Northerners want to reduce their winter workouts shoveling snow, according to Nash, so they're installing heated patios, walkways and driveways.
Plus they want to "add a couple of weeks of outdoor enjoyment in spring and fall," he says, and the warmth radiating off these outdoor surfaces makes the diffrences between just comfortable and "Let's go inside."

Snoring rooms: Husband (never wives) have often been banished for excessive snoring but it must be a lonely feeling to trudge out of the master bedroom suite and down to the living room couch. Now they don't have to.

The huge master suites being installed in upscale housing typically come with large sleeping areas, a big walk-in closet and a gigantic bath. More and more now, they'll be equipped with another room entirely, a 12' by 12' or so space with a double bed and chair that will spare the innocent sleeper from the worst ravages of the noisy snorer.

It's not just for dad, according to Nash. "The first person to start snoring has to make the exit," he says.

On the way out

In addition to up-and-coming trends, Nash also identified a few destined for the trash heap of home-design history. These include:

Spiral staircases, which were once the rage, are now death to the home seller. Aging boomers don't care to climb them and they're tough on pets and small children. Nash advises sellers to remove and replace them before putting a home on the market.

Bamboo floors are also out. The early reviews are in and owners have found them to be easily scratched and prone to warping.

Hardwood laminate flooring is also a no-go. "They don't stand up to multiple sandings to change color or remove stains," says Nash.

Lastly, he advises sellers to never smoke in the house. Buyers hate the stale smoke odors.

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Bad Mortgage Brokers!

Mortgage broker law already bars 10 people
New state registration process designed to reduce scams, fraud...

By John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News
January 18, 2007

A new state law has barred 10 people from registering as mortgage brokers, a step some think will help prevent millions of dollars in scams and fraud.

Some 3,465 people have been registered under the Morgtage Brokers Registration Act, which took effect Jan. 1, said Geoffrey Hier, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies.

Another 516 applications, as of Wednesday, were waiting to have background checks completed, one of the requirements for registration.

"It is too early to tell whether it is working because it has only been in effect for 16 days," Hier said Tuesday.

"But if nothing else, we have some idea of who is out there, which we didn't before," he added. "It's a good start.

"We'll never know how many people didn't apply because they knew they wouldn't qualify."
Legislators passed the law last year after concerns continued to rise about record foreclosures, some of which can be traced to real estate scams and predatory lending.

A RealtyTrac study released Tuesday said Colorado again had the highest foreclosure rate in the country in December.

Colorado and Alaska had been the only states in the nation with no regulations regarding mortgage brokers.

Under the new state law, brokers with federally chartered lenders and FHA- and VA-approved lenders aren't required to register. The division of real estate so far has exempted 142 companies.

Those who do register must be fingerprinted, undergo criminal investigations by the FBI and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, and post a $25,000 surety bond, which typically costs about $200.

Also, there is a $200 registration fee, so the division has raised more than $680,000, which will be used to help administer the program.

Erin Toll, head of the state's real estate division, also noted that for the first time, consumers can go to the Colorado Division of Real Estate's Web page at http://www2.blogger.com/www.DORA.state.co.us/real-estate/ and lodge a complaint against mortgage brokers.

The division last week denied a Colorado Open Records request by the Rocky Mountain News to look at the files of the people who were rejected.

Chris Holbert, president of the Colorado Mortgage Lenders Association, said he didn't recognize any names on the list.

One of those who was denied, however, is Steven Thompson, who in 2003 was accused of bilking homeowners out of more than $1 million using sophisticated mortgage scams.
Thompson, who couldn't be reached Wednesday, in 2003 denied any wrongdoing.

Mortgage broker Jim Spray, a longtime advocate of cracking down on mortgage fraud, helped several homeowners investigate Thompson in 2003.

"If the others were denied for similar reasons as those which caused denial of Mr. Thompson, Colorado mortgage consumers should feel very relieved this new law is working as intended," Spray said. "This seems to be getting rid of the worst of the worse mortgage brokers in the state.

"If someone can't afford $200 to get a bond, they need to get out of the mortgage business and go work at a car wash," added Spray, a broker with America's Mortgage in Wheat Ridge. "I have seen a million dollars disappear in mortgage fraud in a week."

Rejected mortgage brokers
Name City Reason rejected*
Scott D. Carlson Fort Collins Conviction
Robert P. Cox Denver Conviction
Otis Key Denver Loss of license
Lawrence N. Mackenzie Federal Heights Conviction
Paul E. Strange Boulder Loss of license
Steven C. Thompson Parker Conviction
Bruce E. Meadows Denver Loss of license
Lynette R. Croisant Windsor Conviction
Angelica D. Abeyta Colorado Springs Conviction
Jared M. Randle Denver Conviction

* Rejections are based on either a conviction or a loss of a professional license, such as a real estate license, on such charges as fraud, theft, deceit, material misrepresentations, or breach of a fiduciary duty.

Source: Colorado Division of Real Estate

Complaint
To file an online complaint against a mortgage broker go to http://www2.blogger.com/www.DORA.state.co.us/real-estate/



rebchookj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5207

WE ONLY USE MORTGAGE BROKERS WE KNOW ARE HONEST AND HAVE HIGH INTEGRITY. Go to www.ColoradoDreamHomes.net for more info.

A House Divided?

Give him a home in good condition priced below $300,000, and Grand Junction real estate broker Hal Heath claims he can probably sell it within a few hours.

"As soon as I make two phone calls, a sale is done," said Heath, whose greatest fear is selling a home too quickly and not getting a maximum price.

Matt Rivette, a broker with Pro Realty Inc. in Greeley, has the opposite experience.
He throws cold water in the face of home sellers unwilling to accept declining values and an extended stay on the market.

"If you want to sell a house you bought five years ago, chances are that here in Weld County it has less market value than what you paid," Rivette said.

When it comes to real estate, much more than 300 miles separates Greeley and the Front Range from the mountain destinations and Western Slope.

Large swaths of the Front Range from Fort Collins to Pueblo struggled with flat or declining median home values, according to Trulia.com, a San Francisco provider of real estate data and listings.
Home gains in Arapahoe, Boulder, Denver and Douglas counties were positive, but fell far short of covering the commission a seller would need to pay to get out of a home if they hire a real estate agent.

Median home sales prices were down 3 percent in Adams County, 3.4 percent in Larimer County, and 1.1 percent in Jefferson County, according to Trulia.com, which compared sales for September through November with the same period in 2005.

Home prices nationally have been declining as buyers cope with rising interest rates and excess supplies. The median price of existing homes sold in November was 3.1 percent lower than in November 2005, according to the National Association of Realtors.

But, it's a different picture heading west across Colorado.

In mountain resort communities, continued interest from second-home buyers drove double-digit appreciation rates. In Pitkin County, which includes Aspen, values were up 8.2 percent. In Eagle County, which includes Vail, values were up 23.9 percent.

Rising home values in Vail and Aspen have pushed workers and less wealthy residents into surrounding towns. But even bedroom communities such as Basalt and Glenwood Springs on the Western Slope are getting too pricey for some.

An influx of oil and gas workers is driving up real estate values, brokers said.

"There is a steady stream of buyers in different price ranges," said Michael Dunn, a broker with Bray & Co. in Glenwood Springs.

Anything that comes on the market under $300,000 in Gar field County gets snapped up, Dunn said. Even homes worth up to $500,000 move quickly.

Garfield County home sale appreciation was 12.5 percent, comparing the three-month period in 2006 and 2005. Mesa County, home to Grand Junction, saw a 14.2 percent spike.
The big divide in median home sale appreciation rates across the state is due in large part to higher foreclosure rates along the Front Range, according to Boulder-based mortgage banker Lou Barnes.

Anemic price gains contribute to foreclosures, making it harder for homeowners to sell. That, in turn, depresses surrounding home prices. Breaking the cycle is hard, particularly in Weld County, home to Greeley.

Last year, more homes entered foreclosure in Weld County, 2,073, than were sold, 1,870.
The backlog of unsold homes in Weld County is huge. Assuming no other homes were listed for sale, it would take 27 months to clear out the inventory of unsold homes at the current pace of sales, according to data ProRealty has collected.

Once concentrated in Weld, Adams and Arapahoe counties, foreclosures are spreading south and west.

"The guys who work foreclosures tell me that new filings in early January are just racing despite the weather," Barnes said.

Median home sales prices were down 1.1 percent in Jefferson County, west of Denver.
They were down 1.5 percent in El Paso County, home to Colorado Springs. The inventory of unsold homes rose 30 percent last year in El Paso County, according to Stuart Scott, a broker working in Colorado Springs.

Builders had to push hard to find buyers for about 1,000 speculative homes they had built or that were already under construction, said Scott.

Builders have cut back on new construction, Scott said. Permits pulled fell from 400 a month in November 2005 to around 170 in November 2006.

Staff writer Aldo Svaldi can be reached at 303-954-1410 or asvaldi@denverpost.com.

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Million Dollar Home Count Soars!

Million-Dollar Home Count Soars: Census Bureau Study reveals almost 100% jump from 2000 to 2003
ATLANTA, Georgia (November 21, 2005.) – One in every one hundred single family homes in the US is worth a million dollars – at least according to their owners. A new Census Bureau report estimates that in the three years from 2000 to 2003, the number of single family homes worth at least a million dollars virtually doubled, from 0.5% to 1.0%. The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) is based on homeowners’ estimates of the value of their homes.
The jump in the number of pricey homes doesn’t surprise Laurie Moore-Moore, Founder and President of The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing, an organization which trains Realtors who work in the upper-tier market and awards the Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist designation. “Even if some homeowners are overestimating the value of their homes,” says Moore-Moore, “there’s no question but that the number of million dollar homes has soared. More important, the million dollar segment has continued to grow in the eighteen months since 2003.”
Cassandra Black, a Keller Williams, Atlanta Classic, Realtor in the Atlanta, GA area said the report prompted her to attend The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing training at the prestigious Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida, last week. "The training provided new insight about the upper tier market, helped me polish my skills, and provided valuable networking contacts with other agents across the country and abroad who specialize in luxury properties," said Black. "In addition, I discovered new and creative tools for promoting expensive homes and estates and new resources for finding buyer prospects." Ms. Black went on to say she's creating a new, luxury website, complete with Podcasting capability for her affluent prospects. "Clients will be able to download or listen to real estate listing descriptions in earnest on their computers anytime at their convenience. It's really old technology, but a new phenomena that's taking the real estate industry by storm, especially with so many affluent clients on the go," Black said.
Moore-Moore credits rampant appreciation (especially on the coasts), increasing wealth, the movement of money from stocks and bonds into real estate, and low mortgage rates coupled with adjustable rate and interest-only loans as helping to drive the rise in luxury properties and in luxe property sales.
“Since 2000, real estate has been the energizer for the economy and the luxury market has been one of the hottest real estate segments. The affluent are buying and selling in record numbers as property values continue to soar,” she says. “From 1999 to 2004, million dollar home sales increased almost 500 %. Real estate agents who understand this market niche and are prepared to meet the high service expectations of the wealthy are prospering.

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A Billionaire's "Statement House"

Only a handful of folks in the world can afford this 103-room castle, with gold floor, marble driveway, and Queen Elizabeth for a neighbor Updown Court, a newly built mansion for sale just outside of London, offers plenty of lavish amenities: five swimming pools, eight-limousine garage, and mosaic floor made of 24-karat gold leaf in the downstairs study. The property, however, is best known in Britain for its price tag: more than 70 million British pounds ($134 million). "It could easily break all records for house-selling in this country," says Guy Robinson, an agent with the realtor Savills, which is showing the property.

Heck, if Updown Court fetches that price, it would make the 40,000-square-foot house the most expensive home ever sold, according to real estate agents. The current world record for a private residence is believed to go to London-based steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, who reportedly spent 70 million pounds last year for a 12-bedroom townhouse near Kensington Palace in West London.

UNPROVEN MARKET. Developer Leslie Allen-Vercoe says a recent softening of the London housing market will probably have no effect on the sale of Updown Court. The target customers, superrich Arab, Russian, and Chinese high rollers who want a home in England, stay largely insulated from the vagaries of financial cycles. "The house has been designed for a specific market, which is the billionaire market, as opposed to the millionaire market," Allen-Vercoe says.

In fact, London and its surrounding countryside remain among the priciest real estate markets in the world. The locale has long attracted rich international buyers looking for a safe investment, says Liam Bailey, head of residential real estate at Knight Frank. Yet while the market for homes priced above $7.5 million has proven strong around the capital lately, Bailey says there are simply too few sales in the $40 million-plus range to assess trends in demand. "At that level, it's about a particular house," Bailey says.

What does Updown Court have to offer the international billionaire? Start with size and opulence. The main house and two guesthouses comprise 60,000 square feet of living area. Among the 103 rooms are 22 bedrooms, each with its own marble bathroom. "CHEERIO, ELTON." The property comes with 58 acres of land in the exclusive village of Windlesham, 25 miles outside of London. Neighbors include the Duchess of York, Elton John, and, at nearby Windsor Castle, the Queen.

The grounds boast 11 acres of landscaped gardens, stables for five horses, a tennis court, and space for a helipad. Occupants can further divert themselves in the squash court, poolroom, two-lane bowling alley, and 50-seat cinema. Security-conscious owners will appreciate the walk-in safe and windowless "panic suite," which will shortly be fitted with a mini-kitchen and steel door. Although the interior will remain unfinished until April -- on a recent tour workers were still swarming about -- the existing furnishings convey a money-is-no-object approach to design. ROMAN BATH. The entrance hall features a sweeping dual staircase modeled after one in the late fashion designer Gianni Versace's Miami home. Behind the staircase, a great hall supported by marble columns looks onto an ornamental pond, which holds a fountain that, at the flick of a switch, sprays water 200 feet in the air. Marble abounds. Five acres of more than 30 different types of imported stone line the floors, driveway, and expansive terraces. One indoor swimming pool is styled as a Roman bath, while the other is set off by a two-story stone mosaic depicting a snow-capped Mount Fuji. "It's a statement house," says Allen-Vercoe.

TOO FEW SUPERRICH? Indeed, many in Britain say it makes too much of a statement. "It's perfectly ghastly. Who needs five swimming pools?" says Andrew Langton, an agent with the London realtor Aylesford who specializes in the luxury market and doubts elite buyers will gravitate toward such a property. "I don't see where the market is," he says.

Even optimistic conjecture suggests the pool of potential buyers is small. Allen-Vercoe says the world's known billionaires number around 600, and another 600 exist, unknown. He's betting that one of that rarefied group will want to live in Updown Court.

The original Updown Court, a former residence of Prince Sami Gayed of Egypt, was built in 1924 and severely damaged in a fire in 1987. Construction on the current building began in 2000 but halted in 2001, when Custom & Excise officials seized it as part of an investigation into the dealings of its owner at that time. In 2002, Allen-Vercoe bought the property, then a shell, for the equivalent of $38.4 million. He says he has invested $57 million into it since, with the backing of an Irish bank.

As for whether the property merits the price, Allen-Vercoe points out that luxury apartments in fancy London neighborhoods sell for $3,800 a square foot. By that guideline, Updown Court would cost $230 million. "We're substantially below that," he says. A $134 million bargain or a pricey folly? The market will tell. Courtesy of BusinessWeek Online. By Beth Carney in London.

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Luxury-Home Clubs

Luxury-Home Clubs Pitch Themselves as an InvestmentA million-dollar vacation home for a fraction of the price sounds good to anyone.So good that an entire industry has sprung up to put you in one. Companies like Exclusive Resorts LLC and Tanner & Haley Resorts (which includes two former Abercrombie & Kent Clubs) offer fancy houses in places like Vail and Cabo. Members pay a one-time deposit from $95,000 on up, plus various fees, then get a choice of those vacation digs for a few weeks a year.

One downside: Since you're not buying real estate, you don't profit if prices rise. Cash out of many of these clubs and all you get back is the deposit.Now, however, that's starting to change -- marking a shift in this booming business that complicates buyers' decisions.One new company, Crescendo, part of Private Residences of the World LLC in Roseville, Calif., lets buyers share 60% of any appreciation in the 36 or so properties in various locales it intends to buy. (It will have four available by year end.) It plans to sell all 36 in 10 to 12 years, then divvy up any gains among members, who typically invest $250,000 to $325,000. Crescendo itself keeps the other 40%. If there's a loss, management and club members share it equally.

Call it a real-estate bet combined with a vacation. (It's also literally a securities offering, with a private-placement memorandum listing pages of risks.) A more established rival, Private Escapes Destination Clubs LLC, plans to offer something similar next year.At first glance, it all sounds great. You don't even have to clean the gutters. But there are some big caveats. For starters, this could be a bad time to bet on property, given the run-up to-date. Crescendo is brand new and unproven. Exiting the clubs can be tricky. Also, the clubs might soon come into the sights of state regulators. (Currently they're largely unregulated.) How new rules might affect them is anybody's guess.

Not scared yet? Here are your options: Crescendo offers unlimited upside -- and a great deal of risk. It estimates that a member who puts in $295,000 would end up with $464,005 in 12 years if property values rise 7.5% annually. Or, they could lose big if management performs poorly or prices fall.Some more-established rivals also offer upside potential. In August, Tanner & Haley told members that if they had joined in, say, 2004 and quit in 2018, they could get a refund based on the 2018 deposit price (minus a transfer fee), instead of their original 2004 fee. But if the deposit price falls, members get the lower amount.

There's no downside risk at Private Escapes, but limited upside. It annually credits 18% of the appraised value of any real-estate gains to members of its higher-end club.With Exclusive Resorts, you know exactly what you're getting: a loss. It keeps 20% of your deposit when you quit. Yet it's also signed up 1,700 members -- more than all other clubs combined. Chief executive Donn Davis argues that his members are seeking vacations, not investments. "We don't think people are going to want to be on the slopes worrying if the Telluride real-estate market is going up or down."By Ron Lieber, WSJ Online

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U.S. Very Rich List Grows at Maddening Pace!

Very Rich list grows at fastest pace in a decade

All Financial Times News

The number of very rich people in the US grew last year at the fastest pace in at least a decade as their moves into international stockmarkets, real estate and alternative investments paid off.The number of households with $5m (€4m) or more in investable assets – excluding the family home – rose by 26 per cent to a record 930,000, according to a study by Spectrem Group. That is the biggest jump since Spectrem began its survey in 1996. The number of millionaires rose by 11 per cent, to a record 8.3m – the second biggest jump in the decade since they were surveyed.

The overall affluent market – households with $500,000 or more – rose by 7 per cent to a record 14m. This group fared the worst in the wake of the stockmarket collapse, with their numbers falling sharply from 2000. Last year was the first time their total passed that of their peak in 1999. Catherine McBreen, a managing director at Spectrem, said: "It's been a great couple of years for America's millionaires ... the stockmarket, which posted solid improvement in 2005, was one reason for the advance. However, for the wealthiest Americans it appears the increased use of international markets and alternative investments were key drivers of their improvement."

George Walper, president of Sprectrem, said the group had questioned respondents on their investments and returns, and also examined the returns of international markets and alternative investments to ensure the veracity of the results. In a sudden reversal of their longstanding affinity for their domestic market, US investors last year put more than $130bn into international mutual funds, more than three times the amount they put into US funds. Most overseas markets performed better than the US market, so their switch paid off.Hedge funds returned on average only slightly more than the US stockmarket last year, but investable real estate and some private equity investments returned more than this.

Affluent households, on average, held close to half their money in assets – stocks, bonds and alternative investments – and a larger than usual amount of cash, Spectrem said. The affluent reported a greater satisfaction with their financial advisers than in recent years, but this was still short of the highest level previously reported. Those who used advisers were shifting back to use full-service brokers as their main advisers. Copyright 2006 Financial Times

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Castles For Sale!

Though the number of castles sold worldwide is minuscule compared to the overall real estate market, it has increased in recent years, thanks to the rising wealth of buyers, increased visibility--there are several castle-specific Web sites out there--and general enthusiasm for real estate.

There is a surprising range of castle options to choose from these days. They can be age-old or spanking-new, in New Jersey or South Africa, and have turret-high or relatively affordable prices.

In fact, depending on the exact location, the size and the level of restoration, smaller castles can be purchased for as little as $1 million--easily the cost of a two-bedroom condo in Manhattan. Slightly grander castles will fetch somewhere between $2.5 and $5 million, says castle expert Alexander V.G. Kraft, chief executive of Sotheby's International Realty France.

He teases his American friends: "Why don't you sell your garage in London or New York and buy a castle in France instead?"

Of course, the price tags can be much bigger for historically significant, fully restored properties, particularly if they come with vast amounts of land. Consider the 10,000-plus square foot Villa Castiglione in Capri, Italy (pictured above). Resting on nearly seven acres perched on a cliff above the sea, the seven-bedroom Camelot is currently on the market for $38 million.

Kraft estimates that a few hundred castles are up for sale around the world--often quietly, to protect owners' privacy.

And what qualifies as a castle has altered over time. During the Middle Ages, a castle was specifically a fortified structure, largely built to defend nobles against hostile intrusions. Today, the term encompasses a broader range of ornamental homes, from manors to mansions to chateaux.

Please visit Forbes for full article.

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The World's Top 20 Billionaires

Where the Billionairs live in the US. The size of the circle indicates the amount of wealth.

New York -
The 20 richest people in the world have a combined net worth of $439 billion, up $5 billion from last year. That accounts for 17% of the total wealth of the 793 billionaires on our list. To make it into the top 20, you’d need to have a net worth of at least $15.7 billion, inching up slightly over last year’s $15.5 billion.
At the top: Bill Gates, co-founder of software giant Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ), who remains the world’s richest man for record 12th straight year. This year, the gap widened between him and the world’s second richest, famed investor Warren Buffett, who controls Berkshire Hathaway (nyse: BRKA - news - people ).
The richest newcomer is Christy Walton, the widow of one of the heirs of Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart Stores (nyse: WMT - news - people ). Another new face is Roman Abramovich, the 39-year-old Russian oil baron turned investor. Returning to the top ten is Li Ka-shing, the owner of a massive conglomerate in Hong Kong.
Other members: a Mexican investor who chose to favor local telecom holdings over giant MCI (nasdaq: MCIP - news - people ), the heiress to the L'Oréal fortune, and the head of the largest steel company, Mittal Steel (nyse: MT - news - people ), who recently launched a hostile takeover bid for his closest rival. Overall, Americans continue to dominate the list, with ten members.

Click here to see the 20 richest people in the world.

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Wealthy Families Expect Home Values to Climb

Wealthy Families Expect Home Values to Climb

By James R. Hagerty From The Wall Street Journal Online

Even amid signs of a housing-market slowdown, most wealthy people expect the value of their primary homes to continue rising over the next five years, according to a survey sponsored by PNC Financial Services Group Inc.

The Pittsburgh banking company said 65% of those surveyed expect the value of their homes to rise by at least 10% over the next five years, and 31% expect an increase of more than 20% during the same period. Only 7% expected a decline.The survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive Inc. this fall among 1,485 adults with annual incomes of $150,000 or more, if employed, and assets available for investment of at least $500,000 (among those employed) or at least $1 million (among those retired). PNC is active in financing commercial real estate, but has only a small presence in the home-mortgage market.

Over the past five years, the average U.S. home price has increased by more than 50%, and prices have more than doubled in many cities. But even a rise of 10% over the next five years would be welcomed by many who fear the boom of the past few years will lead to a slump.In recent months, the housing market has shown signs of slowing as inventories of unsold homes pile up. "The party may be over for those who have been flipping houses and using real estate to get rich quick," said Nicholas Buss, research director for PNC's real-estate division. "But, in general, established wealthy Americans haven't been speculative buyers, and they remain solidly confident in the long-term value of their real estate holdings."

Dean Baker, a Washington economist who is a longstanding bear on home prices, said the survey shows many people are unrealistic about the outlook. Mr. Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, noted that interest rates are rising, income growth is slow, and "we're building homes faster than we ever did before." Even so, Mr. Baker said, "this bubble has gone on way longer than I expected."The survey found that New Englanders were the most cautious about housing. Only one in 10 New Englanders expected a rise of more than 20% over five years, and 18% predicted a decline. In Florida, by contrast, half of those responding expected an increase of more than 20%.

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Five Trends in Kitchen Design That Are Here to Stay

We’ve all seen them…the decorating TV shows that trumpet the latest high-fashion trends in kitchens -- from glass countertops to microwaves that double as flat screen televisions. It’s easy to get caught up in the hype for the latest high-priced item, but what trends are worth your attention and investment? While industry experts often disagree on style issues, they all agree on one thing: the trend of bigger, more open, more important kitchens in the U.S. is here to stay. “A generation ago, kitchens were thought of as the place where mom cooked by herself, then brought the food out to the rest of the family.

Now, kitchens are the hub of the home, where the entire family gathers in the evenings, after work, to do homework, share meals and entertain friends. Everything we’re seeing in kitchen design is just another way to make kitchens more multifunctional and welcoming,” said Ellen Cheever, ASID, a well-known kitchen designer, educator and frequent contributor to industry publications like Kitchen and Bath Design News. Following are five trends to consider for your own kitchen.

Trend #1: The Kitchens Within a Kitchen

As more Americans build homes with kitchens that are open to living and dining rooms, kitchens are being treated more like any other room in the house, with elaborate moldings, specialty lighting and finely crafted floors and ceilings. “People need their kitchen to be expandable and collapsible, too,” Cheever added. “On the weeknights, they need to be able to navigate their kitchen quickly when they’re just warming up a simple meal. But on the weekends, they need it to open up enough so they can prepare a fancy gourmet meal and entertain a large group of friends while they are cooking.” As a result, designers are creating quick prep areas where a small sink, cutting board and microwave are close together. Larger homes are often using a small butler’s pantry off the main kitchen for this purpose, with a clean-up sink, microwave, prep area and small refrigerator. The butler’s pantry has the added convenience of keeping dirty dishes out of the way while entertaining, and storing large amounts of serve ware, linens and china. Cheever noted that customers are also putting in larger sinks in the island, to make a food prep zone, and placing larger farmhouse sinks along the back wall for more elaborate “clean-up centers.” “The days when kitchens always had one sink right under the kitchen window appear to be over,” Cheever said.

Trend #2: Eclectic Is In

Customers of all kinds are interested in the new, unusual and artful, according to Jan Aufderhar, semi-custom manager for MasterBrand Cabinets in Jasper, Ind. While the upscale markets are often driving innovation, these trends are now becoming common at all price levels, Aufderhar said. “Instead of having a solid bank of cabinets with a standard look, customers are mixing and matching finishes, putting cabinets up on feet to make them look more like freestanding furniture and choosing exotic woods and hardware,” she said. “White cabinets are still popular, but the sales are going down for those as customers go for painted finishes like chili pepper red, or rich, hand-rubbed finishes like dark cherry,” Aufderhar said. Customers are adding more display area into upper cabinets as well, putting in clear or art glass inserts into their door fronts and gallery lighting inside the cabinet to show off prized ceramics or hand-blown glass collections.

Trend #3: More Tall, Less Wall

As customer’s floor plans continue to be more open, there is less space to mount above the counter cabinets. As a result, manufacturers are creating more height options for cabinets to help break up the space between rooms. “We’ve been installing a lot of pedestal cabinets -- these are cabinets which are taller than the rest, usually 42 inches or more, that act almost like a built-in-pedestal at the end of a long run of under-the-counter cabinets. It’s a great post for a column or other architectural element for the room,” Cheever said. She noted that designers are also creating counters with two levels. The high level breaks up space between kitchen and living room areas and reduces the appearance of counter clutter. It also provides a handy place to pull up a barstool to do homework. Designers are also creating “baking centers” with lower than standard counter heights perfect for kneading bread or making candy.

Trend #4: Expanded Office/Work Desk Areas

“Used to be, there was a desk in the kitchen so mom could store her recipes and work on the bills,” Cheever said. “But as more homes got wireless Internet access, mom didn’t like being cooped up at a kitchen desk.” Today, customers are forgoing tiny kitchen desks for larger desks that wrap around into the family room -- perfect for watching the kids while they surf the Internet and paying the bills while enjoying TV with the family.

Trend #5: Everything at Your Fingertips

“Customers today are no longer satisfied to have cabinets that merely look good. They want them to work efficiently for them, too,” Aufderhar said.Appliance manufacturers have been quick to capitalize on the trend too, as they develop warming drawers, beverage chillers and more for under the counter. Offering customers options like buffet storage for linens, fine glass storage, beverage centers and the like has made it possible for customers to design more complex areas in their kitchens. “Instead of the kitchens with just a traditional cook, prep, clean-up and food storage areas, customers can use their kitchen cabinets to create a formal dining area, a casual dining space, a homework area, a wine service/bar area or anything they need, just by carving out a corner of space in their kitchens. It’s the products and the planning that are truly key to making the open-concept kitchen trend work. It’s a trend that truly reflects how people are living these days, and I think it’s a way of life that will be around for a long time,” Aufderhar said.

via LuxuryRealEstate.com

For the latest in kitchen concepts go to www.ColoradoDreamHomes.net

Homes of the Billionaires

Bill Gates' Home (William Henry Gates III, Medina, Wash., Net Worth: $51.0 billion)

Homes Of The Billionaires by Sara Clemence and Victoria Lee (Forbes)America's wealthiest citizens can buy or build just about any type of house they like, and so it should come as no shock that many of them live very nicely, indeed. They can easily purchase in some of the most expensive and desirable locations in the world, from Park Avenue to Beverly Hills, guarding their privacy with extensive grounds and high private hedges. And real estate bubble be damned--when you have upward of $10 billion in banks and brokerages, price simply isn't an issue. But like the rest of the population, their tastes run from garish to daring, glamorous to traditional. (We are sure one can read volumes about their personalities from the homes, but we won't even try here.)

The shingle-clad Massachusetts estate owned by Fidelity Investments billionaire Abigail Johnson has little in common with Oracle (nasdaq: ORCL - news - people ) head Larry Ellison's mansion in Woodside, Calif. We scoured public records, searched databases and leaned on local sources to identify the homes of the few dozen richest people in the U.S. To protect their privacy, we do not reveal addresses or surroundings, but our photographs allow you to see how they live--sometimes in surprising ways. In some cases, it's common knowledge that the homes belong to certain people; in others, information was confirmed by the owners or is recorded in public property records. In a few instances, we went with what we believed to be the most recent addresses. We know from media reports, for example, that S.I. Newhouse of Advance Publications has lived near the United Nations in New York. His wife, Victoria, was among the residents who spoke out several years ago against Donald Trump's plan to build a view-blocking new tower. But a company spokeswoman would only confirm that he and his brother, Donald Newhouse, both maintain residences in New York City. A few people remain total mysteries. For example, Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, recently minted billionaires, guard their privacy so closely that we only know that they probably live in Palo Alto. A Google spokesman would not comment on Brin or Page's home. Obviously, when you can spend as much as you like on a home, you can indulge passions, fantasies and quirks. We're not talking wine cellars or master bedrooms suites--once considered the height of luxury, they are practically standard in upscale homes--but amenities like the trampoline room in Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) founder Bill Gates' lakeside residence in Medina, Wash. Or, Ellison's 33-acre spread inspired by the Japanese city of Kyoto. Its man-made lake was designed to be earthquake-proof, and the buildings were constructed in traditional Japanese style, without using nails.

Location isn't always a common factor among the richest Americans, either. Although wealth tends to concentrate in specific areas, being a member of the billionaire's club doesn't automatically come with a house in Palm Beach--though John Kluge of Metromedia does occupy a pale yellow mansion there. Many of the richest people on our list own houses where they grew up, or near the sources of their wealth. Sometimes those are less-than-glamorous places--think Bentonville, Ark., home of Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ) and several members of the Walton clan. Dell (nasdaq: DELL - news - people ) head Michael Dell's primary residence is in Austin, Texas, and Nike (nyse: NKE - news - people ) founder Philip Knight's is in Hillsboro, Ore., a rural area outside of Portland, Ore. "He bought it in the 1970s," says Mai Truong, a local real estate broker with RE/MAX Equity Group. "Back when he bought it, that was pretty much nowhere land."

Then there is the question everyone wants to ask: How much is a billionaire's home worth? In some instances, as much--or more--than one would think. Kluge's Palm Beach estate, which totals more than 21,000 square feet and sits on four acres of manicured grounds adorned with statues and reflecting pools, has a market value of more than $28 million, according to county estimates. Ellison spent several years and more than $100 million to build his palace. Earlier this year, Gates received a property tax bill for a whopping $1.1 million, because his compound was estimated to be worth nearly $140 million. Fellow Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen, who owns a group of nearby properties valued at a little under $120 million, got off with just a $1 million charge. But at the other end of the scale are uber-wealthy people who are uninterested in flaunting--or even, it seems, enjoying--their billions.

Some of our rich-listers choose to live surprisingly modestly. Take Warren Buffett, the brains behind Berkshire Hathaway (nyse: BRKA - news - people ). The "Oracle of Omaha" lives in the Happy Hollow neighborhood of Omaha, Nebr. It's not a shabby place, but he bought the gray stucco home in 1958 for $31,500. In 2003, it was assessed at just $700,000. Members of the notoriously reclusive and low-key Mars family, heirs to the candy fortune, seem to own pretty modest digs--John Mars lives in a McLean, Va., townhouse and, until a few years ago, his equally secretive brother, Forrest Edward Mars Jr., who at that time was estimated to be worth $9 billion, lived in a unprepossessing condominium in Arlington, Va. Of course, billionaires often own more than one home--and sometimes several--which can explain why one may seem relatively modest. Another might be an utter palace. Truong guesses that Phil Knight's house is worth just a few million dollars, depending on the condition of his house and what it's like inside. "There's a pool, a nice big yard," she says. "But it could be very old, very simple depending on the owner." Who wants to live like a billionaire? Perhaps you already do.

More Luxury Homes at www.ColoradoDreamHomes.net

Billionaire Bathrooms

It's easy to get extravagant in the bathroom. The status kitchen has now been established--granite counters, handcrafted cabinets, Viking ranges and Sub-Zero refrigerators. Meanwhile, "marble" has been the simple shorthand for luxury in the bath. You don't have to be Dennis Kozlowski to know that there's much, much more. The disgraced (and now convicted) former chief executive of Tyco (nyse: TYC - news - people ) looted tens of millions of dollars from his company but may be most notorious for his custom-made, gold-threaded shower curtain, which carried a $6,000 price tag.

The kinds of super-expensive objects that grace the very best bathrooms probably aren't available at the local Home Depot (nyse: HD - news - people ) or Bed, Bath & Beyond (nasdaq: BBBY - news - people ). For one, they are often made of rare materials--take the master bath of a $33 million apartment in New York's Trump International Hotel and Tower, which is paved in brilliant lapis lazuli. They are frequently custom-created to fit the environment. And having products handmade in (and imported from) Europe always adds substantial sums to the final tab. "We do believe that bathrooms are the next kitchens," says Milton Pedraza, chief executive of the Luxury Institute, a research firm based in New York. Even people who don't cook much have multiple stoves and chef-quality cookware, he points out.

Now wealthy home owners are transforming their bathrooms into spas--and for practical, as well as indulgent, reasons. "A lot more people are beginning to say, 'I'm not moving away from my kids or from the central city,'" he says. "Instead, they are exploring ways to remain in their homes after retirement, while being looked after. Baby boomers are opting more for in-home care as opposed to managed care. I think expanding the bathroom into a home spa is not just for indulgence but also for therapy." Even without creating space for the masseuse, a well-heeled home owner can attend to any number of details in the luxury bath. Sometimes spending a lot of money is about convenience--like having a flat-screen television behind your mirror, so you can catch the news while getting prepped in the morning. High-tech appliances, such as a self-cleaning toilet that can be controlled with a wireless remote, don't come cheap. Then of course, there are pure aesthetics. Hand-cast fixtures in jewel-like designs can make a bathroom a thing of beauty--even if you're simply turning on the tap.

(Pictured Above)Villeroy & Boch, Price: $85 to $105 per tile Villeroy & Boch, better known for place settings, has created tiles that can light up your life--or at least your bath. The stone and ceramic tiles are embedded with tiny LED fixtures that last for about 100,000 hours and can be used on any surface. They come in a variety of colors and styles, to provide ambient lighting, highlight pathways or illuminate anything else you might imagine. Prices vary according to style. For more information, visit www.villeroy-boch.com.

Article by Sara Clemence, Forbes.com

For more cool bath ideas visit www.ColoradoDreamHomes.net

Are They Priced NOT to Sell?

Why Some Supermansions Are Priced "Not" to Sell

It's the ultimate trophy property: A 29,000-square-foot spread on Biscayne Bay with 13 bedrooms, a gun room, fingertip identity-scanners, and, for privacy from gawkers on passing boats, a machine that shrouds the backyard in mist. Yet several years after putting the home on the market, no one has offered owner Thomas Kramer anything close to his current asking price of $50 million.

Still, he isn't entertaining a cut -- because showing it is entertaining enough. Sears Chairman Edward Lampert and singer Enrique Iglesias have visited, according to people who showed the house; director Michael Mann used the home to shoot scenes of the new movie version of "Miami Vice." "I've met unbelievable, interesting characters," says Mr. Kramer, a 48-year-old real-estate developer.

This is the real-estate world's expanding ubermarket, where prices start at $30 million and sellers are sometimes in it just for sport. These aren't mere mansions -- sorry, Cher, your $9.8 million joint wouldn't make the cut -- but modern-day San Simeons, largely insulated from the rest of the market. Currently about 60 of these mini-emirates are for sale in the U.S., according to databases and interviews with brokers. That's compared with a handful of $30-million-plus homes even a few years ago.

So who are these people, why aren't they in a rush to sell -- and what do their mid-eight-figure pads look like? We went on a cross-country tour of homes that have been on the market for close to a year or more and found sellers such as a former radio-station owner, a retired Seattle-area couple and plenty of people who made their money in the real-estate market. Our visits let us into to a private art wing with steel doors that drop from the ceiling, a 70-foot saltwater swimming pool and a sweeping vista over Michael Eisner's Aspen-area house way, waaaaay below.

We also found prices that didn't seem to compute. One home on Mercer Island, Wash., has a $40 million price tag, more than five times the high sales price on the Seattle-area island. A Los Angeles ranch compound, described in a marketing brochure as "gracious" and "breathtaking," had a guest cottage with a sagging roof and a mirrored disco ball in the screening room. And in Marin County, Calif., a historic home that had undergone a $32 million, nine-year renovation had a two-car garage.

More of these hyper-estates have come up for sale in recent years. On the west side of Los Angeles, there are more than a dozen homes on the market in the $30 million-plus range, up from about two in 2001, according to Cecelia Waeschle of Sotheby's International Realty in Malibu. In Manhattan there are around 20, compared with a handful in 2001, says Fox Residential Group. In Florida, two spec homes under construction are expected to come on the market at about $125 million each, while two in the Los Angeles area will have "for sale" signs of about $60 million.

Testing the MarketSome of these prices can be attributed to the past half-decade's real-estate boom; houses that might have been listed for a mere $25 million a few years ago could go for $50 million now, or more depending on the location. But there are other factors at play. Many megamansions are being built without buyers in mind. There's a sense that some homeowners are simply having fun testing the market -- naming their dream price in the hopes that a buyer will wander by and pay it one day, but without being particularly motivated to sell. In many cases, their houses have sat on the market for years, with owners holding prices firm, or even boosting them.

via The Wall Street Journal Online

More Luxury Homes info at www.ColoradoDreamHomes.net

Realtors Assess Resale Value of Remodeling Projects in Shifting Markets

The resale value of many remodeling projects has not kept pace with the costs of those projects, according to Realtors and remodelers who recently participated in Remodeling magazine’s 2006 “Cost vs. Value Report.” Produced for 19 years by Hanley Wood, LLC, this is the ninth consecutive year the report was completed in cooperation with REALTOR Magazine, as National Association of Realtors members provided their insight into local markets and home buyer preferences in 60 different cities across the country.

The report shows that prices for most remodeling projects continue to increase, though their resale value has decreased. This trend reflects a return to a more balanced real estate market in many areas of the country. As in 2005, kitchen and bathroom remodels are still near the top of the list in terms of costs recouped, on a national average.

In 2006, the national average cost for a major kitchen remodel was $54,241, and the return was $43,603, for an 80.4 percent return on investment. By comparison, in 2005, a major midrange kitchen remodel cost an average of $43,862 and returned $39,920, or 91 percent of the costs to remodel. Midrange bathroom remodels recouped 85 percent of their cost in 2006, with remodeling expenses averaging $12,918 and resale values averaging $10,970. Last year, the same project cost $10,499 and returned $10,727, or 102.2 percent.

“Our Realtor members visit hundreds, if not thousands, of homes with their buyer clients each year, and have a unique understanding of what home buyers value in their local markets,” said NAR President Pat Vredevoogd Combs of Grand Rapids, Mich., vice president of Coldwell Banker–AJS–Schmidt. “As real estate markets shift in many sections of the country, homeowners must rely on the guidance of real estate professionals who are immersed in the industry. Realtors’ insight into buyer preferences and their connections to local remodeling experts help them add value to the real estate transaction, whether their clients are preparing their home for sale or just want to be informed about resale value down the road.”

The report compares construction costs with resale values for 25 common remodeling projects in 60 cities. This year the report provides data for nine U.S. regions, rather than four as in years past, following the divisions established by the U.S. Census Bureau. The projects represent additions, remodels and replacements. Nationally, replacement projects tended to return more value than additions or remodels, but, as in previous reports, the desirability of different remodeling projects varied by region and metropolitan area.

The most profitable projects nationally, from a resale value, were midrange vinyl and upscale fiber cement siding replacements, at an average of 87.2 and 88 percent costs recouped, respectively. Most of the regions reflected that, as well; some type of siding replacement ranked among the top three projects in terms of costs recouped in every geographic area except the Mountain region, composed of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico and Wyoming. The least profitable project was a home office remodel; this project returned the lowest percentage of remodeling costs at resale in all but the South West Central (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas) and Pacific (Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington) regions.

Homeowners in the Pacific and South Atlantic (Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia) regions could expect to see some of the highest percentages of remodeling costs returned at resale, while homeowners in the West North Central (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota) and East North Central (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin) experienced some of the lowest returns.

Combs cautioned consumers to look beyond the data. “Many factors affect a home’s value and, consequently, the resale value of any given remodeling project,” she said. “The home’s overall condition, availability and condition of surrounding properties, location, and regional economic climate are all factors that influence value in real estate. When considering a remodeling project or preparing a home for sale, consumers should rely on industry professionals, such as Realtors, who have the expertise and experience to help homeowners protect their investment.”

To read the full project descriptions, visit www.remodelingmagazine.com. The site also includes project data for each of the nine regions. The full study, as well as city-specific reports, which are available for the first time, can be ordered by visiting www.costvsvalue.com. Members of the media can obtain a sample report by sending an e-mail with press credentials to costvalue-cs@hanleywood.com. “Cost vs. Value” is a registered trademark of Hanley Wood, LLC.

Hanley Wood, LLC, is the premier media company serving housing and construction. Through four operating divisions, the company produces award-winning magazines and Web sites, marquee trade shows and events, rich data, and custom marketing solutions. The company also is North America’s leading provider of home plans. Founded in 1976, Hanley Wood is a $240 million company owned by JPMorgan Partners, LLC, a private equity affiliate of JPMorgan Chase & Co.

The National Association of Realtors, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing more than 1.3 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.
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For more information, contact:
Sara Weis, 202/383-1013, sweis@realtors.org