What You Get for ... $520,000

The New York Times has a regular feature on what kind of homes you can buy in a given price range around the country. The most recent featured on the $520,000 price range. The article follows, but I thought I’d add a little something locally, in Ardsley Park, where one of my favorite houses is listed for $535,000. It’s not my listing, but of course I’d be happy to represent you as the buyer. I just love the proportions of this home. Many homes from this era don’t really have the kind of spaces that make sense for today’s living, but this house does. Plus it has a master on the main floor and a pool. Great house!




























































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By MIKE POWELL
Published: February 2, 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C.

WHAT: A duplex condo with two bedrooms and two and a half baths

HOW MUCH: $515,000

SIZE: 1,325 square feet

PER SQUARE FOOT: $388.68

SETTING: This apartment is one of nine units in a 1916 building. The neighborhood, Adams Morgan, is in Northwest Washington, and mostly residential, with a cluster of bars, restaurants and shops at the intersection of 18th Street and Columbia Road, about two blocks away. The nearest Metro stop is a half-mile away.

INSIDE: The apartment was renovated five years ago, when new bathrooms and a kitchen were installed. The main level is completely open; the living area has a wood-burning stove. Upstairs, both bedrooms have en-suite baths. The master bedroom also has a wood stove, as well as a walk-in closet and a bathroom with two sinks; the other bedroom is slightly larger and has a double-width closet. The unit comes with a parking space.

TAXES: $4,728 a year; $222 a month in condo fees.

CONTACT: Boucie Addison, Washington Fine Properties (301) 509-8827; wfp.com.

NEW ORLEANS

WHAT: A one-bedroom two-bath condo in the French Quarter

HOW MUCH: $524,000

SIZE: 1,479 square feet

PRICE PER SQUARE FOOT: $354.29

SETTING: This condo is in an 1830s building in the French Quarter. Some of the Quarter’s most famous bars and restaurants —Antoine’s and Café Du Monde — are nearby. So is Preservation Hall, a jazz and blues club. Downtown, the city’s central business district, is about a half-mile away.

INSIDE: This duplex apartment, on the third and fourth floors of a four-floor building, was renovated about 10 years ago. On the main level is the kitchen, a living room with 12-foot ceilings and a dining area. Off the living room is an iron-railed balcony. Original details include two decorative fireplaces, hardwood floors and crown molding. Upstairs is a master suite with vaulted ceilings, a walk-in closet and a bathroom with a marble shower. The condo comes with a parking spot.

OUTDOOR SPACE: The living room opens to a balcony overlooking St. Louis Street and the French Quarter.

TAXES: $4,236 a year; $452 a month in homeowner’s association dues.

CONTACT: Richard Jensen, Latter & Blum/Realtors, (504) 812-0010; latter-blum.com.

PORTLAND, ORE.

WHAT: A house with three bedrooms and one and a half baths

HOW MUCH: $524,900

SIZE: 3,514 square feet

PER SQUARE FOOT: $149.37

SETTING: This 1910 house is in Kenton, a neighborhood in north Portland. According to the listing agent, most of the homes in the area were built in the early 1900s. Within a couple of blocks is a commercial district, with restaurants, a post office, a library, a supermarket and coffee shops. The MAX Light Rail stops four blocks away. Downtown Portland is a 10-minute drive.

INSIDE: Most of the original details in this house, including woodwork, hardwood floors and leaded-glass windows, were restored by the current owners, who have lived in the house for about 25 years. On the main level is a formal living room with a brick fireplace, and a dining room with a curved bay window. Off the kitchen is a den with a half-bath. Two of the bedrooms are downstairs; the master bedroom is in what was formerly the attic. It has a beamed ceiling, two skylights and a walk-in closet.

OUTDOOR SPACE: A wrap-around deck at the front of the house; a yard in the back.

TAXES: $4,425 a year

CONTACT: Gene Moore, Re/Max equity group, (503) 880-4363; equitygroup.com.

View original article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/greathomesanddestinations/03gh-what.html?_r=1

13 Relaxing Spa Bath Retreats

By: Tabitha Sukhai, This Old House online

The key to the feng shui of this clutter-free space? Smart storage. Clever places to stow towels and toiletries—including the two large hidden drawers on either side of the sink—means the sleek vanity can remain free and clear. This masculine design, complete with bold walls and angular details, shows that relaxing spa baths aren't just for the ladies.

Continue reading at: http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20435093,00.html?xid=kbnewsletter-110203-spa-baths

In Spain, Incorporating the Landscape Into the Design

Again, no offense to Peru, but Ibiza does have a certain international cache and again, it's western Europe so this price seems a little more justifiable to me. Cool house, too-- check out the trees in the living room and no, if the ivy growing outside your house in Savannah has infiltrated the stucco and come inside, that doesn't have the cool factor, that's just bad maintenance.

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By JESSICA DONATI
Published: February 2, 2011

IBIZA, SPAIN — When Enrique Polanco, an art fair promoter in Madrid, decided to build a second home on this island some 100 miles from the Spanish mainland, he said he set out “to escape from real life in Madrid.”

It’s no wonder he took his inspiration from the fictional character Peter Pan and named his home Never Never Land.

The design, created by Andrés Jacque, an architect with his own firm in Madrid, took two years to create. The primary objective was to have as minimal impact to the surrounding landscape as possible.

So the home, which sits on a steep slope, was set on stilts, following the contours of the land, as opposed to cutting into the slope to make a flat plot. In addition, no trees were felled during construction. Instead they were incorporated into the interior of the home, with tree trunks running through the floor and ceiling and popping out the roof.

“The building site manager thought it was a ridiculous, romantic idea to make his life more difficult,” Mr. Jacque said, referring to the challenge of incorporating the trees into the design.

Construction began in 2007 and took two years and 500,000 euros (about $685,000) to build the five-bedroom home, where Mr. Polanco now spends weekends and free time between art fairs.

The house is split into three units, or cabins, as Mr. Polanco calls them: one houses the kitchen, living room and main bedrooms; the other two are for guests. The aim was to create the feel of cabins in the forest, independent from one another, but linked by common living areas, Mr. Polanco said.

The cabins are constructed of metal frames topped with concrete to keep them cool in the summer.

The railings were painted yellow-green — “the color of the youngest leaves in the valley surrounding the home,” Mr. Polanco says — while the frame and stilts raising the cabins above the ground were painted purple, to convey a sense of fun, he added.

All three cabins have enormous glass windows, exposing the inside to a breathtaking view of the woods tumbling down to the beach.

The windows were bought in Madrid and driven to Valencia in a truck, where they were loaded onto a boat for the island. “Some materials and furnishings were impossible to find here,” Mr. Polanco said. “That’s the hardest part about being on an island.”

Inside, the walls are painted sky blue. “We even got a machine to measure the blueness of the sky, which we tried our best to replicate by mixing paints,” Mr. Polanco said.

The space below the home continues the theme of Never Never Land, with a recreational room complete with a ping pong table, a dart board, large speakers for when Mr. Polanco holds parties, and access to an infinity pool.

Next up for Never Never Land is the installation of another infinity pool, but with a built-in wave machine.

Be sure to check out the slideshow of additional photos on original article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/greathomesanddestinations/03gh-location.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1296743936-2wcmcfOxas1UuBL7bkyx9Q

House Hunting in ... Peru

It always fascinates me to see some of the high prices in other countries. I never got a chance to comment on the Portugal post about the Lapa district, which is described as one of Lisbon's most affluent areas. Prices are high there, but I can kind of understand it as it is western Europe and it's a historic district, which obviously is something that I value. Now, no offense to Peru and its lovely people, especially since I spent a very enjoyable vacation there a few years back, but after being in Peru it's hard for me to visualize any place there that would fetch a million dollars. It just goes to show there's wealthy people everywhere and it's all relative. I suppose when the market was hot here in Savannah or at Tybee Island people looked at certain properties and thought that there was no way anything in Savannah should be worth $1,000,000. So please Peruvians, don't go there, because I already said it myself.

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By VIRGINIA C. McGUIRE
Published: February 2, 2011

A FOUR-BEDROOM HOUSE WITH A THREE-BEDROOM COTTAGE IN CHORILLOS, PERU

$900,000

This property is part of La Encantada de Villa, an oceanfront gated community with a country club, outside Chorillos a town 20 minutes from Lima with a large international community.

Both structures were renovated last year; among the improvements were closets and paneling made of Peruvian jungle hardwood and reclaimed pine. In the main house, the living room has double-height ceilings and a stained-glass window. The carved mantelpiece over the dining room fireplace is over 100 years old. The house has one bedroom upstairs and three on the main floor.

The master bedroom is in the cottage at the back of the property. The master bath is en-suite, and the floors and walls are lined with pink ceramic tile. Both houses are decorated with antique stained glass, plaster ornaments and local textiles. The pool area is landscaped with bougainvillea and palm trees.

Jorge Chávez International Airport is a 40-minute drive.

MARKET OVERVIEW

Growth in Peru’s real estate market has remained steady over the past five years, despite the global economic downturn, said José Antonio Olaechea, managing partner of Estudio Olaechea, a law firm in Lima. He said that although high demand and a low housing supply were pushing prices up, stagnant wages were preventing out-of-control growth. “We are not yet in a bubble,” he said, adding that government programs to promote homeownership have help bolster the market.

In addition, the shortage of land available for development has spurred apartment and office conversions of many older houses, said Nella Ponce, the director of Peru Sotheby’s International Realty in Lima.

Growth is especially strong in Miraflores and Barranco, affluent districts along Lima’s Pacific Coast. New homes in Miraflores sell for $2,000 a square meter ($186 a square foot, at 10.7639 square feet to the square meter). Recently homes in a sold-out development in Barranco sold for $2,500 per square meter.

Second homes along the private beaches outside Lima cost $1,000 to $1,500 a square meter, Ms. Ponce said. In Chorillos, once a second-home destination but now largely a bedroom community, property sells for $1,500 to $2,000 a square meter. The house profiled here costs $1,125 a square meter, slightly less than average, because the nearest beach is rougher and not ideal for swimming.

Mr. Olaechea says prices are expected to rise by 10 percent in the Lima metropolitan area in 2011, versus 9.5 percent in 2010 and 12 percent in 2009.

WHO BUYS IN PERU

About 40 percent of the country’s foreign buyers are from Argentina, Mr. Olaechea said. Fifty percent are Chileans, Bolivians, Colombians and Brazilians; most remaining foreign buyers are American.

BUYING BASICS

Generally, there are no restrictions on foreigners wishing to buy property in Peru, unless it is within 50 kilometers (about 30 miles) of the border.

Additional costs include a title check, notary fees and deed registration (around $1,500). Foreign buyers must apply for a real estate transaction permit from the Department of Immigration; permits cost $200 to $300, Mr. Olaechea said. Transfer taxes are 3 percent of the purchase price, according to Víctor Manuel Saldaña, the general manager of Alfredo Graf y Asociados, a real estate company in Lima.

Real estate in Peru is almost always priced in United States dollars, Ms. Ponce said. WEB SITES

Peruvian government: www.peru.gob.pe

Municipality of Lima: munlima.gob.pe

Tecnología (online news site): tecnologia.com.pe

LANGUAGES AND CURRENCY

Spanish; Nuevo sol (1 sol = $0.36)

TAXES AND FEES

Property taxes are a $1,200 a year.

View original article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/greathomesanddestinations/03gh-househunting.html?_r=1

10 Foreclosure Hotspots

It’s never a good thing for one’s city to be included in any article naming cities with fast-growing rate of foreclosures. It’s also especially troubling when the picture that CNNMoney.com uses happens to be a house you’ve sold a couple times. Let’s start with that house—it’s a spectacular brick Second Empire house—a double house, actually, built that way in 1873. In 2006, both sides of the house were for sale. I had the left side of the house listed and another agent had the right side of the house listed. My clients (and now very good friends) saw both sides and decided to buy the right side of the house. We had a long negotiation with the owners and finally got about $100k off the purchase price. The market was still hot at that time and we thought that was a pretty good discount. I don’t have to tell you that the market turned south, but they’re still in the house and love it. Naturally, they would have liked to have paid less. As for my left side of the house, as the market turned, we were not able to find a buyer, despite a number of price reductions. Finally, in late 2008, we had a good offer--$735k. At the time, the seller owed about $755k. He had been making $4000 monthly payments on an empty house for two years, so that’s another $100,000 that he ate. He asked the bank if they would accept the offer as a short sale. The bank took about six months to respond to the short sale request, and eventually the buyers lost interest and moved on. And then the bank said they wouldn’t eat the $20k. So my seller stopped making his $4000 payments. We continued taking offers, which the bank continued ignoring. And nearly a year later, in early 2010, the bank finally took the property back. When it was listed in early spring of 2010, the asking price was $565,000. Naturally, I had a list of people who were interested, and I quickly got it under contract at full price. So the bank ate nearly $200,000 and devalued the property. Of course, CNNMoney happened to have used a stock Savannah photo, and couldn’t possibly know the story behind this house, but I do. And it’s the incompetence of the banks that put them in bad positions to start with. On a totally different note, the paragraph describing Savannah’s foreclosure market does mention that homes like this in the Landmark Historic District are not really causing the foreclosure jump. The sub-$100k houses are coming on the market, and the article is right—it’s investor stuff. And we need to look at the bright side of this article—there are indeed great deals to be had for buyers. In fact, I happen to have just gone under contract on one of those foreclosures, the restoration of which may be part of this blog in the future. Looking for a good deal? As always, feel free to contact me.

View the CNNmoney.com article: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/real_estate/1102/gallery.latest_foreclosure_hotspots/index.html?hpt=C2