9News
10.26.11
BOULDER - Look no further than Boulder, Colorado for people who say they are the happiest in the nation, according to a recent survey by National Geographic.
Boulder residents told surveyors they are happier on a scale of 1 to 10 than people responded in any place else in America. That comes from the Gallup Healthways Well Being Index, which asked 1.4 million Americans the question, "How Happy Are you?"
Many factors play into Boulder's happiness, including access to the outdoors, overall quality of life and a relative balance of high technology use and low-tech down time.
"Social networks and TV do bring us a little bit of happiness, but it peaks at about 45 minutes. If we're spending more than that watching TV, we're probably doing it at the expense of more authentic sort of happiness, like socializing, like volunteering, like doing our hobbies, like staying in shape," said National Geographic author and speaker Dan Buettner. Buettner's book "Thrive: Finding Happiness The Blue Zones Way" explores the keys to happiness.
He suggests the best way to keep your kids happy is to never allow TVs in the bedrooms as well as to keep it behind an entertainment center door or in an out-of-the-way place to prevent screen time overload and to keep TV as an intentional thing rather than reflexive activity. Smart phone overload can also detract from one's overall well-being aside from occasional, intellectual-driven usage to learn something or look up a fact.
Sleep is also another big factor in overall happiness. Americans sleep a little over six hours a night, while the happiest people in the country sleep a little more than eight hours a night. Folks who are just hitting the average are losing about a third of the happiness they could be experiencing with a little more than those who get more than eight hours.
Sexual activity plays a big role in the happiness of survey respondents. The grumpiest people, or least-happiest people in the country, rarely if ever have sexual relations. Meanwhile, the happiest respondents reported having sex multiple times a day.
Finally, music plays a big part in helping people stay happy. The happy zone, or time frame to keep people happiest, is with at least two or more hours of music per day.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Best day to list real estate for sale: Friday
Best day to list real estate for sale: Friday
Redfin study: day of the week may make a difference
By Inman News
Sellers should list their home on a Friday for the best chance of selling it, according to Seattle-based brokerage Redfin.
Redfin analyzed data for 1.2 million listings in 16 markets nationwide over the past 21 months. The brokerage found that of all listed homes in those 16 markets, those listed on a Friday were 12 percent more likely to sell within 90 days, and homes listed on a Thursday or Friday sold, on average, for slightly closer to list price: 94.4 percent compared with 93.9 percent when homes are listed on a Sunday or Monday. Put another way, that's a $1,000 difference on a $200,000 home.
Homes listed on a Friday were also 18.8 percent more likely to be toured by Redfin customers. Homes listed on a Sunday or Monday were the least likely to be toured.
"Our theory is that since homebuyers tend to tour homes on the weekends (Saturday and Sunday have 2.5 times more tours per day than weekdays), homes listed on Fridays are the freshest in buyers' minds when they're making their weekend plans. It also seems likely that many homebuyers sort their weekend 'must see' lists by date listed, going to see the freshest homes first so they have the best chance of getting in on a potential good deal before other buyers," the brokerage said in a blog post about the findings.
"These factors put homes listed on Friday in front of more touring buyers on the weekend (which our touring data bears out). More tours leads to more offers, and more offers leads to a better price and a better chance of selling."
In one respect, Sunday beat out any other day of the week: Homes listed on Sunday attracted slightly more online page views than the average on Redfin.com.
While the vast majority of homes are listed on weekdays, no one weekday was especially popular, with between 17 percent and 19 percent of homes listed on any given weekday. About 19 percent of homes were listed on a Friday during the time period studied, Redfin reported.
Redfin study: day of the week may make a difference
By Inman News
Sellers should list their home on a Friday for the best chance of selling it, according to Seattle-based brokerage Redfin.
Redfin analyzed data for 1.2 million listings in 16 markets nationwide over the past 21 months. The brokerage found that of all listed homes in those 16 markets, those listed on a Friday were 12 percent more likely to sell within 90 days, and homes listed on a Thursday or Friday sold, on average, for slightly closer to list price: 94.4 percent compared with 93.9 percent when homes are listed on a Sunday or Monday. Put another way, that's a $1,000 difference on a $200,000 home.
Homes listed on a Friday were also 18.8 percent more likely to be toured by Redfin customers. Homes listed on a Sunday or Monday were the least likely to be toured.
"Our theory is that since homebuyers tend to tour homes on the weekends (Saturday and Sunday have 2.5 times more tours per day than weekdays), homes listed on Fridays are the freshest in buyers' minds when they're making their weekend plans. It also seems likely that many homebuyers sort their weekend 'must see' lists by date listed, going to see the freshest homes first so they have the best chance of getting in on a potential good deal before other buyers," the brokerage said in a blog post about the findings.
"These factors put homes listed on Friday in front of more touring buyers on the weekend (which our touring data bears out). More tours leads to more offers, and more offers leads to a better price and a better chance of selling."
In one respect, Sunday beat out any other day of the week: Homes listed on Sunday attracted slightly more online page views than the average on Redfin.com.
While the vast majority of homes are listed on weekdays, no one weekday was especially popular, with between 17 percent and 19 percent of homes listed on any given weekday. About 19 percent of homes were listed on a Friday during the time period studied, Redfin reported.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
10 states ranked by high, low homeownership rates
10 states ranked by high, low homeownership rates
From AOL Real Estate: Share ranges from 53% to 73%
October 18, 2011
By Inman News
The dream of owning a home has become increasingly unattainable for many Americans, and the situation is not likely to improve soon, as the collapse of the housing market and the recession continue to take their toll.
That is the disturbing conclusion to be drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau's newly released report, "Housing Characteristics: 2010," an overview of the national home market at the end of the last decade.
One of the highlights of the report is a list of the states that have the highest and lowest percentage of homes occupied by their owners.
A review of the data by 24/7 Wall St., which offers analysis and insight for equity investors, found that homeownership rates were high in thinly populated states and those with low home prices, while homeownership was low in states with expensive homes and large cities.
5 states with highest homeownership rates
1. West Virginia
2. Minnesota
3. Michigan
4. Iowa
5. Delaware
5 states with lowest homeownership rates
1. New York
2. California
3. Hawaii
4. Nevada
5. Rhode Island
The swing between the states with the highest and lowest homeownership is extraordinary. Just over 53 percent of the people in New York state own homes. At the other end of the spectrum is West Virginia, with a homeownership rate above 73 percent. In addition to New York City, New York state includes the relatively large cities of Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse and Albany. In West Virginia, by contrast, the two largest cities -- Charleston and Huntington -- are barely cities at all.
Together, they have just over 100,000 people in a state with 1.9 million residents. For this article, 24/7 Wall St. has primarily considered cities' metropolitan areas, which are cities and their adjacent communities that, according to the Census Bureau, "have a high degree of economic and social integration" with the cities.
According to the report, in the last decade, homeownership in the U.S. dropped the most since 1940. The postwar housing boom lasted for over half a century as increased construction and liberal lending practices made homes affordable to a large majority of Americans.
Subprime mortgages stretched that ease of availability to the breaking point. When the market collapsed, so did the ability of many Americans to own homes because of tighter lending practices and fears that the market still has much further to fall.
The pattern of homeownership will probably not change much in the years ahead. People in large cities have opportunities to rent not available in suburban and rural areas. Home prices are low in states where the number of people per square mile is low. There is little supply in these states, but their populations are not large enough to create excessive demand.
The American dream of homeownership may have peaked around 2000. Much of the U.S. population is still in a struggle with high debt and stagnant income. And job security may not return to pre-recession levels for a number of years. Even if the reasons to own a home return with rising prices, the ability to buy one may not.
From AOL Real Estate: Share ranges from 53% to 73%
October 18, 2011
By Inman News
The dream of owning a home has become increasingly unattainable for many Americans, and the situation is not likely to improve soon, as the collapse of the housing market and the recession continue to take their toll.
That is the disturbing conclusion to be drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau's newly released report, "Housing Characteristics: 2010," an overview of the national home market at the end of the last decade.
One of the highlights of the report is a list of the states that have the highest and lowest percentage of homes occupied by their owners.
A review of the data by 24/7 Wall St., which offers analysis and insight for equity investors, found that homeownership rates were high in thinly populated states and those with low home prices, while homeownership was low in states with expensive homes and large cities.
5 states with highest homeownership rates
1. West Virginia
2. Minnesota
3. Michigan
4. Iowa
5. Delaware
5 states with lowest homeownership rates
1. New York
2. California
3. Hawaii
4. Nevada
5. Rhode Island
The swing between the states with the highest and lowest homeownership is extraordinary. Just over 53 percent of the people in New York state own homes. At the other end of the spectrum is West Virginia, with a homeownership rate above 73 percent. In addition to New York City, New York state includes the relatively large cities of Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse and Albany. In West Virginia, by contrast, the two largest cities -- Charleston and Huntington -- are barely cities at all.
Together, they have just over 100,000 people in a state with 1.9 million residents. For this article, 24/7 Wall St. has primarily considered cities' metropolitan areas, which are cities and their adjacent communities that, according to the Census Bureau, "have a high degree of economic and social integration" with the cities.
According to the report, in the last decade, homeownership in the U.S. dropped the most since 1940. The postwar housing boom lasted for over half a century as increased construction and liberal lending practices made homes affordable to a large majority of Americans.
Subprime mortgages stretched that ease of availability to the breaking point. When the market collapsed, so did the ability of many Americans to own homes because of tighter lending practices and fears that the market still has much further to fall.
The pattern of homeownership will probably not change much in the years ahead. People in large cities have opportunities to rent not available in suburban and rural areas. Home prices are low in states where the number of people per square mile is low. There is little supply in these states, but their populations are not large enough to create excessive demand.
The American dream of homeownership may have peaked around 2000. Much of the U.S. population is still in a struggle with high debt and stagnant income. And job security may not return to pre-recession levels for a number of years. Even if the reasons to own a home return with rising prices, the ability to buy one may not.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Top 10 U.S. areas with rising real estate prices
West Virginia leads list with 8.6% year-over-year growth in August
By Inman News, Friday, October 7, 2011.
Home prices increased in 12 states and Washington, D.C., on a year-over-year basis in August, according to a home-price report released this week by property data firm CoreLogic.
West Virginia led all states with an 8.6 percent rise in home prices, followed by Wyoming at 3.6 percent, and North Dakota at 3.5 percent. The CoreLogic Home Price Index tracks price changes in repeat sales of homes.
CoreLogic August Home Price Index (year-over-year change)
State/district All single-family Excluding distressed sales
West Virginia 8.6% 10.7%
Wyoming 3.6% 2.4%
North Dakota 3.5% 4.2%
New York 3.2% 3.6%
Alaska 2.2% 3.1%
South Dakota 1.5% 0.6%
Washington, D.C.1.3% 1%
Nebraska 1.1% 1.1%
Kansas 1% 3.7%
Indiana 0.8% 2.2%
By Inman News, Friday, October 7, 2011.
Home prices increased in 12 states and Washington, D.C., on a year-over-year basis in August, according to a home-price report released this week by property data firm CoreLogic.
West Virginia led all states with an 8.6 percent rise in home prices, followed by Wyoming at 3.6 percent, and North Dakota at 3.5 percent. The CoreLogic Home Price Index tracks price changes in repeat sales of homes.
CoreLogic August Home Price Index (year-over-year change)
State/district All single-family Excluding distressed sales
West Virginia 8.6% 10.7%
Wyoming 3.6% 2.4%
North Dakota 3.5% 4.2%
New York 3.2% 3.6%
Alaska 2.2% 3.1%
South Dakota 1.5% 0.6%
Washington, D.C.1.3% 1%
Nebraska 1.1% 1.1%
Kansas 1% 3.7%
Indiana 0.8% 2.2%
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Liberty’s Malone is largest U.S. landowner
Denver Post
10.11.2011
Media magnate John Malone tops the The Land Report’s annual list of America’s largest landowners, bumping CNN founder Ted Turner into the No. 2 position.
Malone, chairman of Douglas County-based Liberty Media, ousted Turner when he purchased more than 1 million acres of timberland in Maine and New Hampshire earlier this year, giving him holdings totaling 2.2 million acres.
Turner owns more than 2 million acres, according to the 2011 Land Report 100. He had been the largest individual landowner since the 1990s, the magazine’s editors said.
The 2011 Land Report 100, presented by Fay Ranches, is an annual survey of the largest private U.S. landowners. It excludes any leased and/or public lands and focuses on deeded acreage owned by individuals, families, family-owned companies and family-controlled foundations.
10.11.2011
Media magnate John Malone tops the The Land Report’s annual list of America’s largest landowners, bumping CNN founder Ted Turner into the No. 2 position.
Malone, chairman of Douglas County-based Liberty Media, ousted Turner when he purchased more than 1 million acres of timberland in Maine and New Hampshire earlier this year, giving him holdings totaling 2.2 million acres.
Turner owns more than 2 million acres, according to the 2011 Land Report 100. He had been the largest individual landowner since the 1990s, the magazine’s editors said.
The 2011 Land Report 100, presented by Fay Ranches, is an annual survey of the largest private U.S. landowners. It excludes any leased and/or public lands and focuses on deeded acreage owned by individuals, families, family-owned companies and family-controlled foundations.
Monday, October 3, 2011
10 Most Walkable Cities of 2011
another interesting article....
10 Most Walkable Cities of 2011
www.thestreet.com
By Jason Notte
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Living within a quick drive of work, the store, school or public transportation is nice, but only having all of those items a few blocks away makes your neighborhood "walkable."
The people behind Walk Score, a Seattle-based service that rates the convenience and transit access of 10,000 neighborhoods in 2,500 cities, have spent the past four years judging the distance between residents and amenities and ranking places based on the results. That "walkability" led to the first set of rankings in 2008 and the use of those rankings by more than 10,000 cities, civic organizations and real estate groups in the years that followed.
It also helped increase emphasis on the elements that make a city walkable. Walk Score's ideal neighborhoods have either a main street or public space at the center, enough people to keep public transit running frequently and a good mix of housing and businesses. Parks and other public spaces make up a large part of the equation, as do amenities designed around pedestrians, nearby schools and workplaces and "complete streets" designed for pedestrians, cyclists and transit. Children don't shoot hoops in cul de sacs in walkable cities.
"Very often, you'll see a good pedestrian design with sidewalks and crosswalks that make a city more accessible and walkable," says Josh Herst, chief executive of Walk Score. "Even in cities that on the whole aren't that walkable, there are neighborhoods that are great places to walk."
It's an idea that's already caught on in U.S. cities, where public transportation systems have grown from little more than 1,000 in 1980 to 7,700 in 2009, when the American Public Transportation Association public transit advocacy group last took stock. From 1995 to 2008, the APTA says public transportation ridership increased by 38% as the highways system grew 21% and the U.S. population 14% during the same period. Even Walk Score had to catch up and didn't start tracking the proximity and value of transit service in more than 120 cities with its Transit Score system until August.
"In quite a few cities for quite a few reasons, including a desire to promote sustainability and public health and a number of economic benefits, we've seen interest in walkability continue to grow," Herst says. "We know that some communities are looking at Transit Score and doing some what-if analysis like 'If you added light rail service down this corridor, how much would that change the transit score for how many people?'"
The convenience is lovely, but U.S. homebuyers are going to need the pot sweetened a bit more if they're going to be convinced to give up cars and yard space for noise and density. A CEOs For Cities study based on Walk Score data insists that a walkable neighborhood adds an average $3,000 to a home's selling price. The APTA raises the stakes by noting that households more likely to use public transportation save more than $8,400, while households that use public transportation and live with one less car save an average of $9,000 annually.
If bribery doesn't work, threats just might. University of British Columbia professor Lawrence Frank found that residents of walkable neighborhoods tend to be at least seven pounds lighter than their counterparts in more sprawling areas.
For a glimpse of what life is like in walkable America, TheStreet offers a look at Walk Score's Top 10 most walkable cities of 2011 and the amenity-packed neighborhoods that made the difference:
10. Oakland, CA
9. Minneapolis, MN
8. Miami, FL
7. Washington, D.C.
6. Seattle, WA
5. Philadelphia, PA
4. Chicago, IL
3. Boston, MA
2. San Francisco, CA
1. New York, NY
10 Most Walkable Cities of 2011
www.thestreet.com
By Jason Notte
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Living within a quick drive of work, the store, school or public transportation is nice, but only having all of those items a few blocks away makes your neighborhood "walkable."
The people behind Walk Score, a Seattle-based service that rates the convenience and transit access of 10,000 neighborhoods in 2,500 cities, have spent the past four years judging the distance between residents and amenities and ranking places based on the results. That "walkability" led to the first set of rankings in 2008 and the use of those rankings by more than 10,000 cities, civic organizations and real estate groups in the years that followed.
It also helped increase emphasis on the elements that make a city walkable. Walk Score's ideal neighborhoods have either a main street or public space at the center, enough people to keep public transit running frequently and a good mix of housing and businesses. Parks and other public spaces make up a large part of the equation, as do amenities designed around pedestrians, nearby schools and workplaces and "complete streets" designed for pedestrians, cyclists and transit. Children don't shoot hoops in cul de sacs in walkable cities.
"Very often, you'll see a good pedestrian design with sidewalks and crosswalks that make a city more accessible and walkable," says Josh Herst, chief executive of Walk Score. "Even in cities that on the whole aren't that walkable, there are neighborhoods that are great places to walk."
It's an idea that's already caught on in U.S. cities, where public transportation systems have grown from little more than 1,000 in 1980 to 7,700 in 2009, when the American Public Transportation Association public transit advocacy group last took stock. From 1995 to 2008, the APTA says public transportation ridership increased by 38% as the highways system grew 21% and the U.S. population 14% during the same period. Even Walk Score had to catch up and didn't start tracking the proximity and value of transit service in more than 120 cities with its Transit Score system until August.
"In quite a few cities for quite a few reasons, including a desire to promote sustainability and public health and a number of economic benefits, we've seen interest in walkability continue to grow," Herst says. "We know that some communities are looking at Transit Score and doing some what-if analysis like 'If you added light rail service down this corridor, how much would that change the transit score for how many people?'"
The convenience is lovely, but U.S. homebuyers are going to need the pot sweetened a bit more if they're going to be convinced to give up cars and yard space for noise and density. A CEOs For Cities study based on Walk Score data insists that a walkable neighborhood adds an average $3,000 to a home's selling price. The APTA raises the stakes by noting that households more likely to use public transportation save more than $8,400, while households that use public transportation and live with one less car save an average of $9,000 annually.
If bribery doesn't work, threats just might. University of British Columbia professor Lawrence Frank found that residents of walkable neighborhoods tend to be at least seven pounds lighter than their counterparts in more sprawling areas.
For a glimpse of what life is like in walkable America, TheStreet offers a look at Walk Score's Top 10 most walkable cities of 2011 and the amenity-packed neighborhoods that made the difference:
10. Oakland, CA
9. Minneapolis, MN
8. Miami, FL
7. Washington, D.C.
6. Seattle, WA
5. Philadelphia, PA
4. Chicago, IL
3. Boston, MA
2. San Francisco, CA
1. New York, NY
Where to Live Like the Wealthy Do for Less
Interesting article...
Where to Live Like the Wealthy Do for Less
By Jason Notte, The Street
September 29, 2011
Real estate's Champagne wishes and caviar dreams are waking to a stingy, jobless reality of metropolitan moochers posing as the wealthy.
The U.S. is at 9.2% unemployment and conspicuous housing consumption is constricted by tightening loan requirements, while the average home has fallen 4.6% in price from a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors. In neighborhoods where housing prices have remained high, properties are increasingly out of reach.
"Even with recent economic softness, this is a disappointing performance with home sales being held back by overly restrictive loan underwriting standards," says Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors. "There's been a pendulum swing from very loose standards, which led to the housing boom, to unnecessarily restrictive practices as an overreaction to the housing correction."
But why break your back paying close to seven figures for a closet in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the U.S. when there's cheaper property nearby? The zip code's cache is nice and all, but even television and Hollywood helped America realize that Alan Arkin's family in Slums of Beverly Hills could get by on the fringes and that Gabrielle Carteris' Andrea Zuckerman character didn't have to be born or have parents in Beverly Hills: 90210 to get into fictional West Beverly High School.
TheStreet took a look at five of the tonier neighborhoods in America and found five more on the outskirts that gave residents deep discounts while dropping them directly adjacent to all the stores, restaurants, theaters, museums, parks and other amenities that command premium prices from the rich neighbors:
Wealthy: New York's Upper West Side
Cheaper: Inwood
Manhattan's Inwood is an alternative to the Upper West Side.
Photo: flickr | danakosko
Want to grab a morning bagel with Harvey Keitel at Barney Greengrass, catch the Akira Kurosawa retrospective at Symphony Space, grab some cheese and a baguette at Zabar's and head over to Central Park for the summer concert series? There are two vastly different ways for homebuyers to approach this.
The first is to actually live on the Upper West Side and pay the median $933,400 that Zillow says neighborhood residents are shelling out for their homes. The other is to look just a few clicks up the Hudson in Inwood, which offers Riverside Drive-quality views of the Hudson and the palisades, tree-lined streets and well-kept homes on the neighborhood's west side and stops along the A and 1 subway lines that take residents to any Upper West Side stop within minutes.
While Inwood residents aren't exactly a skip away from the Columbus Avenue Shake Shack or the fossil room at the American Museum of Natural History, they're paying an average of only $356,000 to be pretty darn close without having to cross a river or live in another city. Inwood may as well be called "Where?" during dinner-party discussions, but its proximity to the best of the West Side and the small-town look of some of its blocks despite being situated squarely in Manhattan make it a place worth knowing.
Wealthy: San Francisco's Presidio Heights
Cheaper: Western Addition
San Francisco's Western addition is an affordable neighborhood.
Photo: flickr | permanently scatterbrained
So you've heard all about San Francisco and would love a place near a lot of parkland with a really great view of the water and Golden Gate Bridge? OK, that'll be $2.8 million, please.
Presidio Heights and "cheap" almost never appear in the same sentence. With a plot adjacent to the sprawling Presidio of San Francisco National Park and the former military installation's fields, historic architecture and views, Presidio Heights is easily the most expensive neighborhood in the city.
The adjacent Marina and Pacific Heights neighborhoods are similarly sought after and sport $1.16 million and $1.05 million median home prices, respectively. There is, however, a neighborhood south of California Street and east of Presidio Avenue that lets its residents live close by for roughly 20% of the cost.
Western Addition is home to two of the city's hospitals, the city's University of California campus, Japantown, the Fillmore district and a number of parks, but is just five blocks away from the Presidio at its closest point and even closer to Presidio and Laurel heights' shops, restaurants, specialty grocers and coffee bars along Sacramento and California streets.
That's if homeowners want them. Western Addition's jazz clubs, farmers markets, Fillmore Auditorium and restaurants like Yoshi's do just fine for themselves without bankrupting the surrounding gentry. This all still needs a bit of perspective, as Western Addition's $576,700 median price tag on homes is on the lower end of San Francisco's offerings, but would easily make it the most expensive neighborhood in Chicago.
Wealthy: Chicago's North Center/Lake View
Cheaper: Albany Park
Chicago's Albany Park appeals to some who like North Center.
Photo: flickr | Zol87
When you live in either of these Chicago neighborhoods, gentrification isn't something that's happening, but what the guy who owned your condo two owners ago heard he was responsible for just before shrugging it off and heading out for post-game beers at the L&L Tavern.
Lake View and its Wrigleyville and Boystown neighborhoods are among some of the most sought-after in the city, especially for those who like the idea of living in a doorman building on North Lakeshore, catching the Brown, Red or Purple lines to work, making a dinner comprising items purchased at Whole Foods and then heading out for a show at Metro, a game at Wrigley or a few drinks on Lakeview or North Clark. They're paying a median of $300,000 to do so, which is considerable in a town where the high-end median is $446,000 for properties on West DePaul.
The same can be said for nearby North Center, which hikes up the premium to $346,000 while adding bars, restaurants, bowling alleys and movie theaters while subtracting the lake and the Wrigley Field-adjacent nightlife. Is there any way to take part without paying some of the highest buy-in prices in the city?
The answer's found a few paces west in Albany Park, where a neighborhood dotted with green space like Ravenswood Manor Park and Ronan Park right on the river also has three brown-line stations just a few stops away from both North Center, Lake View and even Wrigleyville, where the Southport stop provides Albany Park residents a more favorable ride home than what their more monied neighbors are taking when they jam the red line's Addison station after the ninth inning.
Albany Park does just fine on its own, too, as Koreatown's restaurants, the mix of hookah and dart bars at West Lawrence Avenue and North Pulaski Road and the proliferation of bicycle, gadget, tobacco and other shops scattered throughout the neighborhood give the place the type of character that doesn't come one mixed-use residential development at a time. For all this, homebuyers pay about $189,000 on average, which is less than more remote but well-tread gems like the artistically inclined Pilsen neighborhood ($199,000) and little more than still-developing neighborhoods like Humbolt Park ($174,100).
Wealthy: Beverly Hills, Calif.
Cheaper: Hollywood
Hollywood is more affordable than nearby Beverly Hills, Ca.
Photo: flickr | letizia barbi
There was a time when they would let any hillbilly with poor marksmanship, a pickup truck piled high with personal belongings and a little oil money into Beverly Hills with a smile. Now anything less than the $1.9 million median home price wouldn't even secure you a parking spot.
Perhaps there's the stray "dingbat" apartment here or there, but the overwhelming majority of Beverly Hills and the area surrounding have prices that have been star-quality for a good, long time. Beverly Hills is ringed by the Hollywood Hills ($971,200 median home price), Bel Air ($1.74 million), Westwood ($655,700), Century City ($642,600), West Los Angeles ($760,300), Pico-Robertson ($667,600) and Mid-City West ($800,500) neighborhoods, which are all well above the city's $375,900 median.
The only neighborhood directly adjacent to Beverly Hills that even remotely meets that city's median is Hollywood, where a $417,200 price tag has led to increasing gentrification in West Hollywood and throughout the rest of the neighborhood in general. High-end restaurants, coffee shops and bars are open, celebrities and paparazzi are back and home prices were on the rise until the recent dip in the housing market. The lingering memories of drug dealers and 24-hour pizza places may buy a homebuyer some time in snatching up some rich-folk-adjacent property here, but considering it's the one piece of the Beverly Hills ring that isn't ridiculously high-priced as of yet, Hollywood's rebound shouldn't be bogged down much longer.
Wealthy: Aspen, Colo.
Cheaper: Basalt
Basalt, CO is as outdoorsy as pricier Aspen.
Photo: flickr | twred
It's a little early to be thinking about ski season, but not if your options are plunking down a median $1.99 million for a place or spending a quarter of that to take a one- to two-hour drive at the height of winter.
Aspen and neighboring Snowmass really want skiers to commit when considering property in either area. That $1.99 million isn't great, but it's a deep discount in Aspen after the housing crisis and recession knocked the frosty wind out of home sales and continued to send prices downhill well afterward. The median cost of a home in Aspen was 25% more at this time last year.
It's a similar story in Snowmass, where the $1.25 million median is almost 22% less than it was in summer 2010. Homebuyers can bet against a comeback and wait for prices to plummet to the six-figure mark, but that kind of self-destructive cynicism isn't necessary when there's already a more budget-friendly option down the road.
Basalt, Colo., isn't exactly bargain basement with its $575,000 median home price, but has more to offer than Aspen and Snowmass. Basalt's roughly 27 minutes from the slopes at Aspen and six minutes from Snowmass, but its position on the Frying Pan River and Ruedi Reservior make it a great trout-fishing and boating spot as well. If so inclined, a homeowner can take some of that savings, invest in a decent mountain bike and spend the summer pedaling through Roaring Fork Valley. It's in the middle of the action without being amid the throngs of tourists, which in itself justifies the commute.
Where to Live Like the Wealthy Do for Less
By Jason Notte, The Street
September 29, 2011
Real estate's Champagne wishes and caviar dreams are waking to a stingy, jobless reality of metropolitan moochers posing as the wealthy.
The U.S. is at 9.2% unemployment and conspicuous housing consumption is constricted by tightening loan requirements, while the average home has fallen 4.6% in price from a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors. In neighborhoods where housing prices have remained high, properties are increasingly out of reach.
"Even with recent economic softness, this is a disappointing performance with home sales being held back by overly restrictive loan underwriting standards," says Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors. "There's been a pendulum swing from very loose standards, which led to the housing boom, to unnecessarily restrictive practices as an overreaction to the housing correction."
But why break your back paying close to seven figures for a closet in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the U.S. when there's cheaper property nearby? The zip code's cache is nice and all, but even television and Hollywood helped America realize that Alan Arkin's family in Slums of Beverly Hills could get by on the fringes and that Gabrielle Carteris' Andrea Zuckerman character didn't have to be born or have parents in Beverly Hills: 90210 to get into fictional West Beverly High School.
TheStreet took a look at five of the tonier neighborhoods in America and found five more on the outskirts that gave residents deep discounts while dropping them directly adjacent to all the stores, restaurants, theaters, museums, parks and other amenities that command premium prices from the rich neighbors:
Wealthy: New York's Upper West Side
Cheaper: Inwood
Manhattan's Inwood is an alternative to the Upper West Side.
Photo: flickr | danakosko
Want to grab a morning bagel with Harvey Keitel at Barney Greengrass, catch the Akira Kurosawa retrospective at Symphony Space, grab some cheese and a baguette at Zabar's and head over to Central Park for the summer concert series? There are two vastly different ways for homebuyers to approach this.
The first is to actually live on the Upper West Side and pay the median $933,400 that Zillow says neighborhood residents are shelling out for their homes. The other is to look just a few clicks up the Hudson in Inwood, which offers Riverside Drive-quality views of the Hudson and the palisades, tree-lined streets and well-kept homes on the neighborhood's west side and stops along the A and 1 subway lines that take residents to any Upper West Side stop within minutes.
While Inwood residents aren't exactly a skip away from the Columbus Avenue Shake Shack or the fossil room at the American Museum of Natural History, they're paying an average of only $356,000 to be pretty darn close without having to cross a river or live in another city. Inwood may as well be called "Where?" during dinner-party discussions, but its proximity to the best of the West Side and the small-town look of some of its blocks despite being situated squarely in Manhattan make it a place worth knowing.
Wealthy: San Francisco's Presidio Heights
Cheaper: Western Addition
San Francisco's Western addition is an affordable neighborhood.
Photo: flickr | permanently scatterbrained
So you've heard all about San Francisco and would love a place near a lot of parkland with a really great view of the water and Golden Gate Bridge? OK, that'll be $2.8 million, please.
Presidio Heights and "cheap" almost never appear in the same sentence. With a plot adjacent to the sprawling Presidio of San Francisco National Park and the former military installation's fields, historic architecture and views, Presidio Heights is easily the most expensive neighborhood in the city.
The adjacent Marina and Pacific Heights neighborhoods are similarly sought after and sport $1.16 million and $1.05 million median home prices, respectively. There is, however, a neighborhood south of California Street and east of Presidio Avenue that lets its residents live close by for roughly 20% of the cost.
Western Addition is home to two of the city's hospitals, the city's University of California campus, Japantown, the Fillmore district and a number of parks, but is just five blocks away from the Presidio at its closest point and even closer to Presidio and Laurel heights' shops, restaurants, specialty grocers and coffee bars along Sacramento and California streets.
That's if homeowners want them. Western Addition's jazz clubs, farmers markets, Fillmore Auditorium and restaurants like Yoshi's do just fine for themselves without bankrupting the surrounding gentry. This all still needs a bit of perspective, as Western Addition's $576,700 median price tag on homes is on the lower end of San Francisco's offerings, but would easily make it the most expensive neighborhood in Chicago.
Wealthy: Chicago's North Center/Lake View
Cheaper: Albany Park
Chicago's Albany Park appeals to some who like North Center.
Photo: flickr | Zol87
When you live in either of these Chicago neighborhoods, gentrification isn't something that's happening, but what the guy who owned your condo two owners ago heard he was responsible for just before shrugging it off and heading out for post-game beers at the L&L Tavern.
Lake View and its Wrigleyville and Boystown neighborhoods are among some of the most sought-after in the city, especially for those who like the idea of living in a doorman building on North Lakeshore, catching the Brown, Red or Purple lines to work, making a dinner comprising items purchased at Whole Foods and then heading out for a show at Metro, a game at Wrigley or a few drinks on Lakeview or North Clark. They're paying a median of $300,000 to do so, which is considerable in a town where the high-end median is $446,000 for properties on West DePaul.
The same can be said for nearby North Center, which hikes up the premium to $346,000 while adding bars, restaurants, bowling alleys and movie theaters while subtracting the lake and the Wrigley Field-adjacent nightlife. Is there any way to take part without paying some of the highest buy-in prices in the city?
The answer's found a few paces west in Albany Park, where a neighborhood dotted with green space like Ravenswood Manor Park and Ronan Park right on the river also has three brown-line stations just a few stops away from both North Center, Lake View and even Wrigleyville, where the Southport stop provides Albany Park residents a more favorable ride home than what their more monied neighbors are taking when they jam the red line's Addison station after the ninth inning.
Albany Park does just fine on its own, too, as Koreatown's restaurants, the mix of hookah and dart bars at West Lawrence Avenue and North Pulaski Road and the proliferation of bicycle, gadget, tobacco and other shops scattered throughout the neighborhood give the place the type of character that doesn't come one mixed-use residential development at a time. For all this, homebuyers pay about $189,000 on average, which is less than more remote but well-tread gems like the artistically inclined Pilsen neighborhood ($199,000) and little more than still-developing neighborhoods like Humbolt Park ($174,100).
Wealthy: Beverly Hills, Calif.
Cheaper: Hollywood
Hollywood is more affordable than nearby Beverly Hills, Ca.
Photo: flickr | letizia barbi
There was a time when they would let any hillbilly with poor marksmanship, a pickup truck piled high with personal belongings and a little oil money into Beverly Hills with a smile. Now anything less than the $1.9 million median home price wouldn't even secure you a parking spot.
Perhaps there's the stray "dingbat" apartment here or there, but the overwhelming majority of Beverly Hills and the area surrounding have prices that have been star-quality for a good, long time. Beverly Hills is ringed by the Hollywood Hills ($971,200 median home price), Bel Air ($1.74 million), Westwood ($655,700), Century City ($642,600), West Los Angeles ($760,300), Pico-Robertson ($667,600) and Mid-City West ($800,500) neighborhoods, which are all well above the city's $375,900 median.
The only neighborhood directly adjacent to Beverly Hills that even remotely meets that city's median is Hollywood, where a $417,200 price tag has led to increasing gentrification in West Hollywood and throughout the rest of the neighborhood in general. High-end restaurants, coffee shops and bars are open, celebrities and paparazzi are back and home prices were on the rise until the recent dip in the housing market. The lingering memories of drug dealers and 24-hour pizza places may buy a homebuyer some time in snatching up some rich-folk-adjacent property here, but considering it's the one piece of the Beverly Hills ring that isn't ridiculously high-priced as of yet, Hollywood's rebound shouldn't be bogged down much longer.
Wealthy: Aspen, Colo.
Cheaper: Basalt
Basalt, CO is as outdoorsy as pricier Aspen.
Photo: flickr | twred
It's a little early to be thinking about ski season, but not if your options are plunking down a median $1.99 million for a place or spending a quarter of that to take a one- to two-hour drive at the height of winter.
Aspen and neighboring Snowmass really want skiers to commit when considering property in either area. That $1.99 million isn't great, but it's a deep discount in Aspen after the housing crisis and recession knocked the frosty wind out of home sales and continued to send prices downhill well afterward. The median cost of a home in Aspen was 25% more at this time last year.
It's a similar story in Snowmass, where the $1.25 million median is almost 22% less than it was in summer 2010. Homebuyers can bet against a comeback and wait for prices to plummet to the six-figure mark, but that kind of self-destructive cynicism isn't necessary when there's already a more budget-friendly option down the road.
Basalt, Colo., isn't exactly bargain basement with its $575,000 median home price, but has more to offer than Aspen and Snowmass. Basalt's roughly 27 minutes from the slopes at Aspen and six minutes from Snowmass, but its position on the Frying Pan River and Ruedi Reservior make it a great trout-fishing and boating spot as well. If so inclined, a homeowner can take some of that savings, invest in a decent mountain bike and spend the summer pedaling through Roaring Fork Valley. It's in the middle of the action without being amid the throngs of tourists, which in itself justifies the commute.
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