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Wave of 10 Eichler Homes for Sale Makes a Splash in San Francisco Bay Area

realtor.com

Midcentury modern lovers, take note. At least 10 Eichler homes are on the market right this minute.

For those not in the know, Joseph Eichler was a remarkably influential post-World War II housing developer who built affordable subdivisions of tract homes, mainly in the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California, although a handful show up in far-flung locations like New York.

From 1949 through the early 1970s, about 11,000 Eichler homes popped up in the Bay Area, in places like Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, and San Rafael. The now-notable designs by the architects Anshen & Allen, Claude Oakland, and A. Quincy Jones have come to be known as Eichlers.

Their signature elements, such as A-frame roofs, indoor atriums, walls of glass leading outside, and open floor plans, have developed a serious cult following.

The designs continue to resonate with home buyers—at least with those willing to spend millions on what are now decades-old homes. Some have been lovingly preserved by their original owners, and others have received a total makeover.

According to one Eichler specialist, Kevin Swartz, the founder of Atria Real Estate, the latest batch to land on the market in the South Bay are being sold by families looking for larger homes—or fleeing the Bay Area entirely.

“There have been more nicely and newly updated Eichler homes listed in 2021 compared to previous years,” he says.

“With fewer retirees selling, we aren’t seeing as many in original condition or with outdated remodels done in the ’80s and ’90’s,” he adds. “Instead, homeowners who are selling right now are ones that purchased their homes within the past five to 10 years that have undergone extensive remodeling in alignment with today’s popular design trends, making them more desirable to buyers.”

Swartz says these homes have often been featured in magazines and social media, which has increased their visibility.That visibility is readily apparent, according to another agent we spoke with.

“I just received four offers on my original Eichler listing on Kenneth [Drive],” says Monique Lombardelli, a broker and CEO of Modern Homes Realty.

The Palo Alto listing she’s referring to is a $2.4 million, three-bedroom home that’s been on the market for three days—and can be seen below.

“These original Eichlers are hidden gems,” she adds, “and my absolute favorite to represent.”

For those who want to take a peek inside these iconic homes, we’ve rounded them up below. Let’s have a look.

682 W. Remington Dr, Sunnyvale, CA

Price: $1,998,000 Eichler upside: Built in 1959, this classic atrium model features a central courtyard and high-beamed ceilings. Its highlight is an updated kitchen with quartz counters and a breakfast bar.

With four bedrooms, the layout includes a primary suite with a walk-in closet. Walls of glass along the front and back bring the outdoors in.

Outside, the home has low-maintenance, mature planting in a garden and back patio. The location is close to Las Palmas Park, as well as downtown Sunnyvale, an easy commute to Apple, Google, and LinkedIn.

Sunnyvale, CA

realtor.com

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770 Las Colindas Rd, San Rafael, CA

Price: $1,325,000 Eichler upside: This three-bedroom home from 1955 has been “beautifully updated” in the spirit of its original design. The remodeled galley kitchen includes custom cabinets and top-of-the-line appliances.

A light-filled, open living and dining area gives onto a landscaped patio, making the outdoor views feel like an integral part of the home.  The master suite also opens outside and has views of the surrounding hills.

Both bathrooms have been updated, and the outdoor space allows for both front, rear, and side yards, all of which offer multiple areas to entertain.

San Rafael, CA

realtor.com

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5877 Highwood Rd, Castro Valley, CA

Price: $1,350,000 Eichler upside: The double-A design by the architect  A. Quincy Jones, built in 1963, is billed as one of the most popular of all Eichler models.

This five-bedroom example in the East Bay build comes with a versatile floor plan, situated around an open-air atrium and great room.

The bedrooms could be configured as office space, gym, or guest rooms. Amenities include double-pane windows, multiple skylights, and a wood-burning fireplace. The flooring’s been updated, and there’s fresh exterior and interior paint.

Castro Valley, CA

realtor.com

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2163 Danberry Ln, San Rafael, CA

Price: $1,478,000 Eichler upside: This four-bedroom from 1957 has been completely redone inside, to reflect a more up-to-date look.

The kitchen boasts an oversized island with stone counters, an induction cooktop, stainless-steel appliances, and recessed lighting. The bathrooms have been redone, but reflect the home’s original aesthetic.

New finishes include Bali solar shades, luxury plank flooring in a light color, and recessed lighting. New paint, a new roof, and updated electrical help to make this old home feel new.

San Rafael, CA

realtor.com

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3339 Kenneth Dr, Palo Alto, CA

Price: $2,400,000 (pending sale) Eichler upside: Original features of this three-bedroom Eichler include a beamed ceiling, floor-to-ceiling glass, and mahogany walls in the main living area and bedrooms. The open kitchen with white counters looks out to the family room, which includes original cabinetry.

The home accesses the wraparound yard and Zen garden from the living room, family room, and primary bedroom. All the elements added up to multiple offers, and the home is now in pending sale status, just days after hitting the market.

Palo Alto, CA

realtor.com

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3895 Mumford Pl, Palo Alto, CA

Price: $2,848,000 Eichler upside: Newly renovated, this three-bedroom home from 1954 comes with classic Eichler features: beamed ceilings, globe pendants, and floor-to-ceiling windows.

The kitchen has been updated and now features top-quality appliances and quartz counters.

The bathroom has custom shower glass and LED lighting. Radiant heat warms the new, engineered wood and tile floors. The outdoor space includes a covered patio with space for dining, a large lawn, and pool.

Palo Alto, CA

realtor.com

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9 Mount Darwin Ct, San Rafael, CA

Price: $1,695,000 Eichler upside:Billed as turnkey, this four-bedroom atrium-style floor plan with an open-air courtyard opens onto a high-ceilinged living and dining room.

Walls of glass look out to the private backyard with a large lawn. A chef’s kitchen features an eat-in bar, walk-in pantry, and opens to the family room and breakfast nook. 

The primary bedroom comes with an en suite bath, walk-in closet, and large shower. Along with two more bedrooms that share a bathroom, a fourth opens to the atrium and could work as an office.

The attached two-car garage has room for storage and could also be used as a workshop. The serene outdoor space includes a built-in barbecue, fridge, fireplace, and lawn.

San Rafael, CA

realtor.com

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856 Thornwood Dr, Palo Alto, CA

Price: $2,298,000 Eichler upside: This is an Eichler fixer-upper opportunity. This four-bedroom classic is in dire need of a renovation. For those who want a challenge, it offers a chance to restore this midcentury space to its original condition.

The elements are all there: floor-to-ceiling windows, open living spaces, and beamed ceilings. In addition, the kitchen features brightly colored cabinets, and the backyard includes a patio and lawn.

However, a buyer could tear it down and build anew, the listing notes. Say it isn’t so! We hope that this gem in need of some TLC is picked up by an Eichler fan willing to restore it. 

Palo Alto, CA

realtor.com

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1171 Plum Ave, Sunnyvale, CA

Price: $2,248,000 Eichler upside: This updated, 1,643-square-foot abode offers four bedrooms and an indoor-outdoor floor plan.

Original details include a pitched roofline, open beam ceilings, and floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room. The interior has been freshly painted, and a remodeled kitchen features quartz counters, new cabinets, and high-end appliances.

The large primary bedroom, with updated bathroom, comes with a sliding glass door that opens outside. An inviting backyard features a pool, grassy area, covered patio, and mature fruit trees.

Sunnyvale, CA

realtor.com

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784 Pear Ave, Sunnyvale, CA

Price: $2,198,000 Eichler upside: This 1,739-square-foot, A-frame design from 1967 features open beam ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows.

A remodel completed in 2017 by Flegel’s Construction, local Eichler specialists, incorporated the needs of a modern family, with a nod to the original design.

The home now has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. It features a primary suite with a private office nook and an en suite bath with shower.

A huge chef’s kitchen has a large island with seating, quartz counters, and a built-in desk. An oversized backyard boasts a pool, large patios, and low-maintenance modern landscaping.

Sunnyvale, CA

realtor.com

  The post Wave of 10 Eichler Homes for Sale Makes a Splash in San Francisco Bay Area appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

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Smaller California Cities Top Our List of the Hottest U.S. Markets for Real Estate

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Golden State real estate has seen ups and downs in recent years, and based on this month’s analysis of data on realtor.com®, it seems to be staging a comeback—but this time, the spotlight is on a different kind of metro.

California’s job opportunities, great weather, and beautiful landscapes used to be enough of a lure for home seekers to balance out prices that were among the highest in the nation. California markets, including San Francisco and San Jose, two of the most expensive markets in the nation, routinely dominated half of realtor.com’s monthly roundup of the hottest markets in real estate. This ranking shows the metro areas where homes move fastest off the market and listings get the most views on our site.

But even before the pandemic, consumers were starting to back away from those stratospheric prices—and when lockdowns and layoffs went into effect, people really began to reorder their priorities, focusing on more affordable markets where you could get more space for the money, and not be too far from a major city where you might find employment.

In February, we saw a resurgence by California markets, which took the top three spots in our monthly ranking, and eight of the top 20. But San Francisco and San Jose, the twin poles of Silicon Valley, were nowhere to be seen on the list. Instead, the top three spots are Vallejo, Yuba City, and Stockton—all up-and-coming markets within commuting distance (if one had to actually commute) of San Francisco or Sacramento, the state capital. And while median home prices in the mid-six figures may look high, they’re a bargain compared with $1 million–plus in San Jose and San Francisco.

Of course, it’s not all about California—11 other states are represented among the top 20 markets. Notably, Austin, TX, jumped 92 spots compared with its position for this month last year, in spite of the severe winter weather it experienced in February.

The hot list

Metro Hotness Rank

Median Listing Price

Vallejo, CA 1 $510,000 Yuba City, CA 2 $450,000 Stockton, CA 3 $487,000 Burlington, NC 4 $275,000 Concord, NH 5 $371,000 Springfield, OH 6 $154,000 Janesville, WI 7 $225,000 Coeur d’Alene, ID 8 $872,000 Colorado Springs, CO 9 $548,000 Spokane, WA 10 $400,000 Santa Cruz, CA 11 $987,000 Ogden, UT 12 $475,000 Sacramento, CA 13 $589,000 Reno, NV 14 $585,000 Austin, TX 15 $494,000 Modesto, CA 16 $470,000 Fresno, CA 17 $365,000 Lafayette, IN 18 $288,000 Manchester, NH 19 $420,000 Oxnard, CA 20 $970,000

The post Smaller California Cities Top Our List of the Hottest U.S. Markets for Real Estate appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

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How the U.S. Housing Market Was Rocked by COVID-19—and Where We Go From Here

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As home buyers already know full well, the residential real estate market has been on a wild tear for the past few years���and the pandemic has pushed things to new, uncharted extremes. Buyers who had been cooped up indoors for months rushed into the market seeking larger homes in suburban and even remote locations. They were spurred on by record-low mortgage interest rates. And what have those masses of would-be buyers found? A fiercely competitive housing market marked by soaring prices and not nearly enough homes to go around.

So now everyone wants to know: What’s going to happen with housing in 2021?

Even as COVID-19 vaccines become more widely available and more homes go up for sale, buyers on a tight budget may not get much of a break this year. Those basement-scraping mortgage rates, which put more expensive properties within reach, are beginning to rise again. And while higher rates are expected to slow the out-of-control, double-digit price growth the nation has experienced over the past year, home prices are predicted to continue rising in most metros—albeit at a slower pace.

“The very nature of the pandemic, through the health implications, social distancing, and need to isolate, has really brought a central focus on the importance of home for most Americans,” says George Ratiu, senior economist at realtor.com®. “In a sense, it has elevated real estate markets as a centerpiece of our lives.”

But this newfound obsession with homes has created severe stress points, Ratiu says. “Even with more sellers coming to market, we are undersupplied on the new homes front significantly.”

Still, there may be hope for some normalization on the horizon. While prices aren’t expected to come tumbling down, experts believe the market will loosen up a bit. As more people are vaccinated and can socialize again, more sellers will feel comfortable listing their homes. And, just maybe, buyers may no longer be pressured to do things that over a year ago would have seemed ludicrous: waiving inspections, agreeing to pay closing costs, and sometimes buying homes across the country via video calls, sight unseen.

Frenzied, take-no-prisoners bidding wars might even quiet down into mere skirmishes.

This could all lead to an increase in home sales. Sales dipped in the early months of the crisis as stay-at-home orders were issued across the nation, but began picking up again in May. From May to July, the number of completed home sales jumped from a little more than 307,000 to nearly 500,000. They dipped in the fall heading into the holidays as buyers paused their searches and whatever inventory was left on the market seemed to shrivel up. As more homes come onto the market, sales will likely rise. But buyers shouldn’t get their hopes up too high.

“The market may provide a few more opportunities toward the end of the year as the vaccine rollout really hits people across the country and the world goes back to normal,” says Ali Wolf, chief economist at building consultancy Zonda. But that doesn’t mean buying a home will be easy. “Scant inventory is definitely here to stay for the spring selling season.”

So let’s take a deeper dive into what led to this unprecedented, fast-moving, thrill-a-minute real estate market—and  how it’s likely to play out this year. Buckle up!

Mortgage rates expected to remain low in 2021

You can’t talk about what’s happening in the housing market without talking about mortgage rates.

In early March 2020, before the rest of the world knew exactly how bad the pandemic would become, the Federal Reserve agreed to cut interest rates in order to stave off an economic disaster. It was the first time the Central Bank had made such a move since the 2008 financial crisis. At the same time, investors became spooked from the uncertainty of a looming global health crisis and, predicting a crash, pulled out of the stock market.

What resulted was the lowest interest rates we’ve ever seen. By July, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage—the most common for new homebuyers—had fallen below 3% for the first time since the 1970s.

“People started running the numbers of how much it costs to rent versus buying a home,” says Zonda’s Wolf. “Low interest rates made buying a home a really viable option for more people.”

With interest rates so low, savvy buyers moved quickly to lock them in. That increase in demand depleted already slim inventory and pushed up prices to new highs.

Rates have since begun to climb, hitting 3.09% for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages in the week ending on Thursday, according to Freddie Mac. They’re expected to continue rising through 2021, eventually hitting at least 3.4% by end of the year, according to the realtor.com economics team. That could price out some buyers as well as slow the double-digit home price growth that has become a hallmark of the pandemic.

“People are beginning to realize that rates are on their way back up and they’re no longer searching for the bottom,” says mortgage broker Rocke Andrews, of Lending Arizona in Tucson, AZ. “It’s created a rush of activity.”

Fewer homes on the market equal way more competition

Before the coronavirus upended the world, the nation was already suffering from a severe housing shortage.

At the beginning of the year, the number of active listings hovered above 1 million. By April that number began to plunge as buyers scooped up whatever inventory there was. Meanwhile, sellers, especially older ones or those with preexisting conditions, were afraid to put their homes on the market and have strangers in their homes during a global pandemic. Last month the number of homes on the market was nearly halved from where it was a year ago—to fewer than 525,000—the lowest level in years.

“Normally we talk about how many homes are on the market in terms of how many months of supply we have,” Wolf says. “Now we’re talking about weeks in some markets.”

The fear of contracting the coronavirus isn’t the only reason sellers have been hesitant to plant “For Sale” signs in their yards. Sellers, of course, are typically buyers, too—and people don’t want to sell their homes until they have another place to live. In a Catch-22, there isn’t enough inventory now for them to find new homes. So, even if they want to sell in order to take advantage of the overheated housing market, they’re often stuck where they are.

Others have refinanced their mortgages to such low rates that they’re choosing to stay put and remodel their way into their dream residences. And some are waiting for prices to hit a peak before listing so they don’t leave even a cent on the table.

But buyers may get some relief soon, as sellers become more comfortable putting their homes on the market. In fact, the number of new homes coming to market has already started to increase in the past couple of months, but still far below where things were a year ago.

The number of new listings coming onto the market fell to nearly 288,000 in February nationwide—a 24% drop compared with February 2020, before the pandemic became a crisis in America.

One grim note: Once the foreclosure moratorium ends, homeowners who haven’t been able to financially rebound from the crisis may be forced to sell their homes. This could also add to the supply of properties on the market.

“That will help alleviate scarcity concerns,” says lender Andrews.

Homebuilders are struggling to keep up with demand

The lack of existing homes was only part of the problem, though. Builders have struggled to ramp up construction on new homes, particularly the most popular single-family models. A lack of available land and skilled construction labor, soaring lumber and materials costs, and cumbersome laws have stood in the way of more new homes coming online to ease the housing crunch.

What buyers wanted also shifted during the pandemic. It became all about extra square footage for home offices, gyms, and schooling areas for the kids—which were all more readily available outside of the big cities.

“Buyers suddenly wanted [to live in areas with] lower population density, lower costs, and markets with lower restrictions,” says Robert Dietz, chief economist of the National Association of Home Builders. “The markets that grew the fastest were medium-sized suburbs.”

In order to keep up with demand, homebuilders began ramping up new construction starting in April and early May. By January, the number of new home starts rose by more than 76%—from an April low of about 1 million to 1.9 million. (A decline in February was mostly due to unexpected snowstorms in the South last month.)

But even that jump wasn’t enough to sustain demand, and new homes have become about $24,000 more expensive thanks to lumber costs skyrocketing nearly 200% due to Canadian tariffs.

Looking ahead, Dietz says the pace of construction of single-family homes may start to cool off, but construction should still expand in 2021 due to continued demand.

“The acceleration we’ve had is not a sustainable pattern, but it will still continue to grow because we simply do not have enough housing in the United States,” Dietz says.

Home prices will continue rising—just not as fast

It doesn’t take an economist to realize that overwhelming demand (helped by record-low mortgage rates) plus a dearth of homes on the market equals skyrocketing prices. Prices had already been rising over the past few years, but by April, things began moving at an accelerated pace.

From February 2020 to February 2021, the median listing price in the United States jumped from $310,000 to $352,500—an increase of almost 14%! While a boon for sellers, that kind of meteoric rise hurt buyers whose incomes weren’t growing at the same pace. Some perspective: The national median family income rose just 4% from 2019 to 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

At the same time, buyers from ultraexpensive cities like New York City and San Francisco who could suddenly work from anywhere with a stable internet connection entered less expensive markets. And you guessed it: That pushed up prices in those markets, too. In some cases, way up.

This phenomenon caused some longstanding local residents to be forced out of their markets where they were hoping to move from renters to homeowners, or looking to trade up their homes—or even downsize.

“This shift does pose a risk to someone born and raised in the area, especially if they don’t have the same salary, or the same wealth built up,” Wolf says. “It’s creating its own version of winners and losers, because of how high these relocation buyers can push prices.”

In the end, sellers will continue to have the upper hand in 2021. Home prices are expected to hit newer highs as demand remains strong and inventory continues to be tight. More inventory hitting the market will also take some of the pressure off, but not a lot.

Not this year, anyway.

The post How the U.S. Housing Market Was Rocked by COVID-19—and Where We Go From Here appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

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Not Too Big, Not Too Small: The Sweet Spot for Luxury Home Sellers

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As Americans reconsider their home-buying priorities amid the pressures of the pandemic and lockdowns, a sweet spot has emerged when it comes to square footage. At the highest end, midsize homes are selling faster than both larger and smaller ones, according to realtor.com.

Last year, homes in the top 1% by price nationwide that measured between 5,000 and 10,000 square feet were on the market for an average of 97 days before selling. Homes measuring between 2,000 and 5,000 square feet, by contrast, took 102 days to sell, and homes larger than 10,000 square feet took 126 days.

This trend has continued in early 2021: Luxury midsize homes take an average of 110 days to sell, while larger ones require 127 days, and smaller ones 113 days.

It seems that there is a sweet spot for selling a luxury property quickly, as buyers are taking a cue from Goldilocks and seeking homes that are not too big and not too small. The data also drive home a point for affluent buyers and developers that even in the luxury market, bigger is not always better when it comes to securing a quick sale.

“The data supports our experience,” said Brett Dickinson of Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty in the San Diego area. “In La Jolla right now, with our 5,000-square foot homes, we can sell one a week. They’re just flying off the market.”

One factor behind this trend is that many luxury buyers are relocating from major cities to suburbs. Having become accustomed to living in apartments, these buyers are seeking more space but can feel daunted by the idea of managing a large house with ample acreage.

“Our buyers are largely coming out of Manhattan, but also the West Coast and London, and they definitely want more elbow room,” said Robin Kencel, a broker at Compass in Connecticut. “But when they’re coming out of 3,000-square-foot apartments in the city, and they’re looking at 9,000-square-foot homes, they don’t know what to do with all that space and land.”

Price point is also a major part of buyers’ calculus as they decide what size home is the right fit for them. In South Florida, buyers are relocating from urban areas like Miami to suburban ones where they can have more space, but they don’t want to go too big.

“We’re seeing demand for midsize homes, at 5,000 to 10,000 square feet, which is also a more approachable price point,” said David Martin, CEO of the Miami-based development firm Terra, which is developing a community of luxury homes in Weston. “Most people don’t see a necessity for 10 bedroom homes right now.”

Sellers of midsize luxury homes—particularly ones that are turnkey—are well-positioned now, and buyers should anticipate competition and bidding wars. But even in this hot market, correct pricing is still critical.

“Whether your home is smaller or larger, it’s definitely an important time to have an experienced Realtor,” said Kim Bancroft of Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty on Long Island. “Even though we have an exodus of buyers, being priced correctly is key, because buyers are price sensitive and very educated as to whether something is properly priced.”

The appeal of midsize homes

The Covid-19 pandemic has sparked a migration from cities to suburbs, with wealthy buyers purchasing primary or vacation properties that offer more space for working, learning and playing at home.

These buyers want more square footage than urban apartments provide, but it seems that for many, there is such a thing as too large.

“There is a sweet spot when it comes to square footage,” Ms. Bancroft said. “People are valuing experience over luxury goods, and putting their money toward homes with land and room for kids to play. But they want a manageable space that is not overwhelming.”

And demand for midsize homes has become so intense in some areas that new buyers are driving up average sales prices substantially.

“We have a lot of buyers [in San Diego] coming from Los Angeles and San Francisco, and they’ve pushed up prices because they get less house for more money where they’re coming from,” Mr. Dickinson said. “Here, we’re 25% cheaper and we have all this space, plus new homes with incredible views, so everyone’s flocking to San Diego.”

Ms. Kencel said she has also seen buyers from the city driving up prices on homes. In the Greenwich area, 70 midsize properties have sold so far this year for an average price of $2 million; during the same time frame last year, 57 midsize homes sold for an average of $1.8 million.

“The story to me is the average price going up, which is a big shift,” she said.

The relative affordability of larger homes is also driving buyers from the West Coast to Las Vegas, where inventory is now especially tight.

“You can sell a 2,000 square foot home in California and buy a 5,000 square foot home here,” said Scott Acton, CEO with Forte Specialty Contractors in Las Vegas. “A big driver of demand now is Baby Boomers retiring, and with their liquidity they can buy the home of their dreams.”

A lighter tax burden is another motivator for buyers moving from high-tax states like New York and California to lower-tax ones like Florida and Nevada.

Property taxes, too, are a significant factor behind the appeal of midsize properties in suburban areas like Connecticut and Long Island.

“Taxes affect buyers even at the luxury end,” Ms. Bancroft said. “On a huge, magnificent home, the taxes can be $90,000 a year, and buyers may be able to afford that but don’t want to pay so much. Midrange homes are more manageable not only from a property and acreage perspective but also from a tax perspective.”

Advice for buyers and sellers of midsize homes

The market is hot for midsize homes, particularly those in turnkey condition on sizable lots, and buyers should anticipate competition.

“All but one of my sales this year have gotten multiple bids, so buyers have to come into the market knowledgeable,” Ms. Kencel said. “Make sure you’ve seen enough with your agent so that you’re ready to bid when you see what you want. The cleaner your bid can be, the better, and if you don’t need financing, that’s great.”

Having a smaller property doesn’t necessarily mean the home will linger long on the market: 2,000 to 5,000 square foot homes are always appealing to entry-level buyers, agents say.

And for homes larger than 10,000 square feet, selling quickly depends on local inventory and pricing.

“In our area, there are not a ton of properties on the market over 10,000 square feet, so as long as the house is in great condition, the seller is still in a strong position,” Mr. Dickinson said. “It’s also very price-driven. If you’re selling a home of that size for $10 million, you’re fine.”

Sellers of homes in that midsize sweet spot can expect plenty of interest, but it’s still important to make sure the property looks pristine for showings, and above all, that it is priced correctly. Today’s luxury buyers are well-informed about the markets they’re purchasing in, and though they may be eager to make lifestyle changes, they are still price-sensitive.

“It’s a hot market, so if your house hasn’t sold, it’s probably not priced correctly,” Ms. Bancroft said. “If you take the advice of an experienced Realtor, do whatever you can visually to enhance the buyer’s experience, and price it correctly, that will translate to actual dollars in your pocket.”

The post Not Too Big, Not Too Small: The Sweet Spot for Luxury Home Sellers appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

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Massive Mansion Built Into Mountainside Is This Week’s Most Popular Home

realtor.com

Outfitted with 30 crystal chandeliers, an $8.4 million Pennsylvania mansion built smack-dab into the hillside of Jericho Mountain dazzled real estate watchers this week.

Clicks for the custom-built home took off once folks saw the elaborate (some might say gaudy!) interiors. Acres of marble and columns everywhere speak to a certain aesthetic.

A large indoor pool with a bright blue fresco looming above is also a choice. At the same time, two enormous walk-in vaults and some subterranean construction lend the palatial, French-inspired estate a bit of a survivalist vibe.

It’ll be interesting to see if a buyer is ready to commit multimillions of dollars to one seller’s very distinct vision.

As for the runner-up this week, it’s just down the road and offers a completely different viewpoint. A Pennsylvania church converted into a whimsical and stylish home boasts all the coziness you could possibly handle.

Other homes you clicked on this week include Louisiana’s most expensive listing, a French-inspired mansion near New Orleans priced just under $17 million. For something more a little more modest, there’s the famed Orchard Smith Homestead outside Boston, which dates to 1678 and has been lovingly cared for by its historian owner for the past half-century.

For a full look at this week’s most popular homes, simply scroll on down.

10. 55 Ingalls Rd, Portland, ME

Price: $297,000

Why it’s here: This historic home dates to 1900 and once served as sergeants’ quarters. It’s now been reimagined as a year-round residence, marrying vintage architectural details with modern updates.

For a buyer in search of a turnkey getaway, the home is being sold furnished. The three-bedroom residence sits on Great Diamond Island and features tin ceilings and a wood-burning stove. It’s just a short walk away from the ferry dock and beaches.

Portland, ME

realtor.com

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9. 148 Mountain Rd, Weare NH

Price: $1,300,000

Why it’s here: Buyers in search of a lair need look no farther. Safety is a top priority on this 25-acre property, which includes a 4,409-square-foot modern home with ballistic-rated doors, double-glazed windows, a security system, and an interior safe room.

The hardcore security is somewhat softened by the home’s natural light, wooded views, and amenities like a home gym studio, sunporch, and built-ins.

Weare, NH

realtor.com

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8. 44050 El Prado Rd, Temecula, CA

Price: $1,495,000 

Why it’s here: Built in 1982, this ranch is designed to transport you back to the 1830s. The horse lovers’ property features barns, porches, fire pits, and a tack room.

The estate is spread out over 5 acres crisscrossed with mature oaks, and the three-bedroom main house sits beyond a wooden bridge over the creek that runs through the property.

Temecula, CA

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7. 174 Great Rd, Maynard, MA

Price: $520,000

Why it’s here: Dating all the way back to 1678, the Orchard Smith House has been owned for the past 45 years by a history buff who has meticulously cared for the 17th-century residence. (Note: It looks like this home was just pulled off the market.)

The four-bedroom home has a couple of newer features—namely a game room and wine cellar. There are also five working fireplaces, wood-beamed ceilings, and all the charm you can handle. The more than half-acre lot, which includes a waterfall, can be enjoyed from the patio.

Maynard, MA

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6. 11875 E. Blue Cove Dr, Dunnellon, FL

Price: $949,000

Why it’s here: Built in 1989, this four-bedroom ranch house is built on the banks of the Rainbow River.

Inside, there’s a great room with a fireplace, new granite kitchen countertops, and a screened porch overlooking the river. The quarter-acre lot has a landscaped yard, fruit trees, and three-car garage. The owner’s boat, kayaks, and furnishings are all negotiable with the sale.

Dunnellon, FL

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5. 12891 Deva St, Coral Gables, FL

Price: $5,000,000

Why it’s here: With five levels, and towering over Biscayne Bay, this five-bedroom, modern home offers an exquisite setting.

Highlights of the waterfront residence include floor-to-ceiling hurricane impact windows, an elevator, a large deck out back, and a rooftop entertaining space. If you don’t want to jump in the bay, there’s a heated lap pool with ocean views.

Coral Gables, FL

realtor.com

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4. 201 Northline St, Metairie, LA

Price: $16,895,000

Why it’s here: This luxe eight-bedroom mansion is the most expensive listing in all Louisiana.

Custom-built in 2014, the French Provincial-style estate offers 15,230 square feet of high-end living space. Standout features include European fixtures, a 24-foot-tall foyer, as well as a full spa with a massage room, plus hair and nail stations.

Metairie, LA

realtor.com

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3. 6 Regency Way, Manalapan, NJ

Price: $840,000

Why it’s here: Built in 1997 for full-out family fun and recently updated, this five-bedroom home sits on just under 4 acres. When the weather warms up, there’s a heated pool and play area. Inside, the home has hardwood floors, a finished walk-out basement, media room, and exercise room.

Manalapan, NJ

realtor.com

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2. 34 Miller St, Bangor, PA

Price: $220,000

Why it’s here: Formerly a church, this once-holy house has been converted into a whimsical three-bedroom home, full of natural light.

It’s also filled with modern amenities like the granite countertops and copper backsplash in the kitchen, a stone-accented breakfast nook, and hardwood floors.

For a buyer looking for additional income, the onetime church has two separate entrances, which means it could eventually be split into two units. (Note: It’s currently off market.)

Bangor, PA

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1. 1284 Eagle Rd, New Hope, PA

Price: $8,399,999

Why it’s here: Designed for a very specific taste, this massive mansion isn’t for everyone. Nevertheless, everyone clicked on it.

Measuring nearly 20,000 square feet and built into a hillside, the decor and design in this estate are over the top. If you’re into gold, marble, and Swarovski crystals, this mansion is made for you. Offering endless expanses of custom-designed interiors, the grand mansion may be a tough sell for most buyers.

But for the buyer in search of a home with 30 chandeliers, two vaults for safe and secure deposits, and a bespoke indoor pool, make your way to New Hope!

New Hope, PA

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  The post Massive Mansion Built Into Mountainside Is This Week’s Most Popular Home appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

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The Pandemic Turbocharged the Housing Market, but Not for Home Flippers

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Despite the popularity of home-flipping shows on HGTV and Discovery+, the COVID-19 pandemic curbed the number of flips—homes bought by investors, renovated, and sold at a profit last year.

In 2020, the number of flips fell 13.1% from the previous year, to hit its lowest point nationally since 2016, according to a recent report from real estate information firm ATTOM Data Solutions. Just over 240,000 homes were flipped last year, making up about 5.9% of all sales.

To come up with its findings, ATTOM looked at sales deed data for single-family homes and condos that were bought and sold within a 12-month period.

While profits on flipped homes increased, speculators made slightly lower returns on their investments. Their typical return was 40.5%—compared with 41.5% in 2019 and 46.4% in 2018. This was the lowest ROI since 2011.

“Last year was a banner year for the U.S. housing market, with the apparent exception of the home-flipping business, which saw its fortunes slide a bit more in 2020,” said Todd Teta, ATTOM’s chief product officer, in a statement.

However, flippers earned more cash on their deals last year than previously. Homes renovated and resold by investors sold for a median $230,000 last year, netting investors profits of about $66,300. That was a 6.6% increase from last year and the most they had made since 2005.

(Profits were calculated by taking the median sales price and subtracting how much speculators originally paid for these properties. This did not include rehab, permit, labor, and other costs associated with the flip.)

Where did home flipping rise and fall the most?

Home-flipping rates surged in a few parts of the country, including in the state of Connecticut. Flipping jumped the most in the metropolitan areas of Norwich, CT, at 38.2%. It was followed by Hartford, CT (31.1%); Boulder, CO (29%); Albuquerque, NM (26.9%); and Anchorage, AK (26.2%). Investors turned more homes in 72 of the 198 largest metropolitan areas with populations of at least 200,000 and a minimum of 200 flips.

(Metros are made up of the main city and surrounding towns, suburbs, and smaller urban areas.)

Flipping dropped the most in the Southern and Western regions of the country. The biggest falls were in the metropolitan areas of San Antonio, TX, where flips tumbled 27.3%; Tuscaloosa, AL (25.7%); Santa Rosa, CA (24.8%); Brownsville, TX (24.1%); and Houston (22%).

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It’s a Home Seller’s Market—and Baby Boomers Are Cashing In

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In the hottest real estate market since the peak before the Great Recession, home sellers are calling the shots. Most of those sellers are baby boomers—and they’re making out like bandits.

Sellers made a median $66,000 on the sale of their homes—a $6,000 increase from the previous year, according to the National Association of Realtors® 2021 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report.

The report covered only the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, as it was based on a survey provided to people who purchased a home from July 2019 to June 2020. About 8,200 new homeowners responded to the 131-question survey.

“In a real estate market that is tipped in the favor of sellers, boomers and older homeowners are really the ones holding the cards,” says realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale. Those who are selling homes can use the profits to help them buy new ones, she adds, pointing out that they’re “generally better equipped to deal with market conditions.”

The pandemic has led to lower mortgage rates, fewer properties for sale, and a rush of buyers seeking abodes of their own. All of this means that homes are selling fast, and for high prices.

In this turbocharged market, sellers got about 99% of what they were asking for—and more, in many cases. Homes lasted only about three weeks on the market before being scooped up.

Baby boomers made up most of the sellers, at 43%. Their top reason for putting their property up for sale was to buy a similarly sized home closer to family members and friends. That’s become even more important during the pandemic. Their second most popular motivation for selling was to downsize.

High prices and the lowest recorded number of homes for sale made it even more difficult for younger buyers, particularly first-timers. Millennials made up the largest share of buyers, at 37%, while 31% of all successful buyers were first-time buyers. (About 82% of younger millennials, aged 22 to 30, and 48% of older millennials, aged 31 to 40, were first-time buyers.)

“Millennials have a lot of headwinds entering the real estate market,” says Jessica Lautz, NAR’s vice president of demographics and behavioral insights. “There’s not enough homes to go around for the buyers who want to be able to purchase.”

Nearly 60% of buyers aged 22 to 40 said the biggest obstacle to buying was finding the right home. More than half of all buyers cited the same concern.

Younger buyers were also the most likely to pay over asking price to secure a home.

“In a market where competitive bids are the norm in many areas, it’s interesting to note that younger buyers are more likely to pay over asking [price],” says Hale. “They’ve got longer working careers, so they [may be] more willing to take risks.”

What kinds of homes are most in demand?

Buyers clamored for detached, single-family homes, the kind that typically come with a backyard and garage. These made up 81% of sales. These homes were a median 1,900 square feet and were typically built in 1993.

These homes likely became even more desirable as the pandemic dragged on and families realized they needed more space to accommodate home offices and remote schooling.

Existing homes (as opposed to newly built ones) also dominated. That’s because they’re cheaper and there are simply more of them to go around. Only about 15% of sales were for brand-new abodes, with older baby boomers, aged 66 to 74, purchasing the biggest share, 19%, of new construction.

About 50% of all buyers purchased in the suburbs, while 22% preferred small towns and 13% chose rural areas. Just 13% opted for urban areas. Three percent chose resort communities.

Buyers of all generations expected to live in their homes for about 15 years. They also moved a median 15 miles away from their previous abodes.

Generation X bought the most multigenerational homes

About 12% of buyers opted for multigenerational homes, with Generation X purchasing the largest percentage, 18%, of these residences. This gave them the space to accommodate aging parents, who might need assistance, and grown children.

“They’re purchasing multi generational homes [to] take care of aging relatives and keep them out of nursing rooms or for caregiving of young children who may not be able to go to day care or child care because of the pandemic,” says Lautz. “The other big reason is pooling incomes to be able to buy a larger home.”

About 24% of buyers were members of Generation X, aged 40 to 54. This smaller generation was the most likely to have children with nearly two-thirds, 41%, with kids under the age of 18 living with them.

This generation was also in the prime of their careers, making them the highest-earning buyers, with a median household income of $113,300 in 2019. They purchased the largest and second most expensive homes, spending a median $305,000 for a median 2,100 square feet.

Who are today’s home buyers?

Buyers who purchased homes had a median income of $96,500 in 2019.

Almost two-thirds were married couples, at 62%, while 9% were unmarried couples. Single women made up 18% of buyers, double the 9% of single men.

“Single women remain a large buying force,” Lautz said in a statement. “A number of divorced women and those who were recently widowed purchased a home without the help of a spouse or roommate.”

People of color made up about 20% of all home buyers. Whites made up about 83% of buyers compared with just 7% of Hispanics, 5% of Asians, 5% of Blacks, and 3% who identified as other. (Participants could identify as more than one race.)

Veterans and army personnel also represented 20% of all buyers.

An overwhelming majority of buyers, 87%, financed their purchases. Young buyers were the most likely to rely on their savings to cobble together their down payments. Student and other kinds of debt made it harder for them to save, delaying their purchase by about three years. (Younger millennials had a median $25,000 in student debt compared with older millennials with a roughly $33,000 loan balance.) Just over a quarter, 28%, received a gift or loan from a friend or family member to help with the purchase.

Older buyers, such as the boomers, were more apt to use the money they made from a home sale to buy a new residence.

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Bring Your Offers! Here Are 10 Barndominiums You Can Buy Right Now

realtor.com

If you harbor any preconceived notions about the beloved barndominium—a barn or industrial building converted into a home—we urge you to reconsider.

Because the true beauty of a barndominium is it has only a single limitation on its final format: an owner’s imagination.

Roomy, endlessly flexible, and customized to match its owner’s passions, barndominiums represent everything wonderful about rugged ingenuity and folks who want to carve out their own little slice of heaven.

Whether it’s horses, cars, office spaces, boats, RVs, or a full-on party pad, there’s a barndominium to suit your fancy.

So open your imagination and see if one of these lovely homes looks like the piece of paradise you’ve always longed to call home.

2245 Holder Rd, Cedar Grove, TN

Price: $349,900 Dream barndominium: Built in 2010, this 2,092-square-foot home in Tennessee sits on 2.34 acres and includes an attached 2,200-square-foot workshop. There’s additional space upstairs which could be finished as additional living space. The interior features a wide-open floor plan and lovely country views.

Cedar Grove, TN

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340 Coastal Oaks Loop, Port O Connor, TX

Price: $495,000 Awesome in aqua: Nope, it’s not Key West! But it is close to the Gulf of Mexico. This tropical teal barn in South Texas was built in 2015 and includes an enormous drive-thru bay.

The three-bedroom, 1,790-square-foot residence features polished concrete floors, a bunkroom with bathroom, and a separate upstairs entry. Outside, there’s a fish-cleaning station, dog run, and sprinkler system. Bonus: All furnishings are included in the sale.

Port O’Connor, TX

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13225 FM 149 Rd, Montgomery, TX

Price: $1,890,000 6-acre compound: This 6-acre property comes with multiple structures.

There’s a main 2,800-square-foot residence with kitchen and dining space. There’s also a studio with half-bathroom. And for conducting business, there’s an office space with reception area, conference room, and private office. If that’s not enough, there’s also a greenhouse and storage barn.

Montgomery, TX

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17400 Canyon Pass Rd, Amarillo, TX

Price: $699,000 Country barndominium: This three-bedroom, 2,437-square-foot home was built in 2017 and sits on 20 acres with awe-inspiring canyon views. The home has enough room inside to park an RV and comes with a separate horse barn with four stalls.

Amarillo, TX

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18617 N Rimrock Rd, Hayden, ID

Price: $1,450,000 Idaho opportunity: Developer alert! This mountain home on nearly 9.5 acres was built in 2019 and comes with a building pad ready for another home.

The existing barn measures 2,648 square feet, including three bedrooms. There’s also a shop with room for toys, horses, and trucks. For additional storage, there are also two lean-tos.

Hayden, ID

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105 Lone Cir, Sandia, TX

Price: $575,000 Pretty with a pool: This retreat near Lake Corpus Christi features a three-bedroom, 1,769-square-foot home being sold fully furnished. The dwelling has 18-foot ceilings, knotty pine shiplap, a fireplace, and a number of other upgrades. The 2.15-acre property also boasts a beach-entry pool with grotto and waterfall and a 1,020-square-foot covered cantina with outdoor kitchen.

Sandia, TX

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953 County Road 300F, Seminole, TX

Price: $285,000 Bonus room: With 3,408 square feet of living space, this four-bedroom barndominium built in 2010 includes a bonus room, which could be used as an office, media room, or fifth bedroom.

The property comes with a workshop, horse stable, tack room, and even a chicken coop. Plus, there’s an additional 2 acres with a shop available for purchase if a buyer desires to expand the property.

Seminole, TX

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885 Highway 71 Hwy W, Bastrop, TX

Price: $999,000 Outside of Austin: This 3.55-acre property includes 226 feet of coveted highway frontage just 20 miles east of the Austin airport. The two-bedroom, 1,386-square-foot home features interior barn doors, custom cabinets, and a wraparound deck. There’s also a manufactured home on the property, which has been converted into two units for rentals.

Bastrop, TX

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4200 Meyer Rd, Needville, TX

Price: $558,000 Party palace: Assure your spot in the hosting hall of fame with this residence designed for entertaining. It comes complete with a patio overlooking the pond on the 6-acre lot.

There’s also an outdoor kitchen, bar, and hot tub. The three-bedroom, 2,200-square-foot residence comes with a whole-house generator, and a garage to park a boat, RV, trucks, and assorted motor vehicles.

Needville, TX

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306 Quinlan St, New Deal, TX

Price: $480,000 Home plus sea container: This two-bedroom, 1,800-square-foot home was created out of an RV barn and sea container. Built in 2007, both structures were wired for electricity and then spray-foamed. This offering includes a 3,000-square-foot shop, and the seller is “very motivated.”

New Deal, TX

realtor.com

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9 Shocking New Facts About Chip and Joanna Gaines (Thanks, Oprah)

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Chip and Joanna Gaines gained megafame on their hit show “Fixer Upper,” yet despite their countless hours of reality TV airtime, there’s still a lot you don’t know about this couple.

And who better to delve into these brand-new revelations than Oprah Winfrey? Fresh off of her bombshell interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the queen of media sat down with Chip and Jo on her new Discovery+ series, “Super Soul,” where the couple opened up private nooks and crannies of their lives that overturn much of what we’ve known so far.

Here are a few new facts you might not know about Chip and Jo, like where they’re from (not Texas), why their first date was nearly their last, and which one of them struggled more with all the attention that came with “Fixer Upper” fame.

1. Neither of them is a Texas native

Chip and Joanna Gaines sit down with Oprah Winfrey.

Discovery+

While these two may have made a name for themselves renovating homes in Waco, TX, neither one is actually a Texas native.

“I was actually a transplant,” Chip says. “I was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico—so, for the first about seven, eight years of my life. And Jo was in fact born in Kansas. But we both ended up in Texas.”

It’s a good thing they both made it to Texas, because if Chip and Jo had met in New Mexico or Kansas, “Fixer Upper” would have been a very different show.

2. Chip was a self-proclaimed ‘player’

In this interview, Winfrey asks about Chip and Joanna’s seemingly perfect relationship. As it turns out, their marriage is just about as adorable as it seems, but Chip gives Winfrey a little look into their lives before they met.

“I was really a bit of a player,” Chip says. “I don’t mean to go on and on about my love life, but Jo was a bit of a … like, the librarian type.”

However, it seems that once these two got together, Chip’s “player” phase was over, and their different personalities evened each other out.

3. Chip ‘stalked’ Joanna before they’d even met

Chip saw Joanna on local commercials such as this one for tires.

Discovery+

Here’s another funny tidbit about how Chip and Jo met, or at least how Chip met Jo: He saw her on TV, then became determined to meet her in person.

“He stalked me,” Joanna joked. “When I worked for my dad at his Firestone store, I did these commercials. And so he’d always say, ‘If I could just meet her.’ So he’d come into the Firestone store once a month and finally we bumped into each other.”

4. Divine intervention persuaded Joanna to marry Chip

While it seems it was love at first sight for Chip, Jo needed a little bit of convincing. Joanna mentions Chip being dangerously late to their first date (so much so she almost didn’t open the door). And once she did, she was turned off by how much he talked.

“This is when I heard God’s voice more than ever,” Joanna says. “I heard him say, ‘This is the man you’re going to marry,’ and I’m arguing with God. I said, ‘No it’s not.'”

Eventually, though, God prevailed.

5. Chip persuaded Jo to open her first store

This was the original Magnolia Market.

Discovery+

Joanna had long dreamed of owning a store, and had even written about it in her journal. But she never thought this store would become real, until she shared this dream (and journal entry) with Chip.

“When I used to say ‘dream,’ that meant it’ll probably never happen,” Joanna says. “Well, when I showed Chip, he said, ‘Why wouldn’t you do this?’”

The beginnings of Magnolia Market—small but adorable

Discovery+

Chip encouraged her to find a building and to start taking steps toward opening her first venture: Magnolia Market.

“Within three weeks, now I own this building,” Joanna says. “And now the dream that I had dreamed of for years I’m seeing happen and play out, because Chip Gaines, coach Gaines, said go for it. You get one pep talk from Chip Gaines, and it’s like, ‘I can rule the world.'”

6. Chip and Jo were told ‘Fixer Upper’ was going to be ‘niche’

Winfrey points out that Chip and Joanna have a huge fan base of about 19 million people. But these two never thought they’d be household names. In fact, their producers told them “Fixer Upper” wasn’t going to be very popular.

“They sat us down early in the process and said, ‘This is going to be really a niche of a niche of a show,” Chip says. “For it to have really connected with people on both coasts, now all over the world, is unbelievable.”

7. They ended ‘Fixer Upper’ to reassess their priorities

“Fixer Upper” was a huge hit, so Chip and Joanna shocked fans when, in 2018, they ended their HGTV show after five seasons.

“When you’re filming for four or five years, you begin to lose the why,” Joanna tells Winfrey. “It’s now just this thing of, like, we’re just showing up. And I think toward the end, we just lost steam. We lost the purpose in it. We wanted to wake up every day and say, ‘This is why we’re doing this.'”

Chip explains that the year off was intentional. He tells Winfrey that before “Fixer Upper” ended, the two of them decided to step back and “push pause” on any potential opportunities for one whole year.

“So basically we just told our agent to just take all the calls and put them in a folder somewhere and we would get back to that later,” Chip says.

It was a risky career move, but it seems Chip and Joanna both needed the break. They came back stronger than ever with their new Magnolia Network and even returned to TV renovations with “Fixer Upper: Welcome Home.”

8. Chip struggled with fame far more than Jo

While Chip is clearly the more outgoing of the pair, he was surprised to find that fame didn’t suit him. He tells Winfrey that Joanna handled the attention well, while he felt that he’d lost a part of himself.

“I would say it took me a year or two, while I was still filming, to try to grapple with what exactly it was that I was losing,” he says. “And then that year off, I really think that Jo and I were able to kind of hunker down and really kind of try to unpack what it was about fame that seemed so incompatible with my personality.”

Luckily for fans, Chip managed to figure out a way to deal with his celebrity status.

9. The Gaines family (still) doesn’t own a TV

Chip and Joanna may have their own network, but they don’t own a TV!

The two famously are big fans of the TV-less lifestyle. In fact, they even skip finding a place for TVs in nearly all of their renovations. (They made one exception when they worked on one of their employee’s homes.)

The two explain that it all started when they were engaged and went to marriage counseling. They were encouraged to hold off on getting a TV after getting married, and instead spend quality time together. They made it a year without a TV, and then after the year, they decided to go another year. After two years, they decided they didn’t need a television at all.

“I will say, after that second year, we’ve never looked back,” Chip says.

Winfrey asks how they watched episodes of “Fixer Upper.” “We’d go to our friends,” Joanna answers. “So every Tuesday night, we’d get a babysitter and we’d go to friends and we’d watch it.”

She points out that these days their shows are streaming on Discovery+, so the family of seven will gather around Joanna’s computer and watch their shows together.

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Supersize Me! Here Are the Metros Where Buyers Are Clamoring for Big Homes Again

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Not long ago, it seemed just about everyone was obsessed with the tiny-home trend. So cute! So teensy!  People were wondering: Just how small can a home get while still being cool and remotely functional? Well, we may never find out. Because, as with many things in the past year, the coronavirus pandemic has turned the “less is more” mentality on its head.

Now, bigger is definitively better again when it comes to houses. In these postlockdown times, home buyers seem desperate for more space, whether for a big yard, a dedicated home office or two, maybe a homeschooling area, home gym, or an extra bedroom or three. Palatial abodes are topping most buyers’ wish lists.

Even the long derided McMansion—those oversized, column-bedecked, architecturally confused totems of the ostentatious ’80s and ’90s—are ultrahot again. It’s true!

Large homes, clocking in at 4,000 square feet and up, were selling faster in more than 70% of the 150 largest metro areas in February compared with the same month last year. The realtor.com® data team set out to find which metropolitan areas have the highest percentage of supersized residences up for sale, so buyers can revel in all that extra square footage.

We looked at the 150 largest metros with the highest percentage of single-family homes measuring 4,000 square feet and more on the market in February. (For perspective, the average square footage of a new single-family home was 2,500 in 2020, according to U.S. Census data.) We also limited our list to one metro per state. Metros include the main city and surrounding towns, suburbs, and smaller urban areas.

One massive caveat: There’s no way to separate large, tasteful homes from the more garish McMansions in our data. They’re all part of the burgeoning mammoth-home mix! Tread carefully.

So which are America’s housing markets with the biggest cribs, and why? Let’s take a look.

Map: Where the most big homes are

Tony Frenzel for realtor.com

1. Provo, UT

More people are flocking to Provo, UT, and they’re looking for large homes with mountain views.

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Median list price for homes 4,000 square feet and above: $1.04 million

Less than an hour from Salt Lake City, Provo has experienced a tech boom in recent years. It’s little surprise that, with remote work having become the norm for many white-collar workers, more are deciding to make the move from the West Coast to this lower-priced metro.

For example, the median home price was $1.2 million in Silicon Valley’s San Jose, CA, in February and $599,000 in Salt Lake City compared with $541,950 in Provo. Hey, if you can work from anywhere, why not save some dough?

The area’s large Mormon population is also spurring demand for larger homes. Mormons tend to have more children than other religious groups in the U.S., according to a 2015 Pew Research Center report—an average of 3.4 children, compared with 2.1 for all Americans. After a year of living in close quarters, many of these families are clamoring for some extra breathing room.

While inventory is tight, prospective buyers can snag this seven-bed, 3.5-bath manse in the Foothill Park neighborhood for $819,900. It boasts a grand master bedroom with an attached office for people who just need to shut the door and get to work with limited distractions.

2. Bridgeport, CT

Median list price for homes 4,000 square feet and above: $2.7 million

The Bridgeport metro area, which includes tony Fairfield County, has long attracted financiers and corporate executives seeking massive abodes. That’s due to the area’s close proximity to New York City.

However, after the 2008 financial crisis, demand for excessive homes waned and many languished on the market. Recovery in the high-end market had been slow here before COVID-19, according to Elizabeth Casey, a local Realtor who’s with William Raveis Real Estate. Today, she has far more buyers than there are houses for sale.

“Basically with the pandemic, suddenly everyone is home and a lot of people realize their home was just too small,” Casey says. “If you have a family of five that’s going to be home 24/7, you’re going to need a bigger house.”

Where exactly buyers are looking depends largely on their budget. For the few who can afford them, Greenwich and Darien are among the most desirable towns in the metro. Other towns like Fairfield have easy train access to Manhattan, nearby beaches, and a wider range of home prices and sizes.

For those looking to spend less, Casey says a home that goes for $2 million in Fairfield would be about $1 million in nearby Trumbull, which offers larger yards and great schools.

But no matter where home buyers are looking, pools seem to be atop everyone’s wish list. And with pool companies booked through the summer, nearly every home with a pool sells quickly, no matter the interior.

“You can fix a kitchen,” Casey says. “But you’re not putting in a pool in this year.”

3. Denver, CO

Median list price for homes 4,000 square feet and above: $1.4 million

Like Provo, Denver is another tech hub that’s been growing in recent years.

Demand for large homes was steady before the pandemic, says Jenny Usaj, co-owner of Usaj Realty in downtown Denver. But in recent months, a combination of factors has led to bidding wars and properties coming on and off the market at a head-spinning pace.

“Interest rates are low, people saved up for a whole year—whether they meant to or not—and people just need more space,” Usaj says.

Buyers are looking at Denver proper, but with prices rising quickly, suburbs like Lakewood, Golden, and Littleton are becoming hot spots. One of the must-haves are those Rocky Mountain views, especially for people making the move from other places like California.

In terms of amenities, size matters more than style nowadays. Buyers here are most focused on renovated homes with enough space to accommodate their career and lifestyle needs.

“One of my clients said that everyone now needs 1,000 square feet per person,” Usaj says.

With that math, a family of four would need a 4,000-square-foot home. At least.

If you’re ready to make the move, check out this Tuscan-style villa with four bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a dedicated office space for $1.6 million.

4. Washington, DC

People who would usually commute to Washington, DC, are expanding their home searches to the suburbs.

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Median list price for homes 4,000 square feet and above: $1.8 million

The Washington, DC, metro area is a large one, comprising parts of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. Many residents were commuters before the pandemic. But now with the ability for many workers to go remote, the distance to the city center isn’t quite as important, says home builder Mark Stahl, of Stahl Homes in Virginia.

“There’s no longer this need for a five-minute commute or a 10-minute commute, or to be a metro stop away from your office,” Stahl explains.

Because of this, potential buyers are expanding their home search to the outer suburbs like Herndon, VA, and Frederick, MD. However, that doesn’t mean they want to be completely removed from the city. With limited inventory and space, people are buying smaller homes built in the 1950s and 1960s with the express purpose of tearing them down and putting up larger ones.

Styles have changed, though, since the McMansion boom of the 1990s, and Stahl says he’s incorporating softer features like gables and front porches into new builds. What hasn’t changed, he says, is nearly all of his clients are looking to build as big as they can on the lot they have. Some buyers are even eschewing yards and garages in favor of more living space.

5. Santa Barbara, CA

Median list price for homes 4,000 square feet and above: $8.2 million

Similar to Bridgeport, CT, Santa Barbara is known as an enclave for the ultrawealthy. (Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have put down roots in the community of Montecito.) Mansions are simply de rigueur.

Sales have been strongest in the luxury market, according to analysis done by Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices in Montecito. In the fourth quarter, the number of sold homes more than doubled in Montecito and equally fancy Hope Ranch, both in Santa Barbara County.

For those who aren’t afraid to drop a few mil, you can snag a move-in-ready, four-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom home complete with pool, putting green, and separate guest wing for everyone who’s going to want to come visit, for $4.4 million.

6. Indianapolis, IN

Families are looking to upgrade while young professionals able to work remotely are returning to Indianapolis, IN.

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Median list price for homes 4,000 square feet and above: $691,750

It was a seller’s market in Indianapolis before the pandemic hit and the health crisis exacerbated it, says real estate agent Dan O’Brien, of Trueblood Real Estate.

Families in the area are looking to upgrade, while an influx of younger people who can suddenly work remotely are returning to the Midwest from larger cities so they can be closer to family.

While those groups may not seem to have much in common, one thing is for sure: They both want more square footage.

“For lower property taxes and with low mortgage rates, [millennials from out of state] can get a house of the same caliber for a quarter of the price,” O’Brien says. That’s particularly true if they’re moving back from one of the nation’s most expensive parts of the country, like the San Francisco Bay Area.

Demand is highest in Hamilton County, IN, where, again, space is key. Young couples are putting a priority on each partner getting an office space.

Check out this massive three-bed, 2.5-bath ranch in Fishers, IN, complete with an executive office and an impressive basement that’s just itching to be turned into a home workout area.

7. Boston, MA

Median list price for homes 4,000 square feet and above: $2.2 million

In the Boston area, once high-in-demand townhomes are struggling to sell as buyers look for more space.

Because of travel restrictions, more people are making their homes do triple duty: as home, office/school, and vacation retreat, says Gary Kaufman of Keller Williams Realty in the Boston suburb of Needham, MA. He has a home under contract that has an indoor golf simulator and a refrigerated ice rink.

Still, Kaufman says buyers are prioritizing square footage over extravagance.

“The McMansion trend was really about showing off, keeping up with the Joneses,” Kaufman says. “Because of COVID, it’s now more about getting that space.”

Kaufman’s clients are looking just about anywhere they can find large homes, but he says the MetroWest area, about 20 minutes from downtown Boston, is most popular. It includes the suburbs of Needham, Wellesley, and Newton.

8. Atlanta, GA

Atlanta has long been home to large houses thanks to its sprawling suburbs.

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Median list price for homes 4,000 square feet and above: $985,000

The Atlanta metro area has always been associated with large homes, thanks to its sprawling suburbs. Lately though, it’s difficult to keep them on the market—and bidding wars have ensued on some of the biggest places. A surge of out-of-state buyers used to eye-popping prices aren’t blinking at properties that are expensive for the area.

“Atlanta has always had a healthy appetite for these bigger, grandiose homes in certain areas,” says real estate broker Tim Hur, of Point Honors and Associates. “But now I think it’s been exacerbated because people are doing better in the stock market, they’re working from home, and they need that space.”

Gated communities and developments near golf courses have been very much in demand.

Check out this massive new build with six bedrooms, 5.5 baths, and a finished basement, conveniently located near Ansley Golf Club.

9. Miami, FL

Median list price for homes 4,000 square feet and above: $3.5 million

Business is booming in Miami’s luxury real estate market, with out-of-staters flocking south for lower taxes and toastier weather. While the number of international buyers hasn’t quite bounced back due to travel restrictions, buyers from hubs like New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio are more than making up the difference, according to real estate agent Jim Norton, of Coldwell Banker Global Luxury.

Families with three or four children are looking for five-bedroom homes, usually with the intention of turning at least one of the bedrooms into an office space.

Clients looking for larger homes are buying in places including Weston, Coral Springs, and South Miami. These homes can sell for anywhere from $850,000 to $2 million on average, depending on the neighborhood and amenities.

If more space is what you’re after, check out this massive home in Weston, complete with five bedrooms, a dedicated office space, and 5.5 baths.

10. Reno, NV

Median list price for homes 4,000 square feet and above: $3.3 million

Thanks to its low cost of living and temperate weather, Reno has become a haven for retirees in recent years. A couple of months into the pandemic, though, things began to change, says real estate broker Erika Lamb, of Welcome Home Reno Real Estate & Property Management.

With more people working from home and Reno’s close proximity to San Francisco, tech workers have been flooding the market for large properties that provide access to skiing or Lake Tahoe. Renters are also looking for micro-mansions to call home.

High-end buyers tend to prefer homes near golf courses that have mountain views.

“With so many working from home, the homes with views seem to bring a sense of peace to those buyers,” Lamb says.

The post Supersize Me! Here Are the Metros Where Buyers Are Clamoring for Big Homes Again appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

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Rye to ‘Ye’?! What It Would Mean if Kanye West Moved to a Town Renamed for Himself

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You have probably heard by now that power couple Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West are divorcing, so naturally one of them needs to find a new place to live.

According to the latest rumors, West is looking east—way east. No, not to Wyoming, where he owns two huge ranches, or glitzy New York City. No, he’s reportedly set his sights on a tiny suburban town called Rye, NY.

Maybe West is drawn to the fact that Rye is a mere 40 minutes from the Big Apple. Or perhaps he’s drawn to the quaint vibes of the waterfront town.

Or maybe it’s something else.

“West has filed paperwork for ‘Rye’ to drop the ‘R’ from its name and rebrand to ‘Ye,’ permanently,” read a recent report in the local newspaper, the Rye Record.

For non–Kanye West fans out there, “Ye” is the rapper’s nickname, and the title of his 2018 album.

The same paper reported that West is willing to put his money where his mouth is, offering to cough up 10% of his net worth—which would be about $10,000,000—to wipe out Rye’s city and school debts.

The story is so ludicrous, many have taken to social media insisting it must be false. But so far, West’s camp hasn’t denied these claims. So we’ll run with it in the meantime, and talk logistics: How easy is it for a town to change its name, anyway? And if this odd event does actually come to pass, what would West’s arrival mean for the town and all who live there?

Rye to Ye: Is it possible to change a town’s name?

As strange as it sounds, there is precedent for towns taking on new names picked by people with deep pockets.

In 1998, the 250 residents of Granville, ND, agreed to change their town’s name to McGillicuddy City—essentially an advertisement for liquor purveyor Dr. McGillicuddy’s mint schnapps. In exchange for this dubious name switch, the bigwigs at Dr. McGillicuddy’s donated $100,000 to build a community center.

In that light, West’s $10 million would be a much better offer.

“There is some paperwork involved in changing a place’s name. But I get if the municipality is OK with it, then why not?” says Georges Benoliel, member of the Real Estate Board of New York with experience in Westchester County properties. “At the end of the day, money speaks! Paying down the debt of the city is like paying each [taxpayer].”

What Rye residents feel about living in Ye

People are usually pretty attached to where they live, so naturally, Rye residents and people in the surrounding county of Westchester have been embroiled in a lively debate about what to do.

For what it’s worth, Westchester Magazine is all for the name change:

@kanyewest if you're thinking of moving to rYE, NY, we'd love to have you!

— Westchester Magazine (@WestchesterMag) March 11, 2021

Yet many locals are staunchly opposed to losing their town’s name, like this one longtime resident:

Rye is my hometown. Hard to imagine it becoming Ye town with Kanye West moving in…https://t.co/yHYUiwUpIg

— Laura H. Lee (@laurahoffmanlee) March 11, 2021

All in all, what’s clear is that a West-induced town rebranding comes with pros (i.e., 10 million buckaroos) and cons, and whether it’s a brilliant or terrible idea largely hinges on the town in question.

“If it was a place that needed a bit of a lift—perhaps it had been economically depressed or was a location that had some geographical challenges—they may benefit from someone like Kanye coming in and wanting to invest and develop in it,” says Cara Ameer, a broker who deals with high-end properties in Los Angeles and Florida. “Cities in search of a rebranding/image change may want to approach Kanye and other celebrity influencers and try to work out a sponsorship deal. For the right place and location, something like this may have a positive impact.”

However, Rye already has plenty of cachet without West’s help—and thus may have more to lose.

“If Kanye were successful in changing the name from Rye to Ye, I’m not sure that it would cause the values to go dramatically upward,” continues Ameer. “It may have an opposite effect. Communities like Rye have a certain ring to them, like a designer label. That’s in part why people pay a premium to live there.”

In short, an upscale town like Rye would be taking a risk rebranding itself in West’s image. But there is a middle ground.

“Incorporating Kanye’s name into a certain section or area may be a better way to blend an older tradition with new,” suggests Ameer. After all, she points out, “Professional sports stadiums are renamed whenever they get a new sponsor, and this could be something like that.”

Ye Stadium, Ye Port, Ye Park? We guess any of those could be a backup option in case Ye, NY, strikes out.

Which home might Kanye West buy?

The Rye Record also reported that West has been spotted house hunting with real estate professionals, checking out three properties in the area.

According to the paper, West plans to create a home that’s a “music studio/creative think tank,” and buy another property for a new church for his Sunday services. While we don’t know exactly what he has his eye on, we tracked down the top homes in the areas the rapper purportedly visited: Manursing Way, Forest Avenue, and Boston Post Road.

If Ye craves privacy

Is this Kanye West’s next home in Rye, NY?

realtor.com

Price: $3,895,000

The six-bedroom, 4.5-bath home in Rye is surrounded by rare beech hedges, perfect for a private celebrity. The entry foyer leads to a sunken living room with a 22-foot cathedral ceiling and a floor-to-ceiling fireplace. Plus there’s an atrium overlooking a four-season hot tub.

If Ye wants to be steps from the water

West would likely be comfortable here, too.

realtor.com

Price: $9,980,000

For $9,980,000, West can snap up this custom-built, waterfront Georgian Colonial that features views of Long Island Sound. There’s a six-car garage underneath the house (West apparently has a thing for subterranean garages) and five bedrooms with water views in the home.

If Ye wants to be close to town

Another home fit for West

realtor.com

Price: $6,495,000

The seven-bedroom historic estate comes with 2 private acres in the heart of Rye (or, um, Ye). What sets this lavish home apart is the stunning swimming pool and formal gardens. And good news for West, he would be within walking distance of shops and restaurants in case he wants to meet the locals. After all, if a town was named after you, wouldn’t you want to get to know your neighbors?

The post Rye to ‘Ye’?! What It Would Mean if Kanye West Moved to a Town Renamed for Himself appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

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5 Gorgeous Homes for Sale in Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s New Hometown

Samir Hussein / Contributor / Getty Images

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are all over the news these days in the wake of their blockbuster interview with Oprah Winfrey, and it’s clear that the young couple is much happier far, far away from Buckingham Palace and all the baggage that comes with royal life.

So what’s the deal with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s new hometown, and their new digs?

In summer 2020, this famous couple purchased a mansion for $14,650,000 in Montecito, a community within Santa Barbara, CA. This was the first home the ex-royals bought together, and it’s a splendid 18,000-square-foot mansion with nine bedrooms and 16 baths, plus a pool, teahouse, and tennis court—and more befitting their ex-royal status.

The ex-royals’ forever home in Montecito, an affluent community in California’s Santa Barbara County

Google Maps

Why Prince Harry and Meghan Markle live in Montecito

While Montecito might seem like a surprising choice, it makes total sense given this couple’s intense need for privacy. Just 90 minutes north of Los Angeles but a world away in terms of solitude and quiet, this mellow beach town is home to the ultrawealthy who want to avoid the spotlight, which is why many celebrities from Winfrey to Ellen DeGeneres live in the area as well. Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine and his wife, model Behati Prinsloo, reportedly just dropped $22.7 million on a historic estate there.

“The reason A-list celebs like Oprah and Ellen flock to Montecito is for the laid-back, understated feel of the area and the types of homes that afford lots of privacy and space,” says Cara Ameer, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker in Los Angeles.

Montecito isn’t just for boldface names. Since COVID-19 started sweeping across the U.S., this area has seen a phenomenal uptick in interest, according to the Wall Street Journal, with an 80% increase in sales since 2019.

Many of these new residents are young families fleeing the congestion of big cities like Los Angeles, on a quest for more space to ride out the rest of the pandemic. And Montecito fits the bill, with its beautiful beaches, safe community, and highly ranked schools.

According to realtor.com® data, currently there are 94 active listings in Montecito, but most buyers will need to pay dearly for even a small pad here, as the median price of homes in the area is $4,995,000.

However, perhaps due to these sky-high home prices, Montecito listings don’t sell all that quickly, spending an average of 86 days on the market. And the higher the price, the longer these properties tend to sit.

“The market above $20 million in California isn’t super hot right now because fewer people are looking in that range,” says Cedric Stewart, a real estate agent with Keller Williams Capital Properties. As such, even with Montecito’s Harry and Meghan cachet, “it’s unlikely most homes will draw interest above the asking price or create a bidding war.”

The downsides of living near Harry and Meghan

Still, one potential downside to Montecito is that reporters and photographers may be lurking around town, hoping to snap photos of Harry and Meghan.

“Potential homeowners could find the media buzz bothersome,” says Ameer.

Still, fans attempting to discern where Harry and Meghan actually live face an uphill battle.

“The streets are small in this area and so is the signage, and homes are often set well back from the road,” says Ameer. As such, “you won’t have any idea which house is which unless you really know where you’re going.”

Curious to learn what your life might be like if you moved to Montecito? Check out some of the other gorgeous homes for sale right now.

1. 771 Garden Lane, Montecito

Asking price: $22.5 million

The house comes with both ocean and mountain views.

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Perched on more than 5 acres, this seven-bedroom, 13-bath mansion has already received one offer. Still, if you’re willing to dig a little deeper into your wallet, additional bids are reportedly being entertained

Among the many high-end amenities that come with this renovated estate are an enormous underground garage that holds eight cars, a gym in a separate building, and a huge outdoor kitchen, as well as two one-bedroom guest cottages.

The picturesque grounds are perfectly arranged with burbling brooks, bridges, an adorable playhouse, and a network of pathways, making the property ideal for young children. There’s also plenty of room for staff and security given the extra two-car garage, office space, break rooms, and restrooms for assistants and other personnel.

2. 848 Hot Springs Road, Montecito

Asking price: $29,000,000

This estate is styled after the Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain.

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If you adore Spanish architecture, this property is right up your alley. Built in the style of the Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain, this estate features a floor plan of nearly 12,000 square feet, which includes four bedrooms and 4.5 baths.

The home offers old-world charm, with Moorish and Italianate features throughout the sun-drenched rooms. Modern amenities include a home theater, billiard room, and gleaming chef’s kitchen. Naturally, there are the stunning views of the ocean across the beautifully manicured lawns and gardens.

3. 1395 Oak Creek Canyon Road, Montecito

Asking price: $21,500,000

This estate comes with a breathtaking loggia.

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An incredible vista of the water awaits the lucky buyer of this Italian villa–style home, along with its 9,000 square feet of living space, and a generous 6-acre plot surrounding it.

Architect Peter Becker and designer Rosie Feinberg collaborated over five years on this mansion, creating a star-worthy home with glass walls and steel doors that reveal a breathtaking loggia facing south.

Along with four bedrooms and 4.5 baths, there’s a massive master suite, formal rooms for entertaining, a wine room, and a jaw-dropping library straight out of an ivy league college. Fruit trees dot the landscape, which also includes a pool, spa, and guesthouse.

4. 743 San Ysidro Road, Montecito

Asking price: $17,900,000

This property sports a fenced-in dog run.

realtor.com

For a bit less money (though when we’re talking millions, what’s a few bucks here and there?), you can have this 8,500-square-foot home known as Casa Leo Linda. It has six bedrooms and eight baths, plus a pool, pool house, and tennis court. However, the mansion’s proximity to stores and nightlife in Montecito’s Upper Village may be its strongest selling point.

And if you have a pooch, you’ll be pleased to learn that the property sports a fenced-in dog run. Dog walkers and their four-legged friends can also enjoy the gardens, sculpted hedges, and koi pond.

5. 1962 E. Valley Road, Montecito

Asking price: $9,500,000

This is what a modest mansion looks like in Montecito.

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For a more modest Montecito manse, this four-bedroom, five-bath home is both charming and comfortable. Several of the rooms with cathedral ceilings open to the patio in the rear that overlooks an inviting pool and mature plantings on a 1-acre lot.

The kitchen comes with both walk-in and butler’s pantries, while the main living spaces feature a great room, formal dining room, and den. For those cool California nights, you can feed the embers in two fireplaces in the master suite and living room.

The post 5 Gorgeous Homes for Sale in Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s New Hometown appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

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Trump Family’s $49M Palm Beach Mansion Is the Week’s Most Popular Home

realtor.com

They’re gone from the White House, but the Trumps managed to draw a crowd on realtor.com® this week. This week’s most-clicked-on property is a spectacular Palm Beach, FL, mansion that’s been in the Trump family for a couple of decades.

The oceanfront home right across the street from Mar-a-Lago was purchased in 2004 by the former president’s sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, for $11.5 million.

Barry hoisted the home onto the market in late 2017 for $23.9 million. After a few months with no nibbles, she sold the place to an LLC controlled by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, for the discounted price of $18.5 million.

After a Trump brothers–approved makeover, the mansion then landed on the rental market for $100,000 per month—though it’s not clear whether they ever found a tenant.

Now, with the Palm Beach real estate market moving at a scorching pace, the mansion is available for $49 million—which would mark a fabulous return on investment for the Trump clan.

Away from the Sunshine State, you also clicked on an extremely creepy abandoned cabin in Utah, a Pennsylvania Colonial built in 1776, and a Southern California ranch once owned by the author of the “Perry Mason” detective series.

We won’t ask you to solve any real estate mysteries, but we do request that you scroll down for a full look at this week’s most popular homes.

10. 24508 Lafayette Cir, Southfield, MI

Price: $290,000 Why it’s here: Built in 1961, this elegant, four-bedroom, midcentury ranch has a number of coveted retro features, including beamed ceilings, built-ins, walls of windows, and a sunroom.

It sits on just under a half-acre and is ready for a buyer with “a vision and a great eye” to turn it into something incredible.

Southfield, MI

Southfield, MI

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9. 221 Bay Front Dr, Pasadena, MD

Price: $2,999,000 Why it’s here: A boater’s paradise! This property comes with 250 coveted feet of water frontage on Chesapeake Bay. It also has a guesthouse, waterside pool, deepwater dock, and a boatlift, plus the longest residential pier on the bay.

The large, five-bedroom main home was fully remodeled in 2012, and now features reclaimed wood floors, a waterside living room with double-sided fireplace, and a screened porch.

Pasadena, MD

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8. 115 E. Maxwell St, Lakeland, FL

Price: $330,000 Why it’s here: Built in 1925, this dreamy, Mediterranean-style home has been beautifully maintained and updated over the years. It sits on a quarter-acre lot, just steps from Lake Hollingsworth.

The charming four-bedroom residence has hardwood floors throughout, a gas fireplace, high ceilings with crown molding, plus a bonus office space with a full bathroom.

Lakeland, FL

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7. 1248 Pawlings Rd, Phoenixville, PA 

Price: $2,990,000 Why it’s here: Built in 1776, and known as “Vaux Hill,” on the Fatland Estate, this Colonial mansion has been tastefully updated by the current owners.

Highlights of the huge seven-bedroom mansion include a rooftop deck overlooking the gardens, a horse pasture and barn, a tennis court, and in-house pub on the lower level. For a buyer in need of even more space to stretch out, an adjacent 3-acre lot is also available for purchase.

Phoenixville, PA

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6. 47521 Pala Rd, Temecula, CA

Price: $799,000 Why it’s here: It’s not a mystery—this Southern California home was formerly owned by author Erle Stanley Gardner, who wrote the “Perry Mason” detective stories.

Built back in 1948, the residence is where Gardner clacked away at his typewriter. The 2.5-acre ranch includes a seasonal stream, mature oaks, and a four-bedroom home with many updates throughout.

Temecula, CA

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5. 25840 W. Prairie Hill Ln, Plainfield, IL

Price: $1,189,000 Why it’s here: This custom four-bedroom home was built in 2017, and comes with what the listing describes as more than $200,000 in upgraded architectural features.

There’s a heated, self-cleaning, in-ground pool with a water slide, hot tub, and finished walk-out basement, plus a two-story family room. The three-car garage is equipped with a car lift,  and there’s an additional garage for storing pool supplies.

Plainfield, IL

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4. 7245 N. County Road 500 W., Middletown, IN

Price: $464,900 Why it’s here: A modern farmhouse in the middle of Indiana, this custom-built charmer is only a couple of years old and sits on nearly 11 acres.

The modern farmhouse motif extends across the home’s 1,567 square feet and includes a mudroom-laundry room combination with plenty of storage.

Middletown, IN

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3. 1833 S. Eighth St, Saint Louis, MO

Price: $899,900

Why it’s here: This gorgeous five-bedroom home from 1892 sits in the city’s Soulard neighborhood and comes with a carriage house.

It’s been updated, but original details, like the stained-glass windows and millwork, have been preserved. Highlights include an owner’s suite with a glass-enclosed porch, plus a basement with living space and storage. The carriage house has contemporary interiors suited for business or a short-term rental.

St. Louis, MO

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2. 89 Pine Glen Cv, Logan, UT

Price: $700,000 Why it’s here: We’re spooked and shook. Even the Overlook Hotel from “The Shining” had good light.

The listing details market the 3-acre “Hatch Family Retreat” as the “largest retreat in the Cache National Forest and the only one with a swimming pool.”

However, the photos tell a much darker story. The cavernous, ornate cabin doesn’t appear to have been inhabited for quite some time, and the photos possess a haunting quality you have to see for yourself.

Logan, UT

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1. 1125 S. Ocean Blvd, Palm Beach, FL

Price: $49,000,000 Why it’s here: Built in 1956 and newly renovated, this eight-bedroom oceanfront mansion has been in the Trump family for years.

The sizzling Florida real estate market may have been what prompted the family to sell. Alternatively, perhaps the sale has more to do with the lender, which said it would no longer do business with the family.

Either way, the 10,455-square-foot contemporary home is filled with walls of windows to soak in the nearly 200 feet of beach frontage, and is surrounded with luxe outdoor spaces for basking in the Florida sunshine.

Palm Beach, CA

realtor.com

The post Trump Family’s $49M Palm Beach Mansion Is the Week’s Most Popular Home appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

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One Year Into the Pandemic, Our Outlook on Home Has Totally Changed—Possibly Forever

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It’s been a year. One whole year. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the “novel coronavirus” a pandemic, setting off a cascade of stay-at-home orders by state and local governments across the U.S. Little did we guess that in 2021, the death toll would have reached 529,000, and many of us would still be working from home while our kids Zoomed into their classrooms nearby.

The past year has been a crazy roller-coaster ride for real estate as well, with shutdowns affecting different places in different ways. But across the board, home buying became a priority—demand for housing shot up even as the inventory of homes for sale shrank, pushing up prices by 14.3% year over year, realtor.com® data show.

But the number of vaccinated Americans creeps steadily upward this spring, and hope is in the air. People are talking about a return to normality in the near future, yet in many ways “normal” will never be the same again. The past year has forced us to reevaluate our priorities—especially when it comes to where we live, both our homes and our communities. The resulting shifts in lifestyle may well be a permanent trend.

A lot of home features, like home offices and backyards, have gone from the “nice to have” to the “essential” column, and now that people can work remotely and seek out more affordable places to live, they can truly buy the homes of their dreams.

Here are all the changes that came to real estate in this pandemic year that are likely here to stay.

Big-city living loses its cool—and suburbs will never be the same

It turns out that sheltering in place is a great way to find out if you really, really love your home—and being able to work remotely means there are more options if you don’t. The biggest wake-up call this year was for city dwellers who’d long justified the high expense of their tiny apartments with the many perks of urban life—until those suddenly became unavailable.

It’s always been the case that, as young people get older and start families, they’re more likely to move to the suburbs. But as realtor.com’s chief economist, Danielle Hale, put it, “COVID-19 accelerated this trend. People are looking for space and affordability, and [the suburbs are] where they can find it.”

In the nation’s largest metropolitan areas, shoppers were spending more time checking out suburban listings than homes near the city center last year, according to realtor.com research. Asking prices also shot up faster in the burbs, boosted by the surge in demand.

Some employers have already stated they will allow eligible employees to work remotely for good, offering more incentive for people to seek out greener pastures and larger homes. And judging from the number of people who’ve already made the leap and bought a home in a more remote location, we’re guessing they will.

As the transplants settle in to their new surroundings, they’re likely to make their mark on the suburbs, as well. After all, why can’t they have their single-family home with a yard and some of the advantages of city life?

Buyers expect more from their homes

People are starting to trickle back to their offices and gyms, and children to classrooms, but the lesson of 2020’s ups and downs, reopenings and reclosings, is that you need to be prepared if those things aren’t possible. That means buyers are paying close attention to homes with plenty of space to work, attend school, exercise, and enjoy the fresh air.

Millennials, many with young children, are now the largest group of home buyers, and their preferences will shape home buying for years to come.

That means savvy home sellers will have to get their homes in shape for a new generation’s expectations. These days, homes with a home office sell faster, and for more money, than homes without one.

Sanitary features have come into focus lately, too. Smart, touchless options for faucets, lights, and locks are not only convenient, they also cut down on the transfer of germs.

Technology is making house hunting and buying more convenient

House hunting during the pandemic means relying on technology more than ever. Cruising for home listings on sites such as realtor.com has been a basic first step for years. But this year, with orders declaring real estate work essential in some areas, and inessential for others for weeks at a time, folks were forced to move their home searches primarily online. Many folks ended up buying a home they’d never even seen in person!

And after all, why waste days driving around with a real estate agent, viewing house after house, when you can eliminate many options while sitting on your couch, at a time that works for you? The catch: There are some things that are harder to perceive in a video tour—so you need to know what signs to look for.

Other aspects of the often clunky home-buying process have also been streamlined by technology. There’s no need to sit in a mortgage broker’s office to discuss loan options, or sign piles of paperwork in a room at a title company. Remote mortgage pre-approvals, inspections, appraisals, and even closings are now the norm.

Homeowners are going to be more self-reliant

DIY projects used to seem like something fun to do in your free time, but when you want to reduce exposure to additional people, making simple upgrades and performing basic home maintenance yourself is a necessity. And once you’ve developed those skills, you’re less likely to reach for the phone when you have something that needs fixing.

Plus, homeowners have always known that doing things yourself is great for the bottom line, especially when you target projects that offer a good return on investment.

The post One Year Into the Pandemic, Our Outlook on Home Has Totally Changed—Possibly Forever appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

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Deregulation Aimed to Lower Home-Power Bills. For Many, It Didn’t.

Gabriella Demczuk for The Wall Street Journal

Twenty years ago, a new breed of energy companies promised consumers that deregulation of the electricity industry would cut their power bills.

The opposite happened.

U.S. consumers who signed up with retail energy companies that emerged from deregulation paid $19.2 billion more than they would have if they’d stuck with incumbent utilities from 2010 through 2019, a Wall Street Journal analysis of U.S. Energy Information Administration data found.

Retail energy companies buy electricity from generators—power-plant operators, wind farms, solar-power firms—and sell it to consumers, usually over the local utilities’ wires. Giving consumers a choice between their old utilities and new rivals, the argument for deregulation went, would create competitive pricing.

But in nearly every state, they have charged more than their incumbent utilities in each of the five years from 2015 through 2019, the Journal analysis found. The Journal’s analysis of power prices in 13 states and the District of Columbia excluded other states where retail companies supplied less than 1% of residential electricity in 2019.

Consumers on retail plans paid $1.9 billion extra in Pennsylvania and $1.7 billion in New York during the 10-year period examined by the Journal. In 2019, consumers paid $3.1 billion more in D.C. and the 13 states together, the biggest single-year difference ever over what they would have paid their utilities. On average across D.C. and the states, retail electricity cost 14% more than utility power in 2019, an all-time high.

In Texas, where retail-electricity deregulation has gone furthest, residential consumers who signed up with retailers paid $12.6 billion more in the 10 years through 2019 than if they had paid utilities’ rates, according to the Journal’s analysis.

Texas also deregulated electricity generation—the production of electricity by power plants—and allows the wholesale-market price that power plants charge to go as high as $9,000 a megawatt-hour in times of scarcity, more than 400 times the 2020 average price of $21.18. Prices hit that cap on five days during the February deep freeze, and some retail customers who had opted for variable-rate plans were immediately hit with thousands of dollars of charges.

Retail power providers say their ability to buy and sell power at the best prices allows them to get cheaper energy and curbs the utilities’ monopoly power. They also say competitive markets for electricity can spark innovation in the power packages they provide, including the option to purchase plans that include clean-energy supply, giving consumers more choices.

Electricity deregulation worked for business. Federal data show it led to substantial savings for commercial and industrial power customers, whose large-scale electricity use gives them the incentive to shop around and seek expert guidance.

Regulated utilities, while cheaper for consumers, have struggled in many states with issues around reliability and maintenance. Consumers who are paying more for power through retail electricity suppliers still rely on the same power grid and usually the same power plants that customers of the regulated utility use.

A customer’s BGE bill showing the gas supplier charges of Spark Energy in Baltimore in December.

Gabriella Demczuk for The Wall Street Journal

Consumers can benefit from the deregulated marketplace by strategically shifting to suppliers with the lowest prices. “People who are effective at shopping are going to get the best price,” said Daniel Allegretti, a consultant for the Retail Energy Supply Association, an industry trade group, and a former employee of Enron Corp., which helped spawn the retail energy industry in the 1990s.

Many customers aren’t experts at reading the fine print in contracts that let retailers raise rates in ways they don’t expect, consumer advocates say. In most deregulated states, retailers’ customers get their power bills from the incumbent utility, rather than directly from the retail provider, leaving the perception for some consumers that the regulated provider is still overseeing the contract.

Mr. Allegretti said many retail firms would prefer to send the bills themselves, which he said would help develop their brands with consumers.

Watchdog groups, state attorneys general offices and state consumer advocates have complained about the retail power industry’s sales practices for years, saying some use low teaser rates to attract consumers who don’t understand that rates could go up eventually or illegally switch people to their service without consent. Big retail companies such as NRG Energy Inc. concede there has been bad behavior by some competitors and say they are working to improve the industry’s reputation, such as efforts to make customer bills more transparent.

“After 20 years, I think you’d want to know, has this worked out for residential customers?” said Paula Carmody, who served for 14 years until this January as head of Maryland’s Office of People’s Counsel, an independent state agency that represents residential utility consumers. “From the information we have, it’s not working.”

Some retailers have targeted the elderly as well as poor and often heavily minority neighborhoods where electricity bills account for larger shares of income. “Low-income customers are much more receptive to the message, ‘Hey you can save some money here,’ ” said Mr. Allegretti. Rules that encourage retail firms’ ability to market their services to low-income communities give customers in those neighborhoods the ability to take advantage of the cost savings they promise, he said.

Mr. Medley’s switch

Laurel Peltier, an environmental writer in Baltimore, was helping a local church’s parishioners with financial issues in 2016 when she saw some had skyrocketing electricity bills. “I’m looking at these bills, and I’m confused,” she said. She realized many—often minorities or cash-strapped elderly consumers—had signed up with retailers and were paying much more than if they had signed up with Baltimore Gas & Electric Co., the incumbent utility for the city of Baltimore.

Jessie Medley, outside his Baltimore home in December, says he didn’t realize his power source had been switched to a retail provider.

Gabriella Demczuk for The Wall Street Journal

One she helped recently was retiree Jessie Medley, 76. Ms. Peltier determined that over three years, Mr. Medley had paid retail energy supplier IDT Energy Inc. more than $2,000 in excess of what he would have paid the utility. He said he didn’t realize he had been switched to IDT because his bills still said BGE, which was handling collection for the retail energy company.

Mr. Medley, who is on Social Security and frequently gets meals from a local food pantry, said an IDT sales representative told him he would save money if he switched plans. He said he didn’t agree to change plans and didn’t sign any forms, but he was switched anyway. After a Maryland Public Service Commission investigation determined IDT couldn’t verify certain information about Mr. Medley’s decision to sign up for their service, the company agreed to repay Mr. Medley $2,635.10.

An IDT spokesman said that the company considered Mr. Medley’s enrollment valid and that his monthly bills identified IDT. Mr. Medley’s bills, which the Journal reviewed, were delivered by BGE and prominently displayed the name of the utility as well as IDT.

The spokesman said a Maryland Public Service Commission rejection of an enrollment “doesn’t necessarily mean fraud was involved” and that the commission rejects enrollments for a variety of reasons, such as incorrect formatting of paperwork.

The retail power industry now ranges from relatively small players like Genie Energy Ltd., which owns IDT and is publicly traded with a stock-market value of about $200 million, to the nation’s biggest players in the electricity industry, such as NRG Energy and Exelon Corp.

NRG provides power to some six million customers in the U.S. and Canada and has grown sharply in recent years with acquisitions of rival suppliers such as Xoom Energy and Direct Energy Services LLC. Exelon, with a market capitalization of about $40 billion, became a major player in the retail business with its $8 billion purchase of Constellation Energy Group in 2012.

More than 230 retail providers reported selling residential electricity in 2019, with the biggest 20 accounting for 75% of retail sales. Consolidation in the industry means many companies in the market are owned by the same parent. In Texas, marketers owned by NRG and Vistra��Corp. accounted for three-quarters of the retail electricity sold in the state in 2019.

Exelon office in Baltimore; the company owns a major retail energy supplier.

Gabriella Demczuk for The Wall Street Journal

Deregulation of retail electricity went further in Texas than any other state. Nearly 60% of residents are required to shop for their electricity on the retail market, with no option of remaining with a traditional utility. Because retailers don’t sell in the areas that are served by utilities in Texas, it isn’t possible to make direct rate comparisons; the Journal analysis compared Texas’ statewide average cost of power sold in the deregulated areas with the statewide average cost of full-service utilities.

In D.C. and the other 12 deregulated states in the Journal’s analysis, residents could still opt to stay with their incumbent utilities. In 2010, retailers in D.C. and those states supplied 32 million megawatt-hours of residential power, or about 10% of the total. In 2019, they sold 86 million megawatt-hours, 28% of all residential electricity.

Deregulation wave

Before deregulation, a consumer usually had one option for electricity: Buy from the regulated-monopoly utility. Government officials let the utilities charge enough to cover costs and make a modest profit.

The retail energy industry began in the 1990s following a wave of deregulation of businesses ranging from railroads to telecommunications to natural gas. Eventually, at least 18 states deregulated retail residential electricity to varying degrees.

The retail power industry largely languished until about a decade ago, when many of those states adopted a regulation called “purchase of receivables,” or POR. Under the rule, which regulators implemented as a way to encourage retailers to sell their service to more consumers, utilities became responsible for collecting unpaid residential customer bills. The retail power companies pay a small fee for the service.

Because they were no longer responsible for unpaid bills, retail power companies didn’t have to worry about the risks of signing up residential consumers, said Mr. Allegretti, the industry consultant. The POR rule, he said, “makes the retail supplier completely indifferent as to the credit risk of certain customers, and that includes low-income neighborhoods.”

James Bride, president of Energy Tariff Experts, an energy-industry consultant, said: “Some of the POR programs were designed without anticipating that some bad actors would charge really high rates.”

Many retail energy companies use teaser rates to persuade households to switch to their services. Variable rates often kick in several months after service begins and can change month to month.

They sometimes use deceptive marketing practices—such as promising to deliver long-term cheap power—then raise rates after a few months, according to regulators, customer complaints and multiple lawsuits against some companies in the industry. In online descriptions of their power plans, the companies typically disclose they have the right to raise prices, but the details are often vague and buried in the fine print.

Mr. Allegretti and other industry backers say residential customers need better education from the industry and regulators about how the retail-electricity market works and how it can benefit them. “The more educated the customers are, the better they do,” he said.

Some consumers the Journal interviewed said they weren’t actively monitoring their month-to-month charges and didn’t realize their rates were creeping up.

In Massachusetts, the state attorney general’s office in 2019 said residents in the past four years had filed more than 1,000 complaints about retail energy suppliers engaging in “aggressive and deceptive tactics.” Retail provider Starion Energy Inc., in response to a complaint by the Massachusetts attorney general’s office, agreed in August 2020 to pay up to $10 million for promising big savings while instead raising prices through variable-rate contracts.

According to a script used by telemarketers to sell Starion’s services, potential customers were told “starting next month you’re able to receive a rate reduction” on an electric bill, according to the complaint. The script didn’t disclose that the rate reduction would expire after one or two months, after which charges could more than double.

A Starion representative said it honored its settlement agreement and is focused on serving its current customers with new products.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio is investigating whether retail energy providers PALMco Energy and Verde Energy USA, a Spark Energy Inc. affiliate, provided misleading information about variable rates, among other possible violations. The two providers were “very misleading about the nature of the price and the variable nature of it,” said Matt Schilling, public-affairs director with the agency, who said the rate they eventually charged was as much as four times the standard utility charge.

PALMco, which has left the Ohio market, declined to comment on any litigation pending before the Ohio commission or on settlement discussions and said it has refunded consumers in the state hundreds of thousands of dollars. Verde didn’t respond to requests for comment. Verde didn’t dispute the violations detailed in a staff report on its investigation, according to the commission’s order on the case.

NRG’s Xoom Energy LLC is a defendant in a New York class-action lawsuit over claims it overcharged customers for gas and electricity.

Connecticut’s utility regulatory authority in 2019 fined Direct Energy $1.5 million for engaging in unfair and deceptive marketing practices, among other things.

Agents for Direct Energy, also owned by NRG, told consumers that the rate a local utility charged was variable, when it actually was a fixed rate, according to the Connecticut agency’s investigation. “Now, if you haven’t chosen a supplier, sir, then your rate right now is a variable rate on your bill. It changes month to month,” a Direct Energy agent told a consumer, referring to a competing utility company, according to the investigation.

Direct Energy agents would at times describe themselves as “an energy adviser…working with your electric company,” rather than saying they worked for a competitor, according to the investigation. The agents would also suggest that the customer isn’t switching to a different service provider. In response to a customer stating that “I’m not interested in changing,” an agent said: “Well, no, you don’t change anything. Everything stays the same.”

An NRG spokeswoman said: “We are a fierce advocate for consumer protection, and we support action that holds suppliers accountable. The alleged violations pertaining to Xoom Energy and Direct Energy occurred prior to their acquisition by NRG.”

NRG CEO Mauricio Gutierrez said in a written statement to the Journal that while there are some “non-reputable actors” in the retail energy industry, the solution “is not to deprive customers of choices but instead taking meaningful steps to empower and inform customers of their rights and options.”

Minority impact

Minorities often represent a disproportionate share of retail energy consumers. About 12% of New York City’s households are in ZIP Codes where Black and Hispanic people make up more than half of the population, but those ZIP Codes accounted for 47% of the retail suppliers’ electricity customers, according to the Journal’s analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau and research done in 2016 by the Public Utility Law Project, a consumer advocacy organization.

Writer Laurel Peltier, above right at a Baltimore church in December, was helping local parishioners with financial issues in 2016 when she saw some had skyrocketing electricity bills.

Gabriella Demczuk for The Wall Street Journal

Those customers paid $63 million more for their electricity that year than they would have if they had chosen to be served by the regional utility, Consolidated Edison Inc., the analysis shows.

Illinois in a 2018 lawsuit said IDT carried out a “particularly egregious marketing scheme that disproportionately impacted African-American consumers on the South and West sides of Chicago.” IDT “bombarded customers with false claims of lower electricity rates and savings,” mainly through telephone calls and door-to-door sales, the Illinois attorney general’s office said in a news release.

The state’s investigation found that nine of 10 ZIP Codes with the highest IDT enrollments were in neighborhoods where the population was more than 90% Black. In a settlement, IDT, which didn’t admit wrongdoing, agreed to refund $3 million to more than 176,000 customers.

A 2019 analysis commissioned by the Connecticut Office of Consumer Counsel looked at one month of retail supplier bills in select communities in which people of color made up more than half the population. In those communities, the poorest households—families that got assistance from the state for their electric bills known as “hardship customers”—paid premiums on their bills that were on average nearly 50% higher than other customers for retail providers.

In these communities, 45% of the hardship families got their power from retail energy companies. Statewide, 35% of hardship households got their electricity from these companies, compared with 27% of non-hardship customers that did, the analysis found. None of the communities surveyed saw the poorest families get lower rates than other customers.

Susan Baldwin, an independent consultant and expert in U.S. energy policy who has frequently testified in state regulatory proceedings on behalf of consumer advocates, did the analysis and has done studies of retail energy company practices in several other states. She said billing data shows that people of color tend to use retail energy companies and pay more for their power. “The most vulnerable consumers are harmed the most,” she said.

‘Sick of it’

Some states, such as New York, Illinois and Ohio, have adopted policies that restrict the ability of retail energy suppliers to sell to consumers who get state aid for their utility bills.

Maryland has considered enacting a similar policy. From 2015 through 2019, residential retail electricity consumers in Maryland paid $399 million more than they would have paid their utility company, according to the Journal’s analysis.

Betty Burrows, a 72-year-old retiree in Baltimore, started getting electricity from IDT in January 2020—without her consent, she said. She asked the company to cancel the contract in February. IDT complied, and she went back to getting power from her incumbent utility, Baltimore Gas & Electric.

In August, her account illegally switched back to IDT, again without her consent, according to the Maryland Public Service Commission, which investigated the matter. IDT said she had enrolled in August online, but the email address and phone number used for the enrollment weren’t hers, according to the commission’s investigation. Ms. Burrows said she doesn’t own a computer.

Over the course of the year, Ms. Burrows paid $267 more for electricity and natural gas than she would have paid her incumbent utility, the commission found. IDT refunded that amount after the commission’s investigation. An IDT spokesman said the retailer terminated the agent who it said had fraudulently signed her up in August.

“It’s just hard on some people,” Ms. Burrows said, adding that she is concerned she might get switched again. “I’m sick of it.”

Ms. Burrows worries her power supplier might get switched again without her consent.

Gabriella Demczuk for The Wall Street Journal

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‘Marriage or Mortgage’: Nichole Holmes Reveals Why Real Estate Trumps Romance

©NETFLIX 2021

What’s a better use of your hard-earned money: a big, beautiful wedding or a house of your own? That’s the question posed on a new Netflix reality show, “Marriage or Mortgage.”

In the show (premiering on Wednesday), real estate agent Nichole Holmes and wedding planner Sarah Miller compete for the business of 10 engaged couples who are trying to decide whether to splurge on a wedding or their first home.

“It’s up to Sarah and myself to make sure that we do right by them,” Holmes says of the couples. “I find the best real estate and offer it up to them, and she shows them the fanciest weddings and then they get to decide.”

And while a big wedding may be lots of fun, Holmes, who hails from Marion, IL, argues that a home is typically the smarter investment.

In this exclusive interview, Holmes dishes about her own personal experience deciding between a wedding and a home, why she regrets her choice, and her hard-won wisdom for other home buyers.

Sarah Miller (left) and Nichole Holmes in “Marriage or Mortgage”

©NETFLIX 2021

Have you personally ever had to decide between buying a house and having a big wedding?

I have! I’ve been married twice before, it’s my history, so I’m always happy to talk about it.

My first wedding was a very large and extravagant wedding, and my father came to me and said, “Are you sure you don’t want a big down payment on a house or two matching luxury cars in the driveway?” And I was, like, “No, I’ve got to have my big day, Daddy!” Well, fast-forward seven years, and I got divorced. And then I was amortizing how much everything cost, and what it cost per year that the marriage lasted, and I was, like, “Wow, that really wasn’t a smart financial decision on my part!”

When I got married the second time, I learned from the first one, and we went to the courthouse. It was a very low-key wedding, but that one still didn’t work. Still, I understand this is a union that people feel drawn to, and that’s amazing.

Why is a house such a good investment for a couple?

A couple won’t make money off of a wedding. But if they listen to their real estate agent, a home can be a great investment.

So to me, having gone through what I went through, it just makes good sense to me to take that money and put it into a down payment and find the dream home. Or not even a dream home. Maybe you buy your “right now” home because you can make money off those, too.

Holmes shows engaged couples their dream home, hoping they’ll invest in real estate rather than a fancy wedding.

©NETFLIX 2021

You spend most of your time on ‘Marriage or Mortgage’ showing couples houses. What should they be looking for?

It’s important for couples to have an open mind. For example, if you perhaps want to be in a specific school district, you may need to compromise on something like yard size. There are always compromises. Otherwise it would be “Marriage and Mortgage,” not “Marriage or Mortgage.”

I once had a young lady who wanted a grand staircase and all of these other things. I was just striking out with each house that I showed her. Everybody’s time is valuable, so I was, like, “You know what, would you be interested in building a home?” Because what she was describing wasn’t necessarily something that I thought we were going to find in the market, at that price range. Yet, they could have built it, at the time, in their price range, so that’s what happened!

Holmes and Sarah Miller toast one couple’s pending nuptials.

©NETFLIX 2021

Do you have any tips for house-hunting couples who are trying to avoid butting heads?

Go into it with a good, solid budget. Know your parameters, know what you’re willing to stretch up to, or know what you’re willing to put into a house in elbow grease and sweat equity.

It’s important that couples talk amongst themselves before they call a real estate agent to figure out what is important.

Sometimes I feel a little bit more like a referee than a real estate agent, but it’s part of the business—it’s all about managing expectations. It wouldn’t serve any of us very well if I took everything that they described to me, and I showed them that house, and it was $200,000 over their budget. So we just all have to be on the same page.

How much should young couples spend on a house—or a wedding, for that matter?

The national average is between 25% to 35% of a person’s take-home pay goes toward their mortgage. Anything over that is kind of overextending.

[For a wedding], it’s totally up to the couples, and what their income is, and what they’re comfortable with. You may have a couple that’s making excellent money but a wedding’s not that important to them. Or you might have quite the opposite, which is generally the case: They don’t make as much money, but they want the huge house and the huge wedding.

A wedding dress costs thousands of dollars that could be put toward a down payment on a house.

©NETFLIX 2021

What’s your No. 1 piece of advice for any home buyer—single, married, or otherwise?

Certainly work with a real estate agent. Everyone can look online and find houses or go to open houses—that’s the fun part! But when it comes time to put the offer in, in this market, when there are multiple-offer situations going on, good luck for anyone who’s not in the real estate industry to know what to do.

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It’s Not Just Florida! America’s 10 Fastest-Growing Retirement Towns Show Some Surprises

Getty Images

Itching to retire? Friends, you’ve got plenty of company. After a seemingly endless year of COVID-19-fueled fears, layoffs, and lockdowns, older America’s usual “transition to retirement” has become more of a full-on, rush-for-the-exits stampede.

Last year, more people in the U.S. retired than ever before. Roughly 28.6 million baby boomers left their work life behind in the third quarter of 2020 alone—about 3.2 million more than over the same period in 2019, according to the Pew Research Center. Some may have lost their jobs as casualties of COVID-19 and don’t want to find another during a public health crisis, others may have retired a little earlier than planned out of fear of contracting the virus. And then there are those who may have simply felt like a pandemic was as good a time as any to live in the moment and begin enjoying their so-called golden years.

“They said [they were] going to retire in a year or two anyway, and now it just seems like the right time,” says Chris Porter, chief demographer at John Burns Real Estate Consulting.

With home prices climbing, selling their homes for a big payout and moving to a more affordable destination also just makes financial sense for many baby boomers.

“Retirees might be able to cash out on pretty significant equity in their homes, and find something more affordable or maybe find something better for the same price in a location that’s generally more affordable,” says Porter.

But exactly where are those multitudes of Americans heading—and why? We looked into the data, and found a few surprises mixed in with the usual suspects. (Spoiler: It’s not just Florida!)

Wherever these large groups of retirees go, they’ll have a big impact on a region’s housing and economy. They’ll influence what kinds of homes are built, and play a large part in real estate prices, and even what kinds of jobs are available. That’s because baby boomers make up a huge generation, larger than the one that came before it and the Generation Xers that followed. So whatever they do has long-lasting ripple effects.

Last year, 313,000 people over age 65 moved to a new state, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Places that blend urban and suburban environments are especially attractive to boomers, says Porter. They’re also seeking places with lower taxes and cost of living as well as access to top-notch health care. Walking trails, parks, and plenty of restaurants and cultural attractions are key.

“They’re also relocating to be near their adult children or their grandchildren,” Porter explains. “That’s happening in greater numbers than we’d seen in the past.”

To scope out the fastest-growing retirement destinations, we started with the metro areas (which include a main city plus surrounding burbs and smaller urban areas) where at least a quarter of the population was aged 60 and up, according to U.S. census data. Then we found the ones that saw the largest increase in the number of new residents aged 55-plus moving in from 2014 to 2019, as well as the biggest jump in seasonal and vacation homes over the same period. Finally, we dug into our own real estate listings to find the metros with the most retiree-friendly homes, which say things like “universal design” and “aging in place” in the listing.

We limited our list to just two metros per state. Seeking greener pastures for your third act? Let’s see where the masses are heading.

Map of the fastest-growing retirement destinations

Tony Frenzel for realtor.com

1. Lakeland, FL

Lakeland, FL, is one of the nation’s fastest-growing retirement destinations.

Sean Pavone/Getty Images

Median home list price: $260,050*

Lakeland may be the most conveniently located city in Central Florida. Since it’s situated along Interstate 4, nearby cities Orlando and Tampa and an assortment of sandy beaches are all just about an hour away. Lakeland offers open spreads of protected state land with walking and biking trails and several lakes for skiing, fishing, and boating.

“I’ve watched Lakeland transform from the woods between Orlando and Tampa to a thriving city without losing a small hometown feel,” says lifelong Lakeland resident Jason Brown, a real estate agent with S&D Real Estate.

While home prices have gone up recently, they’re still much more affordable than the boomtowns Orlando, at a median $320,050, and Tampa, at $302,400.

Lakeland offers a mix of real estate, including communities for people 55 and older with active social schedules and amenities like golf courses, tennis courts, and community pools. Condos, patio homes, and mobile-home communities are available, too.

“If someone doesn’t want to move into a 55-plus community, the same amenities are available in communities without age restrictions,” says Cassandra Vann, a real estate agent with Keller Williams Realty in Lakeland.

Plus, property taxes and insurance are low, and the state of Florida doesn’t have an income tax. And yes, it’s warm.

For less than $200,000, boomers can nab a four-bedroom condo in a waterfront community with two swimming pools, tennis courts, a clubhouse, boat dock, and lots of shady sidewalks.

2. Traverse City, MI

Median home list price: $419,950

Michigan boasts more than 3,200 miles of freshwater shoreline, more than any other state. Located on Lake Michigan and nestled in the beautiful northern part of the state’s Lower Peninsula is Grand Traverse County. It’s a good fit for nature lovers with public beaches, miles of biking and walking trails, state forests, ski resorts, wineries, and lots more.

“No matter what age someone is considering retiring, Northern Lower Michigan is definitely worth some investigation,” says Loren Gardner, a real estate agent at Keller Williams Northern Michigan. “The housing market is very strong here, and also architecturally diverse.”

Retirees have their pick when it comes to real estate—single-family Victorian homes, modern architecture, beachfront houses, cabins, and more, he says. Stand-alone and duplex condos are especially popular with retirees, and there are several options available for $200,000 or less.

Check out this countryside condo with a wood-burning fireplace and woodsy views that’s available for $137,500.

3. Springfield, MA

Springfield, MA, has become popular with retirees.

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Median home list price: $300,050

Over the past several years, Springfield has struggled. The city saw a rise in crime and urban decay after some of its heavy-equipment manufacturers moved away. But Springfield has been working on a comeback, and these days, it has a lot to offer retirees.

For one, it’s affordable. Springfield’s cost of living is lower than that of other metros in the Northeast, like Boston or New York City. The state of Massachusetts also doesn’t tax Social Security benefits or government pension income. Its location on the banks of the Connecticut River offers scenic spots and plenty of hiking trails.

Home prices are a little below the national median of $346,000, but they’ve been on the rise recently. House hunters have many choices in a new home, including single-family homes and condos. This ranch home with an open floor plan and three bedrooms is listed for $214,999.

4. Coeur d’Alene, ID

The natural beauty of Coeur d’Alene, ID, makes it a hot spot for celebrities—and retirees.

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Median home list price: $850,050

Coeur d’Alene is by far the most expensive spot on our list, with a median home price that isn’t for the faint of heart. That’s because it’s situated on the Coeur d’Alene Lake, which the Spokane River flows into, and is surrounded by mountains. Summertime allows for hiking, biking, or water activities. In the winter, residents enjoy downhill or cross-country skiing and the snowshoe trails.

Buyers might even spot a few celebrities, who can afford those high prices and often visit the area looking for some peace and quiet.

Coeur d’Alene is a bedroom community to Spokane, WA, and the Spokane International Airport is just an hour away.

“This makes easy airline access for visiting family or retirees wanting to take their next adventure,” says Matt Side, director of broker development and owner at Realty ONE Group Eclipse in Coeur d’Alene.

The real estate market has thrived recently. Side says northern Idaho has drawn new residents who are leaving populous metros, attracted to Coeur d’Alene’s low taxes and low-key lifestyle.

The city has a robust condo community on the lake or river, but there are all kinds of homes that would be a great fit for retirees. Near downtown Coeur d’Alene, buyers can find a farmhouse-style bungalow for $359,250.

5. Wilmington, NC

Median home list price: $382,550

Wilmington is a historic port city that has many characteristics that traditionally appeal to retirees. The weather is near perfect year-round, so you can enjoy rounds of golf at one of the many courses or visiting the pristine beaches at any time. The only downside is Wilmington is at risk during hurricane season.

The North Carolina city has a suburban feel, with many shopping, dining, and cultural attractions. Wilmington is also known as “Hollywood East” for the large production studio located there and the many movies and TV shows that have been filmed locally.

To keep their minds active, residents can enroll in art history, philosophy, science, or technology class at the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s lifelong learning institute for people over 55.

Affordability is another draw. Cost of living and housing are both lower than the national average. A spacious townhouse overlooking the Cape Fear River (yep, just like the movie) is an option at $251,900. It’s located in a community with a swimming pool and access to beaches.

6. Winchester, VA

Median home list price: $339,050

It’s easy to see why retirees are drawn to this Shenandoah Valley metro. Several communities for people 55 and older have been built recently, and new ones are cropping up all the time. Winchester has gorgeous weather year-round, and Washington, DC, and Northern Virginia and its hiking trails and parks are only an hour away.

Winchester’s cost of living is much lower than other parts of the state, too. And retirees have many options when looking for a new home, including townhouses, duplexes, and ranches with a mix of modern, traditional, farmhouse, and Colonial styles.

“We have communities here that are specifically for retirees, and their services extend to an on-site restaurant and on-site health care, all while giving you the option to live in condos, apartments, or single-family homes,” says Stephanie Feltner, a real estate agent with The Feltner Group at ERA OakCrest Realty.

She says retirees are attracted to Winchester for its sense of community, and often look for functionality in new homes, including single levels, open floor plans, and extra gathering space for when friends and family visit. This two-bedroom townhouse located in an over-55 community is available for $274,900.

7. Portland, ME

Maine has become a popular destination during the coronavirus pandemic, for retirees too.

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Median home list price: $451,450

Maine’s popularity has exploded during the coronavirus pandemic. The state’s largest, historic city, surrounded by water with cobblestone streets downtown, has become quite a hot spot. Locals call downtown and the urban and commercial neighborhoods nearby “the peninsula,” since it’s situated on an area that extends into the Casco Bay.

Portland’s walkable downtown and access to high-quality health care centers have made it appealing for retirees. Maine Medical Center was ranked the No. 1 hospital in Maine by U.S. News & World Report.

Outdoor activities make Portland a fun place to call home and to inspire family and friends to visit. Snowshoeing and cross-country skiing are popular during the winter, while fishing, sailing, and munching on lobster rolls top the bill in summer.

Portland can be a costly place to live, though. Housing prices have been steadily increasing and are now higher than the national average. For a new-construction condo, buyers can pay nearly $470,000. But they’ll get a view of the Casco Bay, and it’s walking distance to nearby parks.

8. Salisbury, MD

Median home list price: $360,050

Known as “The Crossroads of Delmarva”—which stands for Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia—this metro in southeastern Maryland has a diverse population of students, families, and retirees. Salisbury’s low home prices and real estate taxes especially attract baby boomers from more expensive and populated cities in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Washington, DC. Retirees can live much more affordably here, while just being a few hours away from friends and family.

Salisbury features lots of green spaces, waterways, and woods.

“We are growing and blossoming into a bike- and walking-friendly city,” says real estate agent Loudell Insley, of Long & Foster Real Estate.

Retirees are showing interest in all types of properties, but especially single-family homes and new construction, which is booming in the region, says Brandon Brittingham, CEO at the Maryland & Delaware Group of Long & Foster Real Estate. He adds that people are accelerating their retirement home purchase in Salisbury lately because of the low mortgage interest rates.

“They’re still working, but they know they’re going to retire down here in a few years, so they’re buying that house ahead of time,” says Brittingham.

Just like elsewhere in the country, buyers have to act fast to snap up their dream homes, since they’re in short supply. Listed for $152,000, this three-bedroom townhome is located in a community with several amenities for retirees, including a private pool, dog park, playground, and lots of green space.

9. Albany, NY

Albany’s affordability is a big draw for retirees as it is significantly cheaper than New York City.

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Median home list price: $360,050

New York’s state capital is an especially attractive destination for retirees moving out of New York City, thanks to its idyllic mountain views, lakes, and significantly cheaper just about everything. Buyers can get a home for about a quarter of what they would pay in Manhattan, where home prices are a median $1,375,050 and usually are a fraction of the size.

“The cost of living is lower, giving retired residents more of their income to enjoy their lifestyle,” says Faye Rispoli of Re/Max Solutions in nearby Clifton Park, NY. “In addition, property taxes are less than they are in downstate New York.”

Retirees have a long list of choices when it comes to real estate.

“Albany has a variety of townhouse, condominium, apartment, and assisted-living communities throughout the region that would be a wonderful choice for any retiree currently looking to buy,” says Colin McDonald of McDonald Real Estate in Albany.

The Capital Region, which offers affordable single-family, ranch-style homes, is an area both Rispoli and McDonald recommend. Retirees tend to look for spacious homes with a single level in walkable neighborhoods that are close to shopping, parks, and other activities. This ranch-style two-bedroom is newly renovated, has a large outdoor deck, and comes with a $179,500 price tag.

10. Hartford, CT

Median home list price: $302,850

As one of the oldest metros in the U.S., Hartford is full of history and cultural attractions that appeal to retirees. They include the Museum of Natural and Other Curiosities and the Mark Twain House and Museum, where the author wrote his most iconic novels.

The city is buzzing with restaurants, shops, and cultural activities, too. Plus, big cities like Boston and New York City are an easy drive or train ride away.

The cost of living, including groceries and other expenses, are a little higher than average in metro, but home prices are below the national average. And there are several cozy suburbs to choose, including Avon, CT, which has become a favorite for forever homes.

“Avon is considered by a number of criteria one of the best towns in Connecticut for retirees,” says Alison Malkin, head broker/owner of Re/Max Essentia in Avon. “There are lots of restaurants, coffee shops, parks, shopping, movie theaters—and all in a town with a population of only about 18,000.”

Retired home buyers tend to look for one-story homes with garages in walkable neighborhoods, she says. In the South West neighborhood of Hartford, this raised ranch-style home features a finished lower level, patio, and hot tub for the price of $255,000.

* Median home list price for the metropolitan area as of Jan. 1 from the most recently available realtor.com data

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