Real Estate

If there’s one home amenity that frequently tops a house hunter’s wish list, it’s a big yard. And though you might have had a mammoth half-acre backyard to play in, your kids (and pets) will have less room to grow—especially if you’re buying a newly-built home. According to a new analysis from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), via data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual Survey of Construction, yards are growing smaller and smaller every year.

Just ten miles south of his historic Graceland mansion, Elvis’ honeymoon hideout at the Circle G Ranch was a respite from super stardom. The 60s mobile home on the property was a serene getaway for “The King of Rock and Roll,” even if it was a modest trailer. It’s the magic that Elvis and Pricilla Presley brought to it that turned it into the treasure it is now—a treasure that just sold at GWS Auctions for $67,650.

It’s my third time moving in Los Angeles, and I haven’t even lived here for four years. That means I’ve spent more time on Craigslist, Zillow, Trulia, Rent.com, and Rental Girl than I want to know. I even have rental alerts that ping me once they’ve found a “match” that meets all of my dream home criteria (I haven’t disabled it because apartment hunting is one of my favorite hobbies #noshame).

When you’re about to sell your place, you want it to look as gorgeous as possible to attract the best buyer. And the one thing that all the most attractive listings have? A set of great photos. The first thing you’ll want to do when selling your home is take some great snapshots that reflect what your pad really looks like (minus the pile-up of junk in the corner).

Welcome to A Renter’s Diary! Over the next few weeks, we’ll follow Rebekah Hall as she and her boyfriend move from a home into a 800-square-foot apartment in Little Rock, Arkansas. From battling with the task of downsizing, to figuring out the quirks of the space, Hall will share all of the things you might forget or underestimate. This week she deals with the shock of how small 800 square feet really is: I have had incredible luck as a renter.

The terms pre-qualified and pre-approved almost sound like they could be synonyms. But when it comes to home financing, there’s actually quite a big difference between the two—and securing pre-approval for a loan is actually what brings you closer to the closing table. Think of it this way: Getting pre-qualified is like taking baby steps towards getting approved for a mortgage. You call up a lender, self-report your credit score, and relay information about your income.

You may have done a great job splitting up all your stuff or maybe you feel pretty good about the custody setup you both agreed to, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy having your ex living right around the corner—especially if your lease isn’t up for another year. Not to worry—stepping outside of your apartment won’t always spike your anxiety. If you follow these six tips we promise your next bump-in won’t be as awkward as the last one.

Two years ago, I got divorced. Because I needed cash to pay my lawyer, I put my everyday expenses on a credit card. Before I knew it, between what I charged and the high interest rates, I was in considerable debt. I had a little over $17,000 on two cards. I looked into transferring my debt to an 18-month no-interest credit card and spending every penny I could to pay off my debt before that interest kicked in. But when I ran the numbers, I wouldn’t make it.

It’s common knowledge that owning a home is cheaper than renting (at least in the long term), but anyone who has ever sat down to try and figure out the numbers knows that finding out how much you’ll save is harder than it looks. There are so many factors to consider. To try and help you come as close to the real number as possible, we’ve outlined three ways your rent-vs-buy math might be wrong — and how to straighten things out to give you the best picture possible.

Come move-out time, getting every penny back of that rental deposit is the name of the game. Chores like replacing the stove top drip pans and spackling the walls where your TV once hung can certainly help. But the move-out cleaning ritual I’ve found to have the biggest impact, while requiring the least amount of effort, is done with a dollar store find: A melamine foam pad, or, if we’re talking in brands, Mr. Clean’s Magic Erasers or Scotch-Brite’s Easy Erasing Pad.

If you haven’t been furiously refreshing Zillow for the past couple of months, here’s a bit of news for you: It’s a seller’s market right now. Even if you’re not pining over a dream home currently, you might know that, well, because the thought of buying a home hasn’t even popped into your head anytime recently.

Before I put an offer in on my house, I already knew all the neighborhood quirks I would encounter once I moved in. I knew I’d be able to faintly hear a train at 10:05 p.m. most nights, that I’d be living along the high school homecoming parade route, and that one of my elderly neighbors recently had a stroke and would love to have help walking his dog. Surprisingly, I didn’t get this intel from my real estate agent or even the current owners.

What do you do when you’re a young couple making the transition from Army life in rural Alaska to civilian life anywhere you want? You find a place where everything is within your reach. It didn’t take us long to find and fall in love with Charlotte, North Carolina. With just around 900,000 people, it’s the biggest city in the state, offering diversity, easy transport options, dining, shopping, ample career opportunities, and a great sense of community.

The most famous apartment building in New York City has a history that's almost as legendary as its architecture.

When I moved into my studio apartment in New York, I was lucky enough to have my mom with me to help facilitate the move. And she did facilitate everything—from how to efficiently pack a box to how furniture should be oriented; she was a one-woman moving machine. But the most important lesson I took from her was this: Never pack your cleaning supplies! Why?

In a hot real estate market, where sellers are receiving multiple offers close in price, a well-written offer letter can be the ace in your pocket. “A letter can make you feel more like a person to the sellers rather than an offer and number,” says Lauren McKinney, broker and realtor with Gold Leaf Realty and Development and marketing director for Judd Builders. With that said, buyers’ letters should be short and heartfelt, says McKinney, whose based in North Carolina.

If you close your eyes and imagine graphic wallpapers, footed tubs, flora-filled door frames, there’s a new dream real estate listing you have to see: A New York City co-op so deliciously twee, we’re surprised it hasn’t been designed by Adam Stockhausen. Everything about this $2.95 million one-bedroom, one-and-a-half bath apartment is a perfect blend of daintiness and opulence.

Getting ready to sell a house can be an intimidating prospect. As you prepare for your next move, you’re likely concerned about one question above all else: How much money will you make from selling your home? The profit from your home will determine your budget for your next home (or maybe it will determine your budget for the business you’re starting or your year traveling around in an RV).

How many times did you burst into tears when buying your first home? Tears are apparently very normal—a new survey from Homes.com found that one in three Americans ended up crying during the home buying process. In fact, of the 2,000 home buyers surveyed, 13 percent of respondents cried “a lot.” Why is the process so difficult? The survey points to a few key reasons that adults may be overwhelmed by the search.

In 2012, my husband and I decided to take the next big step together—investing in a starter home in Atlanta, Georgia. We had been married a little over five years, and my husband’s above-average credit score of 780 meant we would easily be approved for a mortgage. We sought a home in the $250,000 range with a mortgage of $1,200 per month that we could repay in 30 years. We decided to only look at foreclosed homes since they were the most affordable option.

My fiancé and I found ourselves approaching the end of 2013 with two goals in mind: 1. Make it through the wedding planning process and 2. Buy our first home. For a 26-year-old, these were both two exceptionally expensive activities—especially in northern New Jersey where we lived. But we’d been living at home and saving since graduating from college and our parents were very generous in their contributions to our wedding, so these two expenses were somewhat doable.

These little tricks will make it much easier to pack up your kitchen.

It’s not news that increased capital flowing into the San Francisco Bay Area has made the area’s housing market absurdly competitive. But it’s still shocking to see the already high numbers get even higher—and so quickly. Case in point: Zillow recently released a study stating that, by June 2019, a whopping nine cities in the Bay Area will likely have median home values of more than $1 million.

Here’s a riddle for renters: Say your lease expires on October 31. Do you need to move out on October 31 and keep your stuff in storage until November 1, or can you actually move out November 1, giving yourself a little wiggle room? The short answer: It varies depending on your management company or landlord, says agent Alex Lavrenov, of Warburg Realty in New York, New York.

You didn’t think they made all that dough on movies, did you? For some of Hollywood’s hottest names, building up their bank account goes far beyond what they do in front of the cameras. Celebrities use their high profile properties as investments and make a hefty dose of extra money each month—and when you own a $10 million house, think how much you can charge in monthly rent. Just don’t expect them to pop by to fix a leaky faucet!

We’ve come across our fair share of delightfully freakish Airbnb digs, but this latest temporary rental listing is equally over-the-top in a good way, unless you have a snake phobia. For those with a tolerance for scaly, slithering creatures, allow us to suggest a stay at Javier Senosiain’s snake-shaped house during your next trip to Mexico.

Over Fourth of July Weekend, I was running errands with my mom while visiting in suburban Chicago, Illinois. We headed to the Dollar Tree (also known as her and my grandma’s “favorite store”) because she wanted to pick up some plates she had been longing after. Bless my mother for practicing the “only buy if you think about it after you leave the store” trick even at Dollar Tree.

They may not be cobbling together rent money on the 31st of every month, but there are many celebs out there who rent just like us. Of course, it’s usually for reasons other than not being able to afford to buy a home. Celebrities are attracted to renting because of the financial flexibility, as well as their transient lifestyles that takes them from movie sets across the globe.

Moving can be intense. When you’re trying to haul all your stuff out, the damage you’re potentially making on your rental floors is probably not as on top of your mind as convenience. But there is one inexpensive product that has done double duty by making my move easier and getting me my security deposit back on more than one occasion: furniture sliders.

Buying a home—especially for the first time—can be an overwhelming and confusing ordeal, and your real estate agent is your guide through that complicated process. So it’s only natural that you look to them for guidance and trust their advice and expertise on matters big and small.

For me, Target became a non-negotiable nearby amenity while I was growing up in Las Vegas, Nevada. I loved grabbing a coffee from Starbucks, thumbing through video games, and thinking about purchasing Threshold floor lamps for an apartment far away. Now, as an adult with disposable income living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it’s all about the routine runs of charcoal face masks, $15 joggers, Spindrift seltzers, and on-trend serving ware for hosting.

As the war wages on to figure out how to compensate our teachers properly for the priceless work they provide by educating future generations of Americans, some school districts are tackling one aspect—providing affordable teacher housing. And they’re doing it with tiny houses.

When my ex, Sarah, moved into her new home on a beautiful tree-lined street in the middle of one of Toronto’s most charming and historical neighborhoods, I began a months-long search for a place nearby. Even though we didn’t have any children together, it was an absolute priority for the both of us that I move within walking distance.

My husband and I can’t buy a home in L.A. because we’re spending too much money on avocado toast. Just kidding—fancy brunch isn’t the problem. The problem is that houses, even “starter” homes in decent neighborhoods, are too expensive. If we wanted to purchase a home in Highland Park, it would likely cost around $737,700 (the median home value for that neighborhood, according to Zillow). That would mean forking up close to $150,000 as a downpayment.

After years of living in the Hollywood Hills, actress Drew Barrymore has sold her Los Angeles estate to a mystery buyer represented by Swedish firm Hillcrest AB, the LA Times reports. The 8,000 square foot home features 18 rooms, four bedrooms, a separate guesthouse, a pool, and four fireplaces. The property was sold off-market (therefore no listing photos) for $16.5 million—just over $11 million more than she paid for it in 2002.

Every now and then, I Google the address of my childhood home just to see if it’s on the market. I don’t want to buy it, make no mistake. It’s more that I’m forever curious to see if any interior photos have been posted so I can take a virtual walk around the place I spent 21 years of my life. But that’s as far as I’ll take it. In fact, I’ve never thought of driving up to the house and asking the current owners if I could do a little nostalgia tour.

If you’re wondering what it takes to be able to afford to live alone in one of the top 20 populated cities in the United States, check out this list.

A swimsuit designer and a photographer lend their style to this gorgeous Los Angeles loft apartment. 312 West 5th Street, Apt 418 Located in Los Angeles, California $724,500 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom Back in the 1920s, this building was the Fifth Street Store. Fast forward to the 2020s, and it could be your dream apartment. For the past few years, the airy loft-like apartment has been the home of actress and swimwear designer Sarah Godshaw and her husband, photographer Patrick John Horne.

Before you pack one box in anticipation of your move to a co-op, you want to be sure you know everything about the building itself, whether it’s quirky rules, upcoming construction, or ongoing squabbles. This will go a long way to easing your move-in process. This will give you a sense of the issues facing co-op owners in the building and give you a heads-up about potential problems upon move in—and how they’ve been handled.

You’ll often hear the term “second mortgage” come up when watching a movie or TV show when a character isn’t in a great financial standing. “They had to take out a second mortgage on their house,” a gossipy character will whisper, describing how their frenemy has fallen on bad times. But second mortgages get a bad rap—though risky, they’re often a great tool to solve financial problems or even wisely get ahead.

If your friend just bought a house, it’s hard not to feel a pang of jealousy over the fact that she either won the lottery, received a sizable inheritance, or was gifted cash for a down payment. And then there’s that fabulous backsplash and gorgeous front yard she keeps talking about. But no matter how she amassed the pile of cash, your friend’s foray into homeownership can test a friendship, especially if you’re finding it hard to make rent.

I purchased a newly constructed three-bedroom, three-bathroom townhome for just under $200,000 in Westminster, Colorado.

Apartment viewings kind of make no sense when you think about it. If you live in New York, like I do, an apartment viewing is about a 10-15 minute period in which you’re supposed to ask a couple questions, look around for any big problems, and then leave to see another apartment. Most of the time, since apartments come and go so fast, you only have one meeting to make your decision—or you risk losing it to someone who moved faster.

​It’s easy to get caught up in square footage or closet space when looking for an apartment, but there are some other less obvious things that are just important to consider.

To say I was a bit stressed out while hunting for and purchasing my first home would be a gross understatement. You see, I’m a planner. I like to know what to expect in any given situation, and having to trust our real estate agent to guide us through the whole process—without having a road map detailing each step of that process—made me a nervous wreck. There seemed to be so many moving parts that it made my head spin.

The 1920s West Hollywood-adjacent home has been fully updated without losing an ounce of charm. 7212 Willoughby Ave Located in Los Angeles, California $1,099,000 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom When imagining the most picture-perfect home in Los Angeles, this property checks every box. Spanish-style charm? Check. Curved archways? Yep. And a gorgeous outdoor space that brings in loads of natural light? There’s that too. This is a love-at-first-sight kind of home.

Finding an apartment you absolutely adore and want to stay in is a rare and special thing in the rental market today. But, unfortunately, a renter’s desire to stay put isn’t always enough to make it a reality. “With increasing rents, building conversions (to condominium), building sales, and other reasons, landlords look to get tenants out of properties early,” says Mark Hakim, an attorney with SSRGA in New York City.

Just as you might primp before a first date, it makes sense to glam up your home before introducing it to potential buyers.

You’ve seen those fancy gizmos in suburban sinks—those garbage disposals that suck down each and every coffee ground or lettuce leaf you don’t need, making it next to unnecessary to make countless runs to your building’s refuse bin. But despite all the modern luxuries of living in New York City, garbage disposals are actually pretty rare.

Most celebrities live in nice houses (once you’ve watched enough episodes of MTV’s “Cribs,” you know not to say “all”). But there are nice houses… and then there are sprawling estates so palatial that you’d get lost on your way to one of the 15 bathrooms. For these seven big names, home is certainly where the heart—as well as the 17-car garage, screening room, and horse farm—is.

When living conditions are unacceptable, do you have enough of a legal leg to stand on to break your lease? Turns out it’s all about the fine print.

With all the Brooklynites flocking to Silver Lake, Echo Park, or Los Feliz, you might be feeling the itch to get out of Central Los Angeles once and for all. Whether you’re looking for lower rents (the average rent across all of Los Angeles’s 272 neighborhoods is $2,251 a month, according to Rentcafé), homeownership opportunities (18 percent of homes in L.A. sell for over a million, according to Curbed), or just more space, there are a glut of nearby options.

Essentially we decided to buy the home, rent out the parts we weren't using, and cover our mortgage with the income. But then it got hard.

For many, the path to becoming a first-time homeowner is an uphill climb. Student debt, low wages, high housing prices, and massive down payments can mean putting home-owning dreams on the back burner. But a new report provides a flicker of light for wannabe home buyers: It’s getting pretty easy to land a mortgage again, regardless of these hurdles.

Applying for an apartment is hard. First you have to find one that’s moderately nice and within your price range, and then you have to get all of your documents together really, really fast. This would be easy if you were organized and had time set away to sort through your papers. But this is life and we’re not as organized as we’d like to be; it’s likely that you have a job and thus have limited time to collect your bank statements from the last six months.

Greetings, Earthlings: today’s real estate gem is an out of this world “spaceship” house. And this might not even be the first time you’ve laid eyes on this otherworldly dwelling. That’s right, we featured the 1969 sculpted house in La Selva Beach, California as a House Tour back in 2016. Now, it’s currently listed with Coldwell Banker for $1.4 million.

The Yale Avenue home might be simple from the outside, but the interior is chock-full of impressive updates. 118 Yale Avenue Located in Salt Lake City, Utah $279,000 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom To be perfectly honest, this house on Yale Avenue isn’t the most glamorous from the outside. The 1925 bungalow is cute enough—with a solid brick exterior and a pretty porch—but it’s the inside that truly impresses.

The architecture of a city so often becomes an integral part of its branding and identity. The distinguishing image of Paris is the Eiffel Tower and Haussmann apartments. San Francisco has the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, of course. And New York has lofts, brownstones, impressive skyscrapers like the Empire State Building, and quirky modern residences designed by big names like Zaha Hadid and Bjarke Ingels.

Welcome to My First Apartment! Whether it’s your first studio, a four-bedroom deep in the city shared with a handful of roommates, or even an entire house (lucky you!), there’s something special about moving into the first place that’s truly your own. In this series, we’ll showcase actors, artists, entrepreneurs, and beyond—asking them to revisit that oh-so-sweet nostalgia of newly-found freedom.

I move a lot. Because of the nature of my job (freelance writer), I was in five countries over three continents this month. I have to pack, unpack, and move rooms every few days. When I’m on an assignment, I usually stay in a hotel. When I’m not, I often stay with my sweet, accommodating partner who has rearranged his entire bedroom to create a writing nook for me. But even he knows what I long for. It’s not a hotel or a nice apartment with designer furniture.

Anyone who has gone through the stress of house hunting knows that it can be a challenge of biblical proportions. Though no home buying experience is the same, Maureen Burns with @Properties in Chicago, Illinois, says the right preparation and mindset can help you find the best property with relatively little stress. From not getting hung up on easily-fixed cosmetic features to researching your desired neighborhoods ahead of time, this list of rules is a good guide for house hunters everywhere.

If you have roommates, you probably know the standard move-in conversations that need to happen to ensure harmonious living. How will rent be collected and paid, whose television is going in the living room, and are peanut butter jars considered communal? But it’s important to make sure those A-plus communal living communication skills don’t fizzle come move-out time.

When it comes to architecture, there seems to be endless styles to choose from. Have you ever wondered which type is right for you? Interested in your horoscope? Well, what could be more fun than meshing the two? Here, 12 types of homes and their corresponding star match, for millennials’ sake. The free-spirited, unconventional Aquarius would mesh with a Key West-style home.

While it might be viewed as the ultimate power move, some of Hollywood’s biggest stars think sharing the good life with their parents is the best part of making it big. Here are some of Tinseltown’s biggest names who shelled out serious bucks to give their parents the digs they deserve: When you’re Beyoncé Knowles, dropping a million dollars here and there doesn’t even put a dent in your wallet. So when Mrs.

After my parents packed up and moved along to greener pastures—or more accurately, a one-level bungalow one town away—my partner and I decided to move into the darling, ramshackle, 1940s house in Ireland where I was raised. Yes, I chose to move back into my childhood home after my parents moved out—and though it was a dream-come-true to have a home of my own, it was also a more trying experience than I had expected.

Called the “Eye of the Storm”, this beach house on an island off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina is one of a growing trend of “hurricane-proof” domes—and it’s currently for sale for $5 million. The landmark home on Sullivan’s Island—known to locals as the “Star Wars house”—was built in 1989 by George Paul to replace his parents’ beach home on the same site, after it was destroyed by Hurricane Hugo.

Six years after applying with my partner, I won an apartment in the NYC Affordable Housing Lottery—a unicorn most folks actually know little about.

Maybe you hear seemingly constant fighting and crying through the walls. Or someone is hollering upstairs for a concerningly long time. Or the guy across the hall has suddenly gone radio silent and his mailbox is overflowing. Now, the big question: Are you overthinking or does your neighbor really need help?

Whether you’re moving to another state, or just down the block, packing can be an ordeal. And when you’re in the process of a move, you may find yourself wanting to purge a lot of items. “Ask yourself why you want to keep the item. Is it for sentimental reasons? Does it spark joy? If it’s not for any of the two reasons above, chances are you can get rid of it,” says Allison Dunn of Organized Spaces by Allie.

It doesn’t matter how much you smash that piggy bank—your first home is going to be really expensive and it’s going to take a long time to save up for that down payment on your own. According to a new study from HotPads, most renters will spend nearly six and a half years saving to put a down payment on a home. Since the median home price in the United States is $216,000, the average 20-percent down payment comes out to $43,200.

We Midwesterners are known for our polite ways (except when it comes to… well, pretty much every major sport), but moving to NYC is a different playing field. Truly. This hits on all facets of life – decorating and more – and living here almost a decade (wow, let’s pretend I didn’t say that), I am more than able to speak to the differences of the two. Here we go.

Much like dating, searching for a place to live can be the opposite of fun. In love, you’ve got to kiss a lot of frogs. In realty, you’ve got to scroll through a lot of listings. Both, in their own way, pose the risk of catfishing. But at least if you get duped by an embellished Tinder profile, the worst that usually happens is a bad date (which you can get through with the help of a drink or two!