Real Estate

For many people, bigger is still better—especially when it comes to their homes. Sure, that motorized monstrosity known as the Hummer is no longer in production, and McMansions have fallen out of favor in recent years as tiny homes tickle our imaginations. But according to a new survey, in much of America, size still matters—and big isn’t big enough.

Find boxes? Check. Pack your entire life into said boxes? Check. Hire movers to get said boxes to your new home? Check. You’ve got everything for your upcoming move totally covered, but there’s one small-but-important step you might be forgetting: Take photos!

Anastassia Nelson recently purchased a 925 square foot 1920s bungalow in Tacoma, Washington, and spent a year renovating the house into a stylish cottage full of vintage finds. And Ana was only 25 when she became a homeowner. Are you impressed? I’m 33 (not a homeowner) and very impressed. Ana was kind of enough to answer some questions about how she bought a home while still in her twenties, from how to know when she was ready to how long it took to save up for a down payment.

Saving up money for a down payment is no easy feat—but a separate savings account can help.

I admit it. Since moving to New Orleans, I’ve been fantasizing about finally buying a house. It’s the fun stuff that gets my blood pumping—I’d love to knock down some walls or paint a ceiling green—all the things you can’t do when you rent.

New to the home-buying process? If you’re ready to start looking for your dream home—or if you’re just looking to learn more about how buying a home works for the future—there’s a lot you’ll need to know. The process is long and can be as stressful and confusing as it is exciting.

If you’re new to the apartment hunt, the idea of using a broker might be a very confusing concept—especially so if you’re moving from a lower-demand rental market to a bustling (and crowded) one like those in NYC or San Francisco.

Thinking about buying a home? If you’re not familiar with how mortgages and down payments work—and how many different types there are—you could be missing out on choosing one that works perfectly for you. Here is a breakdown of 11 different types of mortgages, from the most common to the mostly rare, and a rundown on how down payments work.

Well, the US presidential election is a mere four days away, and no matter what side of the political divide you’re on, you probably believe the end of the world is coming, should the other candidate win. Perhaps it’s time to take shelter in this partially underground concrete home in Virginia. Built by architect Donald Reed Chandler in 1977, it’s one of the country’s first modern earth roof and berm homes.

Two thousand square feet is massive in almost anyone’s book, so you can expect that apartments in this tier are going to fetch top dollar in any region. But “top dollar,” it turns out, is quite different depending on where you happen to be apartment hunting. Although SLC and NYC don’t seem all that different when you abbreviate them, living in a rental in the former would be about $6,000 cheaper than the latter.

Wooed by its close proximity to our favorite beach, my husband and I bought an older home in Charleston, SC, last spring. One year and tons of cash later, we’ve learned the hard way that it isn’t always the big, glaring problems with older homes that’ll bite you right in the butt—er, budget. In our experience, it’s the little red flags that sneak up and rob you blind before you can close the front door.

Anyone who’s ever started on an apartment search knows the basic math of renting, delivered here à la Biggie Smalls: Mo’ money, mo’ square footage. If you have more dollars to spend, you can get yourself into a bigger apartment. Much bigger, in some places. From the deep South to deep in Manhattan, here is what it costs to rent five 1200-ish-square-foot apartments across the U.S.

There’s a bit of difference between what’s considered a small living space across the country. In Manhattan, 900 square feet can feel like a palace, while some Southern coastal cities would consider anything under 1,000 square feet to be on the small side. It shows, too, in what rent the same size apartment can fetch across the country.

We toured Hope and Pete’s home a few years ago, and it instantly became a favorite house tour of mine. The couple’s style is breezy, bohemian and effortless — the kind of adjectives I aim for in my own home’s decor. But I also loved their house tour because they live in a mid-century (dream-to-me) home built in 1956 by famed real estate developer Joseph Eichler.

While not as expensive as San Francisco and New York, Boston does claim the number three spot for highest median one bedroom rents in the nation ($2,800). Nearly 700,000 people live in the city proper—many of them students—and they have to live somewhere, for something a bit more reasonable. We took a look at Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, and Brookline to see what $1500 can rent you, right now.

I move a lot. Like, a lot. I even wrote an article about the benefits of being a serial mover like myself. And in moving so much, I’ve gotten really good at finding great apartments, the newest one always better than the last. (Ask my friends, they’ll back me up!) I’m currently in my seventh Seattle apartment with a view of the Space Needle from my living room. So I promise, I know a thing or two!

Have you seen this house? It went viral this year after being uploaded to Reddit thread /r/funny back in March. User liquidthc is the one who noticed something strange about this South Carolina home—can you spot it? It initially took me awhile to notice this, despite realizing something was “off.” The comments, both on Reddit and Shareably, offer a host of possible scenarios—some of which I share below—but no definitive answers.

Recently, we shared a study that reported the minimum salary you’d need to buy a home in a bunch of cities—New York included. Unsurprisingly, our readers had a lot to say about the subject. Let’s take a closer look at how New Yorkers are reacting to the real estate market in the Big Apple. The mortgage lender that released the study, HSH.com, concluded that the salary needed to buy in New York was $86,215, based on the median home price of $395,400.

Even if you normally manage to avoid celebrity gossip, by now you’ve heard that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are getting divorced. While I know it’s ridiculous to get attached to celebrities and especially to their relationships, this one hit me right in the feels. Even Adele was broken up about it. If, like me, you need a good cry, turn up Someone Like You and scroll through the following Brangelina abodes as we mourn the end of an era.

Do you dream of one day buying a bit of land, plunking down a stylish trailer and living a slower-paced, nature-filled, “tiny home” lifestyle? Or perhaps you’re just curious how anyone goes about getting that kind of life? Either way, you’ll want to check out this advice from Kirsten Dickerson, who lives on 25 acres that includes a 1955 Spartan Mansion (350 square feet) and a 1967 Overlander Airstream (180 square feet).

While moving is a great opportunity to pare down belongings and have a fresh start, it’s not on anyone’s list of Fun Things to Do. Spending money on the right things, though, can help keep your move smooth and successful. Whether it’s to stave off potential moving disasters or to make things just a bit easier on everyone involved, these are the things you should never scrimp on when moving. You’re moving on and starting over.

It’s a fact of life that Times Square is never not teeming with lights, sounds, and people; it’s a permanently buzzing hub in a city that never sleeps. While the area surely has a high concentration of hotels, you might be surprised to learn that people actually live here permanently. According to the Times Square Alliance, 5,800 residents make their homes between Avenue of the Americas and Eighth Avenue, from West 41st to 53rd Streets.

Moving is a huge process full of high and low points. Some moments will have you doing a celebratory dance, and others will have you more overwhelmed than you thought possible. Whether you’re signing the lease on your first apartment or you’re trading spaces for the 15th time, your move will probably look a lot like this: Your lease is almost up, and you’re ready to move into a new apartment.

Located in Framingham, Massachusetts, this suburban home looks rather average on the outside, but the inside is a time capsule that will take you right back to the disco days of the 1970s. The 3,600 square foot, five bedroom, two and a half bathroom home has only had two owners. You can be the third for $624,900. “The original owner built the house and customized it and did all the decor in the early ’70s,” realtor Matt Cuddy told BuzzFeed.

To many of us, a million dollar home sounds like it should be the lap of luxury: marble tubs, game room, wine cellar, perhaps a private pool. But, a million dollars doesn’t go quite as far down amenities lane in New York City. So what does a million bucks buy you in Gotham? Here are ten apartments around the million dollar mark and currently on the market. This loft one-bedroom in Chelsea boasts a very large living room with a gorgeous wall of windows.

“You’re moving?! Again??” I get that a lot. And for good reason. Over the course of ten years in Seattle, I have lived in six different apartments. While that may sound like a nightmare to some people, I have been thoroughly excited to move every single time. And I enjoy every second of my time in each new place. But right around the one and a half year mark, something happens. I get a little itch.

It’s time for a congratulatory toast. We’re halfway through the year! It’s a great time to take a style inventory, get some projects done and tackle a really important topic: Am I going to stay in this apartment? If you know you’re going to renew your lease into 2017 (So far away! That doesn’t even look like a real year, does it?), make sure your summer plans include tackling some updates to make your apartment into a home.

What do you do when you’re a design lover but your rental is less than inspired? Well, you get creative. We tallied up 7 common nuisances experienced by renters and paired them with stylish solutions so you can get your temporary pad feeling more like home. Design Woe: Generic flooring Stylish Solution: Rugs on rugs on rugs It might seem silly to layer a rug over carpet, but the visual effect of a graphic or colorful floor covering really helps to distinguish a space.

The Hollywood Hills castle is the 12th home we’ve designed for ourselves. Our first project was a townhouse in Chelsea NYC in 1996. Along the way we’ve been pretty proud of most of the homes we’ve done, but in hindsight we’ve made many mistakes — due to inexperience, to budget, to trends — you name it.

Hi, Erin. I’m the buyer who saw and bid on your apartment earlier this month. So began an email I received last spring from a guy I’ll call Chris. My little condo was on the market, listed with a nice agent at a regular real estate firm. Brokers and apartment hunters had been tramping through the place daily, kicking me out to peer in the fridge and disparage my spiral staircase. After some weeks, two buyers were interested. A bidding war (or at least a scuffle) was afoot.

Potential buyers can be thrown off by the littlest things (just consult any episode of House Hunters). Even if you’re not thinking about selling your home now, you can make small improvements while you’re still living there without dedicating a lot of time or money to the cause. These 7 bathroom projects take only a weekend and a few hundred bucks, at most, but they’ll pay off in the long run when you decide to sell in a few months or a few years.

If the concept of rent being no more than 30% of your take-home (after tax) pay seems about as realistic as purple unicorns, you might be wondering why rent is so high anyway. In 2015, 11.8 million U.S. households spent half or more of their income on rent, and this figure is projected to increase, according to the Enterprise Resource Center and the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Cortney and Robert Novogratz have famously successfully navigated the choppy waters of high-end residential real estate in New York City and Los Angeles for years. Through market ups and downs, multiple renovations and redesigns — not to mention raising seven kids while they are at it — they’ve always managed to find great deals. And now, they’re sharing their secrets with us.

The first thing my next door neighbor and I talked about on the stoop the day I moved in was how old the building actually is; he had heard it was built before the 1900s. A huge white house with an astounding six apartments held within, I fell in love the moment I walked inside my cozy 500-square-foot apartment with wood floors, a big white fireplace mantel and tall ceilings with thick molding.

They’re a refreshing escape. They’re a terrifying safety hazard. They’re an eyesore. They’re a beloved part of the urban fabric. For as long as there have been fire escapes, there have been mixed opinions about fire escapes. The zigzagging metal stairs that many people associate so closely with the look of New York first started to appear in 1860, when a revision to the state code required buildings to have them.

Q: After two months of apartment hunting, I finally saw an apartment today that I absolutely loved. It’s in one of my favorite neighborhoods for a very affordable price (all utilities included, and central heat/AC to boot!). It’s 1,000 square feet and has modern finishes, gorgeous hardwood floors, and in-unit laundry.

A lot of the spaces that we feature on Apartment Therapy have gorgeous, soaring ceilings. “Sure,” I hear you say, “it’s easy to make a space look good when your ceiling are 14 feet tall.” But what if your living space is a little humbler, with ceilings no higher than the standard eight feet? There are still things you can do to make your home look fantastic — and spacious to boot. Here are four ideas, with plenty of (low-ceilinged) examples to inspire. 1.

Need to be away for a while but don’t want to eat a chunk of rent? You might be in the market for a sub-leaser. Letting someone in your home comes with plenty of issues so let’s wade through them together. Read on. You have a set of guidelines for your tenancy; it’s your lease. Check it to see the rules for sub-leasing. In the event that it’s not addressed, you really need to bring it up with your landlord.

If you’re languishing in a dorm room, sublet or any other type of temporary housing, you’re probably facing a particular kind of decor dilemma. On one hand, you’re living there so you want it to be nice. On the other, the idea of putting tons of time into fixing up a place where you won’t be for very long is exhausting. What to do? Read this. If you know you’re gonna be on the move again soonish, it’s worth it to figure out how to weed your belongings down.

Q: Hi! So, my partner and I live in the Cleveland area and are running into a few problems as first-time home buyers. We currently rent in an area that has tons of cute neighborhoods and we can walk and bike to our favorite restaurants, coffee shops, and record stores. However, when we look at homes on the high end of our price range to buy, they are shabby, on the outskirts, or would cost quite a bit to fix up.

Even a great rental will be hell if you’re stuck with a bad landlord. Don’t be blindsided by a dud. Heed these warning signs before you commit to a lease and it’s too late. Even if the apartment you tour looks immaculate, be wary if the rest of the building seems surprisingly run down in comparison. What about the landscaping outside, the lounge or the laundry room?

While buying a home often seems like the mark of adulthood and stability, there are plenty of reasons home ownership is not all it’s cracked up to be. So whether you aren’t in a position to buy a home at this point or you just aren’t sure about taking the plunge, here are some reasons to celebrate your non-homeowner freedom. If you buy a home, get ready to take on the management and expense of every single thing that goes wrong.

Well, less of a hassle, anyway. Moving into a place can be a lot of fun, but moving out, is nothing less than torture. Here are five laws, that, if you can stick to them, will make moving much less hellacious. What? Okay think about this way. You look around your current home and all the stuff that has to be hauled away and you might mentally decide how you’re going to organize it all in boxes. But back up.

The landlord v. tenant relationship can be a tricky one to master; there are so many minefields to step around when dealing with your home and his property. But going into any discussion with the right knowledge and attitude can significantly improve your chances of request success. Here’s where to start. The number one secret to getting extra-good service from your landlord? Be the kind of tenant your landlord wants to keep around.

We’ve heard some pretty delusional ways to describe architectural features over the years. There are always certain less-than-desirable elements to any home and it makes sense to soften the bad things by lying… er— circumventing the truth. So what are the most common euphemisms we’ve come across? Read on. Nice try, this means tiny. Means just old. Don’t be fooled, this means basement. Small/weird. Usually more shabby, less chic.

Yep, these things will require you to spend some cash up front but won’t it be worth it when your house sells faster and for more money? Try these three tiered ideas that let you invest a little or a lot. This is the minimum you can do to make sure both the inside and outside of your home are sparkling clean and pretty. It’s your first, best way to tell your potential buyer that this is somewhere they want to be.

After years of talking about it, we’re finally diving headfirst into the process of moving. Although we love our little house, our family has outgrown it, and we’d all like some room to breathe. My first task was to pack up some of the clutter that we’ve accumulated over the years to get the house ready for potential buyers. As I filled the first box, my ever curious four-year-old asked, “What are you doing, Mommy?

Dear Landlord, I’m your future tenant and, I get it, your priorities are a little different than mine. You want things to be durable, long-lasting and, usually, cheap. I, on the other hand, would really love them to look nice. I heard you’re doing a little work on the place before I move in so I wanted to share some do’s and don’ts, my wish list and no-no list. Some of them come at a cost, but others won’t cost you a penny.

Moving is maddening. Not only is it painful physically, it’s a mental exercise in mindfulness trying to keep everything organized as you completely uproot your whole life. If home is the peaceful place you can retreat to when the world gets hard, having to dismantle it can leave you free-floating in a sea of stress. There’s really only one way through a move (do it) but these eight tips might help you from losing your mind in the process. Like, seriously write it down.

Whether you’re looking for a home right now or plan to be on the hunt some time next year, don’t just stumble into a house hunt unprepared. While the process is exciting, there might be a few things you want to make sure you have on hand during the search so you can hunt for the home of your dreams smarter.

Not far from the Apartment Therapy offices in New York City is the five-story E.V. Haughwout building. It wouldn’t be difficult to walk to the top floor, but in 1857, you wouldn’t have had to because this is the site of the very first commercial elevator in New York City, manufactured by (who else?) Elisha Otis. Here’s how it changed everything. Mr.

You’ve tried so hard to spice up your rental but it’s just not quite doing the trick. Is it time to consider the horrible-of-all-horrible four letter words? Is it time to move? Answer these six questions to know for sure. There are lots of ways to change the aesthetics of your place, but some things just can’t be fixed.

I’m having a love affair with my neighborhood. The industrial Westside of Atlanta has been experiencing a total resurgence lately, something my boyfriend and I have been lucky to witness for the four years we’ve lived in our 1100-square-foot 2-bedroom apartment — the one with the tiny kitchen but a great view of the city skyline.

Carpet is a bit like upholstered furniture: it tends to hold on to dust, stains, and other marks of wear and tear. (Even after a professional cleaning, undesirables tend to resurface.) And those signs of other tenants’ lives are something you probably prefer to live without. Following are some tips for refreshing carpet that’s seen better days. Fluff Dents with an Ice Cube.

If you aren’t allowed to paint your walls or you simply don’t want to commit, and if the though of hanging even removable wallpaper gives you hives, we should be friends. Also, you should consider brightening up your standard-issue walls with a lovely wall hanging. A few tiny tacks is all it takes.. TOP ROW: Jesse & Lucas’ Simply Stylish Home + Studio: A vintage Egyptian tapestry livens up the white walls in their son’s room.

After getting the key and walking into your new, calm, and empty apartment, what’s the first thing you do to make it your own? Move in the sofa? Pack the fridge with groceries? There are a thousand right answers and, according to one designer, one very wrong one. Most people take advantage of an empty apartment to paint the walls before they ever move in, but waiting to paint after you’ve settled in a bit makes for a more cohesive space.

We’ve learned the hard way that there are some very important things that should be checked before signing the papers to buy a new home. Of course, you’ll have a professional do an inspection and look over the place to make sure the home is termite and flood damage free, but these ten things fall into a different category; the immediate to-do list, which is something you may not want to be adding to right now.

When you’re looking for a new apartment you no doubt have a laundry list of what you’re looking for and what you’re not looking for. Some criteria you may be uncompromising about (like the maximum price) but there are always secondary criteria that are more flexible. Which floor the apartment is on likely falls into this category and there are pros and cons for each floor. I live in Brownstone Brooklyn where most apartment buildings are 4 story walkups.

Knowing what you want in a rental apartment is pretty easy: space, location, storage, beautiful floors, light, etc. Finding all of those things within your budget can be a bit more difficult. But before you even start contemplating your rental possibilities, you should probably know what your budget is, and fortunately, this step isn’t all that difficult.

Everyone has moving horror stories, but there are just some things you don’t think to check until you’ve already signed a lease. Here’s 10 things that should be on everyone’s “must-check” list. 1. Hallway/Doorway Size: Sometimes it’s easy to get carried away with great architecture lines of square footage, but sometimes (Even if you buy small furniture) things simply don’t fit in awkward hallways.

Just because you don't own your apartment doesn't mean you can't dress it up.

Name: Ernest HemingwayLocation: Key West, FloridaSize: 3,000 square feetYears lived in: 30 years (1931 – 1961) Nestled in a thick jungle of tropical foliage near Florida’s southern most point stands Ernest Hemingway’s Key West Home. Still situated on the original acre of property, the Spanish Colonial house is where Hemingway wrote some of his greatest works and showcased his many treasures acquired from his adventurous travels.

This subject has been on my mind lately as I wrap up a renovation in the second apartment of the home I bought last year. I am preparing to put the apartment on the rental market within the next few weeks and have been thinking about the best way to price it.What not to do is take your actual monthly mortgage plus expenses such as yard maintenance, and charge half of that cost to a future tenant (assuming the space is comparable.

They often call getting married and moving in together as “taking the plunge,” but if you ask us, moving in with someone you know and love is a lot less scary than moving in with a stranger. Don’t go into the roommate interview unprepared; we’ve got the questions to consider before you both sign the lease.

Earlier this week we shared our future plans to move to a new apartment, starting with removing art from the walls as a symbolic first step of transitioning from one space to another. But upon coming home, Emily noted, “We still have over a month to move…no need to start packing already!” Was this a case of pre-packing-elation?My reply was simply, “It’s never to early to start packing.