Seven-figure mobile homes
In Aspen, Colo., even the mobile homes are expensive. Particularly pricey are those in Smuggler Park, a trailer-park community that's a five minute walk to town and is surrounded by new multimillion-dollar homes. In Smuggler Park, trailer homes range from $500,000 to above $1 million, according to a Denver Post article.
The community was founded in 1987, when a trailer lot there could be bought for about $25,000. Some of the homes in the community are traditional brick and mortar houses: One neighborhood couple replaced their trailer home with a 2,400-square-foot house complete with a basement, while another homeowner framed a traditional house around a trailer that he purchased for $58,000 in 1989, the Post says.
Hiring actors to sell a home
Staging, the art of sprucing up or rearranging a home's décor with the aim of luring potential buyers, is a well-known selling tactic. But have you ever heard of staging a family? That's just what one real-estate agent in Crest, Calif., did when one of her listings wasn't selling, according to a story at NBCSanDiego.com. The agent brought in actors, even a dog, to play the part of a happy family living at the home, with the hopes of attracting potential buyers at an open house.
They interact and frolic in the lovely tropical backyard with Jimmy Buffet playing and drink their margaritas, and just look like fun, so that people come into the backyard and say, 'Wow,'" NBCSanDiego.com quotes the agent as saying. If the fake happy family doesn't snag a buyer, the agent may consider hiring a pretend dysfunctional one to do the job, the Web site says.
Flipping shows haven't flopped
While the housing-market downtown has made the practice of "flipping" -- buying a house and swiftly reselling it, hopefully at a substantial profit -- much more difficult, Americans' appetite for television shows on the topic, shown on networks like Discovery TLC and A&E, hasn't diminished, says a Los Angeles Times article. Shows "Flip This House" and "Flip That House" continue to be the most popular shows on A&E and TLC respectively, with each show drawing more than 1 million viewers for each new episode, the article says. The shows, however, are having to make some adjustments as the housing market continues its downward trend. "Flip that House" has begun to include recaps of flippers' efforts to show their results -- including those that did not end in success, while shows are adding spotlights on home buyers in cities like Nashville, Tenn., where real-estate prices are still rising, the Times says.
Pricey city streets
Ever wonder which block in your city has the most expensive homes? If so, you may be able to find out at Forbes.com, which has compiled a list of the most expensive streets in 10 cities across the U.S., complete with maps showing each block's location. Among the top 10 are Fifth Avenue between 69th and 70th streets in New York, Leucadendra Drive in Miami's Gable Estates gated community and Woodland Drive between McGill Terrace and Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. Forbes.com has a slideshow of all the city blocks that made the list.
Town gripped by foreclosures
The subprime mortgage mess is doing more than wreaking havoc on individual homeowners. It's hurting whole communities. One such town is Maple Heights, Ohio, a Cleveland middle-class suburb where approximately 10% of all homes have fallen under bank ownership in the past two years, according to a New York Times article. The town's ZIP code ranks in the top 0.5% nationally in terms of having the greatest number of foreclosures, the Times says. Sliding housing prices are negatively affecting the town's tax base, leading the community to close local swimming pools and reduce the number of firefighters and police officers, the article says. Supporting factors for the town's real-estate woes are Cleveland's relatively weak economy, and the fact that Maple Heights never saw the steady home-price appreciation enjoyed over the years by other local housing markets, the Times says.
