Mike Conley, the NBA’s Highest-Paid Player, Scores a Fresh Mansion

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Mike Conley is putting down solid roots in Tennessee—not only did he sign the NBA’s largest contract ever, he also recently bought a new mansion in Collierville, about 30 minutes east of the Memphis Grizzlies‘ arena.

Built in 2006 on a 1.76-acre lot, the 7,100-square-foot home has four bedrooms and seven bathrooms, public records show. Designed by Memphis-based architecture firm T Douglas Enoch, the home has a French-inspired exterior, including hand-broken stacked stonework and painted brick.

Inside, grand formal rooms and vaulted ceilings provide more than enough room for entertaining guests. The custom kitchen features an island, breakfast nook, and post and beam framing.

Kitchen

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The oversize, enclosed porch overlooks a custom pool and hot tub, and “serene walking paths,” the listing states. Conley purchased the home in mid-August for $1.84 million, public records show. It was initially listed for $2 million in June.

Backyard

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Conley, 28, has played with the Grizzlies for his entire NBA career, after being drafted fourth overall in 2007. By 2009, he was consistently averaging more than 10 points per game and became a starter for some pretty darn good Grizzlies squads. He helped the team make the playoffs in 2011—the Grizzlies’ first playoff appearance in five years. The team has since made the playoffs every year.

This year, after the league’s decision to raise the salary cap to $94.1 million, Conley re-signed with the Grizzlies in a five-year, $153 million deal. It’s currently the largest NBA contract in history.

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Can You Really Be Buried With Your Pet?

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Cats, dogs, and even guinea pigs, goldfish, bats, and capybaras can be loving and loyal family members during their lives. So why must owners and their pets be separated in death?

It turns out that they don’t have to be—depending on where they live. New York has become the latest among a handful of states that allow humans and their finned, tentacled, winged, or four-legged companions to be buried together in official cemeteries. And there appears to be a movement afoot (or is it aclaw?) to pressure other states to get on the bandwagon.

Earlier this week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law allowing about 1,900 not-for-profit cemeteries regulated by the state the right to accept the ashes of pets to be interred along with their human owners. The cemetery just must consent to it first.

“We took care of them in life, and we want to make sure we’re doing everything we can to take care of them in death,” says Coleen Ellis, co-chair of the Pet Loss Professionals Alliance, an association of pet-friendly cemeteries, funeral homes, and crematoriums. “Having them near us makes us feel like we did that.”

About two-thirds of U.S. households own a pet, according to the American Pet Products Association.

The Empire State isn’t the only one to allow people to take their animals with them into their final real estate resting place. But the specifics vary widely, and weirdly, state to state.

Virginia permits people and their pets to be buried beside each other in separate caskets. They can also be interred together in Florida if the animal died before its owner and its ashes are kept separate.

In New Jersey, humans unwilling to part with their creatures must be buried in pet cemeteries to be with them forever. Pennsylvania cemeteries are permitted to have separate sections for people and pets. And human cemeteries in Oregon can choose whether or not to accept cremated pet ashes.

But laying a pet to rest in a cemetery isn’t just emotional. It can also be quite costly.

Owners can expect to shell out anywhere from $550 to more than $4,000 for a casket and grave in a pet cemetery, according to Angie’s List. That doesn’t include grave maintenance, which can run an additional $20 or more a month and upward of $500 for a lifetime of care. Costs for animals interred with their humans will vary widely as well.

Everything from the size of the beast (a spotted genet will be cheaper to bury than a rottweiler, of course) to the area where it’s buried and how elaborate its eternal resting place will be are factored into the final price tag.

So why not bury Humbert the hamster in the backyard? For starters, those who live in apartments, condos, and co-ops often don’t have the outdoor burial space. And many people would prefer a permanent resting place for their furry and reptilian companions that they can visit even after they move to a new home.

“We’re doing so many things to humanize our pets while they’re alive, such as your doggy spas, doggy hotels,” Ellis says. “[So] it’s only natural that when they die, we would want the same thing for them as we would want for any of our human loved ones.”

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7 Homes Within Lobbying Distance of President Obama’s New Digs

Joseph Sohm/Getty Images; realtor.com

In four short months, President Barack Obama, along with wife Michelle, daughters Malia and Sasha, and pets Bo and Sunny, will vacate the comforts of the White House. They won’t be going far—they’ve settled on digs at 2246 Belmont Road NW in the exclusive Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, DC.

The family will be making the nation’s capital their home until their younger daughter, Sasha, finishes high school in 2018.

According to the Washington Post, Obama will be the first ex-president to remain in DC postpresidency since Woodrow Wilson did so almost 100 years ago.

While it’s unclear what the president and first lady will do once they’re out of the Oval Office, having a former world leader as your neighbor could never be bad for business. What if you wanted to buttonhole him about climate change? Or invite Michelle to your SoulCycle-a-thon?

You’re in luck if you have millions to spare. There are quite a few homes on the market near the Obama family’s next residence, but you’ll need to reach deep into your pocketbook to even sniff the perimeter. That said, it’s a chance for a brush with presidential power (although the Secret Service will ensure it’s not too close of a brush).

2425 Tracy Pl NW

Price: $6,995,000
Proximity to power: 0.3 miles
Features: Make a grand entrance with this sweeping spiral staircase. The 8,500-square-foot home has seven bedrooms, seven full bathrooms, and two half-baths, “embassy size entertaining spaces,” an elevator, a pool, and a pool house.

2425 Tracy Pl NW

realtor.com

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2241 Bancroft Pl NW

Price: $6,250,000
Proximity to power: 0.5 miles
Features: If this stately home looks big enough to be a museum, you’re half-right. The residence once housed the art collection of Joseph Hirshhorn, which is now displayed at the Smithsonian Institution. The 8,000-square-foot home features 14-foot ceilings, three fireplaces, and spacious library and living room. Its large size means it’s designed for diplomatic use.

2241 Bancroft Pl NW

realtor.com

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1743 22nd St. NW

Price: $5,995,000
Proximity to power: 0.7 miles
Features: This eight-bedroom home was once a Kennedy administration presidential guesthouse. Built in 1941, the Beaux Arts building comes with a main house, carriage house, solarium, walled garden, and pool.

1743 22nd St. NW

realtor.com

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6 Kalorama Circle NW

Price: 5,750,000
Proximity to power: 0.2 miles
Features: The 5,400-square-foot space includes a master suite, conservatory, family room with 11-foot ceiling, and a 360-degree viewing deck of the city. There’s also a large private lot with manicured gardens and terraces.

6 Kalorama Circle NW

realtor.com

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2449 Tracy Pl NW

Price: $5,600,000
Proximity to power: 0.2 miles
Features: This historic mansion built in 1923 has been given a once-over, with a refreshed modern interior, including an open living space, modern kitchen, master suite with terrace, six bedrooms, 6.5 baths, entertaining terraces, and staff apartment.

2449 Tracy Pl NW

realtor.com

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1824 23rd St. NW

Price: $3,650,000
Proximity to power: 0.5 miles
Features: Go traditional with this brick Georgian Colonial built in 1912. The 7,200-square-foot home has four beds, five baths, two half-baths, two living spaces that open to private terraces, a chef-inspired kitchen, and a formal dining room.

1824 23rd St. NW

realtor.com

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2220 Wyoming Ave. NW

Price: $3,095,000
Proximity to power: 0.4 miles
Features: Even the townhomes in this neighborhood are oversize. The 3,500-square-foot residence built in 1922 includes a receiving foyer with stairs leading to living and dining rooms, a chef’s eat-in kitchen, five bedrooms, six baths, two half-baths, and a separate au pair suite.

2220 Wyoming Ave. NW

realtor.com

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HAR's Young Professionals Network names 20 'Rising Stars' for 2016

The Houston Association of Realtors’ Young Professionals Network has named the winners of its seventh-annual 20 Under 40 Rising Stars in Real Estate Awards. The awards recognize Houston-area real estate professionals 40 years old or younger. The selection committee looks for “well-rounded Realtors” who have demonstrated excellence during the past year in the areas of sales, leadership and community service. HAR will hold an awards luncheon to honor the winners on Oct. 5 at 11 a.m. at the…

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The Home Renovation That Never Ends

Drew Kelly for the Wall Street Journal

When Halle and Casey Cane bought a $2.73 million Edwardian-style home in San Francisco four years ago, they just had small upgrades in mind.

“We initially moved in thinking, ‘We don’t need to do anything” other than a few tweaks, said Ms. Cane, 39.

Four years and $1 million later, they’ve “touched every inch of the house in some way,” said Ms. Cane. They’ve redone the basement, the den, all the bathrooms, the closets and upstairs bedrooms. They refinished kitchen cabinets in gray and then painted them white. They spent $50,000 adding foliage to the backyard, but are currently spending another $25,000 to remove it. After that, they’ll be done renovating—maybe. The idea of expanding the footprint by 500 square feet “is still in the back of our heads,” said Mr. Cane, 39, a real-estate investor and ski blogger.

Most homeowners dread the prospect of a long renovation, where countless weeks or months are spent washing dishes in the bathtub and sleeping in the pool house. But a small number of homeowners—whether they’re procrastinators, perfectionists or just on a tight budget—take years and spend scads of money on home improvements. Eventually, they get their dream space, but endless renos can take a toll on remodeling professionals as well as residents.

In April, interior designer Timothy Corrigan walked away from a contract to design and furnish an estate in Beverly Hills that his clients bought three years ago for more than $27 million. The reason? He lost hope that the owners, whom he declined to identify, would ever make up their minds.

The backyard. When the Cranes moved in, they spent $50,000 installing foliage, grass and a concrete patio. They are currently spending $25,000 to create more play space for their children.

Drew Kelly for the Wall Street Journal

“I had been on it for over a year and a half, but it was dead in the water,” said Mr. Corrigan, who has offices in Los Angeles and Paris. “I even burned sagebrush in the house to try to get it moving,” he said, referring to an American Indian cleansing ritual. Despite his call to the spirits, the homeowners first decided to add three new bedrooms, then changed it to five, then went back to three. Mid-design, they announced they wanted to add a new building on the property that would house a spa and gym. Later, they scrapped that and opted to include those elements in the main building.

“As a designer, 80% to 90% of my income is from the furnishings,” Mr. Corrigan said. Three years after the property was purchased, it sat gutted and empty, he said. Last month, Mr. Corrigan said the clients asked to rehire him. He agreed, he said, on the strict condition that “we agree right now what it is that we are adding,” he said.

The majority of an interior designer’s revenue comes at the end of a project from upcharges on furniture, typically by about 30% over the trade price, said Alan M. Siegel, national counsel to the American Society of Interior Designers. Most interior-design contracts also include other compensation, such as a design fee or an hourly rate for certain kinds of work, such as site visits and installations, Mr. Siegel said.

By contrast, nearly 65% of architects charge flat fees—some with “reimbursable expenses”—according to a 2016 survey by the American Institute of Architects, a Washington trade group. As a result, architects typically get most of their compensation during the design and construction phases, said Dawn Zuber, an architect in Plymouth, Mich., who is chairwoman of the Custom Residential Architects Network for AIA.

Remodeling companies—the builders—offer fixed-price contracts 90% of the time, estimated Dan Taddei, director of education and certification at the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, a trade group in Des Plaines, Ill. Only 10% of the time do they charge for their time, Mr. Taddei said. Since homeowners usually pay the builder in phases, construction companies have a long wait when projects take forever, Mr. Taddei said.

Even the most expensive renovations are usually completed in well under a year, according to Holly Tachovsky, founder and chief executive of BuildFax, an Austin, Texas-based firm that provides property condition data. The top 10% most-expensive residential remodels take an average of 277 days and cost an average of about $365,000, according to a BuildFax analysis of permits within the past five years.

Historic restorations are among the most time-consuming projects, remodelers say, requiring permitting, negotiating with landmark and preservation societies and hunting down specialized materials and craftsmen.

Julia Buckingham, an interior designer in Chicago, got a call in 2012 that began with the client saying, “I’ve got this little project and your name came up.” The “little project” turned out to be the restoration of an 1895 Italianate mansion on a third of an acre in Wicker Park. Renovation had been under way for three years by the time Ms. Buckingham got involved. She soon devoted about 20 hours a week to the project for two years.

One particularly painstaking task was restoring an original ceiling medallion and then searching the world for a modern-style chandelier to be inserted into it. Ms. Buckingham found an ideal one in Germany.

“I recall plotting the height and width on the metric system with someone in Germany who had a thick accent,” Ms. Buckingham said.

Also time consuming: finding a British craftsman who could re-create the original pattern of Victorian-era tiles in the front foyer.

The exterior of Tracy Vaught and Hugo Ortega’s Houston home. Ms. Vaught bought the house in 1994 from her own mother, who had bought it from her mother.

Julie Soefer for the Wall Street Journal

Tracy Vaught and her husband, Hugo Ortega, who renovated their 4,700-square-foot brick Tudor in Houston, knew exactly what they wanted to do to the house. Their problem, however: Pulling together the $1.45 million in cash for their top-to-bottom overhaul. The process was an eight-year ordeal that involved sleeping in the living room for a year and showering at their country club, plus a subsequent year of eating in restaurants while their kitchen was gutted.

Fortunately for the couple and their teenage daughter, they own the restaurants. Ms. Vaught, 61 is the president of H Town Restaurant Group, which owns Backstreet Cafe, Hugo’s and Caracol. Mr. Ortega, 51, is executive chef for the group.

Because “you never know what can happen in the restaurant business,” Ms. Vaught said they refused to take out a loan to cover their renovation costs, which would have allowed them to attack the house in one whack. Simply selling and buying another, already fixed-up house was also out: Ms. Vaught had purchased the home in 1994 from her mother, who bought it from her own mother, who lived there with Ms. Vaught’s great-grandmother.

“My daughter will be the fifth generation of women in this family to live in this house,” said Ms. Vaught. “I’m never moving out.”

A blue-hued sitting room downstairs. Tracy Vaught and Hugo Ortega made the opening to this room larger during the renovation.

Julie Soefer for the Wall Street Journal

Instead, the family took on the project in phases, which began in 2008 and were finally completed in October last year. Changes included adding a pool, expanding the house by 500 square feet, removing walls, adding closets, redoing six bathrooms and gut-renovating the kitchen. Ms. Vaught said that while the process “did wear on us,” her husband “never complained.”

Beyond budget busting, homeowners have good reason to fear long renovations: Remodeling appears to have deleterious effects on relationships, too. In an online survey by the home-décor website Houzz, 7% of the 1,739 respondents said they considered couples counseling, another 7% wondered, “How did I end up with this person?” and 5% said they considered a breakup or divorce during their remodel.

The Canes in San Francisco said their renovation dragged on in part because their family has grown—they had their third child in May—and their needs changed.

The couple said they were able to travel during the most construction-heavy phases, and that their designer, Rusty Wadatz, smoothed over many speed bumps. But they both said the outlay of money was stressful.

“I’d be lying if I said there weren’t any arguments,” said Mr. Cane.

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What’s Going on With Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson in Phoenix?

Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Baseball Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson is having a hard time finding a buyer for a pair of Mediterranean mansions in Phoenix.

He’s spent the past two years trying to sell a 7,800-square-foot mansion at 11809 S. Montezuma Court, initially listing the home for $2.4 million before renovating the interior and dropping the price to $2 million.

Meanwhile, less than a mile away, he’s selling a 6,000-square-foot mansion at 12239 S. Yaki Court for $1.27 million.

And if you’re not ready to buy, Henderson’s Montezuma Court property recently debuted as a rental property available for $8,500 per month.

Both properties are shining examples of classic Arizona luxury.

12239 S. Yaki Court

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The Yaki Court home has five bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms, an office, master suite with two-way fireplace, dual master dressing rooms with a three-way mirror, and steam shower.

A 700-square-foot guesthouse is located on the half-acre property, which notably features a sport court and a seven-car garage that could be configured into a four-car garage and studio, the listing states.

Public records show the home, which was built in 1994, was bought in 2014 for $1.17 million. It went on the market in mid-April.

11809 S. Montezuma Court

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The Montezuma Court home is even more impressive.

Public records show it once belonged to former Chicago Cubs second baseman (and fellow Hall of Famer) Ryne Sandberg, who paid $400,000 for the mansion, the Los Angeles Times reports. Henderson bought the property from Sandberg in 1996 for $1.65 million.

The nearly 7,900-square-foot home features six bedrooms and seven bathrooms on a 1.52-acre lot that backs up to South Mountain in the Phoenix foothills, a protected area popular with hikers.

The home was newly renovated with “nothing but the finest finishes,” including marble flooring throughout, the listing states. A large chef’s kitchen with stainless-steel appliances—including three ovens and a Sub-Zero refrigerator—opens to a breakfast nook and large family room. The resort-style backyard includes a sport court, lap pool, and spa.

11809 S. Montezuma Court backyard

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Both homes are located in the affluent Ahwatukee Custom Estates development. Just a few blocks away, a 7,600-square-foot mansion on East Kachina Drive was recently listed for nearly $2.2 million.

Henderson, 57, stole 1,406 bases over his 24-year career, which is far and away an MLB record. He also tops the all-time leaderboard with 2,295 career runs scored. In 2009, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Given his storied career, a baseball fan in the market for a unique piece of MLB-related real estate would be smart to make a move to the desert.

The post What’s Going on With Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson in Phoenix? appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com.

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EXCLUSIVE: Sibcy Cline to move downtown office

The downtown office of Cincinnati's largest residential real estate firm is expected to move as a result of new development in the core. Rob Sibcy, president of Sibcy Cline Realtors, said the company plans to move its downtown office to the first-floor commercial space of the planned $36 million condominium tower at the southwest corner of Eighth and Main streets. Currently, Sibcy Cline’s downtown office is located in the Gwynne Building at 212 E. Sixth St. “We’re a little bit off the beaten…

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Buying a home in this month could save you $23,000 in Austin

Conventional wisdom is that spring is the best time to buy a house, but does that hold true for Austin? A new study from NerdWallet and Realtor.com identified January as the cheapest month to buy a house in the Austin area — prices were 9.2 percent lower than the summer median, when homes sell for the most. That translates to an average savings of more than $23,000 for homebuyers. Researchers only analyzed listings and sales data for 2014 and 2015, so it's hard to say if those trends hold up…

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Buying a house in DFW in this particular month could save you $20,000

After looking at two years worth of Realtor.com data, NerdWallet concluded that home prices spike in the summer across the country, and Dallas-Fort Worth is no exception. The study looked at the 50 most populous regions in the U.S. and found that buying a house in January or February will save you an average of 8.5 percent opposed to buying in June through August. In Dallas-Fort Worth, the difference is even larger. The average summer house price is $214,465, the study found. The average fall price…

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Cal Ripken’s Field of Dreams Tops This Week’s Most Popular Homes

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When it comes to boffo backyard amenities, we’ve seen pools resembling water parks, private ponds stocked with koi, and even zip lines for the thrill-seekers among us. However, we haven’t seen many homes with full-on baseball diamonds in back. But a “Field of Dreams”–style diamond turns out to be only part of the reason behind this week’s most popular home on realtor.com®.

The home belongs to none other than Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. His $12.5 million estate in Maryland stepped up to the plate just over a week ago and has already hit a grand slam in terms of popularity. Ripken’s custom-built mansion also features a basketball court (with locker room!) and home theater (with ticket booth!). It’s true baller status befitting the sport’s all-time Iron Man.

But if you’re aiming for baller status on a budget, you could do worse than this week’s runner-up. Known as the country’s biggest fixer-upper, the unfinished 64,000-square-foot Texas megamansion could, with ample amounts of elbow grease and home improvement cash, be converted into something rivaling Ripken’s manse. Maybe.

Outside of the mansions ruling this week’s top three spots, we found a round home with curve appeal, a Victorian restoration in Kentucky, and a cool Connecticut Colonial dating to 1774.

For a full look at the most popular properties, scroll down this list.

10. 26 Beverly Pl, Munster, IN

Price: $314,900
Why it’s here: Straddling the state line between Indiana and Illinois, this beautiful brick house is our bargain pick of the week. With over 3,300 square feet of living space, the cost per square foot for this clean and charming home is a mere $94.

Munster, IN

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9. 3960 Mesa Ave, Sarasota, FL

Price: $195,000
Why it’s here: Featured in our recent look at Ranch-style homes priced below $200,000, this three-bedroom charmer is a perfect starter home in the Sunshine State.

Sarasota, FL

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8. Undisclosed address, Festus, MO

Price: $349,900
Why it’s here: It’s the cave dwelling! Still garnering clicks after a month on the market, this underground hit has gone mainstream.

Festus, MO

realtor.com

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7. 146 Windwood Dr, Pine Township Nal, PA

Price: $549,000
Why it’s here: Our recent roundup of round homes for sale across the country meant the clicks rolled in for this curvy Pennsylvania stunner. Surrounded by a gorgeous water garden, this five-bedroom home caused buyers to do a double take.

Pine Township, PA

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6. 404 Overton St, Newport, KY

Price: $219,500
Why it’s here: Right across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, this fully renovated two-bedroom home shows like it’s brand-new. Built in 1892, the pint-size Victorian has undergone a full reboot and sits alongside four similar homes in the city’s historic neighborhood.

Newport, KY

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5. 1800 Lake Rd, Ponca City, OK

Price: $985,000
Why it’s here: Listing agent Liz Greene told us this custom-built home had an offer on the table even before it hit the market. While the offer wasn’t accepted (yet!), she’s had a lot of interest in the place she referred to multiple times as “simply gorgeous.”

Ponca City, OK

realtor.com

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4. 46 West St, Newtown, CT

Price: $529,000
Why it’s here: Built in 1774, this Colonial is known as the Zachariah Clarke House. While the home is now in its fourth century of existence, the interiors of this five-bedroom home are modern and up to date. A recent $10,000 price cut sparked a new wave of interest in this historic home.

Newtown, CT

realtor.com

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3. 3535 Niewoehner Rd, Richmond, IN

Price: $2,300,000
Why it’s here: This 10,000-square-foot mansion is three times the cost of the second most expensive home ($799,000) in Richmond. On 78 wooded acres of land, it’s also one of the 50 priciest properties for sale in Indiana.

Richmond, IN

realtor.com

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2. 2354 County Road 59, Manvel, TX

Price: $3,600,000
Why it’s here: Resurgent interest in the country’s biggest fixer-upper propelled it into the runner-up spot this week. Whether popularity will help pinpoint a buyer for this partly finished 64,000-square-foot structure is another story.

Manvel, TX

realtor.com

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1. 13301 Dover Rd, Reisterstown, MD

Price: $12,500,000
Why it’s here: It’s the estate of MLB great Cal Ripken Jr.! The 24-acre spread comes with all the standard pro athlete attributes: a huge movie theater, a gigantic home gym, and a private pond on the grounds. What sets it apart from a garden-variety pro ballplayer mansion? Well, the full-size baseball diamond out back, of course. If you want to take grounders on your own private infield with a tie to a Hall of Famer, look no further.

Reisterstown, MD

realtor.com

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With rising housing prices, more homeowners invest to make old homes feel like new

More than one third of U.S. homeowners would rather move to a new home than remodel their current one. However, with housing prices on the rise, many homeowners are making changes to make their old home feel like new. In fact, Americans spent $326.1 billion on home remodeling projects between January and October of 2015, according to the 2015 Remodeling Impact Report by the National Association of the Remodeling Industry and the National Association of Realtors. What the owners are looking for…

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The Hottest U.S. Real Estate Markets for September 2016

Mindy_Nicole_Photography/iStock; uschools/iStock
jjwithers/iStock; Aneese/iStock; Greg Chow

September would ordinarily be the end of the high season for residential real estate, with schools back in session across the U.S. and families reluctant to uproot. But hold on—this is no ordinary year, and a preliminary review of the month’s data on realtor.com® shows that September is shaping up to be the hottest fall in a decade.

Homes for sale in September are moving 4% more quickly than last year, and that’s even as prices hit record highs. The median home price maintained August’s level of $250,000, which is 9% higher than one year ago. That’s a new high for September.

“The fundamental trends we have been seeing all year remain solidly in place as we enter the slower time of the year,” says realtor.com’s chief economist, Jonathan Smoke. That means short supply and high demand, which results in high prices.

Granted, September saw a bit of the typical seasonal slowdown, with properties spending five more days on market (77) than last month—but that’s still three days faster than last year at this time. At the same time, fewer homes are coming on the market, further diminishing supply. Total inventory remains considerably lower than one year ago, leaving buyers with fewer options in a market that has already been pretty tight.

In gauging which real estate markets were seeing the most activity, our economic data team took into account the number of days that homes spend on the market (a measure of supply) and the number of views that listings on our site get (a measure of demand). The result is a list of the nation’s hottest real estate markets, where inventory moves 23 to 43 days more quickly than the national average, and listings get 1.4 to 3.7 more views than the national average.

New to the top 20 this month is Grand Rapids, MI. Like other cities on the list, “Grand Rapids” includes the greater metropolitan area, which in this case takes in Wyoming, MI. Similarly, our No. 1 market, “San Francisco,” also includes nearby Oakland and Hayward.

The hot list

Rank (September)	20 Hottest Markets	Rank (August)	Rank Change
1	San Francisco, CA	4	3
2	Vallejo, CA	1	-1
3	Denver, CO	3	0
4	Dallas, TX	2	-2
5	San Diego, CA	6	1
6	Stockton, CA	5	-1
7	Fort Wayne, IN	11	4
8	Sacramento, CA	10	2
9	San Jose, CA	10	2
10	Waco, TX	14	5
11	Modesto, CA	13	2
12	Columbus, OH	7	-5
13	Yuba City, CA	12	-1
14	Detroit, MI	9	-5
15	Santa Rosa, CA	19	4
16	Colorado Springs, CO	16	0
17	Santa Cruz, CA	17	0
18	Kennewick, WA	18	0
19	Nashville, TN	20	1
20	Grand Rapids, MI	21	1

The post The Hottest U.S. Real Estate Markets for September 2016 appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com.

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Watching U.S. Home Price Trends? They Probably Don’t Apply to You

HYWARDS/iStock

Once upon a time, all across this great land, consumers lacked information and insights into the housing market. If you wanted to know how home prices were trending, you had to find an expert local Realtor® or some other real estate pro, and quiz them about market conditions.

Today, we have tons of real estate data at our fingers, thanks to the internet and websites like this one. In fact, maybe we have too much, considering that we’re also being bombarded by news stories, blog posts, tweets, and financial talking heads blathering away on TV.

The real estate metric that typically attracts the most attention is home prices. No surprise. After all, a contracted price is the market’s ultimate stamp of value. So if we want to know where the market is going, we should be able to track the prices of homes—just like stocks or new cars or barrels of oil. Right?

Not so fast. News alert: Homes are not like stocks or new cars or barrels of oil, and data about home sales are not readily available and captured on a timely basis.

Homes are inherently unique—for the most part, they can’t be identically mass-produced. Even in those huge developments where the homes all look alike, they’ll still have differing physical attributes, including different views of at least what is on either side.

And there’s this: A home’s value is also influenced by who lives in it. Minor differences in paint, wallpaper, and flooring choices over time evolve into radically different styles and improvements that result in differing levels of appeal to others. Some owners take fastidious care of their homes; others, not so much. The age of the kitchen, baths, major appliances, and mechanical systems will all vary—and influence what buyers are willing to pay.

Given the unique nature of homes and how prices are determined through negotiations between buyers and sellers, reports on home prices are, at best, background context.

Conflicting numbers, confused consumers

This month I’ve been seeing more variation than usual in the interpretations of national home price trends.

Last week, the National Association of Realtors® reported that the national median existing-home price in August was up 5.1% over the median price last year. NAR breaks down prices in the four major regions of the country, which varied in their increase from 1% in the Northeast to 9% in the West.

CoreLogic, one of the largest property and home sales data providers in the U.S., reported that home prices were up 6% in July through the lens of their repeat sales index. For comparison, NAR reported that the median existing-home sale price in July was up 5% over last year.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s purchase-only index increased in value by 5.8% compared with last year in July. This index tracks only home sales financed by conventional and conforming mortgages, but its July reading was consistent with CoreLogic’s.

Then the last reading we received was from Case-Shiller, which is followed widely in financial markets. The Case-Shiller national index for July, which is actually a three-month average covering May, June, and July, showed that home prices increased 5.1% over the same period last year.

It’s time to take a step back.

So what can we conclude from all of these national price metrics? The U.S. housing market in aggregate saw home prices appreciate from 5% to 5.8% in July. The problem with this, of course, is that there is no such thing as a national housing market.

Housing markets are local, very local

The two most widely followed indices that make up the  Case-Shiller reports sound local, but au contraire. Look closer. They actually cover two collections of large markets known as the 10-city and 20-city composite indices. Financial analysts love to follow them, but since they’re collections of markets, they are not always a good representation of what is happening in aggregate across the U.S.

The 20-city index was up 5% for the three months ending in July, compared with the same reading in June, which was up 5.1%. The 10-city was up 4.2% in July, and down from 4.3% in June.

These are the markets in the 10-city index: Boston, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. The 20-city adds Atlanta, Charlotte, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Portland (OR), Seattle, and Tampa.

So if you don’t live in one of these markets, these composites are not very helpful to you as a consumer!

If you do live in one of these markets, it is much better to scrutinize what Case-Shiller reports on your hometown rather than looking at the composite. Because those other 19 cities? They might be masking your market’s true trend.

For example, the Portland area’s July index was up 12% over last year. But the indices covering the Washington and New York metro areas were up only 2%.

But even that 12.4% reading for Portland won’t help a Portland buyer understand how her favorite neighborhood is trending. All of these metrics are aggregates representing enormous areas. And yet real estate is inherently hyperlocal.

OK, follow us here: The Portland metropolitan statistical area (when we economists talk about cities, we’re actually talking about MSAs) covers seven counties across the states of Oregon and Washington. These counties include more than 70 well-populated ZIP codes.

In July, according to realtor.com®-reported data, the median list price across the Portland MSA was up 16% over last year. But by ZIP code, list price appreciation varied from up 29% in 97211 in Portland to down 9% in 98660 in Vancouver, WA. Depending on where you live in Portland, an increase of 16% could be wishful thinking, or it could be way understating the appreciation.

So as it turns out, things haven’t changed that much since the days before the internet, when we had way less info on housing and home price trends. Since home values are complex, inherently unique, and highly variable by neighborhood, no reported price metric will beat the insights of local Realtors and the other professionals who focus on the attributes that make one home worth more than another. Getting that one-on-one intel is the way you’ll truly get plugged in to the market trends in your neighborhood.

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‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ Home Looks to Clean Up With $4.45M Asking Price

20th Century-Fox/Getty Images; realtor.com

Great news, poppets! The San Francisco Victorian featured in Robin Williams‘ “Mrs. Doubtfire,” which became a shrine to the Bay Area–based actor after his death, is now on the market for $4.45 million.

The 3,300-square-foot house on Steiner Street was the setting for the 1993 comedy where Williams wore pancake makeup and a pair of falsies to impersonate a British nanny so he could spend more time with his children after divorcing their mother. The home has attracted movie fans, who left flowers on its sidewalk after the beloved actor died in 2014 of suicide. He was 63.

The Pacific Heights home, built in 1893, is near San Francisco’s famed Gold Coast and sits on a wide corner lot. It has four bedrooms, 3.5 baths, and formal living and dining rooms. The interior features hardwood floors, intricate millwork, and window-lined turrets. The white kitchen boasts a large island, subway tile backsplashes, and access to a garden patio.

Living room

realtor.com

“Because it’s built on a wide corner lot, the public rooms are large-scale, and the home has an open feel,” listing agent Steven Gothelf of Pacific Union Christie’s International told SFGate.

The property belongs to Douglas Ousterhout, a leading doctor in facial feminization surgery for transgender patients, according to SFGate. He purchased the home in 1997 for $1.4 million.

Williams, a Juilliard School graduate who is credited with spurring San Francisco’s 1970s comedy scene, won a 1997 Oscar for his performance as an empathetic therapist in “Good Will Hunting.”

Entryway

realtor.com

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Will the Home Appraiser Shortage Wreck Your Home-Buying Dreams? Not If You Read This

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Get ready to hurry up and wait, home buyers! Even if you’ve found your dream home, made an offer that’s been accepted, and passed that critical home inspection hurdle, there’s something major happening in the housing industry that, oh so quietly, could grind the last mile of your home-buying marathon to a screeching halt.

The culprit: a home appraiser shortage. A big one, in fact.

Odds are, you’ve never given home appraisers a second thought, assuming you even know what they do. But here’s the deal: When you go for a mortgage, this is the pro that your lender hires to check out the property, making sure it’s a good investment (because, of course, it’s their money on the line, too).

As it turns out these days, there just aren’t enough qualified home appraisers to go around, and it’s causing delays among home buyers eager to close their deals.

According to a new study by Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance, the percentage of on-time closings has dropped over the past six months, from 77% in April to 64% today. Appraisal-related holdups jumped 50% in this time period, so it’s quite clear they’re the bottleneck.

Experts say this shortage dates to 2008. In the wake of the housing crisis, the Federal Housing Administration tightened regulations around home appraisals in an effort to protect banks and home buyers. It upgraded the talent pool, but significantly shrank it at the same time.

Before that point, licensed home appraisers could send an apprentice studying under them to head out and handle the on-site inspection of the house in question. But after 2008, the FHA said no mas—the licensed appraiser has to make the house call, too.

Home appraisers, seeing that their apprentices weren’t saving them much legwork, cut ’em loose. With fewer home appraisers-to-be in the pipeline, the number of professionals in this workforce has shrunk by 22% since 2007, according to the Appraisal Institute.

And the current  batch of practicing home appraisers is aging, with over 60% past the age of 50, and creeping closer to retirement every day.

Should home buyers panic?

For home buyers, this home appraiser shortage doesn’t just try their patience. It could stress their pocketbooks, too.

Since they typically “lock in” their mortgage interest rate for a certain time period, an appraisal holdup could push them past that expiration date, forcing them to renegotiate at a higher interest rate (because yes, they are rising now).

Even worse, in hot markets where a home’s market value can change in a matter of a couple of months, an appraisal delay could mean the appraised value of a home could come in much lower (or higher) than back when the offer was first made—which could cause the whole deal to fall through completely.

Given that the stakes are so high, what’s a home buyer frothing at the mouth to close sometime this decade supposed to do?

For one, there’s less of a chance of succumbing to the home-closing equivalent of road rage if you’re braced for gridlock ahead. So ask your real estate agent and loan officer if they anticipate delays and plan accordingly.

“The Realtors® and loan officers know if their market is one that is experiencing the severe appraisal delays; not all markets are,” says Tal Frank, president of PhysicianLoans.com. But if your market has an appraisal backlog, “you should expect the appraisal to be delayed and therefore the closing to take two to four weeks longer. If there is proper communication and expectations upfront, home buyers and home sellers should not end up in a panicked state.

“Rather than closing in 30 days, it may take 60,” he adds. “Not awful if everyone knows this at the start of the transaction.”

Home buyers in affected markets should also lock in their interest rate for longer.

“Some companies offer a standard 30-day lock, but the 60-day lock is advisable in the affected markets,” Frank continues. “If the buyer is working with a lender that offers 30-day locks as standard, the buyer can either wait to lock or pay the lender a fee upfront to extend the lock period.”

But what if you’re already knee-deep in the process and can’t turn back time? Consider paying a “rush fee”—at least 20% on top of the usual cost, perhaps more depending on your market. You can also try appealing to a home appraiser directly.

“Most appraisers are self-employed, so they aren’t constrained by bureaucratic rules and procedures. This means they can bump your appraisal up their priority list if you can convince them to do so,” points out Brian Davis, a real estate investor and co-founder of SparkRental.com. “Often, a simple phone call explaining the urgency of the situation might suffice.”

Because after all, Davis points out, while they may be in short supply, “Appraisers are people, and many are willing to work an extra couple hours one evening in order to help you settle on your new home.”

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Reebok Founder’s $90M Mansion Kicks Off Most Expensive New Listings

realtor.com

Slip off your shoes and walk with us as we count down this week’s most expensive new listings on realtor.com®. Now that you’re relaxed, we’ll share our thrill at seeing this week’s priciest property in a location other than California, Florida, or New York.

Sitting just outside of Boston proper, the $90 million estate of shoe guru and Reebok founder Paul Fireman is a green swath in greater Beantown. Considering this is a home within minutes of a major metro area, we’re hard pressed to find a comparable for the size and scope of this 26,000-square-foot mansion.

No home this week was able to keep up with the blazing pace set by the Brookline mansion—our second-place finisher can be had for $40 million less than the top spot. And when a $50 million Miami mansion is only runner-up, it’s a big week for pricey properties.

We were also introduced to a Palm Beach estate that lost any chance of becoming a landmark home in the city, a Malibu mansion perched high above the Pacific Ocean, and a brand-new Miami Beach home built for a Swiss doctor who must have decided against living in South Florida.

We’ll let you decide which pricey property suits you best. Just do it…

1. 150 Woodland Rd, Brookline, MA

Price: $90,000,000 ($3,381 per square foot)
Luxe factor: This nearly 14-acre estate is basically within the Boston city limits, while remaining secluded from the surrounding city. The property belongs to Paul Fireman, the founder of Reebok, and his massive mansion offers over 26,000 square feet of living space. Referred to as an “emerald island” in the listing, the grounds include a “horticultural encyclopedia of specimen plantings.”

Brookline, MA

realtor.com

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2. 3085 Munroe Dr, Miami, FL

Price: $50,000,000 ($3,708 per square foot)
Luxe factor: Dubbed Casa Bahia, this waterfront stunner is three stories of gorgeous glory in Coconut Grove. It’s only a year old, but the homeowner—Colombian interior designer Catalina Echavarria—is ready to spend more time traveling and visiting her home in Bali, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Miami, FL

realtor.com

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3. 100 El Bravo Way, Palm Beach, FL

Price: $29,750,000 ($2,078 per square foot)
Luxe factor: Bouncing back on the market with a price reduction, this oceanfront manse was up for sale in March for $32.95 million. The seven-bedroom home comes with a storied past, but renovations done in the early 2000s mean that it’s not eligible for local landmark status. Landmark or not, a well-connected buyer will wind up with a heck of a consolation prize, because the mansion has “commercial-grade Cisco networking equipment installed.”

Palm Beach, FL

realtor.com

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4. 29208 Cliffside Dr, Malibu, CA

Price: $27,950,000 ($3,642 per square foot)
Luxe factor: On a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, this European-inspired mansion sits on coveted Point Dume. Gated and private, the six-bedroom home comes with over an acre of land in one of the country’s priciest locales.

Malibu, CA

realtor.com

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5. 440 S Hibiscus Dr, Miami Beach, FL

Price: $20,000,000 ($2,985 per square foot)
Luxe factor: Just finished earlier this year, this thoroughly modern masterpiece looks out onto Biscayne Bay. Built for Swiss eye doctor Aldo Scarpatetti, the six-bedroom home features a luxurious home theater, a rooftop deck, and an outdoor kitchen designed for entertaining.

Miami Beach, FL

realtor.com

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Incredibly preserved 1950s Time Capsule House in Dallas could be yours

Originally designed by renowned architect Gordon Nichols in 1954 and restored by its current owner, graphic designer Carlos Cardoza in 1994, the four-bedroom house features an open-plan layout, original cabinetry, a retro swimming pool and vaulted ceilings.

Related: Award-winning renovation slashes mid-century home’s carbon footprint by 80%

It is located at 11016 Pinocchio Drive, one among several roads in Dallas named after Disney characters and part of a post-war development project built in the 1950s by the National Association of Home Builders. Cardoza restored the house and embraced bubblegum colors, sci-fi shapes and technicolor textiles as some of the trademarks of the era. Thanks to his efforts, the house looks as if it hasn't aged a day.

Via My Modern Met

Photos via Virginia Cook Realtors

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