Facts on Flooring for Homes: Types and Costs at Zillow Blog

Erika Riggs has the "facts on flooring"
at the Zillow Blog in
Types of Flooring and Their Costs

Magic Dust: Sporting Estates on Sale in the United Kingdom

Caroline McGhie headlines at the Telegraph in Sporting estates are the greatest prize that:

"Every self-respecting billionaire should own their own country estate – it’s the ultimate prestige purchase...."

And, indeed, we have been looking for suitable accomodations. As McGhie writes:

"What makes the perfect estate? There must be a big country house, a few cottages, outbuildings and land, with the value split roughly half and half between the house and the land. Magic dust is supplied by a spectacular setting. "

We love that last sentence about "magic dust". Is that not the elusive substance of dreams? No one buys just "four walls". Ownership means more than that. In the end, it is the "magic dust" that counts. Currently, we have our eyes on this property, as McGhie writes:

"Some buyers like fast access to London. On the borders of Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, 45 minutes by car from the capital, the Kingston Wood Manor Estate is being offered by Savills (020 7016 3780) and Carter Jonas (020 7493 0676) at £8.5-£9 million." [link added]

But if the bankers see it differently, we may have to settle, as McGhie writes, for this one:

"Small can be beautiful, too. At the other end of the country, in Cornwall, nine-bedroom Hamatethy farmhouse, with a pair of cottages, more than 500 acres and fishing rights on the River Camel is priced at £4 million." [link added]

Or perhaps, as McGhie writes:

"As the price of good arable land in England has soared in the past few years, reaching an average £6,000 an acre and performing better than gold, a balance has to be struck. "

Maybe real estate and especially "estate" ownership really ARE "magic dust", the dust of gold in overpriced real estate values.

Donna Livingston -- One of the AD 100 Top Architects and Interior Designers

Donna Livingston

One of the AD 100 Top Architects and Interior Designers at architecturaldigest.com

Read the article Donna Livingston and view the slide show at Donna Livingston: Asian and European Mixes in a Los Angeles Apartment

AD Amazing Kitchens App

App Store - AD Amazing Kitchens

"Get some interactive inspiration for your next kitchen redesign with the free Architectural Digest Amazing Kitchens app for iPhone, iPod, and iPad. Featuring a selection of visually stunning kitchens handpicked by AD's editors, the app is packed with useful and intuitive tools. Try it today!"

Home Ownership Drop Greatest in America Since the Great Depression

Les Christie at CNN Money reports in Home ownership sees biggest drop since Great Depression that:

"Thanks to the housing bust there has been a substantial increase in empty homes. The number of vacant housing units jumped an astonishing 43.8% to 15 million (or 11.4% of all housing units) in 2010, up from 10.4 million in 2000."

Aha. So people are on the streets while others hoard their gold.
That is a fine pickle.
Is that the America that the founders intended?

This deplorable situation has developed because we have permitted a system of residential ownership in which housing is not owned by the people living in that housing but by speculators investing in real estate to make profits at the expense of the exploited residents.

That has driven house prices, mortgages and mortgage payments through the roof to a point where normal wage earners can not pay for them. The price of housing has almost nothing to do with the actual cost of construction or the objective value of a real estate objects.

That problem in our view would be simple to remedy by laws which prohibit the ownership of residential properties -- except during the period of sale or resale -- by anyone else other than the people living in them.

To make sure that residential properties are sold at reasonable prices, people owning unoccupied residential property for longer than prescribed periods should be fined or jailed as social parasites.

That would take care of that problem.

As for the protection of buyers, no one buyer or group of buyers should be able to take out a mortgage requiring annual payments greater than 25% of their sole or combined yearly net incomes.

Such rules would drop the prices of homes (residential houses) to sensible levels quickly.

People with money should be investing in ideas and industries, not profiting from the fact that their fellow men, wives and children, who constitute the labor force that provides the goods and services of necessity, need a roof over their heads.

Charles Allem -- One of the AD 100 Top Architects and Interior Designers

Charles Allem

One of the AD 100 Top Architects and Interior Designers at architecturaldigest.com

Read the article and view the slide show at The Professionals: Charles Allem
Combining a Passion for Hands-On Work and a Feeling for the Fabulous

Marco Aldaco -- One of the AD 100 Top Architects and Interior Designers

Marco Aldaco

One of the AD 100 Top Architects and Interior Designers at architecturaldigest.com

Read the article and view the slide show at Flight of Fancy: AD 100 Designers: architecturaldigest.com

The AD 100: An International Directory of Top Interior Designers and Architects

See the AD 100 at architecturaldigest.com.

Robb Report’s “Ultimate Home” of 2010 « Homes of the Rich

Robb Report’s “Ultimate Home” of 2010 « Homes of the Rich: - Sent using Google Toolbar

Luxury Real Estate at Concierge Auctions

Concierge Auctions specializes in the auction of luxury real estate.

Country Home Prices Skyrocketing in Devon and Cornwall

The Western Morning News in This is South Devon report in Stark rural-urban affordability divide in Devon and Cornwall that:

"Homes in the countryside have risen in value by almost £600 a month in the past decade and are now worth £27,000 more than urban properties, a new report says."

Read the whole article.