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.

President Obama’s “Summer White House” Goes on the Market | Robb Report Exceptional Properties

President Obama’s “Summer White House” Goes on the Market | Robb Report Exceptional Properties: - Sent using Google Toolbar

Bill Zeckendorf's 15 Central Park West Penthouse Sale to Set New York City Real Estate Per Square Foot Record

William Zeckendorf's 15 CPW penthouse sale to set new city record | The Real Deal | New York Real Estate News: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Gardens, Gardener, Gardeining? THIS is an English Garden! Inspired by Kew Gardens, Table Mountain, Kirstenbosch Gardens in Cape Town, South Africa

One couple, 57 flowers and the Somerset meadow they turned into a field of dreams | Mail Online

"Their latest project — the Field of Dreams — was inspired by visits to Kew Gardens, Table Mountain National Park and Kirstenbosch Gardens in Cape Town, South Africa.

Roman Abramovich daughter Anna's £4m starter home in Belgravia | Mail Online

Roman Abramovich daughter Anna's £4m starter home in Belgravia | Mail Online: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

A New York Wall Street Revival as 1 World Trade Center is Built

1 World Trade Center Progress Spurs Retail Revival - NYTimes.com: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Prince William and Kate to Live in Royal Mansion | AOL Real Estate

Prince William and Kate to Live in Royal Mansion | AOL Real Estate: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

A Look Back at the Top Real Estate 2010 at Zillow Blog

We are a bit late here, but we just looked at it ourselves today. See 2010’s Top Real Estate Sales in U.S.