Posted by Annalisa Burgos | October 15, 2009
Live next door to the President of the United States — the Obamas’ Chicago neighbors have put their home on the market.
Apparently, Matt Garrison, the listing agent with Coldwell Banker, hasn’t put an asking price on the house and will let the market dictate its value. How appropriate.
According to a report in The New York Times, the current owners paid $35,000 for the 6,000-square-foot house at 5040 South Greenwood Avenue in 1973. Other homes in the Hyde Park area have sold for $1 million to $2.5 million. But surely the appeal of living next to the President should tack on a few more mil. I wonder what kinds of background checks you’ll have to go through to close this deal.
About the property: The turn-of-the-century home is directly next to the Obama’s home, and the neighborhood is filled with Chicago’s business, political and intellectual rock stars. From this distance, you could ask the President for his famous chili recipe, borrow a cup of sugar from First Lady Michelle, or watch “First Daughters” Sasha and Malia, as the current owners often did.
The home was built in 1906 by A.R. Clark, who was also the original owner of President Obama’s home at 5046 South Greenwood. During World War II, the home was used to house officers, and eventually became a boarding house for a small military school.
The current owners purchased the home from the Colonel who ran the school. The home needs a little restoration, but still has all the original woodwork, stained glass windows, 6,000 square feet of living space, and a hefty yard by Chicago standards. Plus, as long as you don’t mind the occasional security hassles and Secret Service agents milling about, you can’t beat the location.
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | October 2, 2009
From our Cool Houses Daily files:
Another one of disgraced stockbroker Bernie Madoff’s properties is on the market — this time in Palm Beach, Florida.
Just months after Madoff was sentenced to a 150-year prison term, the Palm Beach home he owned with wife Ruth is up for sale for just under $8.5 million.
Like his Hamptons property, which sold in mid-September, the home is relatively bare inside since U.S. Marshalls have cleared out the Madoff’s furnishings and personal belongings to sell at auction.
The rest of the furniture will be cleared out when a lucky buyer wins this unfortunate historical icon. All the profits from the sale of the home will go towards restitution for the victims of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.
The listing touts the property as “a return to classic Florida island living,” and something about the property’s casual furnishings and landscaping are reminiscent of days gone by.
The home was purchased and renovated in the early 90s by developer Michael Burrows, so it does include fairly recent updates and some of his classic features: a 22-foot Cypress beamed ceiling with stainless steel hardware, a Honduran Mahogany front door, and large rooms with high ceilings. The home also has enough closets to fit even a Ruth Madoff-sized wardrobe.
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | August 13, 2009
This from our Cool Houses Daily files:
Rapper 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson III, slashed the asking price on his massive Farmington, Connecticut mansion again, hoping to unload the former money pit he rarely used.
It was originally listed at $18.5 million in 2007 and reduced late last year to $14.5 mil. Now, he’s asking $10.9 million — surely to cover the $4.1 million he shelled out for it in 2003 and the additional $6 mil he spent on repairs and upgrades.
The 17-acre estate has been the subject of an ongoing court battle between “Fitty” and an engineering firm he hired to repair and improve the home. Fitty sued BVH Integrated Services, claiming the firm owed him $3 million for maintenance repairs that were not included in its original repair estimate of about $500,000. Terms of the settlement in June were not disclosed.
The mansion has a whopping 21 bedrooms and 25 baths, a private lake with gazebo, an indoor/outdoor pool, gym and grand media room, all spread nicely over 48,000 square feet of living space.
If you love Fitty’s house like, er, a fat kid loves cake, view the listing to find out more about his crib.
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | May 19, 2009
Let’s face it. Sellers in this market need as much help as they can get. When you’re competing with foreclosures and heavily-discounted new construction, your home needs to stand out. Play up your strengths, whether it’s a great view or amazing kitchen. And if you’ve got a REALLY unique feature, FrontDoor.com is the perfect place for you to market your one-of-a-kind property!
FrontDoor’s Cool Houses Daily (www.frontdoor.com/coolhouses) highlights the coolest, kookiest and most unique homes for sale across the U.S., from a custom-built grown-up treehouse for sale in Texas to the former home of gangster Al Capone listed in Chicago.
Each day, we showcase one new property that has a great story or very unusual selling feature, chosen from our more than 3.6 million for sale real estate listings.
Each Cool House is featured for about two weeks and actively promoted through FrontDoor’s weekly newsletter sent to 400,000 engaged home lovers and via various social networks such as Facebook (www.facebook.com/FrontDoor) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/HGTVFrontDoor), plus throughout the Web site itself.
Realtors and brokers can add value to their clients’ listings with CHD. Just go to the CHD page (www.frontdoor.com/coolhouses) for details on how to submit your cool house for sale. “Our audience appreciates a good story and we are always on the look out for new and unique ways to highlight homes available through FrontDoor,” says Rich Lacy, vice president and site director of FrontDoor.com. “This feature showcases additional dimensions to a listing.”
And for home lovers like me, it’s cool just to see what’s out there.
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | April 21, 2009
Looking for a place to unleash your rock-and-roll soul? Well the self-proclaimed minister of R&R Lenny Kravitz is selling his waterfront Miami Beach mansion for $2.85 million.
The 5,700-square-foot home in the exclusive Biscayne Point neighborhood features 3 bedrooms, 3 full and 2 half bathrooms, a “resort-like” backyard, open bay views, over 1,100 square feet of tiled dock and 100 feet of waterfront.
The aerial view may not look like much, but check out these interior pictures! The decor screams “rocker pimp,” with white shag carpeting, black patent-leather walls, red lacquered floors and a white padded-patent-leather bar.
Reportedly, the rocker toned down the over-the-top decor before putting his shag pad on the market. Good move since not everyone is into that retro disco look.
But Lenny isn’t the only one selling a house — browse more homes for sale in Miami Beach. And if Miami Beach is not your style, find your flavor elsewhere in Miami, FL. Check out the five Miami neighborhoods that are in demand right now.
Enjoy checking out cool houses like this? Tune in to FrontDoor’s Cool Houses Daily every day at http://www.frontdoor.com/coolhouses and submit your own cool house for sale at coolhousesdaily@frontdoor.com.
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | April 10, 2009
Everytime I tell people I work for HGTV, they immediately tell me how much they looooove “House Hunters.” Most of these people aren’t actively looking to buy a home, so I ask why. And the response is pretty much the same across the board — “I love looking at houses.”
Imagine that. People who just want to look at houses. Well — ask, and you shall receive. We’ve got just the thing to unleash your inner property voyeur.
FrontDoor’s “Cool Houses Daily” gives you an exclusive peek into an amazingly cool house each day. And by cool, we mean homes with over-the-top features like panic rooms and helipads, celebrity-owned homes or even a house that supposedly will extend your life!
Safe to say HGTV has mastered the art of showcasing homes and bringing the excitement and drama of homebuying and selling to viewers who can not only relate, but want to be part of it (i.e. how can I get HGTV to redo my kitchen?).
So it was only natural for HGTV to launch FrontDoor.com, with the goal of reaching the millions of Web-savvy consumers who are not only actively buying or selling a home, but those who are just genuinely passionate about the idea of “home” and real estate. You’ve probably already seen the extensive how-to guides and expert tips on the site. But how cool is it to check out some of the most unique homes on the market?
So stop by everyday: http://www.frontdoor.com/coolhouses. You’ll get a daily dose of interesting properties you never knew existed. Who knows? It may motivate you to start house hunting or at least see what other unusual homes are out there. And if you know of a cool house for sale, email a description and photos to coolhousesdaily@frontdoor.com. We could feature it on CHD.
From our Cool Houses Daily files:
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