In the market for a new house? This one comes complete with upgraded tile, Berber carpet and a European wife.
posted on Jun 27, 2008 - View this thread

HotPads has one of the cooler interfaces to the real estate world. Especially worth looking at are the heat maps that show you scary, scary foreclosure rates across the country and the rent ratios that tell you whether it is worth buying in a particular area, among lots of other data.
posted on Jun 16, 2008 - View this thread

The $100 House Essay Contest. Write a 500 word essay on why you deserve to win the house. Submit it to James Mathias, along with $100. If he receives 2,500 entries... a winner will be chosen and awarded the home. If enough entries aren't received, he'll return the money. Finally, a chance to get that dream home in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Or... an extra $179,900.
posted on May 14, 2008 - View this thread

You're familiar with the grand-daddy of (overhyped) real estate AVMs, or even some lesser known, but more accurate competitors. In this market, it can be tough to get out from under your current home before buying new. But did you know that you can also swap your home?
posted on May 5, 2008 - View this thread

Need an apartment? MapsKrieg is a mashup of Google Maps and Craigslist real estate listings that can show you just how close to the Tenderloin you'll be.
posted on Apr 30, 2008 - View this thread

The Most Important Article You Did Not Read This Week Now, it is true that the most important article you probably didn’t read contains all the usual hair-raising things you’d expect to see about the real estate market, including “developers under siege,” “signs of weakness in key markets,” developers “slashing prices,” and the head of a major builder advising “that people wait three to four years before purchasing a new home.” But the most important article you probably didn’t read is not about real estate markets in Naples, Florida, or Sacramento, California. It is about China. [ full WSJ article here]
posted on Mar 28, 2008 - View this thread

Rent Vs. Buy Myths That Ruined the Housing Market
posted on Mar 21, 2008 - View this thread

The Next Bubble: Priming the markets for tomorrow's big crash. A layman's primer on the genesis and future of today's economic troubles, at Harper's Magazine.
posted on Mar 13, 2008 - View this thread

The sub-prime mortgage crisis is giving way in some places to crime ridden McMansion ghettos, perhaps the beginning of a larger long term trend in demographics: "many low-density suburbs and McMansion subdivisions, including some that are lovely and affluent today, may become what inner cities became in the 1960s and ’70s—slums characterized by poverty, crime, and decay."
posted on Feb 29, 2008 - View this thread

Ursa Major, the former home of deceased basketball great (and cocksman extraordinaire) Wilt Chamberlain is for sale. History. Slide shows.
posted on Jan 25, 2008 - View this thread

You have to make sure that St. Joseph is facing your house, if you face it out, the neighbor's house across the street will sell instead. "We buried our little gem under the for sale sign just like we were supposed to do. On October 4th, yes the 4th, just 24 hours after we buried him, we had a showing and after several counter-offers back and fourth, we finally signed a contract on October 19th!!!!! 7 months after the house was sitting and not getting any bites at all and after 1 day, its sold!!! I have complete and utter faith." America's desperate homesellers and realtors are turning to St. Joseph, Your Underground Real Estate Agent.
posted on Nov 18, 2007 - View this thread

Looking to rent or buy? You can check out the schools and inspect the foundation all you want, but only Rotten Neighbor cares to warn you about your potential community.
posted on Oct 31, 2007 - View this thread

If piss were oil, 10 Midwood would be Saudi Arabia. It is a poorly managed, under-maintained, out of date, dirty, smelly bunker which makes the worst college dorm seem like the Governor's Mansion. [language and images may be nsfw]
posted on Sep 6, 2007 - View this thread

Would you like to buy an island? Some are small and affordable. Others, not so much.
posted on Aug 17, 2007 - View this thread

Seattle is red hot and almost no other market is. So says this great data visualization that Zillow just put out. (bonus: while previewing the link I also noticed a useful page of quarterly reports for major real estate markets)
posted on Aug 15, 2007 - View this thread

What's the link between:
1) the quickly-growing number of American homeowners becoming unable to pay their mortgages after their ARM's reset (a trend nicknamed "ARMageddon" -- applicable in the UK too), which is translating into soaring foreclosure rates, and in turn forcing at least 60 US semi-shady mortgage brokers to go belly-up in the past year (i.e. the "subprime meltdown"), and...
2) the recent implosion and impending financial bailout -- which may become the biggest since the Long Term Capital Management fiasco of 1998 -- of two Bear Stearns hedge funds which dealt in mortgage securities? [more inside]
posted on Jul 11, 2007 - View this thread

Casey Serin (discussed on MeFi here), the world's most hated blogger according to CNET, has taken down his "I Am Facing Foreclosure" blog. Why? Speculation abounds among his fans and foes alike. Did the law catch up to him? Was it a result of a crayon-penned contract with his wife? The "real estate bubble's" poster boy has inspired others to create a Caseypedia, to write copious blog entries of their own, and even to host "talkcasts" that function a little like memorial services in the emptiness that follows the sure (?) demise of Serin's own Foreclosure Fridays call-in, chat-in sessions. There's even one tonight!
posted on Jun 1, 2007 - View this thread

Trulia Hindsight merges real estate data showing the year properties were built with animated maps (US Only). Search for your town by name; here's mine.
posted on May 29, 2007 - View this thread

BubbleFilter: Real Estate Roller Coaster. [via] US Home prices adjusted for inflation plotted as a first-person ride on a roller coaster. Keep your eye on the bottom right-hand corner for the corresponding year. Don't worry about the dramatic ending. I mean really, how bad could bad get?
posted on Apr 3, 2007 - View this thread

One man's pocket change is another man's $3 million dollar home. Today, 3 previously homeless families were handed the keys to homes located on one of Hawai'i's priciest streets: Kahala Avenue. Japanese billionaire Genshiro Kawamoto has so far chosen 4 native Hawaiian families to live rent free for up to 10 years, making good on a promise made back in November 2006. Obviously, Kawamoto's motives are suspect, as his record as a landlord has been rather tainted. And his approach to alleviating 4 family's homeless situation doesn't solve any systemic problems or go very far in providing long term solutions to homelessness. But for now, it's a feel-good story, and the start of an interesting sociological experiment...
posted on Mar 23, 2007 - View this thread

Your husband left you? It could be worse. Divorcing couple builds a wall through the family home neither will leave. Apparently breaking up, but not moving out, is not uncommon, it is even recommended. Even among us.
posted on Feb 10, 2007 - View this thread

If you continue to wait, you may never be able to afford to get into the housing market. The National Association of Home Builders wants you to buy a home now. Should you wait? No, no, no, no! Via Housing Panic.
posted on Dec 1, 2006 - View this thread

Looking for a spacious home in a unique, quiet and safe location? It may be a fixer-upper, but buy now before the value skyrockets.
posted on Nov 30, 2006 - View this thread

The Penthouse Wondering what to do with the $70 mil. that Granny left you in her will? You could buy that private tropical island you have had your eye on but that's a 30 hour trip in your private jet. Wouldn't you really be happier here?
posted on Sep 30, 2006 - View this thread

Would you love to own that house down the block, but are inconvenienced by the fact that it's not for sale? Don't fret. "Every Home in America is Up for Sale!" Of course, one should always be wary of unsolicited offers.
posted on Aug 23, 2006 - View this thread

I've become obsessed with the idea of the Real Estate Bubble. I don't even live in NYC or SF, but I must read Brownstoner, Curbed, and Curbed SF every day. For more local, but less spectacular, chills I read Urban Trekker. And for a more global view of the gloom: The Matrix, The Housing Bubble, and Bubble Meter. Finally, for one last depressing shot, America's Overvalued Real Estate tracks down the most depressingly overpriced "pieces of shit" across the country. Related discussions here, here, here, and (premature or prescient?) here.
posted on Apr 3, 2006 - View this thread

The Secret Agent - whilst talk has gone on for many a year about things like 'bubbles' and 'bursting' on the topic of real estate, never before has it been seriously considered that regular offer-withholding, mortgage-falsifying, and price-gouging to the tune of £50,000 by real estate agents might be affecting the housing market altogether. I challenge metafilter to make the links, and see who's first on that merry conspiracy theory bandwagon. And why is it that people who work with selling or developing buildings are just, well, evil?
posted on Mar 22, 2006 - View this thread

Home Prices Do Fall A look at the collapse of the 1980's real estate bubble through the eyes of The New York Times
Better with Times select. Also better with Firefox's fetch text extension
posted on Feb 12, 2006 - View this thread

The only difference between a cult and a religion is the amount of real estate they own
posted on Jan 5, 2006 - View this thread

Le Grand Jardin. For only $65m dollars you can own a thousand year old villa along with the bastille that housed The Man in the Iron Mask.
posted on Dec 27, 2005 - View this thread

Mansion impossible is a simple little real estate flipping game that will kill what productivity you have left today.
posted on Nov 11, 2005 - View this thread

Get Steve Jobs' Mansion......Free! Delivery Extra
It's true, the catch is that you have to figure out a way to remove this 17,000 sq. ft. mansion, its not in good shape, the roads are narrow and windy and, oh yeah, it's FREAKIN' HUGE!
An interesting twist and follow up to this.
posted on Oct 16, 2004 - View this thread

Ever wanted to get away from the neighbours? Any neighbours? Phelps Dodge, a mining company, is selling off Kitsault, BC, a remote company town built in the early 80s to support a mine that later went bust.
posted on Sep 14, 2004 - View this thread

"The real estate bubble's gonna pop!" You seem to hear that all the time... But dig deeper and you find that other people don't even think there's a bubble. Others think there's a bubble, but it's gonna keep growing. Then, just to make it interesting, you've got others who said the bubble was going to pop back in 2002. Why is first-time home-buying this friggin' difficult?!
posted on Apr 14, 2004 - View this thread

Who wants to own the United Kingdom? Slightly used, with annex. Rains a bit. Trains often late. Nice gardens. Food dubious, but lots of places to drink. Only 8.8 trillion dollars. I'm sure other countries could be bought for cheaper, and the citizens would probably be more willing to sell. If you really want your own private island, these would be the best people to speak to.
posted on Dec 29, 2003 - View this thread

Fascism with a White Picket Fence
posted on Aug 22, 2003 - View this thread

Become a GLM (Galactic Lord and Master) Your chance to invest in an expanding market (or is it steady state now, I forget), the Universe is up for grabs! Do you have a favourite astral body that you'd like to lay claim to? From Newscientist - Feedback.
posted on Jul 6, 2003 - View this thread

Well at least the real estate industry is doing ok, I guess this is the pitch, you kill your wife and you need money for the trial, so how do you sell the house exactly?
posted on Mar 26, 2003 - View this thread

DC Suburbs slowly getting denser I've been a participant for the past 5 years in what is easily the 2nd-3rd most insane housing market in the US: Washington DC. Apartment occupancy is 99% in the desirable areas, and "affordable starter homes" (in finger quotes) are priced at $250-$350k. People with good jobs can barely afford this. So what happens to folks who are just getting their feet on the ground in the country? More the merrier. How do you strike a balance between providing affordable housing that is accessible to living-wage jobs without running out the existing neighbors?
posted on Dec 27, 2002 - View this thread

"e-filing" your land transactions - could it streamline a process that is quite cumbersome? 11 of the 21 counties in New Jersey are working to convert their current paper-based system of filings to an electronic format. Some say it would lower mortgage costs and time constraints because of the movement of paper. Some say it's a disaster waiting to happen. I think it would be an excellent move and would give NJ some first mover status (I think?) to be proud of.
posted on Dec 23, 2002 - View this thread

He sells records. He sells homes. Is there anything Neal Smith can't do? Considering how industrious Alice Cooper has been, should we have expected any less from his drummer? Still, would you buy a house from this guy?
posted on Oct 11, 2002 - View this thread

Don't get used to looking at houses on the Internet. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is proposing a rule that allows realtors to withhold some/all of the information in the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) from websites. The NAR says the MLS is intended for "Broker-to-Broker" and not for consumers. It is designed to produce customer leads, not to give sufficient information for decision-making
posted on Sep 26, 2002 - View this thread

Got a taste for quasi-celebrity schadenfreude? Then glut yourself on the promotional materials of C-tier entertainers at the Hal Morris Museum. Care to slip down another couple of rungs on the ladder of fame? Have a look at the Celebrities of Real Estate. (thanks, Misterpants!)
posted on Feb 9, 2002 - View this thread

House hunting for the rest of us. A 280 sq. m. Parisian apartment: FF20.5m. ‘Lazybones’ on St. Peter: $6m. ‘La Barakat’ on the coast of Portgual: $11.5m. James Island, Vancouver, Canada: $49.9m.
posted on Dec 9, 2001 - View this thread

The U.S. Should buy Greenland I often wonder why politicians and bureaucrats don't act on the ideas of columnists. Maybe because it would be, in the words of Sir Humphrey Appleby, "courageous" of them to do so.
posted on May 17, 2001 - View this thread

"This is a painful reminder of the risks our agents take each and every day." Is this referring to the CIA? The FBI? Nope -- real estate. (via the one true /usr/bin/girl)
posted on Jan 5, 2001 - View this thread

Dotcom Yuppies Gone Home. As dotcoms crash and burn, real estate prices start to drop.

Who can say that's a bad thing?
posted on Dec 28, 2000 - View this thread

The fact that this article isn't condemning of this is amazing. Being from Long Island, I can say that less than 1/2 hour from this house are, basically, slums. Areas of very great poverty.
posted on Jul 18, 2000 - View this thread

Scary calculation of the day: I spend about $750/mo. on rent in LA, and while I was checking the price range on apartments in San Francisco, what I wanted was about $2500 per month. So in LA, I spend $9,000 per year on rent (actually it's half that, since I split it with my girlfriend), but in SF, it'd be $30,000 (!!!). For that cost, I could pay for a house in just a handful of years in any other state. Maybe Salon is right, or maybe they aren't.
posted on Mar 6, 2000 - View this thread

Moon Land Registry! Is this a scam or what? Prices on the upper east side too high for you? Get an out-of this-world deal here.
posted on Feb 28, 2000 - View this thread