A $135 Million Home, But If You Have to Ask…

The premier listing of Joshua Saslove’s company — the 95-acre Hala Ranch built northwest of downtown Aspen, Colo. in 1991 for the family of Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former ambassador to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia and the home’s only, occasional occupant — is the most expensive single-family residential property on the market in the nation, with a price tag of $135 million. Of the 1,000 requests he has received to tour the house since last October when it went on sale, Saslove, along with lawyers for the prince who review every call, have granted just 11 of them. Non-billionaires need not apply, and Saslove believes that Hala will almost certainly be a new owner’s second, third or fourth home. At 56,000 square feet, Hala is bigger than the White House, with a staff of 12. It has 15 bathrooms, 16 baths, a private barbershop and beauty shop just off the master suite and enough space for a party of 450 people. Dark, gleaming wood beams, all with notched construction and not a single nailhead showing, pale plaster walls and television screens dominate the décor. It is not a house for a family that putters in the kitchen, which is in the basement, the province of professional chefs. (www.nytimes.com)
New York Times (7/2/07); Kirk Johnson

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Fewer Low-Income Residents Are Owners

The number of low-income families obtaining mortgages to buy houses in the District of Columbia has plummeted during the past decade as property values have soared and the city has attracted more affluent residents, according to a new study from the Urban Institute. Ten years ago, 17% of District home buyers were low-income, defined as a family of four with an income of $45,000 or less in current dollars. In 2005, the most recent year for which data were available, that rate had slipped to just over 4%. The general decline in low-income home buyers is the result of the “rapid increases in prices that we saw starting in 2000, increases that were much faster than anyone’s increase in income,” said Peter A. Tatian, a senior research associate with the Urban Institute. “There was a lot of interest in people buying homes in the District, and the higher-income folks started crowding out the lower-income buyers.” The study also contains data showing a rise in the share of Hispanic and Asian home buyers and a decline in African American and white buyers. (www.washingtonpost.com)
Washington Post (6/26/07); Paul Schwartzman

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Area Suburbs See Rise in Foreclosures

Home repossessions are cropping up almost everywhere in the Washington, D.C. region, regularly occurring on suburban streets unaccustomed to hard times. In Montgomery County, Md., the foreclosure rate has tripled in a year. In Fairfax County, Va., it has quadrupled. In Loudon County, Va. it has increased tenfold. Foreclosures normally come amid economic downturns, when people lose manufacturing jobs or when regions are devastated by natural disaster. The surge in foreclosures during relatively good times can be traced to risky, so-called subprime mortgage loans made to people who stretched too far to purchase homes in an inflated real estate market. In many cases, lenders loosened credit rules for home buyers with bad credit, who made no downpayment or who didn’t earn enough money to qualify for traditional loans. The lenders charged them higher interest rates, which made the loans more expensive. Bolivian immigrants Marcelo Ortetga, a dump truck driver, and his wife, Jenny, who cleans houses, bought a brick-front colonial in Herndon, Va. for $549,000 in February 2006. The payments are $4,200 a month, which grew unbearable as residential construction work slowed and Ortega’s income dropped. The couple tried to sell the house, the value has fallen to $499,000 and they can’t refinance without paying a steep prepayment penalty. (www.washingtonpost.com)
Washington Post (7/2/07); Kirstin Downey

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In Ice-Cold Housing Market, Assessment Disputes Heat Up

With the residential real estate market slumping in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, there has been a sharp rise in questions and challenges over 2007 tax assessments. This spring, Ramsey County fielded 998 inquiries about residential valuations, compared with 470 in 2006. In Hennepin County, queries about the suburban assessments increased 32%. Overall, the March 2007 statements — for taxes payable next year — showed residential market values flat in the state’s two most populous counties. Single-family homes in Ramsey County declined less than two-tenths of one percent when improvements were not included. Hennepin County saw residential property values increase 4%. Unimproved single-family homes in Minneapolis increased 1% in value. A state survey of Minnesota counties shows that, overall, residential property values grew more slowly in 2006, with a few communities seeing small dips. For the most part, “we were getting smaller increases,” said House legislative analyst Steve Hinze. But he said that any softening in home market values this year won’t be realized on tax statements until 2008, if then. (www.startribune.com)
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune (7/1/07); Pat Doyle

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Farewell to the Traditional Balcony?

Many of today’s architects — world-class innovators such as Helmut Jahn, Richard Meier and Jean Nouvel — are creating balcony-free towers, most with floor-to-ceiling glass windows and some with redesigned outdoor spaces that are tucked into the sides of structures to camouflage their appearance, make them cozier and provide protection against gusts. Some luxury buildings under construction tout an ultramodern, highly engineered floor-to-ceiling glass wall that slides away to open up to the living room and bring in the outdoors. “The balcony has always had great appeal,” said Hani Rashid, a principal of the New York architecture firm Asymptote. “What’s changed is that if you look around at all the older buildings with balconies, they end up being bike storage and planters.” Recent improvements in glass manufacturing and smart-home technology have dramatically improved soundproofing; waterproofing; and anti-reflection, anti-glare, mechanical and privacy issues. This has made the transparent material more appealing for residential use, giving architects more freedom to design condominium and rental apartment high-rises with sleek, clean lines. (www.washingtonpost.com)
Washington Post (6/16/07); Della De Lafuente

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Suites All Around; Spacious Master Bedrooms Aren’t Just for Heads of Households Anymore

Of 60 designers, architects and other industry experts surveyed by NAHB in February, about 62% said demand for two master bedroom suites in high-end new houses — those 4,000 square feet or larger — would increase by 2015. The demand is being fueled by the needs and wants of baby boomers who have the disposable incomes to customize their homes. Many of them are caring for elderly, sometimes ailing, parents. Others just want to give their guests or adolescent children privacy. Bozzuto Homes in Greenbelt, Md. is offering dual suites in a number of its plans at Woodbrook on Charles, a community of 28 townhouses and single-family houses in Baltimore County. Pennsylvania-based Toll Brothers offers dual master suites in many of its attached homes and townhomes. There is also a trend toward some form of living space in the home that meets the need for multi-generational living. One reason is that there are more immigrant families, who are less likely to let their aging parents spend their last days in nursing homes. Another reason is that there are more dual-income households with child-care needs. An extra master bedroom can add $10,000 to $20,000 to the cost of a house, according to Jeff Mezger, chief executive of Los Angeles-based KB Home. Tony Letke, senior vice president of Mueller Homes in Sykesville, Md., said it can add up to $40,000 to the price of a house, depending on square footage and amenities. (www.washingtonpost.com)
Washington Post (6/30/07); Nancy Trejos

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