News

How To Finance Your Second Home: Avoid the Sticky Financing Wickets

By Candy Evans | July 18, 2012 |

There has never been a better time to buy a second home. I am even watching my spending these days, eyeing fractional ownership if it has all the right locations. We are having a guest post soon from a fractional ownership expert to explain the do’s and don’ts. The problem is not buying, as we know,…

Tell Me Your Real Estate Story: After Remodeling Their Dream Home (Where They Also Got Married!), Dankesreiters Head For The Burbs

By Joanna England | July 18, 2012 |

What happens when you find your dream home, remodel it into your perfect home, and then something happens and you have to move?

It’s a huge struggle, says Duane Dankesreiter.

He and his wife own that gorgeous updated Tudor in Wilshire Heights we featured for our Friday Four Hundred last week. They still love the house (who wouldn’t!?) and are heartbroken about putting it on the market. But, family calls from the suburbs, and they are trying to sell the house they thought they’d stay in forever.

Read on for more …

Have FHA Loans Lost Their Luster? Changes in Mortgage Lending Make Conventional Loans Now a Better Deal

By Candy Evans | July 18, 2012 |

   For decades, it was a pat answer. If the borrower’s home mortgage application had a little ugly around the edges, push them toward an FHA loan. That’s because FHA loans would accept all of the hard cases that made conventional mortgage lenders turn up their noses. From wee down-payments and less-than-pretty credit to iffy…

Wishlist Wednesday: Picture Perfect and Priced to Sell

By Amy Curry | July 18, 2012 |

I started writing about this house for the July 4th edition of Wishlist Wednesday, but due to the lack of WiFi on a West Texas excursion followed by a week in the Colorado mountains, I’ve been unable to share. But this three bedroom, two bath, 1,886 sq. ft. home at 4065 Beechwood Lane listed by Rogers Healy…

Richard Malouf’s Water Park COULD Have Been Worse: Could Have Been Lined with Gold, Like Versace’s

By Candy Evans | July 18, 2012 |

Over on SecondShelters.com, our Miami correspondent, Andrea Kavanagh tells us the South Florida market is sizzling — just what I heard at NAREE. It’s from foreigner’s buying up Miami real estate with hard, cold cash. Speaking of cash, Versace said “money was not just no object, it was irrelevant” when he built his waterside mansion…

How About a Pool Lined With 24-Carat Gold? For $125 Million, Miami’s Most famous Residence, the Versace Mansion, Can Be Yours!

By Candy Evans | July 18, 2012 |

Our Miami correspondent, Andrea Kavanagh, is back and house-hunting for us! Calling all billionaire art aficionados and free-spending, globe-trotting investors! Miami is all a buzz over Ocean Drive’s most infamous residence to hit the sizzling hot real estate market at a whopping $125 million. Casa Casuarina, also known as the Versace mansion, is an iconic…