A condemned home in Northern California — with holes in the roof and mildew inside — recently sold for $1.23 million, becoming the latest example of the Bay Area’s tight housing market.
The home in Fremont was originally listed for $1 million but ended up closing at $230,000 over its asking price, listing agent Larry Gallegos told KTVU.
“We had a couple of offers that were very close. Actually, my client, when I first met them, wanted a little bit more than that with the price they had in their mind. But they ended up being happy with this one,” he said.
The condemned Northern California house with holes in the roof and mildew in the pipes sold last month for $1.23 million. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
The home, located about 35 miles southeast of San Francisco, has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and was condemned in 2013. The two investors who bought the property design green homes, according to Gallegos, and plan to put a 4,000 square-foot “masterpiece” on the lot in Fremont.
Gallegos told the Associated Press the buyers didn’t even enter the house because they had no interest in the actual building but on its location, which could offer a view of the bay from a second story.
Online property records show its assessment is years out of date — its taxable value is listed as $90,000.
David Stark of the Bay East Association of Realtors told KTVU there was “nothing surprising” about the sale.
“It’s a great example of location, location, location,” he said.
Stark told the television station that buying a tear-down to build a dream home reflects a 10-year trend, and that unlike in 2008, current home prices show no indication a crash is coming.
The home in Fremont was condemned in 2013, and has three-bedrooms, and two-bathrooms. (KTVU)
“People are purchasing homes. They’re purchasing vacant properties like this. The demand is there. The supply isn’t. These prices are sustainable,” he told KTVU.
The median home price in Fremont, which connects to Silicon Valley through several highways and with easy access to San Francisco and Oakland by train, is $1 million as of late February, according to Zillow.com, compared to $1.3 million in San Francisco and $1.28 million in Berkeley.
For residents that have been in the neighborhood for years, the spike in home prices leaves them in a difficult situation.
Sales of new single-family houses in the United States shrank 0.6 percent month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 618 thousand in February of 2018 from an upwardly revised 622 thousand in January. It is the lowest reading in four months and compares with market forecasts of a 4.4 percent rise to 623 thousand. Sales fell in the West and the Midwest. New Home Sales in the United States averaged 650.65 Thousand from 1963 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 1389 Thousand in July of 2005 and a record low of 270 Thousand in February of 2011.
Sales of new single-family houses in the United States shrank 0.6 percent month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 618 thousand in February of 2018 from an upwardly revised 622 thousand in January. It is the lowest reading in four months and compares with market forecasts of a 4.4 percent rise to 623 thousand. Sales fell in the West and the Midwest.
Sales fell in the West (-17.6 percent to 164 thousand) and the Midwest (-3.7 percent to 79 thousand) but rose in the South (9 percent to 338 thousand) and the Northeast (19.4 percent to 37 thousand).
The median sales price of new houses sold was $326,800, above $298,000 a year earlier. The average sales price was $376,700, also higher than $370,500 in February of 2017.
The stock of new houses for sale went up 2 percent from the previous month to 305 thousand, the highest level since March of 2009. This represents a supply of 5.9 months at the current sales rate.
Year-on-year, new home sales edged up 0.5 percent.
House prices in some of London’s wealthiest boroughs plummeted as much as 14.9% in the year to January, dragging down the average price in the capital—and in England—according to a report Monday by real estate consultants Acadata.
Prices in the capital fell 0.8% in January from December, to £593,396 (US$825,318). That’s down 2.6% annually, the report said, the biggest fall since August 2009, when the recession was still in full swing.
Price growth across the U.K. has likely been weighed down by uncertainties surrounding Brexit, along with 2016’s 3% surcharge on second homes and buy-to-let properties. “Subsequent to the introduction of this tax, the rates of price growth have been falling, and at an accelerated rate since September 2017,” the report said.
No doubt the fall is more acutely felt in London, a hotspot for international investors.
The biggest drops were logged in the priciest boroughs.
Wandsworth saw the largest dip, with the average price declining 14.9% in the year to January, to £685,567 (US$953,514) from £805,460 (US$1.12 million) the prior year. The City of London followed, where prices are now £844,768 (US$1.17 million), down 10.8% from last January and in Islington, prices are down 8.8% to £684,869 (US$952,543).
But in the city’s most expensive borough, Kensington and Chelsea, prices rose 4.6% up to £2.16 million (US$3 million).
Combined, the most expensive 11 boroughs fell by 3.8%, while mid-priced boroughs are down an average 2.7%, according to the report.
The less expensive boroughs fared better. More than half logged price rises over the last year, led by Bexley, which saw its average price rise 4.5% to £363,082 (US$504,988). In Barking and Dagenham, which has the lowest priced property in the capital, according to the report, prices inched up 0.1% to £300,627 (US$418,124).
Brent, in northwest London and home to Wembley Stadium, logged the largest price increases, up 8.5% to £587,372 (US$816,940).
It doesn’t seem possible, but midcentury modern design likely became even more popular in 2018 than before. The meteoric rise of the architectural and design style has been aided by shows like Mad Men and pushed into homes through big-box retailers like Target. But a good Eames chair aside, nothing quite compares to a midcentury modern building.
Boasting timeless design in a hot real estate market, the homes of 2018 were a diverse blend of styles from the 1950s and 1960s. We saw a wealth of midcentury gems, ranging from boxy glass houses to post-and-beam stunners. Whether your taste skews organic and natural or colorful and bold, there’s something for everyone on this list.
Without further ado, here are 11 incredible midcentury modern homes that came on the market this year.
Designed by AIA Gold Medal architect JosephEsherick, this multi-level wood-framed home towers above a sloped site in Montclair Hills and frames breathtaking views of the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges. Almost treehouse like in its aesthetics, the 2,391-square-foot four-bedroom boasts a series of decks, balconies, walkways, cantilevers, and staircases that creates a dynamic space both inside and out.
Photo by Robert Batey Photography and courtesy of Barbara Apking of Coldwell Banker
A boxy one-bedroom, one-bath home where you can live out your Farnsworth House dreams. Built by longtime University of Tennessee architecture professor William Starke Shell, the 1,600-square-foot home features a flat roof, 40-by-40 steel beams, and huge glass panels. According to the Knoxville News Sentinel, Shell earned a master’s of architecture from Columbia University before working with Mies in Chicago.
Not every home we loved this year was a starchitect-designed multi-million dollar listing. This modest home in Bayside, Wisconsin, listed for a reasonable $410,000 but boasted original details. The flat-roofed wooden construction unfurls across 2,100 square feet, with an open-concept living, a teal kitchen, and a dining area running the entire length of the house. Here, walls of glass frame views of the yard, while new Acid Brick Flooring complements a double-faced stone fireplace and wood paneling.
Here’s another fantastic midcentury home from the Sarasota School of Architecture, a regional modernist style that emerged after the war in and around Sarasota, Florida, and which counts Paul Rudolph and William Rupp among its notable architects. What sets this one apart is its completely circular design. Measuring approximately 2,714 square feet, the home features 18-foot ceilings, a cantilevering flat roof, clerestory windows circling the top of the curved walls, and soaring, double-height spaces.
The 2,522-square-foot house was built in 1962 by Verne Lars Solberg, a successful commercial architect in northern Illinois. While at the University of Oklahoma, Solberg met Ross and Eleanor Graves—whose father worked Wright’s land in Wisconsin—and it was Ross Graves who introduced Solberg to Wright’s organic style. When a doctor in Polo asked Solberg to design a house, the architect was given free range to design whatever he saw fit; this Usonian-style, three-bedroom, two-bath stunner was the result.
Designed in 1965 for Jack Christiansen, the pioneering engineer behind Seattle’s Kingdome roof and many other iconic buildings throughout the state, the post-and-beam waterfront residence appears to be virtually untouched and beautifully maintained over the years. The structure features an expansive deck propped on a concrete dais with a plethora of midcentury details—think glass and wood construction, Japanese-inspired beams, wood screens, and glazed expanses that frame stunning water and mountain views.
Photo by Carlos Marques with Marcott Studios and courtesy of Houlihan Lawrence
Located in Armonk, New York, about 50 minutes north of the city, this four-bedroom, two-bath midcentury was built in 1957 by architect Arthur Witthoefft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The home is a 25-by-95 foot rectangle featuring a black exposed-steel frame, white glazed brick, and huge floor-to-ceiling glass sliders. It sits on a sloping site, surrounded by the forrest of Westchester County, and multi-year renovations overseen by Witthoefft in 2007 brought the home back to its glory days.
Photo courtesy of Crye-Leike/Luxury Portfolio International®
This four-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath home was designed by E. Fay Jones in 1964 to respect and highlight the serene forest on the 1.27-acre property. A Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice with a lengthy career of his own, Jones made a name for himself building airy structures in forested areas, many in the Ozarks. It’s a masterclass in the Prairie style; an interior of cypress wood, Arkansas field stone, and flagstone floors is carefully balanced with giant floor-to-ceiling glass windows that provides views into the trees outside.
Photo by Boone Brothers Media, courtesy of Marisa Swenson Modern Homes Portland – Living Room Realty
Built by prolific Portland builder Robert Rummer in 1969, the house boasts Rummer’s classic post-and-beam design with a soaring atrium. The high-pitched, double-gable design anchors a floor plan that wraps around the central atrium, resulting in rooms flooded with light. Giant skylights also create an airy ambiance, but the home feels cozy thanks to Rummer’s use of wood and paneling.
This groovy midcentury modern home located in the Twin Palms neighborhood of Palm Springs starts with an unforgettable facade of stone “isosceles trapezoidal piers” and aquamarine double doors and culminates in impressive outdoor spaces that include a pool and multiple patios.
Sitting on the top of a hill on a one acre lot about 45 minutes from Atlanta, this four-bedroom Eichler-inspired house maintains most of its original features. The large and open living room area boasts soaring tongue and groove ceilings with a massive crab orchard stacked stone fireplace. East facing clerestory windows and a glassed sunroom extends the length of the rear of the home to let in light, contrasting with the warm wood-paneled interiors.
Construction of new homes increased 3.3 percent in November — with the gain largely coming from single-family houses being built at the strongest pace in more than a decade.
The Commerce Department said Tuesday that builders broke ground on homes last month at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.3 million units. The increase marks a key moment in the recovery from the Great Recession: Builders started work on single-family houses at the fastest pace since September 2007, which was just a few months before the start of that economic downturn.
Ralph McLaughlin, chief economist at the real estate company Trulia, said completed new homes are likely to finish at a post-recession high, but completions are still just 65 percent of their 50 year-average.
Driving the rebound in home construction has been a shortage of existing properties being listed for sale.
Fewer people are putting their property on the market, despite healthy demand from buyers because the unemployment rate is at a 17 year-low and mortgage rates remain at attractive levels. New construction has filled some of this gap with starts on single-family houses rising 8.7 percent so far this year.
Still, not enough new homes are being built to totally end the supply squeeze. Over the past year, the number of sales listings for the much larger market for existing homes has fallen 6.4 percent.
The construction growth last month came from the South and West, while the Northeast and Midwest reported declines.
Builders are also backing away from the apartment rentals that until recently were a driving force behind the rebound in residential construction. Ground breakings for multi-family buildings such as apartment complexes have declined 8.5 percent year-to-date.
The move away from apartment construction has corresponded with a shift by the millennial population toward buying homes, said Mark Fleming, chief economist at First American Financial, a real estate transactions firm.
These single family houses come with a new color choice to make the place come to life rather than the usual real estate properties that take time to build blea looking homes.
“The last two quarters have seen an increase, specifically a shift from renter occupied to owner occupied households, as Millennials age out of rentership and into homeownership,” Fleming said.
Building permits, an indicator of future construction, slipped 1.4 percent in October to 1.3 million. But the number of permits authorized so far this year has increased 5.8 percent.
Relatively low mortgage rates have helped would-be homebuyers, even as property prices have climbed faster than wages. The average rate on 30-year fixed-rate U.S. mortgages was 3.93 percent last week, slightly better than the 4.16 percent rate a year ago, according to mortgage Freddie Mac.
FreddieMac (OTCQB: FMCC) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), showing average mortgage rates holding relatively flat across the board.
News Facts
30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.93 percent with an average 0.5 point for the week ending December 14, 2017, down from last week when it averaged 3.94 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.16 percent.
15-year FRM this week averaged 3.36 percent with an average 0.5 point, the same as last week. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.37 percent.
5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.36 percent this week with an average 0.3 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.35 percent. A year ago at this time, the 5-year ARM averaged 3.19 percent.
Average commitment rates should be reported along with average fees and points to reflect the total upfront cost of obtaining the mortgage. Visit the following link for the Definitions. Borrowers may still pay closing costs which are not included in the survey.
Quote Attributed to Len Kiefer, Deputy Chief Economist. “As widely expected, the Fed increased the federal funds target rate this week for the third time in 2017. The market had already priced in the rate hike so long term interest rates, including mortgage rates hardly moved. Mortgage rates held relatively flat across the board, with the 30-year fixed mortgage rate inching down 1 basis point to 3.93 percent in this week’s survey. Mortgage rates have been in a holding pattern for the fourth quarter, remaining within a 10 basis point range since October.”
Earlier this week the Senate jumped into the fray, releasing its own proposal for tax reform. The Senate’s proposal, much like the House bill, which we looked at last week, creates significant headwinds for homeowners and homebuyers, while providing only a temporary cut for middle class homeowners.
What Stays the Same?
Like the House bill, the Senate chose to change the definition for capital gains so that a home seller must have lived in their home for at least five of the prior 8 years. This change would affect 12% to 22% of home sellers, locking in some inventory and potentially changing the trade-up purchase process.
The Senate also proposed to eliminate personal exemptions as the House did, but they chose to increase the child credit to $2000 per child. This latter change is more generous than the House’s $1,600 credit per child and $300 for each parent.
Pouring SALT in the Wound
Unlike the House bill, the Senate chose to eliminate all state and local taxes (SALT) including state and local income and sales taxes as well as state and local real estate taxes. This change will make it more difficult for homeowners to itemize their mortgage interest and when they do, they will face a much lower benefit from homeownership. In a perverse way, only those who can afford very expensive homes will be able to benefit from the real estate provisions of the tax code.
The generous $24,000 standard deduction for couples who are renter or owners provides little support for renters who move to ownership nor does it guarantee that tax cuts today will be utilized to boost housing affordability in the future. Worse, when this provision expires in 8 years, both groups will be worse off.
Time Does Not Heal All Wounds
Most forecasts are for home prices and mortgage rates to rise in the coming years. The chart below shows how the proposals from the House and Senate compare with current law. The orange bars depict the difference between the Senate proposal and current law. A home buying family of four with an income of $100,000 or less would see a gain, while upper-middle income buyers would face a tax hike. However, in 5 years1 that tax cut would disappear for nearly all middle-income homebuyers as mortgage rates and prices rise (red bars). Finally, after 8 years, the tax cuts and enhanced standard deduction both expire letting virtually no buyers benefit under the plan (dark blue bars).
The Senate’s proposal reflects many new changes, but retains many facets of the House proposal. While some changes help middle class homeowners today, it appears that the changes quickly wear out and are worse in the future.
The DeSilver house was designed in 1961 by John Black Lee and Harrison DeSilver. All photos by Michael Biondo
Location: New Canaan, CT
Price: $1,700,000 (guide price)
The affluent enclave of New Canaan, Connecticut, is known as a mecca of modern architecture, where during the 1940s and ’50s, a group of architects collectively known as the Harvard Five settled here and built nearly 100 modern homes, 20 of which have since been torn down.
The DeSilver House on Chichester Road is one of them, and it was designed in 1961 by Harrison DeSilver and John Black Lee, who was often considered the sixth member of the Harvard Five. Lee also lived in New Canaan until his death, in a home he built himself.
Offered through a private sale by owner, the incredible home, which has largely been preserved with a few updates, is now on the market. Characterized by a 6-foot-by-6-foot modular prefab system, the 2,048-square-foot residence sits at a lower grade than the driveway and is accessed by a floating wood bridge.
Once inside, an (original) open-tread staircase leads upstairs to spacious bedrooms (four total, with three baths) and downstairs to the main living area and kitchen (with separate pantry room, Miele appliances, and Heath Ceramics tiles). Further below are a study, children’s playroom, and basement.
Floor-to-ceiling windows take in the gorgeous surroundings of the nearly three-acre site, while an open floorplan allows for flexible family-friendly living. An overhanging flat roof provides passive shelter from the sun on the ground floor and provides coverage over the second-floor balconies as well. A large outdoor patio, directly accessible from the kitchen, encourages indoor-outdoor living.
For a lover of midcentury modern design, the DeSilver House would be a treasure trove of endless inspiration. Located on Chichester Road, where many modernists also built homes, the property is offered with a guide price of $1.7 million. It is also available to rent for $7,000 a month.
Sales of previously owned houses in the United States rose 0.7 percent month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.39 million in September 2017 from a year low of 5.35 million in August, beating market expectations of a 1 percent fall. Still, ongoing supply shortages and recent hurricanes muted overall activity. Sales of single family houses increased 1.1 percent to 4.79 million after falling 2.1 percent in August, while those of condos fell 1.6 percent to 0.60 million, following a 1.7 percent decline. The median house price fell to $245,100 from $253,100 in August and the months’ worth of supply was steady at 4.2 percent. In addition, the number of houses available in the market rose to 1.90 million from 1.87 million in August. Existing Home Sales in the United States averaged 3912.19 Thousand from 1968 until 2017, reaching an all time high of 7250 Thousand in September of 2005 and a record low of 1370 Thousand in March of 1970.
Existing Home Sales occurs when the mortgage is closed. Mortgage closing usually takes place 30-60 days after the sales contract is closed. . This page provides the latest reported value for – United States Existing Home Sales – plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news. United States Existing Home Sales – actual data, historical chart and calendar of releases – was last updated on October of 2017.
In an effort to recycle the thousands of surplus containers that sit on docks around the world, shipping containers have been used in urban farms, off-the-grid getaways, and even as all-in-one pools. A fleet of new companies also use the 20- or 40-foot containers to create prefab tiny homes, all available to orderand delivered to your location.
Now, Wisconsin-based MODs International is selling their version on Amazon. The 320-square-foot house uses a new sea container as the structural shell—not a recycled one—and includes a rather plain bedroom, shower, toilet, sink, small kitchenette, appliances, and living area. Large double doors open to the outside, and extra windows were added to increase light.
The price for the home of your shipping container dreams on Amazon: $36,000. Of course, the unit isn’t sold from Amazon itself and is available from MODS as a third party seller under the “See all Buying Options” tab. It also costs $4,500 to ship the 7,500 pound structure to your location, so don’t expect your normal Prime discount.
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