Real Estate News

The home shopping season is fast approaching and with over 4 million homes for sale, Zillow is a great place to start house hunting. This morning, real estate guru Barbara Corcoran appeared on the Today show to showcase just a sampling of the real estate deals that can be found on Zillow. If you missed the segment live, you can view it here.

Brandon, Mississippi

For Sale: 239,900

See more Brandon homes for sale

Albuquerque, NM

For Sale: $389,900

See more Albuquerque homes for sale

Exeter, New Hamphshire

For Sale:  $515,000

See more Exeter homes for sale

More here:
Today Show Features Zillow Real Estate Deals

The Harper Family home in Lake City, GA, received an Extreme Home Makeover in January 2005. Last year, we reported the Harper’s avoided foreclosure for a second time. Their financial woes stemmed from a $450,000 loan they took against their home to start a business.

Now comes word that the Harpers may have tried to hold a raffle to win their home, with possible beneficiaries of the raffle proceeds earmarked for the Georgia Transplant Foundation and Susan G. Komen affiliate. Here is the raffle page, which advertises:

The Because We Care Foundation and the Harper Foundation have collaborated to uplift lives in 2010. Several at-risk transplant patients have been identified. Your donations will not only support the medical needs of the patients, your donations will also give you entries to win this Mortgage Free, 6300 square foot home designed by the Extreme Makeover Television team. The donations of the 2010 giveaway will be operated, conducted and administered under the direction of the Because We Care Foundation.

The date of the raffle was Feb. 28, but it is not known whether it was held or not. Home raffles are held to strict guidelines state-by-state and usually need to be affiliated with a non-profit.

Go here to see the original:
Extreme Home Makeover Harper Family Held Raffle to Avoid Foreclosure?

American pro tennis player Andy Roddick, known for his blistering serves (he has the fastest serve on record at 155 mph) and his inability to solve his rival, Roger Federer, is selling his Austin, TX home for $4 million. It’s the same home where he married his fiancee, Brooklyn Decker, last year.

Roddick’s home at 4104 Shimmering Cove, Austin, TX, is located in a gated community on Lake Austin, with popular Mount Bonnell — all of 775 feet — “towering” just behind. Roddick’s home is perfect for water lovers and includes a boat house, plus it has an oversized parking area with a two-car garage. A large kitchen opens to living areas and an outdoor covered patio. Scored concrete and hardwood floors flow throughout all rooms except the master bedroom on the main level and oversized bedrooms and media room upstairs. Additional rooms include an office/study/game room, formal dining, and breakfast area.

As we reported in 2008, Roddick purchased this 5,558 sq ft home in November of 2003 for $1,463,000. See more photos of Roddick’s Austin home.

> See more Austin real estate

> See Austin home values

This must be the week for tennis stars to post their homes for sale. See Pete Sampras’ home and the home of Jennifer Capriati.

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We’re still feeling some Oscar® fever, so allow us to indulge with yet another home owned by an Academy Award nominee — Glenn Close. Yes, we still have vivid memories of her role as deranged stalker Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction and were curious to read about the sale of her Manhattan “aerie” from none other than Real Estalker.

Close’s Upper East Side condo is on the market for $11,800,000 and her apartment, 19-D, is described as being one of Central Park West’s most glamorous since it’s part of the “… coveted “D” line east over Central Park, south over the Planetarium and all the way down the Park to the Manhattan skyline.” A spacious 19

Mortgage rates for 30-year fixed mortgages declined this week, with the current rate borrowers were quoted on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace at 4.76%, down from 4.80% at this time last week. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate fluctuated between 4.76 and 4.82 during the past week.

Additionally, 15-year fixed borrowers were quoted on average, 4.24% and for 5/1 ARMs, 3.47%.

What are the rates right now? Check Zillow Mortgage Marketplace for up-to-the-minute mortgage rates for your state.

Here is the original:
Rate for 30-year Fixed Mortgage Fell This Week to 4.76%

The Florida home of former professional tennis sensation Jennifer Capriati is on the market for $2.1 million; it was first listed in 2008 for $2.35 million.

Located in Wesley Chapel, about 40 minutes outside of Tampa, Capriati’s home is part of the Saddlebrook Resort community, which is known as a haven for developing tennis and golf talent.

Capriati’s two-story, custom-built contemporary is on one acre and has a pool, plus hot tub. Views include a lake, plus one of Saddlebrook’s two championship golf courses. It has four bedrooms and five bathrooms, a personal theater, where first-run movies can be shown and a unique drive-through garage. See more photos of Capriati’s house.

Saddlebrook residents have access to 500 acres of recreation, including two championship golf courses, 48 tennis courts, a European spa, fitness center, three restaurants and three swimming pools.

Capriati turned pro just weeks before her 14th birthday in 1990 and became the youngest player to ever reach a tour final that same year. After taking two years off due to personal issues, she executed one of sports greatest comebacks by winning three Grand Slam titles — the Australian Open (twice) and French Open.

> See more Wesley Chapel real estate

> See Wesley Chapel home values

Originally posted here:

Lots of real estate news lately, surrounding some “Real Housewives,” including Tamra Barney who appears to have sold her home in a short sale and now, Jeana Keough, who avoided foreclosure and got a loan mod.

We reported last June that Keough admittedly had a notice of default on her Coto de Caza home and was trying to do a loan modification. Her lender initially denied her request, but it looks like she succeeded after an all-out assault that included speeches, e-mail campaigns, letters to her Congress people, communiques with a friend at HUD, and contact with the governor’s office. After Keough made enough noise, her lender stopped foreclosure and she has a loan mod.

Although Keough’s home is still listed on Zillow for $3.9 million, she tells Lansner on Real Estate that the house is off the market, but she might sell later when she’s not under so much pressure. See more photos of Keough’s home.

> See more Coto de Caza real estate

> See Coto de Caza home values

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Yes — you read that right — a price hike of $15 million. According to Curbed Hamptons, a modern Montauk Zen masterpiece was listed for $35 million, but just got a price hike of $15 million.

Located oceanfront at 42 Old Montauk Highway, Montauk, NY, it is for sale for $50 million, which has to be one of the priciest pieces of real estate in the Hamptons these days (OK, well, there is this equestrian center for $75 million).

This 7,000 sq ft modern construction sits on 35 acres, high on the bluff and is accessed by a half-mile private drive.  According to the description, the home was engineered with steel to withstand 150 mph winds. Civilized touches include marble floors warmed by radiant heat and a home theater.

> See more Montauk real estate
> See Montauk home values

Source:
Modern Montauk Beauty Gets Price BUMP of $15 Million

A couple of notable residences on the market in the Chicago area are owned by billionaire Bill Wrigley Jr., the great-grandson of chewing gum founder William Wrigley, who established the candy company in 1891. Wrigley Jr. sold Wrigley Co. to Mars Inc., in 2008 for $23 billion and he gave up his title as CEO, but he remains as executive chairman.

Wrigley’s Lake Forest home — For Sale $14.5 Million (below)
1345 Lake Rd, Lake Forest, IL 60045
> See more Lake Forest real estate
> See Lake Forest home values

Highlights: This grand Italianate mansion on Lake Michigan was built in 1912 and was originally designed by architect Howard van Doren Shaw. According to chicagomag.com, Wrigley bought it in January 2003 for $9.9 million. The home’s original owner was Donald McLennan,  a Chicago insurance executive who cofounded insurance giant Marsh & McLennan. Donald and his wife, Katherine, called the house “Stornoway,” after a small Scottish town believed to be the birthplace of some of McLennan’s ancestors. See more photos of Wrigley’s Lake Forest home.

Wrigley’s Gold Coast penthouse — For Sale $14 Million (below)
65 E Goethe St, Chicago  IL 60610
> See more Gold Coast real estate
> See Gold Coast home values

Highlights: Just a few months before Wrigley bought the Lake Forest mansion above, he paid $10.1 million for a 13,200-square-foot Gold Coast condominium below. According to the Chicago Tribune, the “… full-floor penthouse is raw, undeveloped space, and sits on the eighth floor of the Lucien Lagrange-designed limestone building…”. The penthouse was created from three units combined into one, but as you can see from photos of Wrigley’s penthouse, it is a humongous, concrete shell. Wrigley reportedly backed out of finishing out the space twice before deciding to sell. If you’re wondering how one can justify asking $14 million for unfinished space, it includes Wrigley’s plans to finish it out, plus two 1,500-square-foot outdoor spaces on the roof, and six garage spaces — a rarity to find so much space on the Gold Coast.

Here is the original post:
Chicago Billionaire Wrigley Has Two Multi-Million Dollar Homes on Market

Since the (almost) two years since we introduced Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, lenders have been telling us how Zillow has helped them grow their business by connecting them with highly qualified borrowers. In fact, Zillow contacts convert 9x greater than the average industry leads.

I recently wrote a blog post about a review in Inman News where Kathy Whitman, president of Whitman Metropolitan, Inc was quoted as saying that Zillow Mortgage Marketplace is one of their main sources of generating customers.

Today, Zillow’s COO Spencer Rascoff shares an email he received from another ecstatic lender who says:

“Through Zillow, we have acquired new clients for million dollar loans; clients who come to us with top credit scores and great income and healthy assets. These are ideal clients for [our bank] – some have switched assets to [our in-house money management firm], and the potential is great for more investments, as well as clients for [other of our] banking products. These new clients are also great pipeline additions; I have done several refis for clients who originally did a purchase loan with me in the past 2 years, and several have referred their friends to me……..Using Zillow on the other hand did give me the opportunity to be connected with serious buyers, in great numbers.”

If you’re a lender and you want to learn more about how you can start quoting on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace call 877-661-3171 or email mortgagesales@zillow.com.

Continued here:
Lenders: Find New Customers on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace

From Leesburg, VA, Zillow user othersider2 asks in Zillow Advice:

Is the home buyer credit really helping the buyer?

I have been looking for a home to buy in the Leesburg, VA area.  It seems that prices have gone up some because everybody wants to get in on the home buyer credit, and there is more demand now than there is supply.  So I have to ask:  if prices are going up, am I really benefiting at all from the buyer credit?  I don’t think its helping me.  I feel like its a trick the government is playing on us buyers to get us all excited and then buy only to find out that we paid more than we should have, even with the credit.  I’m tempted to wait until the program is over to see if prices will come down some.  Any advice?

Last week, we saw this same theory from orange hammer in Denver who asked, “Buy now or wait til $8000 tax credit expires?” Orange hammer felt competition was driven up in Denver due to the tax credit.

What do you think?

Here is the original:
Is Homebuyer Credit Really Helping the Buyer?

DallasDirt’s Candy Evans tipped us off that former NFL and pro baseball star Deion Sanders’s Dallas condo is on the market for $7.5 million.

Sanders made his mark as a versatile, lightning-quick athlete who played two pro sports in the same year over a 12-year period (1989-2001). Plus, he became a feared threat in the NFL by playing several different positions effectively on defense and offense (cornerback, kick returner, wide receiver, punt returner) en route to earning himself the nicknames “Neon Deion,” and “Prime Time.”

According to DallasDirt, Sanders bought this condo in the Azure just a year ago through his TwentyOne LLC (he wore #21 through most of his pro career), but the purchase price is not known.

What is known is that it’s on the market for $7.5 million and it is said to be Dallas’ first LEED-certified residential building. The penthouse is two stories and has a private elevator to the roof terrace with a private pool. While it’s listed as having 9,444 square feet, that includes the terraces and pool. Features include panoramic skyline views of downtown Dallas, a two-story living room, terrace lounge with bar and full bath and outdoor fireplace.

While Sanders had a lot of flash and dash on and off the field, his condo comes off as a bit austere. See photos of Deion Sanders’ Dallas condo.

> See more Dallas real estate

> See Dallas home values

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Quite a price cut: In increments of a million and half-million dollars, this Russian Hill house in San Francisco dropped its asking price from $6,950,000 to $4,950,000 in a year’s time, reports SF Curbed. See celebrity price cuts.

$2 Million Price Chop on Russian Hill Beauty

Powerful talk-show radio personality Rush Limbaugh’s NYC penthouse is on the market for $13,950,000, evidently as a show of revolt against New York’s notoriously high taxes.

Limbaugh uses New York studios as a backup to broadcast his show if bad weather threatens his Florida operations, but it looks like he’s had enough with New York. According to Gawker, Limbaugh threatened to sell his Manhattan apartment due to taxes and went on the air last March saying so. Here’s a portion of the transcript from his March 30, 2009 show titled, “El Rushbo to New York: Drop Dead:”

Well, I announced that I was officially vacating New York after these stupid, punitive, massive tax increases, and basically I go to New York now for hurricane relief, whenever a hurricane hits.  No other reason to go there.  Well, sometimes I visit the overrated staff, but it would be cheaper to fly the staff down here to visit me than to pay these stupid tax increases!

Limbaugh’s Upper East Side pre-war penthouse hit the market last week and it’s described as having expansive views of Central Park. Also, there are lots of murals done on the ceilings and walls of the home, done by artist Richard Smith. See more photos of Limbaugh’s New York City penthouse.

> See more Upper East Side real estate

> See Upper East Side home values

See the rest here:

Mortgage rates for 30-year fixed mortgages declined this week, with the current rate borrowers were quoted on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace at 4.80%, down from 4.84% at this time last week. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate peaked at 4.87 percent late last week before hovering below 4.80 percent over the weekend.

Additionally, 15-year fixed borrowers were quoted on average, 4.23% and for 5/1 ARMs, 3.57%.

What are the rates right now? Check Zillow Mortgage Marketplace for up-to-the-minute mortgage rates for your state.

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Rate for 30-year Fixed Mortgage now at 4.80%