Some real estate agents have had the novel idea of partnering with social media influencers in order to get younger, first-time buyers checking out their listings.
A story in Bloomberg last week revealed that agents are turning to social media influencers to sell the idea of a better lifestyle, with Instagram posts or YouTube videos featuring some of their listings to help prospective buyers picture themselves living there.
Christine Blackburn, a sales director with Compass, told Bloomberg that she believes younger home buyers âtrust these influencers â thatâs what it comes down to.â
Blackburn has used the tactic herself, teaming up with three well known Instagram influencers to decorate condo units she is selling in Brooklyn, N.Y. One influencer, whoâs known for her houseplant tips, helped to outfit the condo with various potted plants and shared the photos on her profile. Some influencers have hundreds of thousands of followers that will see such images.
The National Association of Realtors says its data suggests that younger buyers are more likely to take advice from close friends and relatives when it comes to buying a home. And theyâre also more likely to respond to word-of-mouth marketing, and the NAR includes social media influencers in that category.
âWeâre seeing that social media has played quite a big role in home shopping,â StreetEasy Economist Nancy Wu told Bloomberg. StreetEasy has taken it onboard, and recently launched its own TikTok account that features home tours.
Bloomberg said the real estate pros it interviews that have used social media influencers declined to say how much they paid to get their listings featured. But they unanimously said that the posts resulted in a big increase in the number of people who viewed their listings.
Itâs likely that real estate agents will leverage content creators more often in the coming years, Thomas Fialo, vice president of Douglas Elliman Development Marketing, told Bloomberg.
âPeople can identify with them,â Fialo said, referring to social media influencers. âItâs about thinking outside the box and bringing a home to life.â
The post Social media influencers are being paid to promote real estate appeared first on RealtyBizNews: Real Estate News.
There is no other way to say it: Real Estate as an industry did not have it easy in 2020. Big plans had to be put on hold, and business growth shrunk. The sub-segment of coliving within the Real Estate industry was especially susceptible to the damage that the world-wide lockdown did to businesses.
At the beginning of this month, my team and I at TheHouseMonk launched the Global Coliving Report 2020. It was the culmination of several months of research within the coliving industry around the world, and us trying to understand how the industry dealt with this impact.
We found comfort in data that we collected directly from operators, and our analysis of geographies and their markets. There are three big takeaways from the report to touch upon here.
Coliving industry growth slowed down
The industry which was estimated to be worth $7.5B in 2019 stood at a market value of $7.9B in 2020. The industry was growing steadily at a pace of 20% YoY but slowed down to 6% this year.
We found that both occupancy rates and rental prices reduced across most parts of the world, giving rise to the new ârevenue-sharingâ model between operators and landlords to help soften the blow of sudden churn, and also reduce liabilities.
China sustains its position as the largest coliving market, followed by the USA and India respectively. While Europe as a collective region presents a reasonably large market, no individual country within the EU presents a large opportunity by itself.
Drop in the occupancy rates and rental prices around the world
The USA and India experienced high drops in occupancy rates and were worst impacted, but South East Asia and China have shown remarkable stability in times of tough lockdowns. Their occupancy rates have remained nearly stable, and they have shown the lowest drop in rental prices.
Funding and IPO news
The year opened up with IPOs for Chinese industry leaders Danke & Qingke, but now their market value is shrinking significantly. This combined with the pandemic slowed the movement of late-stage PE capital into the coliving industry by the end of this year.
On the bright side, multiple companies raised Series B, C, and D rounds of financing. About $200M was invested in coliving companies across the globe this year.
Most early-stage companies pushed their growth plans to 2021, hence seed and Series A rounds were infrequent this year.
The Coliving industry is still bullish on growth
We knew that Global Coliving Report needs a direct connection with operators to represent their voice in all its authenticity. The Coliving Operators Survey featured in the report does just that.
The survey observes that despite stiff challenges, the sentiments of over 100 operators from around the world suggest they are still confident that the industry is going to bounce back, albeit in its own time.
48% of respondents in the survey said they were as bullish about the industry as they have ever been, with another 45% suggesting that they remain confident in the long-term prospects.
It also noted that 48% of coliving operators continued to expand their portfolio in 2020, while 20% had to let go of certain properties and reduce their portfolio size. The remaining 32% of respondents had neither increased nor decreased their footprint this year.
Further, 72% of coliving operators feel that it would take more than 1 year for the industry to recover and get back to pre-Covid growth levels.
For those interested, the full Global Coliving Report goes to the depths of the market, understanding the industry and its major players to analyze growth in the year of the pandemic, and also what the future looks like for the coliving industry.
The post Coliving amidst the challenges of COVID-19 appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.
What you may know about RVing: Itâs a great, cheap way to travel, or even a low-cost alternative for living full time.
What you may not know: RVing costs can stack up, and even eclipse the cost of traditional car-and-hotel travel, or living in a sticks-and-bricks home.
Here, weâll detail the primary expenses associated with the RV lifestyle, with tips to help you reduce them.
How to Go RVing on a Budget
As someone whoâs traveled extensively by RV, and even lived in a travel trailer, I know exactly how much of a burden RVing can be on your budget. Hereâs what Iâve learned.
The Vehicle Itself
The first thing you need to go RVing ⦠is an RV. And depending on how you source it, this first purchase can be very pricy.
First-timers are more likely to rent than buy, but if you end up falling in love with the lifestyle, you should know that even modest motorhomes cost tens of thousands of dollars. Super luxurious ones go for over $1 million. (Yes, seriously.)
Travel trailers tend to be less expensive than motorcoaches for a comparable level of quality, from entry level all the way up to the top. Keep in mind, though, that you need a vehicle capable of towing the rig around.
But letâs go back to the rental option. Expect to see per-night prices of $250 or more, which can easily outstrip a moderately priced hotel room. Additional fees for mileage and insurance can push your bottom line even higher.
Consider looking at peer-to-peer RV rental marketplaces, like RVshare or Outdoorsy, where you can rent a rig directly from its private owner, which often means lower rental prices. (Think of it like Airbnb for RVs.)
You may also be able to find super-cheap rentals through RV relocation deals, in which you serve as a rental companyâs courier, delivering RVs to destinations where they are in demand. In return, you get use of the rig for a steal â but keep in mind youâll be limited in your ability to personalize your itinerary. Youâll have to stick to the companyâs route and timetable.
As far as buying is concerned, shop around â and consider shopping gently used. RV does stand for recreational vehicle, after all, and although the loan you take out might look more like a mortgage than auto financing, you probably arenât going to be building equity. You donât want to go too old, because maintenance starts to become a problem, but something three to five years old could save you a nice chunk of change.
Fuel
The appeal of RVs is simple: You get to bring everything along with you for the trip, including the kitchen sink.
But all of those accommodations and extras are weighty, which means that all but the smallest RVs are pretty serious gas guzzlers. Case in point: The largest Class A motorhomes get as little as 4-6 miles to the gallon.
If youâre hoping to save at the pump, consider taking a vacation closer to home or narrowing down to a single destination. Not only will you spend less money on gas, youâll also spend less of your time driving.
Campsite Accommodation Costs
Many people think you can load up into an RV, hit the road and just pull off to the side when youâre ready to catch some sleep.
But in most cases, thatâs not true. Although some rest stops and big box store parking lots allow overnight RV parking, many do not. Besides, do you really want to spend your vacation sleeping under the glare of 24/7 floodlights?
The most comfortable campgrounds â the ones where you can hook up to electricity, water, and sewer connections â can cost a pretty penny, especially in highly sought-after destinations. Malibu Beach may be an extreme example, but during peak seasons, youâre looking at about $100 per night for a basic site, and up to $230 for a premium location. (Remember, thatâs on top of your rental price. And fuel.)
But you can find resort-style accommodations for $35 to $50 per night, often with discounts available for veterans, military members or those staying a week or longer. There are also a variety of camping discount clubs that can help you score lower-cost campground accommodations.
Youâll also want to look into state parks, which often offer RV sites with hookups for prices much lower than privately owned campgrounds (though they may not have a cell signal).
Finally, there are places you can camp for free (or super cheap), but even in an RV, youâll kind of be roughing it. On BLM-managed land and in certain other wilderness locations, you can do âdispersedâ camping, otherwise known as âboondockingâ or âdry campingâ â basically, camping without any hookups.
But you need to check ahead of time to make sure that cool-looking space is actually okay to park in and not privately owned. There isnât always appropriate signage, and if you accidentally end up in someoneâs backyard, you may be asked to move or even ticketed. Some great resources for finding spots include Campendium and FreeCampsites.net.
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Maintenance and Storage
If you buy an RV, you should be prepared for costs associated with maintenance â and, if you canât park it on your own property, storage. In Portland, Oregon, I pay $75 a month to keep my travel trailer in an uncovered lot. More desirable, secure storage is almost $200.
Then there are the maintenance costs of both the vehicular and household systems of an RV, which need regular upkeep. Doing it yourself may be time intensive, but even a minor trip to the repair shop can mean a major bill.
Itâs best if you already have a place in mind to keep it â and the initiative to learn some DIY mechanics. Thereâs a YouTube tutorial for most RV repair and maintenance basics.
Overall, the great thing about RVing is that the expenses are easily modified to fit almost any budget â you may just have to rethink which RV you drive, where youâre going and how youâll be staying once you get there.
Jamie Cattanachâs work has been featured at Fodorâs, Yahoo, SELF, The Huffington Post, The Motley Fool and other outlets. Learn more at www.jamiecattanach.com.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.
Year in and year out, we know the holidays are almost upon us when TV networks start airing Home Alone, the iconic family movie that has by now become synonymous with Christmas cheer. And while the first two Home Alone movies starring Macaulay Culkin are the clear fan favorites, the third one (written and produced by the same John Hughes that gave us the first two festive flicks) was deemed the least successful in the series — by far — and failed to make a lasting impression.
And that’s not because of the plot, cast, or setting, but rather the result of the ultra-high expectations created by the first two Home Alone movies, and the fondness audiences had for Macaulay Culkin (which refused to return for a role in the third one, despite popular demand). In fact, the plot of the third Home Alone was quite an elaborate — and downright frightening — one, seeing Alex Pruitt, an 8-year-old boy living in Chicago, fending off international spies who were seeking a top-secret computer chip that was hidden in his toy car.
The poster for Home Alone 3, featuring the house in the background. Image credit: IMDB
Unlike a normal cat burglar situation â the first two movies featured petty thieves just trying to score a hit during the holidays, eyeing million-dollar-homes left unattended while the owners were celebrating elsewhere â Home Alone 3 is actually a matter of national security. With four thieves (said to be working for a North Korean terrorist organization) looking to retrieve the toy car/computer chip gifted to Alex by his unknowing neighbor, Mrs. Hess, the movie’s plot tackles a far more dangerous situation that the first two, despite the light way in which it is presented.
But there are two major things that all the Home Alone movies have in common: a clever, brave 8-year-old that will stop at nothing to protect himself and a beautiful Chicago-area home that acts as the ‘battleground’ of sorts where the bad guys get what’s coming to them. And since we’ve already covered the house in the first Home Alone movies, we thought I’d be the perfect time to do some scouting and find the one in the third movie too, especially since it’s no less beautiful.
The real-life house from Home Alone 3
While the movie’s storyline places it in Chicago, the house used in the third Home Alone is located in Evanston — a city 12 miles north of Downtown Chicago. According to ItsFilmedThere.com, the exact address is 3026 Normandy Place, Evanston, and a quick Google Maps search confirms that, showing us the exact same Pruitt family house we see in the movie.
House in Home Alone 3 – Google Maps
According to real estate website Zillow.com, the Pruitt family home is worth a little over $1,000,000, with neighboring properties all selling for about the same amount — though admittedly, none of the other houses that line the street had a high profile movie credit in their property history. Nor did they have Hollywood A-listers on their grounds (just in case you forgot, the most famous cast member in Home Alone 3 was none other than Avengers star Scarlett Johansson, who played Alex Pruitt’s sister in the 1997 movie).
Screen grab from Home Alone 3, featuring a young Scarlett Johansson as the older sister.
Just in case you were wondering, the house where Alex Pruitt’s neighbor — Mrs. Hess — supposedly lived is actually located next door, at 3025 Normandy Place.
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The post Where’s the House from ‘Home Alone 3’? appeared first on Fancy Pants Homes.
Thereâs this mansion in Beverly Hills that a large part of the worldâs population has already seen, even though they might not realize it.
Itâs a historic house thatâs been used in endless Hollywood movies, TV series, and music videos. After you finish reading this article, you might just realize that youâve seen this house before, too. Well, now you will also know its history, and when you see it again on your TV screen (and more than likely, you will), youâll recognize it.
The place weâre referring to is known as Greystone Mansion or Doheny Mansion, and itâs located at 905 Loma Vista Drive in Beverly Hills. The Tudor Revival mansion was originally completed in 1928, after three yearsâ worth of construction and a total cost of over $4 million — an insane amount at the time.Â
The 55-room, 46,000-square-foot mansion lies on a 16-acre site within Trousdale Estates. It was designed by architect Gordon Kaufmann and built by the P.J. Walker Company. The land was actually a wedding gift from oil tycoon Edward Doheny to his son, Edward âNedâ Doheny, and his new wife, Lucy Smith.
Edward Doheny was an American oil tycoon who drilled the first oil well in Los Angeles in 1892. His story was depicted in the Academy Award-winning movie There Will Be Blood, starring Daniel Day-Lewis. Interestingly enough, the movie was actually filmed at Doheny Mansion.
Ned Dohenyâs house became known as Greystone because it was built mainly of stone, and has a grey, stone-cold appearance. The house took roughly three years to build, and included stables, kennels, tennis courts, a gatehouse, a swimming pool and pavilion, a lake with babbling brooks and waterfalls, and even a fire station.
Greystone Mansion driveway. Image credit: Friends of Greystone Mansion
A bittersweet move-in for the Dohenys
Unfortunately, Ned Doheny didnât get to enjoy his new home for too long. Just four months after moving into Greystone Mansion, Doheny was found dead in the house, alongside his secretary and friend, Hugh Plunkett. The case was ruled a murder-suicide, however, some claim that thereâs more to that story.
Doheny was killed by his own gun, and he was not buried with the rest of his family, but in a different cemetery, just a few yards away from where Plunkett was laid to rest. This has led some to believe that Doheny might have committed suicide, however, this is just a theory that certainly adds a bit of mystery to Greystone Mansion.
Greystone Mansion exterior. Image credit: The City of Beverly Hills
Following Ned Dohenyâs death, his wife Lucy remarried and lived in the house with her children until 1955. Greystone Mansion was later sold to Paul Trousdale, the developer of Trousdale Estates, who then sold it to Henry Crown of Chicago. The businessman never actually lived in the house, but leased it out to film studios — and thatâs how Greystoneâs prolific movie career started.Â
Over the decades, Greystone Mansion has been featured in numerous Hollywood movies and TV series, including classics like The Big Lebowski, Eraserhead, The Witches of Eastwick, Death Becomes Her, Batman & Robin, The Bodyguard, Dark Shadows, The Prestige, The Social Network, and X-Men.
The mansion has also made appearances in TV series, including Alias and The Young and the Restless, and it also played the part of Chilton Academy in Gilmore Girls.
Gilmore Girls scene filmed at Greystone Mansion, featuring the home’s famous staircase
Last but not least, Greystone Mansion has been featured in commercials and even music videos. You might have already toured the house alongside Robert Downey Jr., in the music video for Elton Johnâs single I Want Love. Let us refresh your memory:
In 1965, the City of Beverly Hills purchased Greystone Mansion, and a few years later, the property became a public city park. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, as Doheny Estate/Greystone.
The mansion continues to be used as a filming location and a destination for special events such as music festivals, fundraisers, and even weddings. Greystone Mansion houses the Beverly Hills Flower & Garden Festival, the yearly Catskills West drama camp, and The Annual Hollywood Ball, among others.
Greystone Mansion public gardens. Image credit: Love Beverly Hills
A carefully preserved slice of L.A. history
Greystone Mansion is a remarkable feat of architecture, and most of its original features have been carefully preserved over the years. The property features hand-carved oak banisters, balustrades and rafters, seven chimneys, each designed by a different artist, a movie theater room, a billiard room, a hidden bar, and a two-lane original Brunswick bowling alley. The alley was renovated so that it could be used by the filming crew for There Will Be Blood.Â
The bowling alley at Greystone Mansion. Image credit: The City of Beverly Hills
Thereâs a grand hall with distinctive, black-and-white marble floors and a very famous staircase. In fact, the staircase at Greystone Mansion has been featured in numerous productions, due to its majestic appearance.
The grand hall and staircase at Greystone Mansion. Image credit: Love Beverly Hills
Greystone Mansion also included a servantâs quarters that took up two entire floors on the east wing and was built to accommodate a live-in staff of 15.
Greystone Mansion plan. Image credit: The City of Beverly Hills
There was also a living room with a balcony where musicians performed at special events, and a kitchen pantry with a secret wall safe that held the familyâs silver and gold kitchenware.
Greystone Mansion interior. Image credit: The City of Beverly Hills
This stunning, stone-clad Beverly Hills mansion continues to attract filming crews, and weâre definitely going to be seeing it again on the big screen. At the same time, its beautiful, lush gardens and its rich history will continue to attract visitors from around the world.
Here’s a further glimpse into the mansion’s history, to keep you occupied until you get a chance to visit in person:
Featured image courtesy of The City of Beverly Hills
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The post Greystone Mansion: the Most Familiar House You’ve Never Visited appeared first on Fancy Pants Homes.
As your children grow and change, so should their bedrooms. However, if you were to revamp their rooms with every changing interest, favorite color or boy band, you would not only be spending a lot of time, but also a lot of money. Here are a few things to keep in mind if youâre looking to transition a childâs room as he or she continues to get older.
Start With Change in Mind
Designing a childâs nursery when youâre expecting is a fun and exciting experience. What parents may not plan for, though, are the unforeseen changes that the room might need as the child grows. Create a nursery with neutral wall colors and an open floor plan for playtime. It makes an easier transition that you can work with each changing year.
Consult With Them
When youâre planning to revamp your childrenâs room after a few years, make sure to consult with them. Itâs likely they wonât hold back in letting you know what they want. You can enhance a childâs creativity and production levels if their rooms are filled with things that excite them.
Make sure to try not to overwhelm your child with a lot of changes at once. If youâve decided that it is time to âgrow upâ from the nursery, it may be best to do it little by little. Most parents choose to start with a new bed before gradually continuing to swap out the old with the new.
Remember Teen Tips
During the teen years, make sure to declutter (that garage sale money can go to their college fund), freshen up with a new paint job, and provide grown-up accessories. Allow room for self-expression, but with limits. For instance, you can frame posters instead of using thumb tacks or tape directly on the walls. A bold rug is fine for the time being, especially if it protects the carpet or floor from food spills or shoe marks.
Raising children can be one of the greatest joys in life, so make sure their room reflects that! Take these tips with you over the years and let the DIY project become a fun one you and your child can look back on.
The post How to Transition Your Kids’ Rooms first appeared on Century 21®.
