New Jersey Home's Swimming Pool Is in the Living Room (House of the Day)

September 7, 2012, 4:16 pm

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Now we've seen some crazy homes (ones with slides, zeppelins, dolls hanging from the ceiling, you name it), but our heart still skips a beat when we see a swimming pool where it shouldn't be. In this case, it's smack in the middle of this gorgeous living room in Saddle River, N.J.

Look at that thing: It may be totally out of place, but it's also exquisite (that mosaic tiling!).

Pool aside, the house itself is equally exquisite. It has French manor-style interiors, a "Gone With the Wind"-worthy grand hall boasting dramatic stone columns, custom moldings, dripping crystal chandeliers, and Italian marble mantles. There's also a cherrywood library and an in-house bar. What else could you possibly need to keep yourself entertained?

In case all the unabashed luxury was starting to make you feel a little uneasy, perhaps you can breathe a little easier knowing that the entire home is green -- well, as green as you can get for a mansion. It's powered entirely by geothermic and solar energy.

So how much will this green, glam home set you back? Oh, you know, just $19 million. But walking through your living room and tripping into your own pool? Priceless.

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Michael Graves of Core NYC has the listing..

Click on the images below to see more homes for sale in Saddle River, N.J.

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Got a tip for House of the Day? Know of an exceptional or unusual property currently listed for sale? Please email harris.effron@teamaol.com with your suggestions and be sure to include links to listing details and photos. (Due to the volume of response, we unfortunately are unable to reply to each submission.)

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Abandoned Home in Queens, N.Y., a 'Den of Violence,' Neighbors Say

September 7, 2012, 4:16 pm

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An abandoned home in the Queens borough of New York City has become a house of horrors for neighbors who claim that gang members have taken over the property and turned it into a "den of violence," the Daily News reported.

"It's been a disaster for the past few years," said one neighbor, who declined to be named. "People go in and out of the house constantly because there are parties. It's loud. It's a total mess."

The neighbor told the New York newspaper that he's called police a dozen times in the past year, but "cops said they can't do anything about it." He added that police told him that members of the Bloods gang are living there.

A mother of three who lives in the neighborhood said that she's been living in fear since recent violence erupted at the home.

"There was blood on the sidewalk," she told the Daily News. "I was scared to leave the house.

"We cannot even stand in front of our home," she continued. "We never feel safe leaving the house because people are always fighting or breaking bottles."

The home is connected to an infamous murder in March 2011. A group of teenagers were throwing a party there when uninvited guests reportedly showed up and chased 18-year-old Anthony Collao after he left the house, shouting anti-gay slurs at him. The group then allegedly beat Collao so severely that he eventually died. Six teens were charged in his death and are awaiting trial.

The home appears to have been completely abandoned and isn't owned by a bank or by the City of New York, public records show. The most recent owner was Hector Sanchez, but other records indicate that as of March 2012, he was no longer associated with the property. The city's Department of Buildings has no certificates of occupancy on file.

A sharp rise in vacant homes has plagued many areas around the country since the housing bubble burst, contributing to crime. Earlier this year, an apparently vacant house that caught fire in Southern California was found to be the site of a huge marijuana operation. And many vacant homes have fallen victim to "Sharpie parties," in which partygoers trash the dwellings and write all over their walls with permanent markers.

See also:
Neighbors From Hell: How to Stop the Bullies Next Door
Abandoned S&M Club Discovered Under Historic Buildings
Old Haunts, New Buyers: How to Handle 'Stigmatized' Properties

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Maine's Million-Dollar Barn (House of the Day)

September 12, 2012, 8:52 am

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Once upon a time, barns were homes for horses, livestock and farming vehicles. These days, they're homes for millionaires. Yes, it is a strange world we live in.

Take, for example, this $1.09 million renovated barn in Isleboro, Maine. Built in 1872 -- when it did house horses instead of honchos -- it features high wooden beams and a refreshingly old-school country charm. You get airy, light-filled living spaces and idyllic outdoor decks, perfect for all-day al fresco dining. Views over West Penobscot Bay and surroundng fields and orchards certainly hike up those numbers, too. And then there's 10 acres of land for you to play with!

More than a million dollars for a barn? (If you thought that was steep, it was initially listed for $10.9 million -- by accident, allegedly.)

Thanks to our pals at Curbed for the tip.

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Donald Pendleton of Sotheby's International has the listing.

Click on the images below to see more homes for sale in Isleboro, Maine.



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Snakes, Alligators and Other Exotic Animals Found Inside Brooklyn Apartment

September 12, 2012, 8:52 am

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Ever heard the phrase "you live in a zoo"? Renters in one New York City apartment apparently took that a little too literally.

On Friday, NYPD officers reportedly found 13 exotic animals -- including a tarantula, two alligators, two bearded dragons, five pythons and a boa constrictor -- living inside fish tanks in an apartment in a public housing complex in Brooklyn (pictured above).

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Police were at the apartment to serve an unrelated search warrant when they discovered the creepy menagerie. Officials from Animal Care and Control were called to remove the animals, some of them potentially deadly. In New York City, it's illegal to house exotic animals inside public housing projects.

Those weren't the only intimidating animals in the apartment, neighbors said. The tenants of the apartment also had at least three large pit bulls, a neighbor told DNAinfo.com.

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"There's urine and feces in the hallway, and nine times out of 10, it was them," said downstairs neighbor, Klein Poe, of the dogs.

Poe, who has two young children, and other neighbors suspected that something was awry with the animal-owning tenants when they wouldn't allow maintenance workers into their apartment to fix leaky pipes.

"They didn't want to let them in," Poe told DNAinfo. "Now it all makes sense."

See also:
Listing Fails: The Best of the Worst in Real Estate
Sinkholes and Roaches and Snakes, Oh My!

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A Custom-Built Mansion in Riverside, Calif. (House of the Day)

September 12, 2012, 8:52 am

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Ever had the need for a bank vault in your home? No? Oh, guess that's why this place isn't selling.

As it turns out, living in a completely customized house might be super cool for you, but not necessarily for anyone else.

This 14,500-square-foot "palatial" home sitting on 10 acres in Riverside, Calif., has a nightclub, a bank vault and a curved glass enclosure with a pool, waterfalls, boulders and a swim-up bar. According to Curbed, the home cost $8.5 million to plan and construct, but its odd features and design specifications haven't excited buyers. And it's now being listed at a staggeringly discounted $1.999 million.

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Trying to find a little normalcy? Sorry, there's next to none in this five-bedroom, 11-bathroom home. Other uncommon details include "massive" handcrafted doors, marble flooring, "exotic Australian Lacewood cabinets" and other accents. There's also a gym, an elevator, a wine cellar and sweeping views of the surrounding landscape.

Thanks to Curbed for the heads up.

See the listing for more details.

See more homes for sale in Riverside, Calif.



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Got a tip for House of the Day? Know of an exceptional or unusual property currently listed for sale? Please email krisanne.alcantara@huffingtonpost.com with your suggestions and be sure to include links to listing details and photos. (Due to the volume of response, we unfortunately are unable to reply to each submission.)

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Jennifer Love Hewitt Lists 2 California Homes (House of the Day)

September 12, 2012, 8:52 am

≫ Next: Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick List Manhattan Townhouse for $25 Million

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Is Jennifer Love Hewitt a little strapped for cash these days? The actress has not only listed her house for sale in lovely Toluca Lake, Calif. -- she's also renting out another one of her properties right down the street.

The first property is a pretty six-bedroom, six-bathroom traditional on sale for $2.895 million. It's a very sweet-looking home, if not overly feminine (check out that powder-pink wallpaper with floral borders in the gallery below), and sits on a leafy quarter-acre.

The second property, which sits on the shores of Toluca Lake, is a little more modern and chic, though smaller. The Spanish-style home has four bedrooms and four bathrooms, and it boasts a pool, spa and lakefront dock. J. Love is leasing it for $12,600 a month. To sweeten the deal, she's also throwing in use of her power boat and kayaks to the future tenants. Not bad.

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Katy Fisher of Gibson International is the listing agent for both listings.

Click on the images below to see more homes for sale in Toluca Lake, Calif.



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Got a tip for House of the Day? Know of an exceptional or unusual property currently listed for sale? Please email harris.effron@teamaol.com with your suggestions and be sure to include links to listing details and photos. (Due to the volume of response, we unfortunately are unable to reply to each submission.)

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Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick List Manhattan Townhouse for $25 Million

September 23, 2012, 5:52 am

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Sarah Jessica Parker goes through homes like Carrie Bradshaw goes through shoes.

It was only in March 2011 -- after years of searching -- that SJP and hubby Matthew Broderick bought a townhouse in Manhattan's Greenwich Village for $19 million. But now, just 18 months later, the couple has thrown it back on the market for $24.995 million.

The couple never even moved into the place, but they refurbished it. According to the Daily News, the couple decided to sell because of a lack of privacy.

The five-bedroom Greek Revival-style townhouse described as "truly special" is located in a prime spot in the Village, according to the listing. The bottom floor -- or "garden floor" -- has access to an outdoor garden, as well as a designer Boffi kitchen and breakfast nook.

Going up a floor, the main entrance features 12-foot ceilings and a "double parlor." The fourth floor is entirely devoted to the master suite, consisting of a "spectacular" bathroom, multiple walk-in closets and a large terrace.

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See also:
Jennifer Love Hewitt Lists 2 California Homes
Actor Tommy 'Tiny' Lister to Plead Guilty in Mortgage Fraud Scheme
Matt Damon's $15 Million California Mansion

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Why You Need a Good Realtor (Listing Fails)

September 23, 2012, 5:52 am

≫ Next: Wells Fargo Flip-Flops and Forecloses on Cindi Davis, Who Has Stage 4 Breast Cancer

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As #houseporn fiends and real estate junkies, there's nothing we love more than poring through fabulous home listings -- except maybe sorting through the tragically un-fabulous ones. They'll definitely make you laugh, and some of them could make you cry. Every week, AOL Real Estate brings you the sorriest listings we could find on the Internet to show you what you should never do when posting your home online. We very appropriately call it #listingfail.

This Week's Theme:
Why You Need a Good Realtor

OK, so we rag on Realtors a lot (in good fun, of course). We even wrote an entire post about the many ways they can be utterly, hilariously ridiculous. But homeowners, the truth is, we need 'em. Well, the good ones, anyway. Exhibit A:



There are so many things wrong with this listing, it just blows our minds. To begin with, the listing reads: "Buy my Ugly house." Ugly with a capital "U" (seriously, we're not trying to be funny). Secondly, it has photographs -- eight of them -- of an incredibly, irrevocably ugly house. Yes, honesty is a virtue -- but sometimes it's OK to lie.

Admittedly, this listing is so bad that it's sort of refreshing. Conventional brokerbabble would have gushed that this "charming little fixer-upper" is just "a little elbow grease" away from becoming your "ultimate dream home." But no, this homeowner knows better. This homeowner knows this house is just plain ugly -- with a capital U.

Listing courtesy of Craigslist Ohio.

"House includes poo."

Behold, the reason why copy editors are necessary: A $27 million home on the snooty-sounding Canadian island of Ile Bizard "includes poo." (Now we're wondering if it's Ile Bizarre!) Yes, we're sure it meant to say "includes pool," but in an abundance of caution, we'd just like to point out that a posh home with luxury features like a wine cellar and library should most certainly be feces-free. How can you expect to smell your home -- sorry, we meant sell your home -- if it "includes poo"? Talk about a crappy real estate ad...

Wanted: Someone who can spell.

Listing photo courtesy of Ellen's "Funny Real Estate Ads."

Crazy Cat Ladies Welcome

Attention, all cat lovers! If you're feline-friendly, then this home may be perfect for you. Strictly "NO DOGS," warns the owner of this Seattle home with a "spectacular view." But your cats are perfectly fine -- all 28 of them. (Twenty-nine, and you're pushing it, lady!)

Listing courtesy of Ellen's "Funny Real Estate Ads."

For more hilarious #listingfails, see the gallery below. (Warning: Some are on the racy side.)

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Don't let your home be a #listingfail! Take some pro advice from our home staging guides:
Home Staging Mistakes Sellers Should Avoid
Home Staging Tips for Every Season
Home Staging: Hire a Pro or Do It Yourself?

Join the conversation! Tweet us listing fails @aolrealestate and hashtag #listingfail, and you could get a shout-out in next week's post!

See more AOL Real Estate galleries:
Charming Homes You Can Score for $150,000
Gayborhoods
Best Beach Towns for Buying Foreclosures

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Wells Fargo Flip-Flops and Forecloses on Cindi Davis, Who Has Stage 4 Breast Cancer

September 23, 2012, 5:52 am

≫ Next: Recluse Walter Samaszko Jr. Left $7 Million in Gold Hidden In Carson City Home

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Cindi Davis of Mount Holly, N.C., has been fighting breast cancer for four years. Now she has to fight Wells Fargo too.

The bank had been threatening to foreclose on Cindi and her husband, Kirk (both pictured above), after her mounting medical bills made it difficult for the couple to keep up with their monthly mortgage payments, AOL Real Estate previously reported.

Now, the bank is making good on its threat -- and it's also adding insult to injury.

Wells Fargo delivered papers to the Davises notifying them that it is foreclosing on their house and has set a date to auction off their home off on Dec. 19 -- six days before Christmas, KMOV-TV in St. Louis reported.

Just two weeks prior, the bank had assured the TV station that it was not foreclosing on Davis as she fought for her life against her illness.


"Our thoughts are with Mrs. Davis during her courageous battle with cancer," Wells Fargo said in a statement to KMOV. "It is important to note that her mortgage loan has not been foreclosed, nor has she been asked to leave her home. Wells Fargo works hard to help our customers maintain homeownership whenever possible and we view foreclosure as a last resort. As part of our continuing efforts to work with the Davis family, we have reached out to nonprofit organizations that might be able to offer assistance."

"I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be angry because Wells Fargo lied to us and said they wouldn't put us out, or sad that it's come to this, or afraid of where we're going," she told the TV station.

Cindi's husband, Kirk, recalled his wife calling him in a panic the day she received the foreclosure notice.

"She was hyperventilating, and she said, 'I have other news.' I said, 'What?' She could hardly talk to me," he said, adding that he's worried what the stress of foreclosure will do to Cindi's health.

Cindi may be brave for continuing to stand up to cancer and fight for her life, but she's not sure how much she has left in her.

"I don't know how long I can keep fighting like this, if I don't have anything to hold on to," she said.

See also:
Foreclosures Are Taking Over These 20 Regions
Security Cameras Prompt Eviction Notice at Public Housing Complex in the Bronx
Abandoned Home in Queens, N.Y., a 'Den of Violence,' Neighbors Say

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Recluse Walter Samaszko Jr. Left $7 Million in Gold Hidden In Carson City Home

September 23, 2012, 5:52 am

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A Carson City, Nev., man who was found dead in his home (pictured below) in June left only $200 in the bank -- but a fortune worth millions more hidden inside his house.

Walter Samaszko Jr., who's been described as a recluse, had been dead for more than a month when authorities discovered his body. And as officials were clearing out his home for sale, they uncovered a pot of gold -- literally. Samaszko had been hiding gold bars and coins worth a total of $7 million in boxes in his house and garage. Some of the items included coins from Mexico, England, Austria and South Africa dating back to 1872.

Samaszko was determined to have died of heart complications.

"Nobody had any clue he was hoarding the gold," Carson City Clerk-Recorder Alan Glover told the Las Vegas Sun. According to the newspaper, there were so many gold bars and coins that Glover had to use a wheelbarrow to haul them to his truck. Glover later deposited the treasure for safekeeping.

Because Samaszko didn't have a will or any close relatives, lawyers tracked down his first cousin, substitute teacher Arlene Magdanz of San Rafael, Calif.

According to the lawyer who contacted Magdanz, her response was simply: "Oh, my God. Oh, my God."

"Our goal is to get the most money for the heir," Glover told Carson City's Nevada Appeal, adding that the IRS could take as much as 75 percent of the $7 million fortune, depending on whether Samaszko's taxes had been paid properly.

Samaszko's three-bedroom, two-bathroom house is now for sale at $105,000.

What's weirder than finding $7 million in gold inside a home? How about a 16th century well and sword under the living room floor or honey dripping from the ceiling?

See also:
'Doomsday Bunker' Made of Stolen Trailers, Police Say
When Contractors Stiff Homeowners: How to Make Sure You're Hiring the Right One
Snakes, Alligators and Other Exotic Animals Found Inside Brooklyn Apartment

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Frank Sinatra's NYC Penthouse (Inside Look)

September 23, 2012, 5:52 am

≫ Next: Rihanna's 'Leaky' Old Los Angeles Mansion Hits the Market (House of the Day)

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"I want to wake up in the city that doesn't sleep and find I'm king of the hill, top of the heap," crooned Frank Sinatra in his classic 1979 recording of "New York, New York."

Turns out that he was top of the heap, alright! The infamous, glass-walled "Birdcage" where Sinatra entertained, slept and recorded his songs was literally built on the roof of the luxury co-op building at 530 East 72nd Street in Manhattan. When we popped in for a visit, our jaws dropped looking at the 360-degree view. See for yourself in the video above!

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Want to learn more about Frank Sinatra? See our extended interview with his biographer, James Kaplan, below.

Like what you see? Jason Haber of Rubicon Property has the listing.

Got a tip for our Inside Look series? If you know of any exceptional or unusual property currently listed for sale that's video-worthy, please email krisanne.alcantara@huffingtonpost.com with your suggestions. (Due to the volume of response, we unfortunately are unable to reply to each submission.)

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Rihanna's 'Leaky' Old Los Angeles Mansion Hits the Market (House of the Day)

September 23, 2012, 5:52 am

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The "leaky" Beverly Hills mansion formerly owned by Grammy-winning pop singer Rihanna is now back on the market, not even a year after she famously rid herself of it. Riri had apparently paid $6.9 million for the pad in 2009, then listed it in 2011 for a mere $4.5 million in a short sale -- due to leaking water and "inhabitable conditions." (Naturally, Riri also dragged the home's Realtors and developers to court for good measure.)

But you can't tell that the home was a nightmare for Riri by looking at it now. It's stunning, in a very Beverly Hills, museum-sleek kind of way. It has soaring ceilings, white walls, floating staircases, and city and canyon views. Features include a tiered home theater, a massive chef's kitchen, and custom closets with suede ceilings. Judging from the current $9.95 million price tag, we're guessing that those water problems have been fixed.

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See the listing here.

Click on the images below to see more homes for sale in Beverly Hills, Calif.



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How Much House Can You Get for $1 Million?

September 23, 2012, 5:52 am

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A million bucks is a lot of money, and it can buy a lot of house. So much so that you might be a little surprised.

We asked our friends at Realtor.com to pick out some of their favorite homes on the market for $1 million so we could see how much house you get for that price. We were pleasantly surprised to find these homes, which seem like they would be multimillion dollar pads, were a bit more reasonable -- if you consider a mil reasonable. Remember, it is still a tough real estate market out there.

Click through the gallery below to see what $1 million buys you.

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See also:
Billionaire Bill Koch Builds His Own Wild West Town on His Colorado Ranch
Collector's Vegas Paradise: Space Capsule, Mayan Temple and More
Floor Plans of TV Homes

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Nikolaj Arndt's Eye-Fooling Street Art Will Astound You

September 23, 2012, 5:52 am

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Want to make your living room a little more cozy? Here's an idea: Throw in a pit with hungry alligators snapping their jagged teeth at your feet.

Well, not real ones, of course. But Russian-born artist Nikolaj Arndt can paint you a picture of them that looks pretty darn real -- and that looks like those gators are leaping right out of your floor.

Arndt is a street artist who lives in Germany, and he paints trompe l'oeil -- French for "fools the eye" -- pictures on floors and sidewalks, giving the illusion that his art is popping up out of the surfaces he draws on. We first got a glimpse of his amazing skill on the blog Laughing Squid. The photo above is one of Arndt's artworks on a living room floor.

Arndt isn't the only artist to master these kinds of eye-popping images. Artist Julian Beever is also well known for creating 3-D artworks using chalk on sidewalks.

Arndt explained in an interview with pxleyes.com that he began drawing his eye-fooling images on sidewalks with chalk about three years ago. He would enter festivals in Germany where he would showcase his street art. He also uses paint to create works in homes.

"For me, the main thing in art is to give positive emotions to the audience," Arndt told pxleyes.com. "When people are smiling looking at my pictures, I'm happy."

We know you're dying to see more of Arndt's work, so click through the gallery below.

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Correction: An earlier version of this story included a photo gallery that featured artworks for which artist Nikolaj Arndt was not the creator.

See also:
Columbus Circle's Iconic Statue at Center of Art Exhibit and Controversy
Inside Look: Frank Sinatra's Rat-Pack-Era Penthouse
Off the Grid: New Mexico's Earthship Homes

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Renoir's Former Paris Home (House of the Day)

October 11, 2012, 5:04 am

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Have you ever seen a celebrity's home and thought, "Of course they'd live there"? This was exactly our reaction when we laid eyes on the former Paris home of iconic Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Located in the artist's hub that is Montmartre, it is exactly how we'd imagine the master painter's home to look like.

The country-style home boasts a charming, pastel-hued color theme, illuminated by ample sunlight streaming in through enormous windows. Floral wallpaper adorns the walls (not so chic now, but have you seen Renoir's paintings?), a playful contrast to dark oak floors. Expansive views over lush, unkempt gardens and the magnificent Sacre Coeur can be enjoyed from the idyllic outdoor patio. Though most of the features were renovations to the original home, the current owners could not have done a better job embodying Renoir's classic style and eye for detail.

That indoor pool doesn't hurt, either...

Thanks to our pals at Curbed for the tip!

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Immobest International has the listing.

See more Houses of the Day on AOL Real Estate.

Got a tip for House of the Day? Know of an exceptional or unusual property currently listed for sale? Please email harris.effron@teamaol.com with your suggestions and be sure to include links to listing details and photos. (Due to the volume of response, we unfortunately are unable to reply to each submission.)

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Best Suburbs for a Slower Pace of Life

October 11, 2012, 5:04 am

≫ Next: New Renters in Modesto Reportedly Find Body of Fellow Tenant, Jorge Amador-Molina

≪ Previous: Renoir's Former Paris Home (House of the Day)

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Want a house with a white picket fence, a big backyard for the kids to play in and a nice park for Fido to meet his doggie playmates? Yep, life in the suburbs sure can be grand, and if you'd rather have backyard barbecues on a quiet street than bar brawls in the big city, then these are the places you should be looking to live.

As part of its "Best Places to Live" series, Coldwell Banker, along with Onboard Informatics, scoured data to come up with the best suburbs in the country. (They've already determined the best places for social seekers.) The results were based on each community's access to suburban amenities (such as grocery stores and banks), proximity to good schools, commuting time and safety.

Cherry Hills Village, Colo., scored the highest because of its near-100 percent homeownership rate and average commute time of less than 20 minutes. Wanna see the whole list? Click through the gallery before. (Coldwell Banker wrote the write-ups in each slide.)

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See also:
Floor Plans of TV Homes
Billionaire Bill Koch Builds His Own Wild West Town on His Colorado Ranch
Collector's Vegas Paradise: Space Capsule, Mayan Temple and More

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New Renters in Modesto Reportedly Find Body of Fellow Tenant, Jorge Amador-Molina

October 11, 2012, 5:04 am

≫ Next: Joe Montana's Wine Country Mansion (House of the Day)

≪ Previous: Best Suburbs for a Slower Pace of Life

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Filed under: News

Renters moving into a house in Modesto, Calif., were shocked this week to discover there the body of a man who'd been stabbed to death, police say. The stabbing victim was reportedly a local ice cream vendor who was also residing in the home.

According to News10 television in Modesto, the new tenants (a couple who were not identified) said that they planned to live in part of the home and sublease the rest to the victim, Jorge Amador-Molina. Police are treating his death as a homicide, reports The Associated Press.

The home's owner, Kamal P. Lal, said that he was baffled as to why Amador-Molina might have been slain. "I have no idea whatsoever," Lal told the Modesto Bee. "That's what I told the cops today. He was a very nice guy. He could not have any enemies." Lal further told the newspaper that his rental agreement was with Amador-Molina and that he was unaware of the other tenants. Neighbors told the Bee that Amador-Molina operated an ice cream cart in the area.

Recently in the news were these other chilling finds in homes: Police discovering the cremated remains of 56 people in a foreclosed home in Dayton, Ohio, and authorities encountering dozens of exotic animals in an abandoned house in Portsmouth, Va.

See also:
$7 Million in Gold Hidden in Carson City Home
'Doomsday Bunker' Made of Stolen Trailers, Police Say
Snakes, Alligators and Other Exotic Animals Found Inside Brooklyn Apartment

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Joe Montana's Wine Country Mansion (House of the Day)

October 11, 2012, 5:04 am

≫ Next: Deceptive Descriptions (Listing Fails)

≪ Previous: New Renters in Modesto Reportedly Find Body of Fellow Tenant, Jorge Amador-Molina

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Filed under: Celebrity Homes,House of the Day

This home is the winner of last week's #housepornthurs, a weekly Twitter conversation hosted by @aolrealestate. Tweet listings to AOL Real Estate with the hashtag #housepornthurs every Thursday for a chance to have one of your submissions featured as a House of the Day the following week.



Congratulations to @PacUnion for submitting this week's #housepornthurs winner in Calistoga, Calif.! You have great taste: We last wrote about this gorgeous pad in the Napa Valley when it dropped in price back in January!

It's a natural choice, really: The $35 million, 9,700-square-foot, Tuscan-style estate is set in lush wine country and is described by its owner and former NFL quarterback Joe Montana as "an expression of art and architecture."

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Unsurprisingly, it's incredibly sports-friendly with full equestrian facilities (Montana reportedly loves horseback-riding), a basketball court, a swimming pool, a skeet-shooting range and even a bocce ball court. Inside the main house, you can enjoy some excellent Superbowl Sunday-friendly amenities -- a beer tap, pizza oven and multiple flat-screen HDTVs -- so you won't miss a play.

For those who aren't big on sports, that's fine too -- the estate also boasts an olive farm, a spa and a 45-foot-deep pond stocked with local bass.

Avram Goldman and Tim Hayden from Pacific Union International have the listing.

Click on the images below to see more homes for sale in Calistoga, Calif.



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Find out how to calculate mortgage payments.
Find homes for sale in your area.
Find foreclosures in your area.
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See more Houses of the Day on AOL Real Estate.

Got a tip for House of the Day? Know of an exceptional or unusual property currently listed for sale? Please email harris.effron@teamaol.com with your suggestions and be sure to include links to listing details and photos. (Due to the volume of response, we unfortunately are unable to reply to each submission.)

 

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Deceptive Descriptions (Listing Fails)

October 11, 2012, 5:04 am

≫ Next: Homeowners Joel and Melissa Dodge of Washington Feel Stranded by New Off-Ramp Next Door

≪ Previous: Joe Montana's Wine Country Mansion (House of the Day)

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Filed under: News,Selling

As #houseporn fiends and real estate junkies, there's nothing we love more than poring through fabulous home listings -- except maybe sorting through the tragically un-fabulous ones. They'll definitely make you laugh, and some of them could make you cry. Every week, AOL Real Estate brings you the sorriest listings that we could find on the Internet to show you what you should never do when posting your home online. We very appropriately call it #listingfail.

This week's theme: Deceptive Descriptions.

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A Dream Country Mountain Home

"If you've ever had dreams of a country MOUNTAIN home," this Franklin, N.C., listing says, "check this out!" Well, we don't know about you, but our dreams of a country mountain home generally don't involve a decrepit, falling-to-pieces old barn in the middle of the sticks. The listing does, however, provide some of the idyllic scenes you could expect to see in the mountains -- which unfortunately don't deflect from the fact that this supposed country mountain home of your dreams looks more like a country mountain nightmare.

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"No expense spared"

"SELLER SPARED NO EXPENSE WITH THIS INCREDIBLE TRANSFORMATION," this Chicago, Ill. listing gushes. No expense? The home has boarded-up windows and old-looking, dirt-colored carpet. And if this is the seller's idea of an "INCREDIBLE TRANSFORMATION" then we'd hate to see those "before" pictures...

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A "Glamorous" Bathroom

We've seen our fair share of "glamorous" bathrooms before, but unfortunately, unlike its listing deceptively promises, the bathroom of this San Antonio, Texas, home is not one of them. In fact, it looks about as un-glamorous and average as they come.

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"Mind Blowing Studio" in "Mind Numbing Location"

Sellers and Realtors: if there's anything to learn from this week's #listingfail installment, it's to please cull the superlatives. Particularly when they are downright misleading. Exhibit A: this shoebox-like studio in Manhattan's Lower East Side. "Mind Blowing" is certainly not the term we'd use to describe this tiny and unremarkable spot. And while the location's OK -- if you like souvenir shops and grimy Chinese restaurants -- we wouldn't call it "mind numbing" (what does that even mean?!).

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Click on the gallery below for more (hilariously) deceptive #listingfails.

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Don't let your home be a #listingfail! Take some pro advice from our home staging guides:
Home Staging Mistakes Sellers Should Avoid
Home Staging Tips for Every Season
Home Staging: Hire a Pro or Do It Yourself?

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Join the conversation! Tweet us listing fails @aolrealestate and hashtag #listingfail, and you could get a shout-out in next week's post!

See more AOL Real Estate galleries:
Charming Homes You Can Score for $150,000
Gayborhoods
Best Beach Towns for Buying Foreclosures

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Homeowners Joel and Melissa Dodge of Washington Feel Stranded by New Off-Ramp Next Door

October 11, 2012, 5:04 am

≫ Next: The Loser of the Presidential Election Can Still Have a White House

≪ Previous: Deceptive Descriptions (Listing Fails)

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Filed under: News

Noise from the construction of an off-ramp next to their backyard in Vancouver, Wash., drove Joel and Melissa Dodge to move their family to a rental home for a time. But this turned out to be just the beginning of their problems.

The Dodges' son, Dylan, who is 6 years old and autistic, started acting out when the off-ramp construction began. The Washington State Department of Transportation offered the family temporary relief by paying for the cost of the rental far from the noise, starting in February. And the quiet location reportedly has had a positive effect on Dylan.

But now that construction is finished, the Dodges said, their backyard (shown above) is still much too noisy. Before the off-ramp construction, there were tall trees between their backyard fence and the highway that the Dodges contend muffled most of the noise. Those trees were removed, though, and the new off-ramp goes right up to their fence.

As if the noise wasn't enough, there's also a safety issue. According to The Columbian, the couple is worried that a vehicle might enter the off-ramp too quickly and come flying through the guardrail and their fence, into their yard.

The Dodges (pictured at left) who can't afford to cover the cost of the rental as well as pay their mortgage, have asked WSDOT to buy their property. But the agency said its hands are tied."We don't have the ability to purchase homes because of people's health situation," WSDOT engineer Bart Gernhart said. "It doesn't mean they can't sell their home."

But the Dodges argue that they can't sell their home. Even before the addition of the off-ramp, the value of their home dropped during the housing market crash, and they are $55,000 underwater on their mortgage. And because of the off-ramp, they said, they feel like they wouldn't even be able to rent it. The WSDOT, meanwhile, has determined that the ambient noise isn't loud enough to justify a noise wall.

"Come here. Stand in our yard," Melissa told The Columbian. "Imagine your children playing here."

See also:
Coffee Shop Owner in Hot Water After Rehabbing City Grounds
Vacant Homes Plague Neighbors as Lenders Drag Feet
Tenant Installs Surveillance, Now Faces Eviction

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