| By the Month: Single-family home rentals one option for sellers | | Posted Wednesday, February 07, 2007 3:08:14 PM by Blog57 Team | | In booming metropolitan markets such as Las Vegas and Washington, D.C., it's common for people to lease a single-family home for one or more years. Lofty sales prices translate into equally lofty mortgage payments, not to mention taxes. So for many, the cost of renting can be significantly lower than buying. But in Pittsburgh? Buying is often a better deal than renting, so the house rental market is much cooler. As a result, single-family home rentals account for just a fraction of the local real estate business. Over the past 20 years, the ratio of apartment rentals to house rentals has held fairly steady at about 4 to 1, with 80 percent of all renters choosing to live in a multi-unit building, according to Peg Lampenfeld, an agent with Howard Hanna Real Estate Services. That said, it is possible to rent a single-family home in many city and suburban neighborhoods.... | |
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| | | Partying at home may come at a price | | Posted Sunday, January 21, 2007 1:12:48 PM by Blog57 Team | | Party on! Well, not in residential Miami Beach, if you're charging admission or pushing a product. BY ELINOR J. BRECHER ebrecher@MiamiHerald.com Does a proposed Miami Beach ordinance mean that code enforcers can bust your backyard barbecue if guests bring beef and beer worth more than $100? Or does it mean that promoters can't stage Internet-advertised parties with entry fees at private homes rented just for the occasion? That was the question Wednesday as city commissioners considered an ordinance governing commercial use of single-family homes. On one side: city officials and advocates of neighborhood tranquility. On the other: real-estate brokers, developers, party planners and some homeowners'-rights activists. Related issues that were pulled in, though they're not part of the proposed revision: ''transient use'' of private homes -- less than six months -- such as short-term rentals for events like the Super Bowl, and the paucity of parking in high-end neighborhoods.... | |
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| | | Direct Home Rentals Partners with Leading Travel Websites | | Posted Wednesday, January 17, 2007 3:17:11 PM by Blog57 Team | | Naples, FL (PRWeb) January 17, 2007 -- A regional leader in online vacation rental marketing, Direct Home Rentals has recently announced the launch of new services and vacation packages for travelers to Southwest Florida. Visitors to Direct Home Rentals can now search for rental cars, airline tickets and hotels, as well as find vacation rentals in Southwest Florida. By teaming up with the Interactive Affiliate Network (IAN.com), a division of Hotels.com, Direct Home Rentals can offer worldwide destinations, more lodging choices and at better values. .... | |
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| | | What's in, what's out with home buyers | | Posted Saturday, December 30, 2006 3:08:26 PM by Blog57 Team | | This list of home-buyer preferences for 2007 was compiled by Mark Nash, Chicago author of five books on real estate. The list of what's in and what's out is based on a survey of 923 real estate agents, managing brokers and association executives who responded to a survey request in Agent to Agent ezine, which is published by Nash. His ezine is distributed monthly to real estate professionals in all 50 states and Canada. What's in Upscale garages: It's no longer the out-of-sight-out-of-mind dumping ground. Today's garage owners want them decked out with cabinet and storage systems, mini-refrigerators, insulation, heating and air conditioning and durable but residential-looking flooring. Man caves and Mom caves are coming out of the closet. Personal dedicated space for one person in a household is space where one can work on projects or "chill" without being disturbed and, if so, only in an emergency.... | |
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| | | Aaron's Rentals to open in North Carson City | | Posted Thursday, December 28, 2006 1:19:23 PM by Blog57 Team | | About three years after the last furniture store to occupy 3777 N. Carson St. closed and then went bankrupt, another one will fill the space. Aaron's, out of Atlanta, is one of the leading furniture rental and rent-to-own companies in the country, according to Hoovers.com. A public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (Aaron Rents Inc.: RNT), Aaron's posted its 2005 net income at $58 million while employing 7,600. According to an agent in the deal, the corporation chose Carson City for its high number of rental homes. Winans Furniture, owned by a Minden family, closed its Carson City location in early 2004. The company went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2005. Competition was one of the main reasons for closing. The Winans' building is about 50,000 square feet.... | |
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| | | Vacation home rentals thrive on Web | | Posted Thursday, November 23, 2006 1:06:56 PM by Blog57 Team | | When Elizabeth and Robin Wood decided to rent out their new vacation home in Florida, they hired a local real estate agent to hunt for renters, but they also paid US$300 (euro233) to list the house on specialized Web sites. The Woods agreed to pay the agent a 25 percent commission on any rentals they got, even ones that they found online. "Every tenant came through my listings on the Web," Elizabeth Wood says. "This summer we parted ways with the realtor." Wood cannot fathom why anyone would list or rent a vacation home anywhere other than online. Some investors are starting to think the same way, putting money into sites that offer searchable listings, lots of photographs and easy navigation. One of the companies that Wood used, HomeAway Inc., will announce Monday that it has secured US$160 million (euro124.38 million) in venture capital and will pay an undisclosed sum for an older and leading provider of U.S.... | |
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| | | Demand grows for downtown Houston housing | | Posted Tuesday, November 14, 2006 7:06:33 PM by Blog57 Team | | When Lanetta Weeks heard that her company was moving from a building near Bush Intercontinental Airport to one downtown, she figured public transportation would be the easiest way to make the commute from her home in northeast Houston. But instead of buying a bus pass, Weeks and her husband, Andy, bought a condominium in the St. Germain building on Main Street, six blocks from her new office. "Our kids are grown and gone," said Weeks, 59, a customer service representative with Total Petrochemicals. "We came downtown and it looked so interesting, we thought why not do it?" Weeks and others like her whose companies are moving into the city's center are helping fuel sales and rentals of downtown properties. And they're creating a demand for more. Apartment occupancy in downtown is 89 percent, according to data gathered in the spring by Central Houston, a group that promotes downtown revitalization.... | |
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| | | Web Companies Try To Dominate Business Of Renting Vacation Homes | | Posted Monday, November 13, 2006 7:07:03 PM by Blog57 Team | | Dallas -- When Elizabeth and Robin Wood decided to rent out their new vacation home in Florida, they hired a local real estate agent to hunt for renters. But they also paid $300 to list the house on specialized Web sites. The Woods agreed to pay the agent a 25 percent commission on any rentals they got, even ones that they found online. One of the companies that Wood used was Austin-based HomeAway Incorporated. Home Away will announce Monday that it's obtained $160 million in venture capital. It says it'll pay an undisclosed sum for an older and leading provider of U.S. listings, VRBO.com, or Vacation Rentals By Owner. HomeAway is less than two years old, but it's moved quickly to consolidate the infant industry. The company launched when Austin Ventures officials teamed with the chief executive of another company they'd backed to search for a new technology investment.... | |
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| | | Movie house, ice rink and a flotilla | | Posted Sunday, November 12, 2006 3:07:27 PM by Blog57 Team | | Oh fudge! Can't wait for the 24-hour ''A Christmas Story'' marathon on Christmas day? Well, visit the original ''A Christmas Story'' house in the meantime. Located at 3159 W. 11th Street in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, movie fanatics can now visit Ralphie's newly restored home beginning Nov. 25. After years of families renovating the house, even turning it into a duplex, Brian Jones, who purchased the house on eBay, restored it to its original '40s movie glory. Tours of the inside and outside of the house are offered Wednesday through Saturday for only $5. Jones also purchased the house across the street to serve as an ''A Christmas Story'' museum and gift shop, selling leg lamps, T-shirts, Ovaltine, secret decoder pins and other memorabilia from the movie. Info: 216-298-4919 or http://www.AChristmasStoryHouse.com The world-famous Rockefeller Center Ice Rink has opened for its 70th anniversary.... | |
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| | | Ayala Land Q3 profit up 7.5% on home sales, mall rentals | | Posted Saturday, November 11, 2006 11:33:05 AM by Blog57 Team | | PROPERTY developer Ayala Land Inc. said its third quarter net profit rose to P820 million, up 7.5 percent from P763 million a year ago, boosted by brisk sales of its residential projects and rental revenue from its shopping malls. "The underlying growth in our operating income remains strong on the back of increased leasing activity and strong sales volume. Given the leasing and development projects in our pipeline, we are confident of sustaining our growth momentum," Ayala Land president and CEO Jaime Ayala said in a statement. "We expect earnings to accelerate in the medium-term as new gross leasable area become available and development revenues are recognized due to construction completion." Revenue for the third quarter stood at P5.96 billion from P4.67 billion the year before, supported by its core and support business lines.... | |
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