Foreclosures on the Rise Again

After a year-long reprieve from rising foreclosures, the numbers are going up again.

One in every 624 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing in January, up 3 percent from the previous month, according to a new report from RealtyTrac.  Foreclosure activity froze in many states in 2011, due to processing delays after fraud, or so-called "Robo-signing," were uncovered in the fall of 2010.  The thaw is now on.

"We expect the pattern of increasing foreclosures to continue in the coming months, especially given the finalized mortgage and foreclosure settlement reached in early February between 49 state attorneys general and five of the nation's largest lenders," said RealtyTrac's CEO Brandon Moore in a written release.  "Foreclosure activity increased on a year-over-year basis for the first time in more than 12 months in Florida, Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania, following a pattern we saw in late 2011 in states such as California, Arizona and Massachusetts."

While states that do not require a judge to preside over foreclosure proceedings, like California, saw a jump in filings toward the end of last year, judicial states have all but stalled. That will now change, thanks to the $26 billion dollar government-lender/servicer settlement. There will still be some delays on individual state levels, but the wheels are turning again, and that means more bank repossessions and more foreclosed properties heading to the re-sale market.

Bank repossessions, the final stage of the foreclosure process, increased at least 30 percent  year-over-year in several states, including Massachusetts, which saw a 75 percent spike.  Bank-owned or REO (real estate owned) activity hit a 16-month high in Illinois and a 15-month high in Indiana.  Default notices, the first stage of foreclosure, were flat nationally in January, but spiked in judicial states, like Connecticut and Pennsylvania (up 112 percent) and even in non-judicial states like Maryland (up 100 percent).

Nevada still posted the highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 198 households receiving a filing, despite an 8 percent drop in foreclosure activity. Nevada is a non-judicial foreclosure state, so the foreclosure backlog has been clearing for the last several months.

The situation is the same in California, where foreclosure activity dropped to a 50-month low, but the state still posted the second highest foreclosure rate in the nation. More than 51,000 borrowers received a foreclosure filing in January. California cities still account for nine of the top ten metro foreclosure rates, according to RealtyTrac.

As optimism seems to abound for the spring, at least among the nation's home builders whose sentiment index jumped to the highest level in four years this month, foreclosures still stand in the way of a robust recovery.

Distressed property sales lower the value of homes around them, and that pushes more borrowers into a negative equity position, owing more on their mortgages than their homes are currently valued. Until banks work through the enormous backlog of foreclosures, which number in the millions, home prices will not hit a firm bottom, especially in the most troubled local real estate markets.

Questions?  Comments?  document.write("");document.write("RealtyCheck"+"@"+"cnbc.com");document.write('');And follow me on Twitter @Diana_Olick

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Disasters: Multimillionaire Ed Bazinet proves, yet again,...

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, February 15, 2012, by Sarah Firshein

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How To Get The Pyramid Economy Cranking Again

Readers suggested a topic on the latest government housing proposals. “What about the proposal to save the U.S. housing market by offering foreign investors a sweet deal on obtaining a Visa?”

A reply, “If we are serious about scamming these marks, give them automatic dual citizenship, so we can tax all their overseas earnings. Doesn’t Congress have any serious work to do?”

Another wrote, “Need more people to get the pyramid economy cranking again. Bring in new blood since the natives have been bled dry.”

One said, “The thing is that in so many foreign countries things aren’t so rosy: kidnappings, riots, drug lords, etc. A lot of people want to emigrate someplace where it’s still ’safe’. My brother got his engineering degree at ITESM in Mexico (Mexico’s top engineering school). He told me the other day that the majority of his classmates managed to get themselves trasferred to the USA by their multinational employer (I have a cousin who is trying to do that right now).”

“Being middle to upper middle class in Mexico means have a big fat bullseye on your back. You aren’t wealthy enough to afford bodyguards but rich enough to pay a ransom. Memo to American cubicle dwellers: coming soon to your neighborhood.”

And this, “Has anyone come up with any vibrant new solutions to fixing the U.S. housing market, or are we collectively stuck with the same tired old neo-Keynesian proposals over the foreseeable time horizon?”

Finally, “It’s about the jobs, plain and simple. And there’s no fix for that, without stopping the outsourcing, and ending illegal immigration. And since illegal immigration and outsourcing are favored by the 1%ers, it means that there is no fix.”

The Wall Street Journal. “About four years ago, as the housing bust worsened, our country faced an entirely predictable problem: A huge wave of foreclosures was headed our way. The issue of the day was how to stop it before it engulfed the entire economy. My suggestion then was to revive the Depression-era Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, which refinanced about a tenth of all the mortgages in America and closed its books with a small profit. Never mind the details; the suggestion was ignored. Maybe there were better ideas, anyway.”

“Sadly, however, we did almost nothing to stop the predicted foreclosure wave, which is now drowning us. The issue at this late date is how we can mitigate the damage. One oft-repeated answer comes from the intellectual descendants of Andrew Mellon and Herbert Spencer: liquidate, liquidate, liquidate. Let the housing market find its natural bottom, and the chips fall where they may.”

“I beg to differ. Some of the reasons are humanitarian. Millions of foreclosures are ruining millions of lives and devastating many communities. We can do better than Social Darwinism.”

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Are We Once Again In A Bear Market Now?

Readers suggested a topic on the current economic situation. “Are we once again in a bear market now?”

A reply, “Darnit, I seem to remember predicting that this country would go to pot in Summer 2011. It’s the only time they could allow it to happen and still have time for a ‘turnaround’ before the 2012 elections. Fannie’s 6% –> 4% will probably go nowhere and Op Twist is not enough liquidity and too hard for people to understand anyway. I suspect that somebody shut off the spigot, which is why BoA is rushing to the exits and why the stock market is reverting to goods and services.”

One added, “China’s been escalating their threats. Maybe they’ve finally made a move that supports the idea they finally mean it and we’ve moved beyond the saber rattling.”

Another said, “If I were owning both parties, I’l let them switch places in 2012. It will settle the sheep down for a while, while they wait for change that isn’t on its way.”

One had this, “Let’s look at some basic facts: America is old and tried and broke.”

A reply, “I take it your a non-skateboard, non-iPhone, non-wii-chess user. How about Kite-surfing ever try that?”

The Associated Press. “The world economy is in a world of hurt. Europe is wrestling with a debt crisis. Economic growth in powerhouse China appears to be slowing. And in the United States, political paralysis has left policymakers with few tools to fight a slowdown.”

“U.S. markets sank this week even though the Federal Reserve offered a bigger dose of economic stimulus than investors had expected: The Fed plans to reshuffle $400 billion of its investments in hopes of pushing down interest rates on mortgages and other long-term loans. But economists say the Fed’s effort probably won’t make much difference. Rates on mortgages and other loans are already the lowest in decades. The Fed’s announcement underscored the fear that the American central bank had run out of tools to stimulate the economy.”

“Despite China’s rising power, experts say its economy is still not big or strong enough to compensate for meltdowns elsewhere: Chinese investment and spending is only one-sixth that of the European Union and United States. ‘From a global perspective, China’s domestic demand is still way too small to offset the impact of a recession’ in Europe and the U.S., Deutsche Bank economist Ma Jun said in a report.”

“To make up for a 3 percentage point drop in growth in those economies, China would have to grow by 18 percent this year, he says. ‘This is mission impossible.’”

The Kansas City Star. “Kansas City Power & Light Co. officials were optimistic that 2011 would be the year the economy — and electric meters — started humming along again. But after six months some troubling figures emerged. The utility’s residential customers were using 4 percent less electricity than a year ago, when the numbers were adjusted for the weather’s ups and downs. Commercial and industrial electricity use also was down, but just 1 percent.”

“Frugal homeowners’ conservation measures, such as replacing inefficient furnaces and air conditioners, had something to do with the decline. But a starker symbol of the troubled economy also played a part: A growing number of vacant, foreclosed homes are using little or no electricity. ‘These are homes that were getting bills, and now they aren’t,’ said Chuck Caisley, a spokesman for Kansas City Power & Light, which has 725,000 residential customers in Missouri and Kansas.”

The Salt Lake Tribune. “Utah has the nation’s 10th-highest foreclosure rate in the country a new report shows. But the Beehive State, which has been in the top 10 for more than two years, has a foreclosure problem that pales in comparison to No. 1 Nevada, according to RealtyTrac. Nevada was followed by California, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Michigan, Florida, Illinois and Colorado.”

“There are about 3.7 million more homes in some stage of foreclosure now than there would be in a normal housing market, according to Citi analyst Josh Levin. ‘This bloated foreclosure pipeline now presents the greatest obstacle to a housing market recovery,’ Levin said in a client note this week.”

The Providence Journal. “The average monthly rent in 2010 for a two-bedroom apartment in Rhode Island, $1,165, is more than 50-percent higher than it was in 2001, when it was $775. The ‘affordable’ rental price for a two-bedroom apartment, the amount that is 30 percent of the average private-sector wage in Rhode Island ($41,808), is $1,045.”

“Despite declines in home values, affordability continues to be an issue for home ownership as well, the report found. The income required to afford a $210,000 house (the 2010 median sales price) in Rhode Island is $64,766. But the median annual household income in Rhode Island is $54,120. Rhode Island’s unemployment rate, 10.6 percent in August, has been in the double digits since March 2009.”

“‘I still think we’re seeing the numbers artificially depressed due to delays [in the foreclosure process],’ said Joy Riley, broker-owner of Westcott Properties, of Providence, which specializes in selling foreclosed properties. As a result, ‘the shadow inventory of at-risk properties is continuing to grow.’ ‘There are hundreds of foreclosure cases in limbo due to the pending legal actions,’ she said. Riley said it’s taking close to 400 days to process a foreclosure.”

The Douglas County Sentinel. “Georgia ranked fourth nationally in foreclosure rates for the month of August, with Douglas County posting the state’s second highest foreclosure rate. Chris Collier, executive officer of the Westside Homebuilders Association, said seasonal factors may also contribute to a rise in foreclosures.’

“‘The summer selling season is coming to an end for people who want to buy homes before school starts. Banks may be saying that now that the season is over, they have no choice but to move forward with foreclosures. Government regulations can force banks to process foreclosures as well,’ said Collier.”

“Kim Hargrave, a real estate broker who works with Douglas County on neighborhood stabilization programs, was not surprised by the statistics. ‘I don’t see it getting better in the near future. We are trying to use local companies to get some foreclosures occupied. The county is doing a lot to try to combat that through classes for new homebuyers and other programs, but the biggest thing right now is we need more jobs,’ said Hargrave.”

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Comings and Goings: Rad Sign Discovered, Will Soon Be Covered Again

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Monday, August 1, 2011, by Sally Kuchar

While crews demolished a branch library in the Bayview to make room for a new one, they discovered a sign that the existing building had covered for almost 90 years. But as SF Gate puts it, "history buffs should hurry," if they want to see the sign. The sign, which advertises Boss of the Road Overalls and Workshirts, will be covered again when the construction of the library is finished. "It's been preserved by a building since somewhere in the 1920s," said Michelle Jeffers, spokeswoman for the library system. "And now we'll just preserve it for the next 100 years."
· Breaking Ground [Curbed SF]
· Vintage sign by SF Bayview library to be covered [SF Gate]
[photo via Ariel Dovas]

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We’ll Never See One Like This Again

The Portland Daily Sun reports from Maine. “The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) feels your pain, Maine, and has decided to pony up some checks. The program is named the ‘Emergency Homeowners Loan Program’ is set up for people that have fallen behind in their mortgage payments due to unemployment, reduction in hours, or medical issues. The program is a ‘bridge’ loan for those who are in foreclosure, pre-forclosure, and in some cases can range from $35K to $50K for a zero-interest two-year ‘loan.’ Ah, but the crafty reader will notice that I put the word ‘loan’ in quotes. It is specifically mentioned that ‘in some cases, the loan would not need to be paid back.’”

“Since the money is supposed to be used to pay a ‘portion’ of your past due loans, and legal fees, and interest, it might be important to know how much you are getting on the hook for, even if ‘it might not need to be paid back.’ Then, there is the ‘chance’ aspect of this program. No idea of how many folks qualify, no picture of how the money is going to be split up, and a make-it-up-as-you-go-along approach has led to a decision. The ‘Pre-app’ folks who get approved will be entered into a “Lottery” system, and the winners of that lottery will be the ones to get a loan.”

“Makes that childhood game of ‘Monopoly’ with the ‘Chance’ card seem simple by comparison. At some point, national housing policy has to go beyond ‘Monopoly’ and into a game with a little bit more deductive reason to it … like ‘Clue.’”

The Enterprise Record in Massachusetts. “Alfred Smith found himself without a job last December and trying to keep up with his home mortgage and daily expenses. Smith is hoping – praying even – that he will still qualify for the $1 billion Emergency Homeowners’ Loan Program, which was set up in last year’s Dodd-Frank bank reform bill and was a program that Brockton residents asked for in a 2009 meeting in the city with U.S. Rep. Barney Frank.”

“It comes just in time for Smith, a 57-year-old father of two whose new job pays less than what he received as unemployment compensation. ‘That would mean everything. It would be a brand new start in life at this point,’ he said. ‘That’s how serious it is.’”

“NeighborWorks spokesman Douglas Robinson said the program will direct $61 million in loans to Massachusetts residents. With an average loan of approximately $35,000, that would cover only 1,740 people statewide.”

The Daily Hampshire Gazette in Massachusetts. “Tini Sawicki, who owns Prudential Sawicki Real Estate in Amherst and is the western region VP for the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, described the market as ‘in limbo’ right now. ‘It’s hard right now to anticipate the market,’ said Sawicki. ‘We’re busy, but we should be busy at this time of year. There are more people out there looking, but some are a little hesitant to pull the trigger.’”

“Homes in Hampshire County are selling and many agents believe now is a good time to buy. Interest rates are low and home prices, after a several-year decline, will likely begin to go up again. ‘If I could, I’d be buying up property right now,’ said Linda Rotti, sales manager of the Jones Group Realtors office in Amherst.”

“Selling a house in Hampshire County is taking longer. Selling prices, meanwhile, are relatively stable in Hampshire County through the first four months of the year, though they are down considerably since the recession began a few years ago.”

“Though those numbers paint a stable picture, there are homeowners attempting to sell who end up taking a hit. Some people who have owned their homes for some time are selling for less than they hoped for, while relatively new homeowners are finding it hard to sell their house and cover the loan and an agent’s commission. ‘If you bought a house two, three, four years ago, you’re probably going to have a hard time selling it and covering a commission,’ said Sawicki. ‘Buyers are looking for quite a while, going to open houses and are very educated. Sellers have taken a bigger hit than they’d like.’”

The Providence Journal in Rhode Island. “May sales statistics from the Rhode Island Association of Realtors show a 5.26-percent increase in the median house price, to $210,000, but the number of houses sold fell 10 percent, compared with a year ago. Stephen Antoni, president of the state Realtors’ group, said he was glad to see a median price increase occur without the support of the tax credit.”

“The Realtors’ association also reported that the number of houses available for sale was at a high of 6,602 in May, up 12 percent from May 2010. The inventory has not surpassed that number since August 2008. Distressed properties — foreclosures and short sales — accounted for nearly 27 percent of house sales statewide in May. But in some urban areas, such as Woonsocket, Pawtucket and Providence (not including the East Side), the distressed segment accounted for closer to 50 percent of sales.”

“Antoni said that ‘overly stringent’ lending requirements continue to hamper sales. ‘If we want to see more sales, lenders will need to begin setting reasonable qualifying standards so that credit-worthy people can buy homes.’”

“Antoni said that during the housing boom, some lenders were qualifying people ‘by taking a pulse,’ but now, ‘that pendulum has swung a little too far in the other direction.’”

The Hartford Courant in Connecticut. “Pending sales of single-family houses in Greater Hartford rose by 41 percent in May compared with a year ago. ‘The jump in pending sales may be a signal that the market has finally corrected itself a year after the expiration of the housing tax credit,’ Greater Hartford Association of Realtors President and CEO Jeff Arakelian said. ‘Affordability and an abundant inventory make this market a great time to buy.’”

“Pending sales are a widely watched indicator of sales that might close in the next 45 to 90 days. The region’s housing market still suffers from other problems. Sales of single-family houses dropped by 28 percent in May compared with May 2010 in the 57-town area tracked by the association.”

“Throughout the nation, stringent mortgage underwriting also is holding back the market, said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors. ‘Lenders and bank regulators need to be mindful of the historically low default rates among mortgage borrowers of the past two years,’ Yun said.”

New Hampshire Public Radio. “About 900 acres surrounding the Mount Washington resort in Bretton Woods have been sold at a foreclosure auction. NHPR’s Chris Jensen reports. The foreclosure was the end of a grand plan launched in 2008. The developers promised a huge resort community with 900 homes. But the economy ended that.”

“Charles Adams headed up that development group. In 2008 Adams headed up the developers who promised a resort community with hundreds of new homes and a shopping area tucked around the Mount Washington Hotel. ‘It has definitely been a long three to four years as we’ve watched everything just plummet, but real estate in particular is way beyond the great recession, I think it has definitely been a depression for real estate.’”

“Adams estimated his group owed Wells Fargo about $38 million. There were only two bidders. The selling price was $10.5 million dollars.”

The Union Leader in New Hampshire. “The number of building permits issued in the Lakes Region took a nosedive between 2005 and 2009, according to the Lakes Region Planning Commission’s 2010 annual report on development activity. Russ Thibeault of Applied Economic Research of Laconia has been providing research since 1976. High priced residential properties have sold, but overall the residential market is soft and prices are down, he said.”

“The LRPC report reflects the state of the market several years ago. ‘Where we are now is bouncing off the bottom. The current state of the market is depressed, but stable,’ he said, adding the consumer confidence has to go up for the housing market to improve. ‘It takes awhile for housing markets to recover. I don’t think we’ll ever see one like this again — it’s going to be a long recovery — but things aren’t falling apart anymore,’ he said.”

“He said the report reflects market conditions, but is not a negative mark on the appeal of the Lakes Region. ‘This is a matter of market conditions. The housing market continues to be in the doldrums. It’s difficult to get financing today, and on the other hand, the housing market is soft. Last year was the softest year ever for permits in New Hampshire, and we felt it,’ said Thibeault. ‘People shouldn’t think the Lakes Region turned into New Jersey,’ he said.”

The Montclaire Times in New Jersey. “What will it take to jump-start redevelopment along the stretch of Bloomfield Avenue east of Elm Street? That ailing segment of Montclair’s main street is home to a vacant multistory condominium complex where construction has stopped. Officials adopted a redevelopment plan for the area in September 2007, and ‘there has been no activity since then,’ Township Planner Janice Talley told The Times.”

“Anchored around the Bay Street Train Station, the neighborhood has ‘all these amenities nearby’ and is expected to draw developers and capital. There has already been a residential boom around the train station, with the Montclair Mews townhouses and the new Montclair Residences at Bay Street Station cropping up close by. ‘What we haven’t seen is new commercial development,’ Talley said.”

The Wall Street Journal. “New York state homeowners whose properties are worth less than their mortgage balances tend to be more underwater than borrowers in any other state, a reflection of high home prices and high leverage. Price declines, the primary culprit for negative equity, were less pernicious in New York than in the hardest hit states.”

“But because New York home prices are higher than in most other states—driven partly by the multimillion-dollar price tags in parts of Manhattan, Westchester and Long Island—even a small percentage price decline can result in a substantial level of negative equity. ‘Generally speaking, if you’re upside down, the higher the value of the geography, the deeper underwater you are,’ says Sam Khater, an economist with CoreLogic. ‘When someone’s upside down, they’re upside down by a lot—they tended to over-leverage.’”

“Homeowners in Connecticut had a similarly high level of negative equity in the first quarter, with an average of $111,430. In New Jersey, the average level of negative equity was $77,474. When breaking down the data for the tri-state region by county, owners of Manhattan condominiums and single-family homes had the largest average amount of negative equity—a whopping $1.35 million, according to CoreLogic.”

“In the wealthy town of Chappaqua in Westchester County, median values have fallen to $764,250 as of Monday from $1.12 million at the top of the market in 2007, according to Houlihan Lawrence, a Westchester-based brokerage. After Manhattan, Brooklyn’s underwater borrowers are the deepest in the hole, with an average negative equity of $202,404. In Fairfield County, Conn., the average difference between mortgage debt and property value is $176,038. In Bergen County, N.J., it’s $120,740.”

“‘It just shows even though we’re a market with very little foreclosure activity, there’s clearly a lot of exposure to default,’ says Jonathan Miller, the chief executive of Miller Samuel Inc., a New York-based appraisal and consulting firm.”

The New York Observer. “The Observer recently reported that the first 10 apartment tenants had signed at 25 Broad, bringing the failed condo conversion back to life as a rental—and Lehman Brothers, twitching, back with it. Not even three years after the bank’s collapse took the economy with it, Lehman, through its holding company, lives on, a rosy zombie quietly looking to make a small fortune off prime New York properties, and maybe—just maybe—pay off some creditors.”

“In other cases, Lehman is poised to stick it out a few more years. The garish former condo at 25 Broad is currently in receivership, but Lehman Holdings could take control as early as the fall. In a little-known plan, Lehman is in the final stages of foreclosing on a failed condo conversion at 325 West Broadway that it may renovate.”

“In the end, Lehman hopes to liquidate its New York assets by September 2013, though the effort has proved to be a struggle as creditors are busy fighting over the last valuable vestiges of the once-great investment bank. Said one source familiar with the liquidation: ‘It’s a shit show.’”

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Elle Decor to Move (Again): In September, Elle Decor moved its...

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, June 1, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

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? Previous: Scams

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Julianne Moore's Place Hit the Market Again: In September, actress Julianne Moore went...

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Friday, March 4, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

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? Previous: Charlie Sheen Wall Decals Exist; Point to the End Times Coming

? Next: "Victory For Interior Design" in Florida

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It May Be Time to Believe in Housing Again

It's hard to know what to believe in the housing market today, with so many conflicting data reports, some analysts claiming the market has hit bottom, and others seeing further doom.

The home builders themselves can't seem to find anything to be optimistic about; their sentiment index has been stuck at the same lackluster level for four straight months.

It's not as hard, however, to believe in housing. By that I mean that as the economy improves, and consumers start to feel better about their personal finances, they are starting to think about investing in their homes again.

Too much price uncertainty in the market turns them off trading up, so they are looking around their current home instead.

Yesterday I met with an architect in suburban DC who says that in just the past two months the phone has been ringing off the hook.

"It's ringing with people saying, you know I want the $200,000 addition, which is the family room/kitchen or I can afford my screen porch now," says Michael Bruckwick of Katinas Bruckwick Architecture.

Just last year, clients told Bruckwick a very different story.

"Their biggest concerns was simply where is the world going ? The world that we live in. Is it to continue going down?"

And it's not just in the DC area, which has the benefit of lower unemployment thanks to government jobs. A remodeling index from Texas-based BuildFax shows a national surge in remodeling work toward the end of the year, which appears to be continuing now. It's returning, but cautiously.

"Inquiries for new project activity has fared a bit better recently, although many residential architects report that households are much more nervous than usual about proceeding on projects," notes Kermit Baker in the American Institute of Architect's Q3 Home Design Trends Survey.

The survey finds most activity is in smaller infill projects near major metro areas or remodeling to create multi-generational households. The trend has definitely moved away from major new housing developments. While the market is still quite weak in comparison to better economic times, remodeling remains pricey.

"Consumers are often assuming that project costs will be much lower given the market slowdown—expectations that many residential architects feel are unrealistic," adds Baker.

Bruckwick disagrees, claiming it's still "a buyer's market" for contractors and subcontractors. That will likely change as demand increases and contractors start to get more work. Lending is still extremely tight, and appraisals difficult and often low if you're looking to pull out equity for the job, but homeowners are slowly becoming less daunted.

A common line to Bruckwick: "My portfolio has come back up, so I can afford it where I couldn’t a year or two ago."

Questions?  Comments?  document.write("");document.write("RealtyCheck"+"@"+"cnbc.com");document.write('');And follow me on Twitter @Diana_Olick

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Love Shacks: Silver-Screen Houses That Promise to Induce Tears All Over Again

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Thursday, February 10, 2011, by Rob

Photo: Location Carolina

With this weekend's prime rom-com movie set to flop, we decided to take a look back at some date-night favorites and the exceptional real estate that goes with them. Most of these homes were subjected to a heavy dose of Hollywood magic—and some were just plain fabricated—but all hold a special place in the heart of many a teary-eyed movie goer. From the familiar to the forgotten, join us on the magic carpet as we tour of some of the silver screen's most memorable houses, and what they've been up to since filming wrapped. Can you identify the house above? Here's a hint, it wasn't looking so good at the film's outset.

It's the run-down mansion that heartthrob Ryan Gosling fixed up to impress his lifelong love, played by Rachel McAdams, in 2004's The Notebook. Located on the Martin's Point Plantation, some 30 miles south of Charleston, S.C., the house (above) is privately owned, though it is still being shopped around as a film location.

Photo: Hooked on Houses
? The Notebook wasn't the first romantic flick to use the stunning visuals of the Carolinas, and it sure wouldn't be the last. The 2008 picture Nights in Rodanthe used this beach house as the inn where Richard Gere and Diane Lane strike up an unlikely romance. Set designers made some significant changes to the facade—adding balconies, stairs, paint, and shutters—but that's nothing compared to what happened after they picked up and left. Since the seaside manor was built in 1988, the ocean had eroded nearly 400 feet of beach and threatened to wash this set out to sea. Luckily, a pair of generous buyers scooped up the property and transported the entire house to a more protected lot nearby.

? Few sappy romances have achieved the popularity of the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan vehicle Sleepless in Seattle. Perhaps the ultimate in random love connections, it was only appropriate that Hanks lived aboard a house boat. But, as far as houseboats go, this is one of the most roomy—and homey—that we've ever come across. The floating Seattle manse is unique not because it floats, but because you can actually buy it, provided you're ready to throw $2.5M into the drink. Someone needs to tell the listing agent to mention Sleepless in the listing!

Photo: I'm Not a Stalker
? Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks teamed up again for 1998's You've Got Mail! In this classic tale twisted with new technology, Ryan plays an independent bookshop owner being squeezed out by the mega-chain run by her eventual main squeeze, played by Hanks. Still, despite her struggling biz, she manages to maintain a shabby chic pre-war spread in an Upper West Side brownstone. I'm Not A Stalker managed to track down the exact address, 328 West 89th Street, using a clue from a garbage can lid caught in one shot. While that isn't what we'd call not stalking, count us impressed.

? And now, the grand poobah of fawned-over movie sets: the Hamptons house from Something's Gotta Give. While Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson engaged in some elderly flirtations, many viewers were mesmerized by the stylish interiors. Sad to say, they were faked, built on a sound stage by Oscar-nominated production designer Jon Hutmann and set decorator Beth Rubino, who mixed custom paint colors that would look best on screen. The exteriors, however, are from this very real Southampton estate, situated on tony Meadow Lane.

· Just Go with It [Rotten Tomatoes]
· The Notebook [Time]
· Charleston Area Plantations [Location Carolina]
· The Inn from "Nights in Rodanthe:" Washing Away? [Hooked on Houses]
· Moving the 'Nights in Rodanthe' House [WRAL]
· Sam's Houseboat in "Sleepless in Seattle" [Hooked on Houses]
· Ultimate Water Lifestyle - Lake Union [Rick Miner]
· The You've Got Mail Brownstone [I'm Not A Stalker]
· The Beach House from "Something's Gotta Give" [Hooked on Houses]
· House Used in "Something's Gotta Give" [Zillow]

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House of the Day: Turn-of-the-Last-Century Reno Finally Back In Style Again

Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, December 29, 2010, by Rob

Have a nomination for a jaw-dropping listing that would make a mighty fine House of the Day? Get thee to the tipline and send us your suggestions. We'd love to see what you've got.

Location: Boston, Mass.
Price: $9,500,000
The Skinny: Sometimes ornate, spendy, and trendy renovations fall flat, sidling a home with some undesirable features or overwrought detailing. But what's that they say about everything coming back in style eventually? Well, judging from this $9.5M Frankenstein of a townhouse, just wait a 100 years and someone will love it again. In 1905, the then-owner of 128 Commonwealth Avenue decided the staid brick facade of his 1882 townhouse just wasn't on trend, so he commissioned Beaux Arts sandstone fronting. And now, it's not an architectural eyesore, but instead, "a rare and unique Beaux Arts style residence." Ah, what a difference a century makes. Worry not, interiors fanatics, we've got all you crave after the jump.

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