The World's Largest Treehouse: Oregon builder and woodworker Michael Garnier...

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Silver Screen: Inside the Drama Surrounding the Country's Largest House

× 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. Tuesday, January 24, 2012, by Sarah Firshein

If you've ever wanted to roam around the largest house in the country, you may soon get the chance: The Queen of Versailles debuted at the Sundance Film Festival this year and has just been picked up by Magnolia Pictures. Directed by Lauren Greenfield, the film chronicles the drama surrounding the construction and ultimate failure of a massive estate in Windermere, Fla., which was cooked up by billionaire developer David Siegel and his wife, Jackie, as their ultimate dream home. By the time the couple accounted for an endless list of features and amenities—including 10 kitchens, mind you—plans had grown to 90,000 square feet. In 2008, the recession hit and the project was stalled; now, after having poured $50M into it, they're asking $100M (finished) or $75M (unfinished). Calling the film "the ultimate 'Real Housewives' tale," Hollywood.com has this assessment: "You won't feel bad that Jackie and David never got a chance to live in their real life palace, but when their marriage hits a breaking point, their children drift away and the future as they know it looks grim, you'll relate." (Unsurprisingly, Siegel is now suing both Sundance and the filmmakers.) Watch a very short clip from the piece below.

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City Scapes: Between Lake and Mountains, the Country's Smallest Largest City

× 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. Tuesday, April 26, 2011, by Rob Bear

Welcome to CityScapes, a column in which we explore some of the nation's oft-overlooked cities and towns: their local history and real estate offerings. Have a suggestion? Do let us know.

Burlington might be the largest city in the state of Vermont, but that's not saying much when it comes to population. Some 42,000 people live in Burlington, and the city is the economic and cultural hub of the state and has been for the past 200 years. Founded in 1775 as three log huts beside Lake Champlain, Burlington evolved into a center for trade, and a gateway to the markets of the East Coast for trappers and loggers plying their trades in the northern wilderness. The expansion of the railroad only improved Burlington's standing as the premier city between Montreal and Boston, and as the city's wealth grew so too did the high-brow tastes of its residents. Famed architect H.H. Richardson completed an imposing library for the University of Vermont in 1885. In 1923, the venerable New York firm of McKim, Mead, and White were commissioned to design the City Hall (above), and by '41 had built three more major structures in town.

? The ease of railway access, beauty of Lake Champlain, and temperate climate transformed Burlington into a ritzy summer getaway from the stifling heat of Boston and New York. With the influx of fashionable folks came the building of extravagant summer homes in the style of Newport, but with a slightly more rustic, mountain-influenced feel. The main house on the 435-acre estate known as Grosse Pointe (above), just south of Burlington on Lake Champlain, was built at the turn of the century from local granite and served as the summer home for a wealthy family from Grosse Point, Mich. Comprising 11 bedrooms, 7.5 bathrooms, and five fireplaces over three floors, it measures 10,000-square feet and was last sold in the summer of 2006 for $8.4M. Now let's take a look at some local listings with slightly more affordable price tags.

WHAT'S ON THE MARKET NOW:

? Listed for $2M, this lakeside retreat is located in Shelbourne, about a half hour from downtown Burlington, but offers over an acre of waterfront land coupled with an attractive Adirondack-style house. Facing west, the house enjoys sparkling sunsets over the Lake, along with four bedrooms, four baths, radiant heating, a dock, and two moorings.

? Back in Burlington proper, there are several newer condominiums available for sale near downtown, but this one wins out with three bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and a unique-for-the-building duplex layout. Plus, unlike most American cities, living on the sixth floor is damn near the highest you can get in Burlington, where the tallest building is an eleven-story public housing project and most of the housing stock is single-family homes. This spacious, lake-view condo rings in at $799K.

? For under $500K, there's plenty of well-kept history to be had in Burlington. Take this 1926 Colonial in the city's Hill Section neighborhood. The three-bedroom, 2.5-bath house might not be massive at 1,900 square feet, but it's packed with historical charm, including original hardwood floors, beautiful woodworking, and broad porches, all for $419K.

· Vermont Valhalla [Forbes]
· 357 Ordway Shore Road [Coldwell Banker]
· 40 College Street [Coldwell Banker]
· 240 Loomis Street [Zillow]

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Rent vs. Buy: More Affordable to Buy in 72% of America’s 50 Largest Cities

Rent vs. Buy: More Affordable to Buy in 72% of America’s 50 Largest Cities

Trulia released the findings of its Q1 2011 Rent vs. Buy Index today. When we compared the median list price for a two-bedroom apartment, condo or townhouse with one year’s worth of rent for similar property, it’s actually more affordable to buy in 72% of America’s largest cities. To illustrate which cities are more affordable to buy or to rent, we created a cool interactive map to help people make smarter real estate decisions. Check it out!

Click on the slideshow below for the full Rent vs. Buy Index findings, including the top 10 cities where it’s more affordable to buy and to rent:

Trulia’s Rent vs. Buy Index - Q1 2011

View more presentations from Trulia.Related PostsTrulia.com Introduces Rent vs. Buy IndexTrulia’s Rent vs. Buy Index Reveals Top 10 Cities For Renting, Owning HomesIs it a good time to buy?Trulia Voices | Top 10 Questions of the WeekConsumers on Trulia Speak - Is Home Ownership Still a Part of Your American Dream?Popularity: 2% [?]

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That's Rather Hideous: One of the Beehive State's Largest Manses Small on Good Sense

× 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, January 19, 2011, by Sarah

Let's take the shimmery damask sofas out of it for a second—what exactly is happening in that great room above, brought to our attention by Homes of the Rich? The gold paneling, impossibly high ceilings, and curved balcony seem more suited for a church, not a private residence in the wild of Utah. Where are the angels and gargoyles? Alas, a private residence it is—home to the owner of an energy company—and at 32,000 square feet it's one of the state's largest. Also in the photogallery above: shots of the in-home theater, which truly phenomenal but not as phenomenal as the name of this place: Villa Bellissima. Look it up.

· Pictures Of The Villa Bellissima Estate in Utah [Homes of the Rich]
· A Non-Exhaustive List of Celebrity Estate Names [Curbed National]

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