Rookie Roosts Week: Condos: Where To Buy Right Now

× 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, March 26, 2012, by Sally Kuchar

As if we all have the luxury or time to spend the next 6 months to a year bouncing from open house to open house, entering bidding wars, and becoming best friends with our real estate agent. And while that seems like heaven to some folks, there are plenty of us who simply don't have the time or patience for that kind of home hunting. No, some of us just want to buy a brand new condo in a brand new development and get on with it. With that in mind, we've put together a handy map of where you should buy right now, right this instant. Every residential tower or complex on this list is new to the market, meaning there are plenty (plenty!) of units up for grabs that no one's lived in yet. Some of these are so fresh that they officially haven't hit the market yet (we're talking about you Millwheel and 299 Valencia). But fear not, they will be within a month. Our map features buildings from Pacific Heights to the Bayview and from South Beach to the Mission. Units range from the low $300,000s to the penthouse prices of $2.5M. Almost all of them have building amenities like roof terraces and private parking. Happy hunting!

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Rookie Roosts 2012: Decoding the Word "Starter" Around the Curbed Universe

× 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, March 27, 2012, by Sarah Firshein

Photo: James Steidl/Shutterstock

Friends and readers of Curbed often marvel at the verbiage of listings: what "charming," "quaint," and "architectural" truly imply. Here now, a Brokerbabble Glossary decoding what the expression "starter," or "starter home," actually means within the following Curbed markets. Take NYC, for instance, where brokers "love to apply the 'starter home' tag to studio apartments in South Queens, because nothing says you're on your way like 300 square feet and a two-hour subway ride to anywhere." Here, look:

New York · Boston · Hamptons · Philly · DC · Atlanta · Chicago · Seattle · San Francisco · Los Angeles

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Rookie Roosts Week: First-Time Homebuyers, We Want To Hear Your Horror Story (There's Cash To Win!)

× 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, March 5, 2012, by Sally Kuchar

Dearest readers, you probably know by now that we're gearing up for our first-ever First-Time Buyers Week come later this month, as we've put out several requests for your stories, tips and advice for folks who are looking to purchase their first pad. Thanks to all who have submitted, we greatly appreciate it.

Now we're seeking out your truly terrible tales of home-buying as a first-timer. During the last week of March we'll post the horror stories right here on Curbed SF and have a vote for who has suffered the most. The SF winner's story will go up against all the winners from the other Curbed cities on our National site. The winner of that aggregated showdown will win a $2,500 gift card to the home store of their choice. Think you have a story so rotten it could score the $2,500 prize? Send it to our tipline. Standard contest rules apply
[Photo via Shutterstock]

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