Ocean Duplex

First up is a beach cottage on Hilton Head Island, S.C., that is priced at $995,000. This nearly 2,000 square-foot house has four bedrooms and three bathrooms and sits on about 0.25 acres. The house has a two-car garage, swimming pool and a wrap-around porch to watch the sunrise. But the best view is down the garden path—the ocean itself.

An extra bonus for the location is that this beach house is surrounded by 16 acres of designated park area that can never be developed.

While the views are outstanding, the inside of the house could use a little sprucing up, according to Lenz.

“The finishes aren’t very high end. The furniture isn’t terrific, so I think most people would go in there and do some tweaking,” Lenz said. “But it’s the only one on the market.”

Rustic Retreat

Going up against the ocean duplex is a 20-year old timber-frame cabin in Jackson, Wyo., that’s priced at $975,000. The house offers about twice as much living space as the first home and sits on nearly four acres of land.

The cabin has four bedrooms, three bathrooms and a spacious kitchen. With cathedral ceilings and a wooden fireplace, the house bears western touches all around and a view from every room. The ample cabin has a basement that can serve as a game room and its master suite leads to an outside jet Jacuzzi.

The house is located less than a mile from a national forest and only 10 miles away from the famous Jackson Hole resort. The place is a fly-fishing paradise, but does not beat the ocean view.

The winner: the Ocean Duplex.

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100839349

Hammers are coming down on the high end again, as the ritziest in real estate finally come out of hiding. Vacation homes in some of the most coveted locales are seeing price gains again, so potential buyers are now looking to builders.

The question is, where are you getting the most bang for your big bucks?

Not in Hawaii, according to a new study from real estate advisory firm Chris Pollack, Ltd, which looked at project costs per square foot in some of the swankiest summer and overall vacation destinations. The total project costs include not just construction, but building materials, architectural fees, and permitting.

Hawaii topped the list at $1300 per square foot for an ultra, high-end beach house. Malibu, California was a close second at $1,170 and Palm Beach, Florida rounded out the top three at $1,105 per square foot for the total project.

“The island locations are more expensive because of costs associated with importing materials and labor,” notes Chris Pollack. That put Nantucket, MA on the top ten most expensive list, but still lower at just $975 per square foot, according to the survey.

Labor costs are rising, up 13.8 percent from 2007 in these high-end markets, says Pollack, and that has many investors using “value engineering” to offset the costs.

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Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/48058654?__source=RSS*blog*&par=RSS

Time to get a vacation house?

With the high temps and clear skies seen over most of the Bay Area the last several days, everyone is seen out and about enjoying the abundant sunshine and the great outdoors. It’s weather like this that make many people contemplate the idea of getting a second home, something that allows them to get away from the day to day of the Bay Area and get some fresher air high up in the mountains, down in the valleys of the wine country or along the coast and near a beach.

http://myislandbungalow.com/house.html

Looking for a beach house?

If you’ve been finding yourself heading out of town to the same place every weekend, whether it’s Tahoe, Sonoma or Santa Cruz, it may be a good time to consider making that leap into an investment in a vacation home. Like the primary residential real estate market, CNNMoney reported that the median price of vacation homes has been falling, based on a news release by the National Association of Realtors last month.

The median price of a vacation home was $150,000 in 2010, down 11.2% from a year earlier, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. In contrast, the national median for primary residences fell only 4.5% in 2010, according to NAR.

While it may be hard to find a vacation home somewhat near the Bay Area close to the national median of $150,000, it may be easier if you head farther out. The average second home owner lives about 375 miles from their primary home, which is just shy of the distance from San Francisco to LA.

The typical vacation-home buyer in 2010 was 49 years old, had a median household income of $99,500 and purchased a property that was a median distance of 375 miles from his or her primary residence; 31 percent of vacation homes were within 100 miles and 41 percent were more than 500 miles.

http://homesinestes.com/distressed/

Wanting a mountain getaway?

One consideration for those on the vacation home fence is the possibility of using the second home as the primary residence sometime in the future, such as the retirement years. The NAR report mentions that 34 percent of second home owners plan to use their property as a primary home at some point in the future. In the meantime, there’s also the possibility of getting some help on the mortgage from rental income. Then again, it doesn’t appear that many of those who are in the position to afford a second home need any assistance with the monthly bill. More than a third of second home purchases – 36 percent to be exact – are purchased with all cash.

Are you considering a second home? Where and what’s going to get you to dive in?

Posted By: Jenny Pisillo (Email) | April 04 2011 at 02:10 PM

Listed Under: Second homes

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Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ontheblock/detail?entry_id=86319&tsp=1