After languishing on the market for years and steadily getting price-chopped, mansions and estates are hitting the auction block. Candace Jackson explains this has always been a last-resort move, and an unusual one for the wealthy.
Brittany Spears' former home? Listed at $10.8 million, went to auction with a starting bid of $4.5 million.
"As the housing slump drags on, the carrying costs of waiting out the market have become onerous, even for the wealthiest," Candace Jackson explains in the Wall St. Journal:
"A seller who put a home on the market in 2009 hoping that a turnaround was on the horizon may now be realizing that it could take several years or more for the market to rebound."
Read the full story: High-End Hits the Auction Block
Opinion: Oversized Mansions Are Harming Maryland Neighborhoods
'Mega-mansions' are rapidly replacing smaller single-family homes, pushing Maryland residents out of its formerly affordable suburbs.
Subprime Loans Are Back—Now They're Called Nonprime Loans
Some say that "nonprime" loans will create the same financial ruins as their "subprime" predecessors. Others say the housing market needs ways for more people to buy homes and drive the industry.
The Average American House Shrunk in 2017
For decades the size of the average American house has trended upward. 2017 saw that trend slow and reverse.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Chicago voters approve permanent festival grounds, penalty for vacant property owners
Currently, major summer and fall festivals take over public parks for weeks at a time, drawing criticism from nearby residents
NYC votes to cut outdoor dining red tape, speed up permitting
New York City also voted to allow the Department of Transportation to begin work on urgent projects before notifying elected officials.
California appears to reject Prop. 45
The proposition would have expanded the projects that qualify for a streamlined environmental review, effectively paring down the California Environmental Quality Act.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority