Tag Archives: single-family homes

Current owner of “The Brady Bunch” house says it is a “piece of art”

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The owner of The Brady Bunch house, bought for $3.2 million in 2023, says it is art:

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Trahan told the Journal in 2023 that the house was “the worst investment ever,” but has since clarified those comments, telling People that she views the home as a piece of art.

“When I was buying it, I wasn’t thinking, ‘Oh, it was a great investment,'” Trahan told People in 2023. “When I buy art, it’s because I love the art. It’s not because, ‘Oh, I’m going to make money on this.’ If you’re going to make money in art, you have to sell it. I buy art, and then I don’t sell it.”

The first Brady Experience sweepstakes was such a success that Trahan is opening it up for another round. Trahan could not be reached for comment.

Can a home be art? Can a real suburban home that became part of a well-known TV show be art? This might require public and/or critical consensus.

The idea that a postwar suburban house could be a piece of art is not that farfetched. Imagine homeowners of such homes across the American landscape that lovingly take care of their homes, maintaining and improving them. Or preservationist efforts that protect particular homes for future generations. (Which postwar suburban homes might qualify for this is another discussion – which are more art and which are more pedestrian?)

Add to this the iconic nature of this home. For many, The Brady Bunch house represents suburban family life. The show only ran 5 seasons but the family and its home became a part of the postwar culture during its run, through syndication, and ongoing lore. I doubt many critics would say the show was art – it was a normal sitcom – but the iconic status of the show may elevate it in the eyes of viewers.

Perhaps the Brady home is pop art: a slice of a particular time that was revered by many.

Who suburban townhomes are intended for, Naperville edition

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A new proposal to build townhouses in Naperville includes discussion who would live in these denser neighborhoods compared to single-family home subdivisions:

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Through the 1990s and early 2000s, there was so much single-family construction in Naperville that “I think there’s probably a little bit of a need to diversify housing product,” Whitaker said.

“I would say it’s not just townhomes, but I think you’ve also seen more senior housing, more apartments,” he said.

Whitaker also pointed to changing demographics in Naperville. It’s always been a great place to raise a family, but today, the population is aging, he said. “We’ve got a great supply of single-family homes in neighborhoods like Ashbury and Tall Grass in south Naperville, and frankly, it would be hard to … build new single-family homes at a price that is cost competitive to what exists in those communities,” Whitaker said. “And so I think the goal has been to diversify a little bit and find some different niches…

“The development will meet a significant community need by creating a housing opportunity that is suitable for many types of homebuyers,” the petition states, “including some of the fastest growing housing segments of our population, young professionals and empty nesters.”

As I noted yesterday, the primary way Naperville can grow in population in the future is to develop denser housing. Growth has been a key trait of the community for decades. But more and more townhouses is a change from single-family homes.

Additionally, these comments suggest townhouses in Naperville are aimed at particular residents. Specifically, townhouses could provide housing for seniors/empty nesters or young professionals. Might there be other homebuyers who could live in the townhouses?

Long-term, will more townhouses be palatable in the community if they are at particular price points and particular residents live there? There likely will be some pushback for townhouses regardless because of changes to character of the community and to the neighbors who own homes nearby.

The front door as the best indicator about a home that is for sale

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What makes a home for sale more or less appealing? Two experts suggest this matters:

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Both our experts confirmed our suspicions. When it comes to your home’s exterior, the front door is the most important element for setting the tone.

“Think of your front door as your headline,” says real estate pro Charlie Lankston. “It’s one of the first details that draws the eye, and sets the stage for the story your home is about to tell.”…

“Far and away, the most important element is the front door of the home,” he says. “It is what every buyer sees first and with which they form their first impressions before even entering.”…

Along with indicating what potential buyers might find inside, Yee says your front door could also signal certain messages around the neighborhood.

Is this like how the eyes are supposedly the windows into the soul? When you enter a house, your eye is going to be drawn to the entryway so you will see the door. You may even have some time to inspect it closely walking up to it and through it.

But what exactly does it tell you? Some sense of the style of the rest of the home? Something about the upkeep? How much the door costs is going to say something about other upgrades?

I have also seen experts claim front doors have a high return on investment. Compared to other house projects, putting money into the door may be worthwhile.

I imagine there have to be at least some examples of an impressive front door leading to squalor elsewhere. Even if the front door is impactful, can it overcome other significant issues?

What would someone pay for the first American pope’s childhood suburban home?

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The suburban home in which Pope Leo XIV grew up is for going to auction:

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Homer Glen-based home rehabber Pawel Radzik paid $66,000 last year for the modest, three-bedroom ranch-style brick house on 141st Place, and he gave it a major overhaul, saying last week that “80% of it is new — new flooring, new cabinets, new plumbing, new electrical, new kitchen.” He then listed the home in January for $219,000 before cutting his asking price to $205,000 later that month and then to $199,900 in February…

Upon the naming of the pontiff, Radzik immediately pulled the house from the market and told Elite Street at the time that he was looking into “what is the best option for me,” regarding the home, given its newly discovered provenance and heightened prominence.

Now, Radzik and his listing agent, Steve Budzik of iCandyRealty, have teamed up with auction house Paramount, with a June 18 auction date. The house has a reserve price of $250,000, meaning that Radzik has the right to reject any offers below that amount…

What a new owner would do with the home is unclear — perhaps turning it into a shrine to the new pope, or alternately restoring it to how it might have looked when the pontiff was a boy. No one disputes that the house has no real equal, as Prevost is the first American ever to become pope, and the 141st Place house is the only home Prevost ever lived in while growing up.

Three things strike me from this news:

  1. The house looks like a typical postwar suburban house in the Chicago area: modest in size by today’s standards and was in need of overhauling. And the community it is in has changed.
  2. This house is famous because of someone who once lived there. What happens to such suburban houses? There must be many such houses in the American suburbs – even though no other ones can claim to be the home to such a religious leader – given the number of Americans who have lived in suburbs over the decades.
  3. The increase in value is striking. Even before the announcement about the Pope, the home went from a purchase price of $66,000 last year to a sales price around $200,000 this year to a set minimum of $250,000 later this year. That a significant appreciation in housing value. Does this end up as a successful house flipping project?

I will be curious to see what the home sells for as it combines an aging yet rehabbed and more valuable home in the suburbs connected to a famous religious leader.

What businesses can operate out of single-family home zoning, tulip farm edition

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A resident of the Chicago suburb of Barrington Hills has been told multiple times he cannot operate a “u-pick flower farm” from his property:

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“As advertised, your on-site, outdoor, retail business use of Property is strictly prohibited and must immediately cease,” the May 16 letter read. Small, at-home businesses are allowed under the village’s House Occupation Code. The catch is they must operate indoors.

Yamamoto has been appealing for about a year, hoping to work with the village to update the zoning code and allow for the farm. He even submitted three separate proposals. The first aimed to tweak the code so that residents can apply for special use permits for agrotourism. The second changed “agrotourism” to “agricultural experiences” and limited what could be sold and the number of people who were allowed on the property. The last proposed a change in the village’s definition of “agricultural activities” — which are already allowed — to include on-site sales…

“The Village’s Zoning Board of Appeals was particularly concerned that under these various proposals, similar outdoor commercial operations could be allowed to occur on every residential single-family property in the Village,” Paul wrote.

But Little Ducky still has support in the community. Several residents showed up to Yamamoto’s first proposal hearing in August 2024, and many more wrote letters. In all, 133 written comments were submitted, with 129 in support and four in opposition. Of those who spoke in person, 16 supported the farm, while three opposed it…

Yamamoto isn’t giving up. He’s already submitted two more applications and has been waiting for a response since February. In the meantime, he and his wife are picking and delivering tulips themselves.

Single-family home zoning in the United States generally exists to protect the housing value of residences. Businesses operated out of residential properties may threaten the calm, peaceful nature of neighborhoods.

The catch in this case seems to be that indoor businesses are allowed – imagine something involving a home office or a service that can be provided in a home – versus an outdoor operation. That outdoor business could create noise or be unsightly or disrupt the character of a single-family home neighborhood. Residents might be willing to put up with loud power equipment to keep their landscaping looking good (or not) but an outdoor business is a threat.

It will be interesting to see if support from local residents could shift the outcome. Could a one-time variation in the zoning be granted? Or the zoning guidelines changed to allow clearly-defined agricultural uses?

I found “giant white houses” in my study of suburban teardowns

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What caused the construction of numerous “giant white houses” across the United States?

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Giant White Houses are white, with jet-black accents: the shutters, the gutters, the rooves. They are giant—Hulk houses—swollen to the very limits of the legally allowed property setback, and unnaturally tall. They feature a mishmash of architectural features, combining, say, the peaked roof of a farmhouse with squared-off sections reminiscent of city townhomes. They mix horizontal siding, vertical paneling, and painted brick willy-nilly…

After speaking to realtors, architects, critics, and the guy who built the house next door, I’ve learned that the answer is more complicated than I’d imagined. It has to do with Chip and Joanna Gaines, Zillow, the housing crunch, the slim margins of the spec-home industry, and the evolution of minimalism. It has to do, most of all, with what a certain class of homebuyer even believes a house to be—whether they realize it or not.

I found at least a few of these houses among the 349 teardowns I examined in suburban Naperville, Illinois. I did not classify them as such but they were among the many homes with prominent triangular gables (and usually multiple ones on the front facade). They sometimes had porches. The primarily white exterior is unique compared to teardowns that mix brick, stone, siding (vertical or horizontal), and shingles.

At least in Naperville, these homes emerged in a particular context: a wealthy built-out suburb that was in demand, numerous older and smaller single-family homes located near the vibrant suburban downtown, and local regulations that allowed relatively large teardowns.

How many years until this particular style is no longer built in large numbers and is perceived to be from a particular era? This happens with different residential home styles. This was not the predominant style in the teardowns I looked at between 2008-2017. Does this have an even shorter shelf life if it is linked to the reach of Chip and Joanna Gaines (and perhaps is more prominent in communities where people watch HGTV)?

Buy a house, then buy refrigerators, couches, and large TVs

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Many Americans want to own a home. That purchase also opens up the door to other purchases:

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The more vulnerable sectors include hobbies and crafts retailers, as well as middle-market apparel sellers, said Brandon Svec, head of U.S. retail analytics at CoStar Group. Home goods stores also face challenges, Svec said, because a sluggish housing market decreases consumer demand for refrigerators, couches and large TVs. And high interest rates are dissuading lower-income consumers from making big-ticket purchases on their credit cards, Cohen said.

This can help explain some of the encouragement businesses offered for homeownership throughout the twentieth century. There is money to be made in the development and sale of houses but there is also money to be made in all the goods people think the house should have. Residents need to have particular items in their kitchens, living rooms, dining rooms (maybe not as much now), bedrooms, yards, and so on. If fewer houses are sold, fewer people will buy items for their new spaces.

On the homebuyer side, this sometimes shows up in advice about financing a purchase. Yes, there is money to be delivered at purchase in the down payment and regular mortgage and tax payments. But do people also budget for changes they want to make? This could include certain consumer goods or broader renovation projects.

I wonder how much of these particular items listed – refrigerators, couches, and large TVs – are purchased because of moving. All of these items could break at some point. Or a person might want to upgrade what they have. How many consumer goods are bought just due to moving?

How homeowners and investors see home purchases differently

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What is buying a home about? It could depend who you are:

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Ordinary buyers and investors have different priorities when sizing up a house purchase. An owner-occupier will focus on whether they can afford the monthly mortgage payment, rather than obsessing over cap rates. They might be willing to overpay if the house is in a good location and is the right long-term fit for them or their family.

It can be frustrating for institutional investors when house hunters bid prices up to irrational levels in tight markets, as is happening today. But sky-high valuations have a silver lining for landlords. Oddly, family homes have turned out to be a great hedge against higher interest rates, as the lock-in effect of ultralow in-place mortgages has protected valuations. And now is a great time for landlords to prune their portfolios and sell properties at near-record prices. 

As the existing housing stock is so unaffordable, investors need to find other ways to grow their portfolios. Large players such as American Homes 4 Rent are building houses themselves, or buying newly constructed units directly from builders. This should be helpful for the undersupplied U.S. housing market.  

There is also a small pool of properties that can be picked up at prices that make sense to investors. According to real-estate investor Amherst, around $12 billion of two-to-four-bedroom homes are currently listed for sale at a 5.75% cap rate. These properties are cheaper because they need work. But it might be more lucrative to patch them up than to build new ones, given it currently costs $200 a square foot on average to build a house compared to $20 to $30 a square foot to renovate.

In the end, both sets of owners want to gain financially from their purpose. Investors want a return on their investment as do homeowners as they tend to expect the value of their property to increase in their time as owners.

But how they get to that return seems to differ. The homeowner will often live in the property in the meantime. As mentioned above, the financial return is not the only factor involved. For the big investor (the primary focus in the article as opposed to smaller investors), a property might be more of a data point among many other properties.

In both situations, it is worth asking how this emphasis on financial investment changes (1) the experiences of those living there and (2) communities. Owning a single-family home has long been part of the American Dream but the move to treating it more like a financial commodity does change matters.

Are millennials going to the suburbs like boomers did?

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The American suburbs reach across generations:

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But the reality of many millennials is starting to more closely mirror their parents’. They’re catching up on earnings and wealth, and while they’re still behind on homeownership, they’re not screwed. It may have taken them awhile to settle down, but they’re getting around to it and heading to the suburbs. In short, millennials are looking increasingly boomer-esque, and in some areas, they’re doing better than their parents.

The primary argument here involves wealth and homeownership. Are millennials at similar levels? Can they find the same kind of American Dream consisting of making it to the suburbs and owning their own house?

But it strikes me that there is a larger argument to make: these are longstanding cultural patterns, not just questions about economic resources. A later passage in the article hints at this:

In other words, it may not be that all the millennials headed to the suburbs want to be there, but in some cases, they feel like they have no choice but to exit urban centers and swallow a longer commute in the process.

“The plurality are moving to the suburbs, but that’s where the housing stock is,” Lautz said. Some of it has to do with having school-age kids, for example, but a lot has to do with affordability and availability.

Do economic conditions alone drive these choices – people need housing they can afford – or is it about influential ideologies that provide Americans particular messages about the suburbs? Americans prioritize certain things in suburbia. They like cheap and big houses. They like living near certain neighbors. They like particular amenities in their communities, including those they think help their children succeed.

If millennials do indeed end up in the suburbs at similar rates to previous generations of Americans, they may do so because this is what Americans have been doing for decades. There are economic imperatives for doing this – owning a suburban home is a primary vehicle for acquiring wealth – but also established patterns where they like driving, they are used to the ins-and-outs of sprawl, and they enjoy their private dwellings.

Now we’re reporting on the house next to the Home Alone house?

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The Home Alone house is a popular place. The house next door, briefly featuring in the movie, is also apparently newsworthy:

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In real life, the home of the fictional South Bend Shovel Slayer — aka OId Man Marley — from the 1990 John Hughes-written holiday classic “Home Alone” is located at 681 Lincoln Avenue in north-shore Winnetka…

It’s right next door to the more famous “Home Alone” house at 671 Lincoln Ave. in Winnetka, which was shown extensively in the film as the home of the McAllisters. That home was listed for sale in May at $5.25 million and, according to its Zillow listing, has a sale pending…

As it turns out, Old Man Marley — played by the late character actor Roberts Blossom — is a kindly neighbor who helps Kevin overcome his fears of going into the basement. Kevin, in turn, helps Old Man Marley reconnect with his estranged son…

According to the Zillow listing, the home was built in 1898 and was a creation of Benjamin Marshall, a major influence on the architecture of modern Chicago. The home sits on two-thirds of an acre in Winnetka and features six bedrooms, six full bathrooms, one half-bathroom, a balcony, a library, a putting green, a large in-ground pool, a half basketball court, and plenty more.

Popular movie + expensive suburban house = story people will click on? Americans like single-family homes and may even like looking at interesting single-family homes more than they like their own.