You’ll Want to Sample These 7 Scrumptious Outdoor Kitchens

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With warm weather tempting us outdoors, we were hungry to find a few luxe alfresco kitchens.

There were plenty to choose from. These days, many of the features of your kitchen—lighting, nice sinks, and plenty of prep space—can be found outdoors. An outdoor kitchen is an ingenious way to expand the square footage of your living space, especially for homeowners in temperate climates. It’s also a way to sweeten a deal with amenities appealing to luxury home buyers.

Did we mention that it’s fun to cook outdoors? It’s fun to cook outdoors.

Whether you’re enticed by the idea of impressing your friends with a fantastic feast, or you’re a serious chef with a taste for multiple kitchens, these are some gorgeous and upscale options to make meals outdoors.

While these may not be the most affordable of homes on the market—we’d actually put these in the aspirational category—we hope to get invited to a meal at one of these hot cooking spots. Bon appétit!

109 Waverly Place, New York, NY

Price: $28,000,000
Delicious details: NYC might not be the first place that comes to mind when you think “outdoor kitchen.” But at this price, all amenities are available. The “exquisitely renovated” Greek Revival townhome has six levels and 8,300 square feet of living space. The outdoor space, which measures 1,500 square feet, includes a roof deck. You can take the elevator to the ground-floor garden, where you’ll find outdoor seating and a large gas grill.

Greenwich Village, NYC

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100 Stratford Ct, Del Mar, CA 

Price: $25,900,000
Delicious details: Behold this “Mediterranean masterpiece” right on the ocean. In addition to 6,200 square feet of living space, there’s also 1.1 landscaped acres set up for entertaining. Along with the outdoor kitchen with barbecue and covered cabana, there’s a fire pit and saltwater pool and spa.

Del Mar, CA

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289 Parsonage Ln, Sagaponack, NY 

Price: $21,950,000
Delicious details: Built just last year, this 11,665-square-foot home was designed for outdoor living. It has six bedrooms and three levels. Outdoors there’s a zero-edge pool and spa, pool house, and kitchen.

Sagaponack, NY

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1344 Mokulua Dr Kailua, HI

Price: $10,500,000
Delicious details: Built in 1992, this tropical retreat was extensively remodeled in 2015. The outdoor space now provides areas for entertaining, including a swimming pool and spa, travertine bridge, and covered lanai with kitchen.

Kailua, HI

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1005 Westside Rd Healdsburg, CA 

Price: $9,950,000
Delicious details: Welcome to wine country. This Northern California home offers a 1-acre vineyard, “impressive” custom residence, guest cottage, art studio, pool, spa, multiple patios, garden, and opulent outdoor kitchen.

Healdsburg, CA

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27410 N 103rd St Scottsdale, AZ 

Price: $3,875,000
Delicious details: Tuscany in the desert? The four-bedroom, 6,000-square-foot home also features luxe outdoor amenities: a heated pool and spa, stone fireplace, and kitchen with two covered dining patios.

Scottsdale, AZ

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19 E Durant Ave Ph 20, Aspen, CO

Price: $29,950,000
Delicious details: This “truly unique” townhome is at the “top of the list,” according to the listing. The 3,400-square-foot wraparound deck doubles the living space of the newly built 3,000-square-foot property. You can take in views of downtown Aspen and Aspen Mountain while enjoying the outdoor kitchen and two hot tubs.

Aspen, CO

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Buy the Brooklyn Townhouse Where Barack Obama Lived

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Barack Obama will forever be known as a resident of the White House, but let’s not forget the New York City homes where he resided during his formative years.

It’s known that during his junior year at Columbia University, Obama lived in a two-bedroom, one-bathroom unit at 142 W. 109th St. (It’s been up for rent a few times since he first was president.)

The Park Slope, Brooklyn, townhouse where President Obama lived after graduating from Columbia University.

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But after graduating from that famed Morningside Heights institution in 1983, Obama — who still had a handful of years to go until he met Michelle — lived on the top floor of a Park Slope townhouse in the mid-1980s.

That Brooklyn property, located at 640 Second St., listed today for $4.29 million.

Charles L. Ruoff and Alexis Kravitz of Brown Harris Stevens are marketing the townhouse. The brokerage declined to comment.

It’s not clear when this 10-room home was converted for single-family use. The property now comes with five bedrooms and three bathrooms, as well as four decorative fireplaces.

The 10-room home dates to the early 20th century.

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The home dates back to the early 20th century, and it still shows its period details, according to the listing. Those include an original china cabinet in the double parlor, an original clawfoot bathtub in one of the bathrooms and a Victorian “inglenook,” or seating area, on the third floor.

Modern touches include a renovated eat-in kitchen, which sports slate and soapstone counters, custom cabinetry and stainless-steel appliances. Just outside, the oversize private garden has plenty of room for seating.

A sale of this home would mark the first time in more than 20 years that it’s traded hands. It was last purchased in 1994 for an unknown sum, according to city records.

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Arizona’s Soaring Falcon Nest Is the Tallest Home in the U.S.

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For those unfamiliar with the suburbs, neighbors there often engage in a friendly arms race to keep their house looking the best on the block. Some try to keep their lawns finely manicured. Some try new shades of paint. However, a suburbanite in Arizona decisively solved the problem by building a house so tall you can’t even see any neighbors.

The house, Sukumur Pal’s Falcon Nest in Prescott, AZ, is now looking for a buyer to swoop in. The cliffside home in the Sierra Prieta mountain range is on the market for $1.5 million.

Sitting on just over an acre along a section of the range called Thumb Butte and standing tall at 124 feet, Falcon Nest is the tallest home in the U.S., according to Architectural Digest.

“It’s breathtaking how someone could design something this tall in a residential area,” said Frank Aazami, the listing agent.

Built in 1994, Falcon Nest boasts a 2,000-square-foot solarium and offers spectacular vistas of the Arizona desert and hills for over 120 miles—views the neighbors below can only fantasize about.

But to enjoy those views, first you have to get up there.

The Falcon Nest at night

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At the base of the home is a unique hydraulic elevator which transports riders to and from the solarium. Head up farther and you’ll find a rooftop landing where you can view Prescott’s natural surroundings. At 6,200 square feet, the Falcon Nest is a marvel of green technology and design.

Following energy-efficient design, the entire structure contains no wood—only steel, concrete, and glass.

Pal, an architect, immigrated to Arizona from his native Kolkata in 1969. Inspired by his education in India, Pal aimed to build his house from the ground up with as little a carbon footprint as possible. He could’ve just settled for solar panels, a low-flow toilet, and water-saving shower heads. Instead, Pal built a property far more ingenious.

Kitchen

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The result is not only a massive structure, but one that’s energy-efficient as well. Pal’s solarium keeps heat out, but takes in the brilliant Arizona sunlight. He covered his roof in solar panels long before the technology became a mainstay in residential homes nationwide.

The house’s towerlike design funnels warm air up and out of the house by convection, a necessity in Arizona, where summer temperatures can top 90 degrees Fahrenheit. And when winter temps dip below freezing, the same technology keeps heat inside the house. It’s a house that’s unlikely to be duplicated due to its intricacy.

“Who do you know would design something to have gravity be the driving force of movement of air?” Aazami asked. “It’s something [Pal] thought about all his life and wanted to get it accomplished. It was a lifetime achievement.”

The post Arizona’s Soaring Falcon Nest Is the Tallest Home in the U.S. appeared first on Real Estate News & Advice | realtor.com®.

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First-Time Home Buyers by the Numbers: Are Your Habits Normal or Not?

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If the plans of home shoppers on realtor.com® bear fruit, 52% will be buying their first home in 2017—a huge shift upward from a mere 33% in 2016. Could you be one of them this year, finally settling into a place that’s all yours?

With the spring buying season well underway—real estate sales ramp up in spring and summer—we thought we’d trot out some fun and fascinating “who knew?” numbers about first-time home buyers, so you can see how you fit in. Are you ahead of the home buyer curve, or lagging behind? Assess yourself below.

How much does a ‘starter home’ cost these days?

The median price of a buyer’s first home is $182,500. That’s lower than the median home price for all buyers ($260,000). They don’t call it a “starter home” for nothing!

How old are first-time home buyers?

The median age of a first-time home buyer is 32. And once you’re settled in, plan to stay for a while: Data from the National Association of Realtors® indicate that the median age of repeat buyers is 52.

What income do you need to buy your first home?

The NAR has found that the median household income for first-time home buyers is $72,000 a year.

Are home buyers waiting to get married first?

Nope. Only 58% of first-time home buyers are hitched. A surprising 14% are unmarried couples, 18% are single women, and 8% are bachelors.

Do they have kids yet?

By and large no. Sixty percent of first-time buyers purchase property without tykes in tow. Nineteen percent have one child, 15% have two, and 5% have three or more children.

What place are these buyers leaving behind?

Seventy-four percent of first-time buyers were renting before they bought; 21% were living with their parents; 4% were living in a home they’d inherited but not purchased; and 1% bought the home they were renting.

How are they scraping together the money?

While personal savings were the top source for funds, 24% of first-time buyers got a little down payment help in the form of a gift from a friend or family member. Thirty-three percent of first-time buyers took out a Federal Housing Administration mortgage, which has lower down payment requirements than a conventional loan.

What are they buying?

Eight-two percent of first-time buyers purchase a “traditional” house—meaning a standalone for a single family. However, 9% got townhouses and 3% got condos, both of which are attached to other residences and often found in more densely populated areas.

So why buy a home now?

Based on realtor.com’s survey respondents, buyers begin their house hunt for a variety of reasons. The biggie: 26% are just plain tired of their current digs; 17% are motivated by favorable home prices; and 16% cite changes in family circumstances like the arrival of a child.

However you stack up in this grand scheme of things, if you’re eager to learn more, you can check out our First-Time Home Buyer’s Guide.

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New Minnesota Twins GM buys Edina home for $1.8 million

Thad Levine, the new senior vice president and general manager of the Minnesota Twins, recently closed on a home in Edina for just under $2 million. Levine, who was hired in November, paid $1.84 million a 6,041-square-foot house that was built in 2004, according to a state certificate of real estate value. The home, which sits on a 0.64-acre lot, features five bedrooms, five bathrooms and boarders the Interlachen Country Club, said Realtor Tom Jones of Real Estate Nexus, the listing agency for…

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Golfer Fred Funk Selling $6.1M Waterfront Mansion in Florida

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In 2005, professional golfer Fred Funk won The Players Championship, his sport’s biggest payday. The Players, held annually at TPC at Sawgrass, covers over 415 acres of Florida swampland in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. That same year, Funk and his wife, Sharon, began construction on their dream property less than four miles south of Sawgrass. Today, their 9,585-square-foot mansion is on the market for $6.1 million.

The estate sits on a strip of land near the Intracoastal Waterway, offering views of a private waterfront and a nature preserve. The property, which contains three separate houses, takes cues from the design features used by Frank Lloyd Wright and John Saladino. The result is a European-inspired, earth-toned set of homes, which blend in with the grassy and tree-filled surroundings.

The estate “sort of meshes in with nature so well,” says the listing agent, Laura Borger, who has been familiar with the estate since it was built. “It’s what makes it so unique.”

Front entrance

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Funk’s compound, tucked behind shady trees, features a sprawling three-bedroom, two-bathroom guesthouse; a 5,000-square-foot main house; and a game house with a fitness center and trophy room filled with Funk’s PGA memorabilia.

There’s a large living room and kitchen with high ceilings, hardwood and earth-colored floors, stone walls, and sliding glass doors at almost every turn. Outside, the Funks have installed an Italian-style fountain, a small pool, and—naturally—a small putting green.

The property’s natural beauty offers some of the most breathtaking views of the Sunshine State, according to Borger. “The sun sets right over the water, so you get these magnificent sunsets every evening.

“You don’t have obstructed views,” she adds. “There’s boats that come down that waterway, and it’s pretty cool to see them go by. It makes it fun.”

Aerial view from the Intracoastal Waterway

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Despite the property’s seclusion, the Funks stayed connected to the outside world by inviting friends, family, and even locals to stay.

“They’ve really just tried to not only make the house their home,” Borger said. “They’ve had people live with them for years, just off and on. They really do just try to serve the best they can to their community with what they’ve been given, which is their house.”

With their son Taylor already in college (and becoming a golf star in his own right) and daughter Perri about to leave for college herself, the huge house they once called home will be a bit too much for the Funks.

Kitchen

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The Funks’ property might look like one of the dozens of luxe properties in a state famous for its retirees, but Borger thinks otherwise.

“Houses in Florida are very large-scale, and they don’t feel like you can live in them like you would a nice house. They’re more like a museum,“ Borger explains. “This one’s very much different. It’s got that homey feeling. It’s a house for the right type of person who wants to live there and not just see it as a big house.”

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Construction Spending Eases in March After a February Blowout

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Spending on construction dipped in March following an unusually strong pace of spending in February.

Construction outlays were down 0.2%, the Commerce Department said Monday. That was below the median forecast of a 0.5% gain from a MarketWatch survey of economists.

But it was offset by a big upward revision to February data, originally reported as a 0.8% gain. Now the Commerce Department believes spending rose 1.8% during that month. Unseasonably warm weather — it was the second-warmest February in over a century — certainly helped.

For the first three months of the year, spending was 4.9% higher than in the same period in 2016.

Much of the increase came from housing. Residential construction was up 1.2% during the month, but stood 7.3% higher than a year ago.

Overall private construction was flat in March, as lower levels of spending on public works continued to drag. Overall public construction was 0.9% lower during the month, and 6.5% lower than in March 2016.

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