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House of the Day: Former McAfee Mansion Is Bank-Owned

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Just a mere four years ago, the 280-acre Colorado estate belonging to anti-virus software developer John McAfee sold at auction for $5.72 million and was promptly put back on the market sporting a price tag of $8.9 million. Now, the home -- bank-owned -- is listed for sale at $3,995,000. At one point, McAfee hoped to get around $20 million for it, which suggests that his grasp of how to protect the world's computers from viruses greatly exceeded his understanding of the real estate market, circa 2007.

Anyway, fast forward to our current, even ickier, market and what you have is a 10,600-square-foot mansion perched on a hillside and a lender eager to unload it. Counting the three guesthouses, two guest apartments and nine guest cabins, there are a total of 19 bedrooms. The property includes four trout lakes, observation decks, picnic areas and a horse paddock. It is believed to have been used as a yoga retreat during one of its incarnations.

Don Wood, Mountain Country Ranches Realty, is the listing agent.

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Got a tip for House of the Day? Know of an exceptional or unusual property currently listed for sale? Please email ann.brenoff@huffingtonpost.com with your suggestions and be sure to include links to listing details and photos. (Due to the volume of response, we unfortunately are unable to respond to each submission.)

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House of the Day: Buffed-Out L.A. Home Needs a Car-Lover

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Wanted: One car-lover with an appreciation for sleek clean lines. Price tag is $3,995,000, house included.

This Benedict Canyon home is a one-of-a-kind contemporary that was remodeled in 2007 with an eye for entertaining. The home has a finished six-car garage with a hydraulic lift that can accommodate a seventh car. The 6,100-square-foot, three-story home has five bedrooms and 8 bathrooms, fireplaces in the living and family rooms, a media room off the master, a formal dining room and an elevator to keep you connected to your cars in the garage.

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The view home has Caesar stone floors, granite counter-tops, black ebony wood cabinets, top-of-the-line built-in appliances and walls of glass that open to the pool and spa. The pool area has a built-in barbecue and breezy cushioned cabanas.

Burt Bakman and Kevin D. Booker, both of the Coldwell Banker Beverly Hills South office, share the listing.

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House of the Day: Rustic Luxury in the Red Tail Log Home

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red tail log home

Got a hankering for log homes? They've certainly come a long way since their Wild West settler roots. More typical of the modern-day equivalent is this 8,100-square-foot home listed at $1,995,000, just 30 minutes outside Denver.

The Red Tail Estate sits on 24 acres next to the Pike National Forest and is priced at $1 million under the actual building costs, says listing agent Norma Loyd of Intero Real Estate Services.

It's logs all the way here. You pass under a massive log-and-stone entry on a paved driveway until you come to a stamped concrete courtyard and follow the heated sweeping staircase under the double stone arches to -- yes -- a log truss entryway. The custom front door is of knotty alder wood and once inside, you are surrounded by massive full round logs, soaring ceilings, custom tile inlays and murals, and of course museum-quality log carvings. Floor-to-ceiling windows provide sweeping 100-mile unobstructed views of Pike's Peak and the Rocky Mountains.

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The home has five bedrooms, seven bathrooms and an attached five-car garage. There is a gourmet kitchen with professional Viking appliances and meticulously crafted stone and tile accents. Cabinetry? High-end knotty alder. There is a large pantry with an electric dumbwaiter to get your groceries from the car to the pantry shelves.

There is a skyway that leads to a 1,000-square-foot media room that is pre-wired for sound and has its own kitchen and bathroom. It features three of the largest log trusses ever used in a private residence. A slate-and-teak staircase leads to a rec room large enough to hold multiple pool tables. No word on whether those are made of logs, though.

Got a tip for House of the Day? Know of an exceptional or unusual property currently listed for sale? Please email ann.brenoff@huffingtonpost.com with your suggestions and be sure to include links to listing details and photos. (Due to the volume of response, we unfortunately are unable to respond to each submission.)

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House of the Day: Baseball's Jay Buhner Selling B2B Ranch

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Jay Buhner, sports broadcaster and former Major League Baseball right fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Seattle Mariners is selling his legendary "B2B Ranch" -- a private 80-acre manicured estate in Fall City, Wash., listed at $6,750,000.

The main house has 7,500 square feet that includes a lodge-style, vaulted-ceiling great room with a 35-foot massive stone fireplace, and four bedrooms with private baths. The home has a copper roof, is made of natural stone and has massive timber framing. There is a detached 2,200-square-foot guesthouse with two bedrooms, and an extra 1,000-square-foot recreation building with a sauna, gym and poker-playing room.

The property also has a pool, an equestrian facility, restored 1920s-vintage red barn and parking for seven cars. Stream, ponds and spectacular views dot the 80 acres.
@cooperkatz.com>

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The property was listed back in 2008 at $12 million and a year later reduced to $9.99 million. Last year, he rolled it back to $7,995,000.

Jennifer Harper and Kara Wiper of Coldwell Banker Bain share the listing.

Got a tip for House of the Day? Know of an exceptional or unusual property currently listed for sale? Please email ann.brenoff@huffingtonpost.com with your suggestions and be sure to include links to listing details and photos. (Due to the volume of response, we unfortunately are unable to respond to each submission.)

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House of the Day: A Gem on Long Beach's Treasure Island

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This Long Beach, Calif., home listed at $10.5 million brings new depths to the expression "fish lover." This Treasure Island treasure has two humongous built-in saltwater aquariums -- one that's 450-gallons and the other even larger at 550-gallons.

The 6,754-square-foot waterfront home is gated and on the largest lot in Naples, an exclusive Long Beach community. There is a 20-by-40-foot pool and spa at the water's edge and a 73-foot boat dock. Every room in the Colonial home has a water view and each of the seven bedrooms has a private bathroom.

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There are three built-in refrigerators in the kitchen, two dishwashers, a prep sink and a 5-by-10-foot granite island and a bay-view kitchen table that seats six. One full wall of the den is a saltwater aquarium; the second aquarium is in the family room. The home has a 600-bottle wine cellar.

The custom "ship's" den is done from ceiling to floor in exotic, handcrafted wood.

Debi Garcia-Benson of Coldwell Banker Coast Alliance shares the listing with Dave Stockton, RE/MAX.

Got a tip for House of the Day? Know of an exceptional or unusual property currently listed for sale? Please email ann.brenoff@huffingtonpost.com with your suggestions and be sure to include links to listing details and photos. (Due to the volume of response, we unfortunately are unable to respond to each submission.)

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House of the Day: Too Many Cooks? Put 'Em in This Palace

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atlanta palace

Perhaps they just don't have good take-out in Atlanta? This magnificent European-style palace, soon to be featured on HGTV's "Million Dollar Rooms," has seven full kitchens.

No, I can't imagine why either, except that this place screams "let's have a party," and what's a party if not with good eats?

This 40,000-square-foot home in Atlanta just had a price shave of $2.6 million and is now listed at $19.9 million. Built in 2008, the home has a recording studio, a hair and nail salon, a theater and a cigar room. Along with nine bedrooms and 13 bathrooms, there's also a ballroom, resort-style courtyard pool with mosaic tiles, and two gyms. The estate sits on two acres.

Completing the palatial effect are the grand stairway, marble floors, elaborate chandeliers and formal rooms.

Mark Bhaggan of Atlanta Fine Homes, Sotheby's International Realty, is brokering the home.


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House of the Day: Disco Dazzler in Holmby Hills

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All this place needs is John Travolta (OK, a young John Travolta) wearing a white polyester suit. "Saturday Night Fever" lives, in Holmby Hills, Calif., of all places. This $28.5 million listing, formal in every other way, has an underground disco that is ready for "Dancing With the Stars."

There's a striking juxtaposition of a 27,800-square-foot estate with a formal grand staircase and domed entry, and then there's the strobe-lit disco below. What can we say: Someone obviously just likes to dance. He or she probably sings Bee Gees' songs in the shower too.

The rest of the six-bedroom estate reeks of elegance and high-end luxury. There are several well-appointed sitting rooms, a one-of-a-kind gourmet kitchen, both indoor and outdoor pools, a two-level library with built-in shelves, patios that overlook gardens and more fireplaces than we could bother to count.

It sits on a prime acre in an even primer location. It's all behind guarded gates -- the red velvet rope, if you will.

Florence Mattar of Coldwell Banker Previews International, Beverly Hills, has the listing.

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Got a tip for House of the Day? Know of an exceptional or unusual property currently listed for sale? Please email ann.brenoff@huffingtonpost.com with your suggestions and be sure to include links to listing details and photos. (Due to the volume of response, we unfortunately are unable to respond to each submission.)

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House of the Day: Historic Lodge in the Adirondacks

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They had me at the fireplaces. There is something about a massive stone fireplace or nine that just gets my heart going pitter-patter. The Camp Kwenogamac lodge on New York's Long Lake -- listed for sale now at $6,495,000 and built in 1903 for the surgeon who literally wrote the textbook on the use of antiseptics -- hosted diplomats, opera singers, and a number of celebrity contemporaries, including Helen Keller and her teacher, Anne Sullivan, and Gene Tunney, the champion prizefighter.

Secluded and surrounded by wilderness, the 42-acre gated estate was completely renovated, beginning in 2000, and is now a green, self-sufficient home. The original historic lodge, now used in summer, has six bedrooms and three fireplaces, along with a historic library.

The new guest lodge, suitable for year-round use, has three bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, a great room with full kitchen, and another three fireplaces.

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The piece de resistance may be the year-round-use floating boathouse, with a second story great room that I wouldn't ever want to leave. And yes, another three fireplaces.

The property has 1,233 feet of sandy beach frontage, and a hiking trail loop that's also suitable for snowshoeing or cross-country skiing, and which goes past the original owner's graveyard. There is a 750-foot deep well.

There is also a ton of history here. The property was built for Dr. John Gerster who, in the interests of serving his guests' sophisticated palates, often had fresh lobster delivered from New York City by train and iced at every stop.

Actress Sigourney Weaver and her husband own the property next door. John Burke of Sotheby's International Realty has the listing.



Got a tip for House of the Day? Know of an exceptional or unusual property currently listed for sale? Please email ann.brenoff@huffingtonpost.com with your suggestions and be sure to include links to listing details and photos. (Due to the volume of response, we unfortunately are unable to respond to each submission.)

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Be Meryl Streep and Gwyneth Paltrow's Neighbor

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tribecaActresses Meryl Streep and Gwyneth Paltrow already own units in this Tribeca building, which now features a customized loft for sale at $12.5 million. The New York City unit was completely renovated and has 3,800 square feet.

There are three large bedrooms, a full-size fitness room, dressing room, four full bathrooms and a "conch-style" powder room finished in burnished gold leaf and hammered white bronze.

The apartment has west, north and eastern exposures and is finished with wide plank Sapele floors. Every wall is insulated with two layers of sheet-rock and special features added to minimize noise. An automated Crestron system controls lighting, music, shades, temperature and security.

Daniel Hedaya and Khashy Eyn of Platinum Properties share the listing.

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House of the Day: Malibu Listing Has a Kauai Feel

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Those familiar with the five-star Grand Hyatt Resort & Spa on the island of Kauai may do a double-take when they see the latest $44.5 million listing to come on the market in Malibu. Same stone portico columns framing the dead-on ocean view; same open-air indoor-outdoor space; same "please-let-me-die-and-go-to-heaven-here" reaction.

This 11,741-square-foot architectural estate sits dramatically on an ocean bluff with endless views of the Pacific. It has a 62-foot Italian glass-tiled pool and separate 18-foot spa. The seven- bedroom home has 9 1/2 bathrooms, a professional screening room, top-of-the-line chef's kitchen, travertine flooring and a master suite you never want to leave.

There are floor-to-ceiling glass doors throughout the house and 14-foot ceilings. The estate sits on 1.22 acres and was built in 1999.

Buy it and save the airfare to Kauai?

Chris Cortazzo, Coldwell Banker Malibu West, has the listing.

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Got a tip for House of the Day? Know of an exceptional or unusual property currently listed for sale? Please email ann.brenoff@huffingtonpost.com with your suggestions and be sure to include links to listing details and photos. (Due to the volume of response, we unfortunately are unable to respond to each submission.)

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House of the Day: Enormous NYC Loft Now a Rental

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The 5,400-square-foot loft that was the largest apartment for sale in New York City's Financial District at $6.39 million is going to be rented out instead. Asking price: $25,000 a month.

The five-bedroom unit includes a large master suite. It has 12-foot vaulted ceilings, 29 large windows and exposures in three directions. There is a large chef's eat-in kitchen, dining room, great room and open spaces. There are 10 closets and a suburban-style mud room off the elevator entrance.

Daniel Hedaya and Arie Abadi of Platinum Properties have co-listed the property.

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Got a tip for House of the Day? Know of an exceptional or unusual property currently listed for sale? Please email ann.brenoff@huffingtonpost.com with your suggestions and be sure to include links to listing details and photos. (Due to the volume of response, we unfortunately are unable to respond to each submission.)

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Newest Home-Staging Trend: 'Placement Pets'

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home staging pets

The fluffy orange cat (the one who sank the congressman's ship) was thrust unwittingly into the public eye by the sheer coincidence that she (he?) happened to be sleeping on the windowsill when the listing photos for now-former Rep. Anthony Weiner's Forest Hillshome staging pets apartment were snapped and then again in those other incriminating photos Weiner thought worthy of sharing online with strangers.

But what was the poor kitty (right) doing there in the first place, besides napping?

Truth is, placement pets, as they are known in the advertising world, are increasingly showing up in home listing photos, trying to convey a subliminal message to would-be buyers. Golden Retrievers bouncing in the yard say "family home"; bloodhounds on the hearth rug shout out "hunting lodge"; Boxers with choke collars in the industrial city loft say "singles come hither," and teacup breeds poised on the master-bed suggest that Paris Hilton might outbid you on this property if you don't hurry.


Is it intentional? Are people really posing their pooches -- and the aforementioned cat -- when they post house photos on the MLS? Taking it to the next level, if you don't have a dog, should you rent one for the occasion?

Tristan H. Harper, senior vice president of New York's Prudential Douglas Elliman agency, loves and employs the idea of using designer dogs to sell property. He sold an East 63rd Street penthouse for $3.75 million in 2008 -- an all-time record for the building -- after the photo (above) of Rocko the Shih Tzu appeared in several magazines. We presume Rocko ate well that evening.

home staging petsAgent Cam Gittler, of Coldwell Banker Previews International in Montecito, Calif., is also hoping for a boost by the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel posing (left) on the rug of her $4,595,000 listing. The photo appears on the home fliers as well as in the MLS. Cavalier King Charles Spaniels suggest English royalty and this one conveniently matches the house.

Not all are on board with the idea that dogs in listing photos do more good than harm. Some professional home-stagers say that they'd never let a pet in a photo, let alone rent or borrow one for pictures of home listings. For one thing, it's a turn-off to potential buyers with pet allergies, and not everyone on the planet is a pet-lover. Even some Realtors who are active in dog rescue groups tsk-tsk the idea. Sandy Zalagens of Keller Williams Los Angeles, who led that agency's Race for the Rescues fund-raiser, says, "It's better to focus on the details of the property." Pets, she says, are a distraction.

New Jersey home-stager Jill M. Banks of Happily Better After notes that pets are used to sell "practically everything" these days, but when it comes to houses, "out of sight, out of mind" is preferable. "Although an adorable golden retriever may represent 'home' to some buyers, others may think 'odors,' 'stains,' 'allergies,' or 'damage.' " (Also see "5 Mistakes Home Sellers Should Never Make.")

Sam DeBord, managing broker of SeattleHome.com agrees. "I can guarantee you that a pet never sold a home," he said, "but plenty of pets have caused homes not to sell from odors, stains and other issues."

Ken Pozek, a Keller Williams agent in the Detroit metro area, goes even further. He not only doesn't put animals in his photos, he also makes sure that there is no evidence of kids or cars anywhere in sight either. Depersonalize the house, he says. "Buyers need to be able to see themselves in the house, not live vicariously through someone else."

Mary Lou Currier, senior vice president of sales for A.C. Lawrence & Company disagrees. She used the owner's two dogs in the photos when she listed this New York midtown apartment (below) for $549,000 last fall. "It was a way to let buyers know the building is pet-friendly," she said, "plus the dogs are cute and jazz up the shots."

What image was Anthony Weiner trying to convey when he allowed his kitty to be used in the listing photos? No doubt he wishes it was a case of letting sleeping cats lie.

home staging pets

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House of the Day: Jetliner Views From L.A. Glass Home

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Hats off to designer Michael Rostami of Unicon Builders for this stunningly bold glass house. Sure there is steel and concrete holding it up, but nothing that would dare impede on the panoramic city and canyon views below its Hollywood Hills perch.

It's a house that screams "young Hollywood," and smart money says that's precisely who will be plunking down the $6,750,000 asking price.
The two-story home has 6,300 square feet, which includes four bedrooms. There is a gourmet eat-in kitchen, a living room with a fireplace that overlooks the 33-foot infinity pool and patio area, and a giant master suite with an ultra-hip bathroom and rooftop deck. There is also a permitted 1,100-square-foot guesthouse (or office) with full bathroom. It's a smart technology home and has parking for 15 cars besides the two-car garage.

Josh and Matt Altman of Hilton & Hyland in Beverly Hills have the listing.

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House of the Day: Pedigreed Colonial at Affordable Price

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It's not often you get architectural pedigree and affordability rolled into one, but this $160,000 two-story center-hall colonial in Selma, Ala., seems to pull it off.

Designed by Alabama architect Frank Lockwood, the house's crown molding and artisan millwork spring from the same talent behind the historic Montgomery Federal Building, where in 1956 a district court determined that bus-seating segregation was illegal and in 1965 allowed a historic civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery.

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Built in 1929, the 6,000-square-foot house seems to fit the down-home family ideal: It offers a two-car garage, four bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, and a pool. Mom, dad and the kids could begin by taking care of its deficiencies in "Brady Bunch" unison -- they'd need to paint the house's exterior and interior, which are peeling, replace the kitchen floor, which is in disrepair, and service the pool, not used since 2008.

John Miller of Town & Country Real Estate of Selma has the listing.

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Got a tip for House of the Day? Know of an exceptional or unusual property currently listed for sale? Please email ann.brenoff@huffingtonpost.com with your suggestions and be sure to include links to listing details and photos. (Due to the volume of response, we unfortunately are unable to respond to each submission.)

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Jennifer Aniston Sells Beverly Hills Home

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The girl on the move, Jennifer Aniston, sold her Beverly Hills mansion for about 10 percent off its $42 million listing price, reports the Los Angeles Times. Aniston recently bought property in New York's West Village.

The sales price of her Beverly Hills home has not been officially recorded in public records, but The Times -- quoting anonymous area real-estate agents -- put it between $37 million and $38 million. Good guess, we'd say, if a bit high. She purchased the property for $13.5 million in 2006 but undertook a major remodel.

The just-about-brand-new 10,000-square-foot house, built originally in 1970, sits on about an acre. It has two living rooms and two kitchens -- don't ask why. There is also a gym, five bedrooms and 7½ bathrooms.

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The home has a resort-style swimming pool, a spa, ponds and fountains, as well as an outdoor living room, another kitchen and fireplaces. Aniston is a lady of class and that's reflected in her heavy hands-on re-do of this house.

Aniston, best-known for her Emmy-winning role in the TV show "Friends," starred this year in the comedy "Just Go With It" with Adam Sandler.

Jade Mills of Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills South, was the listing agent.

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House of the Day: Montana Island Cabin Redefines Privacy

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This rustic refuge in Whitefish, Mt., is downright redundant. Not only is the $9 million luxury cabin located in one of the most sparsely populated states, it also sits on its own lush 10-acre island. In the way of privacy, it gives Thoreau's Walden Pond a run for its money.

With a sweeping panorama of the Canadian Rockies visible through its Pella windows, the 7,500-square-foot custom-built log home offers five bedrooms and bathrooms, a gourmet kitchen, a theater and -- for the sessions of Emersonian reflection -- a 1,000-bottle wine cellar. Bald eagles, deer and other wildlife roam a waterfront that's longer than 10 football fields.

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If the seclusion gets you feeling bit stir-crazy, don't worry: You're not marooned. The ski town of Whitefish is nearby and the environs afford a rich array of other recreational activities including fly-fishing, hiking and boating at the nearby Whitefish Mountain Resort.

The Hurwitz James Company has the listing.

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Leaving the Upper West Side, Seinfeld? No Soup for You!

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seinfeld homeseinfeld homeJerry Seinfeld, who symbolizes life on the Upper West Side, has been spotted looking at apartments on the -- please sit down -- Upper East Side. Seinfeld lives with his wife and three children at The Beresford on Central Park West between 81st and 82nd Streets and while we can't understand why he'd want to leave a building that (unlike some of Manhattan's other high-end co-ops) actually accepts celebrities and politicians as residents, the New York Post says he was seen real-estate shopping in the $23 million-to-$26 million price range on the Upper East Side. Could it really be that he's taking the closing of H&H Bagels' West Side location that hard?

As inconceivable as it sounds that Seinfeld would move crosstown -- would a zebra leave his stripes? -- we thought it our civic duty to remind the man who brought us the Soup Nazi and a show about nothing that there are plenty of apartments right in his 'hood, and he needn't go getting all uppity on us, especially when he could be master of any of these domains:

1. Be the king of this Central Park West castle for $25 million.
Built in 1887 by William Noble and architect Edward J. Angell, this 12,00-square-foot mansion (pictured above) is one of few remaining single residences on Central Park. Jerry, aren't you done with apartment life anyway? The parlor and living area have double-height ceilings and gallery-size walls for art. Lots of natural light coming into the great room. And it has a 60-foot freshwater lap pool, a state-of-the-art media room, five bedrooms, two offices, and a master suite with bow-front window seat, dressing area, spa bath and terrace. It's been on the market for more than a year and the price was reduced in the spring by $4 million. That's a seller blinking, Jerry; get on the horn.

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2. Be the lord of this San Remo manor for $24.75 million.
Smallish at 6,000 square feet, but you're in one of New York's best West Side buildings. The extraordinary original residence, with 10 windows facing the park, was combined with a neighboring apartment to create this tremendously unique space with superb flow. Six bedrooms, six bathrooms, two powder rooms, a media room, library, study, office, laundry, and a corner living room with park views, central air, and a fireplace. The San Remo (c.1930), designed by Emery Roth, was the first twin-towered building of the city. Kind of the Grand Dame of the West Side with lots of building amenities.

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3. Not that there's anything wrong with Riverside Drive at $20 million.
This 12,000-square-foot mansion was built in 1909 by William Tuthill, the same architect who designed Carnegie Hall, and is the only free-standing single-family mansion in Manhattan. It may be a little over-the-top French Renaissance frilly with all the white marble and bronze grills, but there are great views of the Hudson River. Could be fun to live in a European palazzo for a while.

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House of the Day: NYC Townhome Gets Spa Treatment

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Calling Mark Spitz: Maybe you don't need to be an Olympic swimmer to want to have a 26-foot-long pool inside your Manhattan townhouse, but this one on West 15th Street will certainly attract those with a penchant for the water. Listed at $10,995,000, the 22.5-foot wide Chelsea home has five floors. The pool, by the way, is eight feet deep and fully permitted.

So given the amenities here, you could arguably take a morning sauna, swim in your indoor pool and then sunbathe on your private roof deck -- then later hang out in the double-height solarium greenhouse.

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Guests could be served dinner in the garden, and have after-dinner drinks in front of the wood-burning fireplace in the formal library, before you cap off the day with a dip in the hot tub, and pass out in the master suite that overlooks a terrace.

The pool opens into a 16-foot high solarium sanctuary and is connected to a lush and landscaped private garden. The home has five wood-burning fireplaces, an open kitchen and dining area, a powder room and a library/office on the entry level. The garden level, in addition to the pool and solarium, includes a lounge, a wet bar, the sauna, and a bathroom with shower. The second floor includes the master bedroom suite, which has a full bath, separate hot tub, a fireplace and greenhouse windows, a second bedroom and the library. The 19th century home has original wood plank hardwood floors.

Watch for the property to be featured on an upcoming HGTV "Selling New York" episode this month.

Maggie Kent and David Roger Grossmann of CORE Group NY share the listing.

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Got a tip for House of the Day? Know of an exceptional or unusual property currently listed for sale? Please email ann.brenoff@huffingtonpost.com with your suggestions and be sure to include links to listing details and photos. (Due to the volume of response, we unfortunately are unable to respond to each submission.)

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How Small Can You Go? Tiny Houses Are the Future

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The idea of living in small spaces has been around since the caveman. By partitioning off a small area of his cave for sleeping, he was able to heat it more efficiently. Of course, he didn't have 20 pairs of shoes to worry about, but minimalistic living is an idea that is returning to popular culture with a vengeance.

Small space living runs from the ridiculous to the sublime. If this 700-square-foot house (pictured at left) built from two shipping containers in Sri Lanka doesn't fit the bill, perhaps this six-room 420-square-foot backyard cottage (above) will. Or will the one-of-a-kind, green-designed pre-fab home (below left) by Ecofabulous rock your boat? It's being auctioned on eBay on July 15 with the proceeds going to Global Green USA. It's 520 square feet and made entirely of eco-friendly and recycled materials, including tile and glass for the countertops and renewable cork flooring.
While largely regarded as a fringe housing segment up until now, housing experts predict that demand for compact homes in the U.S. will increase in the coming decades. There is a fast-growing population who need less-expensive first-home options: single women, baby boomers who want to downsize, and recently graduated students. The idea also resonates with seniors who would like to age in place; by constructing one of these small homes in the backyard, they are able to live near an adult child and still maintain privacy and independence.

Downsizing possessions is probably the most challenging aspect of living in small spaces. The perennial question of "where do I put all my shoes?" in compact design housing is surpassed only by "what do I do with all my books?"

Japanese architect Kazuya Morita has that one answered. In the 557-square-foot "shelf pod" home he designed, the walls are lined with bookshelves capable of displaying 20,000 pounds of books. He has a larger 947-square-foot, five-sided "Pentagonal House" that features five arching walls converging to form a peak.

"Japanese architecture always has to be smaller. We have to live more efficiently," he said of his densely populated homeland, in an interview with Inman News.

In the U.S., high energy costs coupled with a rejection of the gluttonous consumption that defined the previous decade, has resulted in keener interest in small home living. Even the National Association of Home Builders acknowledged in a March report that the "New Home in 2015" will be smaller and feature greener amenities. Of course, the builders' idea of smaller spaces is a 10 percent drop to 2,152 square feet -- a feat largely accomplished by eliminating the formal living room.

Architect Morita has something more dramatic in mind. Geared for the city dweller, he focuses on rooms that are multipurposed. Built-ins are essential. The Shelf-Pod house, which can support 10 tons of books and survive earthquakes, he said, features interlocking laminated pine boards that form a lattice to support the weight of the books.

Check out these other small-space homes on the market:

A 435-square foot house in San Francisco listed for $1,150,000. It has a skylight, high ceilings and large windows for light. Bright yellow and red accents add to the cheeriness.









A two-bedroom cabin of 448 square feet in St. Germain, Wis., listed for $159,000. The property sits on 5.5 acres on 736-acre Pickerel Lake, adjacent to the Northern Highland American Legion Forest. The cabin is part of a nine-unit rustic resort.








A 450-square-foot lakeside cabin in Dennis Port, Mass., listed at $185,000. A fisherman's hideaway in need of some updating.











For $85,000, this 480-square-footer in Fayette, Maine, can be yours.













A 520-square-foot cottage in Lusby, Md., is listed for $270,000. It has a little more than a half-acre of land.













At $59,000, this 674-square-foot cottage -- is it an A-frame? -- in Hideaway, Texas, seems appropriately sited.











And for a place you might actually want to live, there's a 416-square-foot cottage in Hawaii for $895,000.










To see other small space homes, check out the TinyHouse blog.

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House of the Day: A Modern Castle Wired for a King

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Blending the medieval with the modern, this $2.75 million home in the St. Louis suburb of Wildwood, Mo., resembles a straight-up castle. But it offers residents a rich array of modern amenities and spares them the once-a-month bathers. Gaze at its regal limestone exterior, slate roofing, spires and rampart-like balcony, or enter through its bronze door to enjoy its majestic promenade. Pass through limestone arched doorways, wind your way up its spiral staircase, then stroll a column-supported second-story walkway.

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This lordly manor only lets you linger in the past for so long, however: State-of-the-art appliances and technologies infuse the premises with modern luxury. Vantage "scene" lighting, plasma TVs, fiber-optic "starfield" ceilings and a movie theater replete with motorized chairs are some examples of its techno-flair. Watch "Lord of the Rings" on a big screen with Surround Sound, then reenact it -- you pretty much live on set.

Louise Donovan of Coldwell Banker has the listing.

See more Houses of the Day on AOL Real Estate and other homes for sale in area of Wildwood, Mo.

Got a tip for House of the Day? Know of an exceptional or unusual property currently listed for sale? Please email ann.brenoff@huffingtonpost.com with your suggestions and be sure to include links to listing details and photos. (Due to the volume of response, we unfortunately are unable to respond to each submission.)

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