Real Estate Investing

Concept houses can be really interesting.   We have tiny houses, storage buildings converted to houses, cave houses, tree houses, and now…. now we may be getting airplane houses.  The idea was conceived by an entrepreneur right here in my own community - an airplane converted to a house.  But not just any airplane house, according to World Net Daily - one that can withstand hurricane force winds.

Simply put, Bennington is looking to plant a Boeing 727 on a fixed bearing 15 feet above the ground, allowing the plane to rotate 360-degrees into the direction of the wind. The 1,200-square feet of interior space would be decorated with any luxurious furnishings according to the taste of the owner. 

In addition to living quarters (once stripped of all the seats and overhead storage bins, there could be lots of room), the plane could serve as a radar station during questionable weather.  Tom Bennington, the inventor who has a patent on the design, said,

…the first aircraft/residence/weather vane would gain massive media attention, and news and weather crews could even broadcast from there during hurricane season.

I hope it does get massive media attention because I’d love to see the plan(e) in action.

Photo from World Net Daily.

I wouldn’t like it at all.  Florida condo owner Victor & Kathy Vangelakos and his family invested in a high rise condominium four years ago in Fort Myers, but ended up being the only residents.

Most of the other tenants in the 200-unit condo didn’t close on their contracts, and the few that did have transferred to an adjacent building owned by the same company because more people live there.

The Vangelakos’ mortgage lender will not allow them to do the same.

That leaves them as the sole residents of the Oasis Tower One.

While it might sound like a dream place to live, the family hears noises at night and later discovers break-ins have occurred.  If they leave, they remain stuck paying mortgage and maintenance on a place in an empty building,

Victor Vangelakos said they don’t want to move to the tower next door because they would still be paying the mortgage and maintenance costs on the condo they own. They paid $430,000 for the unit and took out a $336,000 mortgage — essentially spending their life savings.

I wonder if they’re waiting for the market to turnaround to get some neighbors?

I had to laugh (that or cry) at an article in the most recent magazine I received from the fine folks at The Real Estate Buyer’s Agent Council.  They offer a section called “60 Days” that features little vignettes of real estate news from around the country.  So we see there will be problems ahead for the housing rich, a county in Florida has begun buying and selling foreclosed homes (which I’ve preached to my own local community to no avail), and how one real estate company in Spain is offering a one-stop shop: houses, title company, divorces.  Wow.

My favorite tidbit by far, though, was about the squatter who was removed from an almost-million dollar home in Jupiter, Florida.  Apparently a woman had moved in to a home in January that had been on the market for more than two years.  She removed the for sale sign and had all the utilities turned on.  Then she redecorated!   When the listing agent went to check on the house, the woman was removed.  The squatter said she worked at a title company tha tdoes business with the homeowner, but the seller denied authorizing the move-in.

I wonder if she paid rent?

Plus I’d think she was doing the homeowner a favor … the insurance rate is less for an occupied home than it would be for a vacant home.

I do think renting is a strong option for many home sellers these days.  It just kills me to see a perfectly nice house sitting vacant.  They get that empty smell.  They stand as bait for criminals.  When a seller does opt to rent, they can have the credit of a renter checked and also get references from both work and former landlords.  It’s a viable option for homes that just won’t sell no matter what.

Photo from Standing Firm.