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Green Thanksgiving in the Home
The first Thanksgiving in the colonies was in 1621, and since that famous meal between the Pilgrims and Native Americans, we have been unknowingly giving ?green thanks.? Thanksgiving, began as an eco-friendly celebration and it can still be one. The meals and the preparation for the holiday were inherently environmentally friendly because they [...]
Nick Carter?s Parkland Pad for Rent: Celebrity Real Estate
Backstreet Boy, Nick Carter, has had numerous accolades over the years. Known as the ?heartthrob? of the Backstreet Boys, Teen Scene magazine ranked him number one on their ?Hottest under 21? list back in the day, Teen People named him the ?Biggest Teen Idol? and People Magazine voted him one of their ?50 Most Beautiful [...]
Homes in the Top Thanksgiving Destinations
While traditional Thanksgiving celebrations call for family feasts at home, some might take advantage of the extended holiday weekend as an opportunity for a relaxing getaway. ShermansTravel.com compiled a list of the prime places to travel to during Thanksgiving- some exotic, and some expected- and Move Trends is bringing you homes in five of those [...]
Coke to Use Plant-Based Plastic Bottles
Coca-Cola, the world?s largest beverage company, recently announced plans to use new plastic bottles made partially from plants. These PlantBottles? plastic bottles made from a blend of petroleum-based material and 30 percent plant-based material?will be used in a pilot program through Coke?s Dasani water brand. The PlantBottles will appear in select markets later this year, [...]
Freddie Mac Reports 30-Year Mortgage Rates Reach All Time Lows
Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of conforming mortgage rates, released today, indicates that rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages reached all-time lows with an average of 4.78 percent. Market Watch reports that this week’s average matches the record low which occurred during the week of April 30. Fifteen-year fixed-rate mortgages also hit a new low this week averaging [...]
Heath Ledger?s Former Home: Celebrity Real Estate
Heath Ledger might have started his acting career as a young heartthrob in the teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You, but the talented actor spent years trying to shy away from this image and played against type-casting in dramas such as Monster?s Ball and Brokeback Mountain. For his role as Wyoming ranch hand, [...]
Thrifty Thanksgiving: How to Host a Frugal Feast
Hosting a holiday in which excess is the theme, whether it be with the decor or the food, means you can most likely expect to spend an excessive amount of money. But in this day and age, when we are all pinching pennies, there are simple saving strategies you can apply when throwing your [...]
Eco-Friendly Travel Tips for the Holiday Season
Because traveling to see friends and family during the holidays is a given?and the holiday season is all about giving?you can give back to the environment by arranging a less energy-intensive, more eco-friendly holiday trip this season. There are plenty of green travel sites like, TravelGreen, which will help you arrange an eco-friendly holiday trip. [...]
Case-Shiller Reports Home Price Rise for Second Straight Quarter
According to the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index, home prices increased for the second consecutive quarter and are up 3.1 percent from three months earlier.CNN Money reports that this positive development could play an integral role in decreasing the amount of “underwater” homeowners- those who owe more money on their mortgages than their home is [...]
Orange County Housewife Tamra Barney: Celebrity Real Estate
Self proclaimed ?hottest housewife in Orange County?, Tamra Barney admits that she suffers from ?video Tourette?s Syndrome? - often shocking others when speaking her mind on the hit show Real Housewives of Orange County. What?s also shocking is how fast her short sale sold in Ladera Ranch, CA listed on REALTOR.com® for $1.149 million. [...]
Top 10 Most Searched Homes on REALTOR.com®
As Thanksgiving Day is upon us, the warm-weather states are continuing to heat up this week’s top 10 most searched homes list on REALTOR.com®. Florida has four listings, with Boca Raton taking the first spot for the second week in a row, and California has two homes up on the list. The data is [...]
How to Avoid the ?Home-Wrecker? Remodel
With remodel prices down an average of 5 to 10 percent, more people are choosing to improve rather than move. The upcoming holiday season is a great time to negotiate deals and take advantage of discounts and incentives. It is the slow season for contractors and, just like the rest of us, they could [...]
Turning Algae Into Sustainable Hydrogen-Based Fuel
Algae have become an important part of environmental research in recent years. They have even been used in abandoned mines to create biofuel, and now, with the quest to make hydrogen an alternative fuel source without relying on an expensive, high-energy process, algae have yet again come to the fore-front of green research. Researchers at the [...]
Existing Home Sales Rise While Inventories Drop During October
The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) reported today that existing home sales in October rose 10.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.10 million units, up from 5.54 million in September. The surge in sales activity, which reached its highest rate since it hit 6.55 million in February 2007, has been bolstered [...]
Jeff Kwatinetz?s Malibu Beach House: Celebrity Real Estate
As co-founder and former CEO of The Firm, a celeb-studded talent management company, Jeff Kwatinetz has become a controversial character amongst Hollywood’s power players. In 2005, The Firm’s high-profile clients such as Anna Paquin, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Natalie Portman, Orlando Bloom, and even Brittany Murphy- Kwatinetz’s former fiancé- were taken by managers and executives who [...]
Celebrity Listing Recap
We’re one week closer to Turkey Day, so before you feast your stomachs, feast your eyes on these gorgeous celebrity properties. Delight again in the splendor of the Twilight house, and homes from the late DJ AM, Kirk Hammett, and Bill Wrigley Jr., which are all currently listed on REALTOR.com®. Edward Cullen?s 5 bedroom, 3 bath [...]
Oprah Winfrey Neighborhoods: Montecito, CA and Fisher Island, FL
Mega-wealthy talk show host Oprah Winfrey has garnered news coverage this week, as word that “The Oprah Winfrey Show” will go off the air in 2011 was officially announced. Yesterday, Move Trends published a list of the many neighborhoods where Winfrey has owned or currently owns property. Today, we revisit this list and focus on two [...]
Oprah Winfrey: Talk Show and Real Estate Mogul
Oprah Winfrey’s reign as queen of daytime TV will soon reach its end. Today, Winfrey officially announced that her hugely successful talk show, “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” will end after its 25th season in 2011. According to the L.A. Times, Winfrey will be focusing on her own cable outlet, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), in a [...]
REALTOR.com® Dreamhomes Application on Facebook
Haven’t become a fan of REALTOR.com® on Facebook yet? Well, here’s the low down on what you can expect to see on the brand spanking new page: In addition to daily wall posts updating you on the latest in real estate news, there is a dreamhomes application which allows fans to peruse the prettiest homes [...]
Weekly Guide to Career Opportunities at Move
Interested in working at a fast-paced company that is dialed in to the latest trends in real estate and technology? Look no further than Move, Inc., operator of the No. 1 real estate website REALTOR.com® and real estate destination Move.com. Move, Inc. provides consumers with the real estate content, decision support tools and professional connections they [...]
Real Estate Week in Review
This Week in Real Estate Turkey Day is in less than a week, and, fortunately, we can be thankful for some hopeful happenings in real estate. Decreasing inventories, home price rises, and the extended and expanded first-time homebuyers tax credit are all indiciations of a postive real estate forecast for 2010. Also, the tax credit has [...]
First Stage of Wind Corridor Gives Renewable Power to California
First Wind, an independent wind power company, recently announced the completion of the first stage of the Milford Wind Corridor. The 203.5 megawatt (MW) wind project consists of 97 wind turbine towers that stand 262 feet tall over 40 square miles. They will be able to power 45,000 homes, making the wind project the largest [...]
October Home Construction Rates Released
According to a government report released Wednesday, October saw a 10.6 percent drop in home construction, the lowest rate in six months. Although a group of industry observers at Briefing.com predicted 600,000 housing starts during the month, construction began at an annual rate of only 529,000, marking the second consecutive month of disappointing realities. CNN Money [...]
Bill Wrigley Jr.?s Pricey Properties: Celebrity Real Estate
Currently serving as the chairman of the chewing gum empire, Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., Bill Wrigley Jr. is the heir to the throne as William Wrigley Jr.’s great-grandson. Founded in 1891, the company was originally created to sell products like soap and baking powder. When Wrigley began offering chewing gum with each bottle of baking [...]
Homes in The Best Cities for Careers and Business
Although the economy has experienced earth-shattering unemployment rates since the recession began back in 2007, some metros have somehow managed to remain relatively unscathed by jolting job loss numbers. In their 11th annual ranking of the best areas for business and careers, Forbes featured the 20 cities and we’ve got homes in the top locales [...]
Good Tidings: How to Keep Your Home Clean During the Holidays
Since the holiday celebrations will be in full swing soon, chances are your home is going to need cleaning before, after and during your family get-togethers. Although the thought of all that toil can be daunting, creativehomemaking.com has broken down the most common holiday messy mishaps and provided easy and efficient tidying tips so that [...]
Wi-Fi Certification for Smart Grids
The Wi-Fi Alliance?a nonprofit association that approves devices for Wi-Fi Certification?has formed a task group that will determine what standards need to be modified to ensure Wi-Fi can be used for smart grid applications without any complications. Because Wi-Fi is the obvious choice for communication between smart devices and the smart grid-integrated system, the Alliance [...]
Housing Counselors Help Homeowners Avoid Foreclosure
The results of an Urban Institute study, which were released on Wednesday, indicate that housing counselors are particularly effective in not only helping distressed homeowners avoid foreclosure, but in helping them lower their monthly payments as well. The study also found that borrowers facing foreclosure who received counseling were 60 percent more likely to [...]
Kirk Hammett?s Metallica Mansion: Celebrity Real Estate
As a songwriter and lead guitarist of the band Metallica, Kirk Hammett, has used his signature guitar-playing style to transform the once-thrash metal band into mainstream rock icons. The San Francisco, CA native might have begun his metal music career in 1980 when he formed the band Exodus, but it wasn?t until 1983, when he [...]
Homes in Rebounding Cities
The real estate market has yet to completely recover, and it is going to be a long time before things get back to normal, but recently released positive reports and promising statistics regarding home price increases are keeping our hopes high and our sanity intact. Yahoo Real Estate compiled a list of ten cities experiencing [...]
Seasons Greenings: Eco-Friendly Ideas for the Holiday Season
Because the holiday season is all about giving, why not help out the environment by creating eco-friendly family traditions that will give new meaning and new significance to your celebrations. Along with excitement, gifts, and delectable meals, the holidays can also bring a considerable amount of waste. Whether it’s the energy used by twinkle lights, [...]
Positive Real Estate Forecast for 2010
As hopeful real estate developments begin to soften the blow of a three-year housing price depression, CNN Money reports that 2010 might bring a long-awaited real estate relief. Because inventories have been decreasing as home sales have been rising, economists predict that nationwide values will fall another 5 to 10 percent before finally bottoming out [...]
Twilight-New Moon House for Sale
Legions of Twihards?die-hard fans of the Twilight series? don?t have to wait long to see the next tale of star-crossed lovers, Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. The highly anticipated Twilight sequel, New Moon, will hit the big screen this Thursday. But for those New Moon fans hungry for everything Edward, the vampire?s Vancouver, BC home [...]
Mars Chocolate Unveils Solar Garden in Hackettstown, NJ
Mars Chocolate North America recently announced the installation of New Jersey?s largest solar garden at the company?s Hackettstown, NJ headquarters. The ?solar garden? is a 28,000 panel, 2-megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic system on 18-acres of a once vacant lot adjacent to the headquarters where the company?s M&M’S are manufactured. The solar garden is said to produce [...]
First-Timers Make up Record Number of Home Buyers
The results of a consumer survey of buyers and sellers released this past weekend at the 2009 REALTORS® Conference & Expo indicated that the number of first-time home buyer sales rose from 41 percent in last years’ study to 47 percent- the highest on record dating back to 1981. In a National Association of Realtors® (NAR) [...]
The Late DJ AM?s Beverly Hills Home: Celebrity Real Estate
Adam Goldstein, who had achieved fame as the accomplished DJ AM, spinning at A-list parties and collaborating with A-list artists, died of an accidental overdose on August 28. His success stemmed from a multi-faceted career colored by various ventures that supplemented his scratching. He was a co-owner at the Los Angeles hotspot LAX, collaborated musically [...]
Top 10 Most Searched Homes on REALTOR.com®
With the chilly temperatures really starting to hit hard, the warm-weather states are seeing some action this week in the top 10 most searched homes list on REALTOR.com®. California has three listings as does Florida, two of which are in Boca Raton. The data is compiled using homes that have a list price within [...]
Chain Link Transformation: Industrial Evolution with DIY Ideas
Home décor is as much a representation of our personality as fashion, and just like our wardrobe, it?s fun to change things up a bit and infuse some unconventional accessorizing to create a unique look. Although chain links generally conjure up the cold industrial appearance of a fence, with a few alterations and manipulations, the [...]
EPA and NREL Want to Use Brown Fields for Renewable Energy
Along the same lines as using abandoned mines to create algae biofuel, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are pushing to use thousands of identified brown fields–old industrial sites, contaminated landfills, and abandoned mines that have been cleaned to a certain environmental standard–to repurpose them as wind farms, solar [...]
Mortgage Rate Rise Expected for Spring
During the first quarter of 2010, the Federal Reserve is expected to begin winding down it’s $1.25 trillion purchase program of mortgage-backed securities, which has decreased the 30-year conforming fixed-rate mortgage to all-time lows in the past year. CNN Money reports that the 30-year fixed mortgage rate, which bottomed-out Monday at 5.02 percent, could see [...]
Alberto Gonzales? Virginia Colonial: Celebrity Real Estate
Appointed in February 2005 by George W. Bush, Alberto Gonzales was the 80th Attorney General of the U.S and the first Hispanic and Mexican-American to fill that post. Prior to holding that position, Gonzales was Bush’ s general counsel, the Secretary of State of Texas, and he served on the Texas Supreme Court during Bush’s [...]
Celebrity Listing Recap
Waiting for your weekly dose of spectacular celebrity real estate? Take another look at the homes we featured from Lamar Odom, Bret Saberhagen, Emily Robison, and Larry Hagman on Move Trends, which are all currently listed on REALTOR.com®. Lamar Odom?s 5 bedroom, 5 bath Manhattan Beach, CA homes listed for $2,399,000 This 4,181 square-foot custom built Spanish-style [...]
Party of Five Pad: Celebrity Real Estate
From 1994 to 2000, this estate was home to the Salinger family in the Fox series, Party of Five. Actresses Jennifer Love Hewitt, Neve Campbell, and Lacey Chabert, and Lost’s Matthew Fox, catapulted their careers during this show, which centered around the lives of five siblings who were orphaned when their parents died in a [...]
Weekly Guide to Career Opportunities at Move
Interested in working at a fast-paced company that is dialed in to the latest trends in real estate and technology? Look no further than Move, Inc., operator of the No. 1 real estate website REALTOR.com® and real estate destination Move.com. Move, Inc. provides consumers with the real estate content, decision support tools and professional connections they [...]
Real Estate Week in Review
This Week in Real Estate The 2009 National Association of REALTORS® Conference and Expo in San Diego, CA starts today and to get everyone in the market mindset, Move Trends has been bringing you the results of a new Move.com Homeownership Survey all week. The survey indicated that investors are showing more interest in real estate [...]
Fool?s Gold Might Be a Gold Mine for Solar Energy
Fool?s gold?or pyrite?could offer hope for inexpensive solar panel development. Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley are developing solar cells from one of the most widely available minerals on earth, which could become a low-cost alternative to popular silicon solar cells. Ecofriend tells us that even though pyrite is a commonly available material that promises [...]
Foreclosure Fears Are Fading in Today?s Real Estate Market
Foreclosure fears are fading in today’s real estate market, according to the Move.com Homeownership Survey released this week. Homeowners are not as concerned today that they or someone they know may be facing foreclosure compared to seven months ago, even though foreclosure filings reached record levels in the third quarter. In fact, one out of every [...]
Bret Saberhagen?s Calabasas Compound: Celebrity Real Estate
The former Major League Baseball starting pitcher was drafted right out of high school by the Kansas City Royals, where he began his long and successful career. While on the team from 1984 to 1991, Bret Saberhagen received the American League Cy Young Award twice and was selected to be a part of the 1990 [...]
Kid-Friendly Thanksgiving Table Dressings
Children make the holidays so meaningful and memorable, yet so much time is spent on impressing adults with heirloom china, crystal candelabras, linen tablecloths and custom centerpieces all spread out on the Thanksgiving table. How about creating an appetizing table setting that is both classy and kid-friendly? Martha Stewart and Country Living show us how [...]
Think Monopoly in Vacation Homeownership
The best time to vacation is when it?s best for you. Whether you?re adventurous or laid back, prefer hiking, surfing, or skiing, or whether you would rather just twirl your toes in the sand, most people love vacationing. As the holidays are fast approaching, more people will rent vacation properties to share the holiday [...]
