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What constitutes a mansion, anyway? Is it square footage? Price? Luxury facilities? All three put together in some sort of swanky combo?

For our purposes, size matters. We found five luxury homes, all measuring more than 7,000 square feet. And prices matter, too—budget prices. Can you believe all these giant, fancy pads cost less than $1 million?

We found these deluxe domiciles in places like Plattsburgh NY, Montrose CO, and Canfield OH.

Even if you’re not considering moving in, it’s fun to see the types of big houses you can still get for under a million bucks.

Zillow, Keller Williams and Realtor.com shared their respective takes this week at Inman Connect New York on the trends expected to take hold in 2023.

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California coastal designer Christina Hall has a new pair of shoes to fill (or boots, to be specific) now that she’s bought a house in Nashville, TN. Hall is busy creating a country-chic lifestyle for herself and her clients, on her spinoff series “Christina in the Country.”

In the episode, “Tennessee Transplants,” she helps fellow Nashville newcomers Kevin and Katie bring their edgy-yet-elegant style to a terrible Tuscan-style property on the outskirts of Franklin, TN.

What starts out as an unlimited budget to renovate the unusual home becomes very limited, indeed—but you’d never know it from the way Hall and this resourceful couple work together.

They deliver plenty of tips on how anyone can glam up a living space without breaking the bank. Take a look to see what Christina and crew can teach you this week.

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The numbers: U.S. pending-home sales rose 2.5% in December, reversing a six-month losing streak, according to the monthly index released Friday by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Pending home sales were down for six months in a row, as the U.S. Federal Reserve increased interest rates and mortgage rates took off.

Pending-home sales beat analyst expectations. Analysts polled by the Wall Street Journal had forecast the pending home sales index to drop by 1%.

Contract signings rose in the South and the West.

Catch up on all of the latest news and this week's most-read stories. It's Inman's Top 5 for the week of Jan. 20-26 2023.

As the brokerage prepares for a slower market, agent recruitment, finding a permanent RE/MAX Holdings CEO and franchise consolidation are among the issues RE/MAX will face in 2023.

This week, Byron Lazine and Nicole White are talking about cities that are making it harder to own short-term rentals, how inflation has impacted millennial homebuying plans and the weekly media review Left, Middle, Right.

The 12-person John Stanaland Group, formerly of Villa Real Estate, closed more than $300 million in sales volume in 2022, according to an announcement Thursday from Douglas Elliman.

In a positive sign for the real estate industry — and the spring homebuying season — pending home sales rose in December for the first time since May 2022, increasing 2.5 percent from November.

Kenneth Haber, who had served as general counsel since 2004, will now shift to an advisory capacity at Douglas Elliman as a senior managing director, the brokerage told Inman on Friday.

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Do ice hockey and horseback riding really go together? They do if you’re Bobby Holik.

The former National Hockey League center has slashed the price on his mountain home and horse barn in Jackson, WY, from $22 million to $17,750,000.

Holik is best known for his years with the New Jersey Devils.

The home was originally listed in June 2022, and an offer was made (and declined) in September. The property was removed from the market, but now the former hockey pro is giving the home sale another go.

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Mortgage rates are down again this week, which means things are looking up for homebuyers.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage ticked down 2 basis points to 6.13%, according to Freddie Mac, continuing a pattern of rates seesawing lower since topping 7% in the fall. In fact, mortgage rates are at their lowest levels since mid-September 2022.

Yet, while lower borrowing costs are a boon for homebuyers, few seem to be pouncing on this opportunity as they might have a year or two earlier.

“As we move into the new year, housing market data continues to suggest that buyers are relatively sluggish as the total number of homes for sale climbs higher and homes spend more days on market,” noted Realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale in her analysis for the week ending Jan. 21. “After unprecedented urgency to find and close on a home in 2021 and 2022, buyers in today’s housing market are clearly operating under a different set of expectations and a much greater measure of patience.”

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A lavish, $59 million penthouse in Aston Martin’s first residential building in Miami drives to the top of this week’s most popular home listings on Realtor.com®.

The sprawling, seven-bedroom, top unit will be located in the luxury automaker’s first residential high-rise, which is under construction with completion scheduled for later this year.

Other digs that drew your clicks include a colorful Colorado home with a hula-hoop room, an urban barndominium in South Carolina, and a contemporary masterpiece featured in the Season 3 premiere of HBO’s “Westworld.”

For a full look at this week’s 10 most popular homes, keep on scrolling.

The Rehearsal Club, which provided inexpensive housing for decades for aspiring actresses, singers and dancers trying to make it in New York City, is back. Carol Burnett said the club “saved my life.”

This is the market where opportunity abounds for the diligent, professional agent. Homeowners who have been unable to sell their homes need your expertise.

If you want to use the ChatGPT chatbot for marketing, you need to be aware of its limitations and potential drawbacks, writes broker Teresa Boardman. It may make more sense, in fact, to do your own writing.

It is possible to tell when your real estate business is going off-course before it’s too late. By keeping your fingers on the pulse of your business, you can evaluate often and adjust your course.

Photo courtesy of Zimal Contracting and Restorations via Houzz

In the “before times,” you probably didn’t think much about the importance of a mudroom for dropping bags and shedding shoes before entering the main house. The same goes for special antimicrobial surfaces or tech-driven details like touchless taps.

Yet, ever since the COVID-19 pandemic roared through our lives, health and wellness features have become top of mind in home design. And it looks like many of them are here to stay.

These wellness perks are often touted in listings as must-haves—and higher home prices might reflect these “healthy” upgrades. So the burning question is: Are they worth the extra dough?

For some help sussing out which wellness bells and whistles are worth a second look at your budget when you’re house hunting, read on.

Realtor.com

A midcentury modern design in the desert is no mirage.

The 3,700-square-foot property was built in 1964 for the Hawkins family and designed by Blaine Drake, a Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice at Taliesin. The home has been owned by only two families. It’s now on the market for $2,495,000.

The four-bedroom, three-bath home in Phoenix last changed hands in 2019 for $1,205,000, according to Realtor.com®.

“It’s a true, unspoiled, midcentury modernist home,” says Scott Jarson, of az architecture. “It hasn’t had any negative changes to it.”

Photo courtesy of Kevin O'Sullivan + Associates via Houzz

Hanging new curtains is one of the best budget-friendly ways to revamp your home. But, it also tends to be one of the most difficult home decor projects to complete correctly.

From not measuring windows right, to incorrectly placing curtain rods, there is a lengthy list of things that can go wrong.

Whether you’re looking to update old living room window treatments or hang functional curtains in the bedroom, be sure to steer clear of these all-too-familiar mistakes.

1. Choosing the wrong curtain length

When deciding on curtains for your home, it’s important to take length into consideration.