HGTV

Christina Hall may have flipped and designed hundreds of homes, but even she still makes some surprisingly basic mistakes when it comes to her own personal real estate decisions.

Want proof? On the latest “Christina on the Coast,” she gives fans an up-close-and-uncomfortable view of her latest move from her recently purchased house in Dana Point, CA, to a newly purchased mansion in Newport, CA. And it’s not pretty.

At the same time, the episode “Big Family, Tiny Kitchen” also highlights Hall’s renovation for clients Ruby and Berto, who have a budget of $100,000 to turn their cramped kitchen into a prime entertaining spot.

As Hall juggles both work and home life transitions, she does somehow pull it all off and dish out some excellent tips for moving and redesigning. She is proof that if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again! Here are some lessons we learned from her this week.

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Former NFL linebacker Blake Martinez is looking to swap his Southern California home for $6,299,000.

A sale would add to the pile of cash he’s made both on and off the field this year—because he’s also a pro when it comes to the big business of Pokémon cards.

There’s plenty of money to be made with these colorful collectibles. It might even prove to be more lucrative than being a professional football player—and it’s a heck of a lot safer. The recent sale of a rare Pokémon card netted Martinez $672,000 and was one of the factors that led him to retire from the NFL in the middle of the 2022 season.

His recent career change might have also forced a reevaluation of his nearly brand-new Manhattan Beach, CA, home. Martinez and his wife purchased the six-bedroom, 6.5-bath property for $5,985,000 in late May. Seven months later, it’s back on the market with a modest 5% price bump.

A Mediterranean-style house in Los Angeles, a three-family building in San Francisco and a five-bedroom home with a guesthouse in Alamo.

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Many first-time homebuyers might shy away from the prospect of buying a brand-new home, assuming: It will cost too much. It will take too long.

While purchasing new construction is indeed different from purchasing previously owned property, many misconceptions abound about new builds. As a result, homebuyers who’ve heard these rumors might be passing over a smart path to homeownership that makes sense for many Americans today.

“Given declining housing affordability and limited existing home inventory, a full one-third of inventory on the market is now new-construction homes,” says Robert Dietz, senior vice president and chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders.

In other words, in a housing market plagued by limited inventory, prospective homebuyers can’t afford to count out new-construction homes as an option—and they certainly shouldn’t just because of some persistent misconceptions.

A couple found a rental apartment in Manhattan on the first day they searched. But there were weeks of snags and delays before they actually moved in.

“Storytelling is so powerful in sales,” say these leading luxury agents. “I am constantly telling stories — whether it’s in my social media, magazine ads, or in-person on a listing interview. Stories are what piece everything together.”

Your co-op might be willing to help, even if it has to amend its rules. But it will likely be up to you to prove exactly where the smoke is coming from.

A trade group representing mortgage brokers launched a political action committee and more than doubled its spending on lobbying in 2022.

Realtor.com

If you missed out on the first two missile silos that recently came on the market in Nebraska, you’re in luck. There’s now a third missile silo up for sale in the state. And someone interested in Cold War history should nab it.

Listing agents Polly and Mike Figeuroa, both with BancWise Realty, have found an unlikely niche in Atlas-F missile silo sales.

“Sometimes you find a niche. Sometimes they find you,” says Mike. He and his wife have listed three former missile silos this year.

“When we look back to April of this year, we didn’t even know that these missile silos existed, and now we’ve become the Nebraska experts on Atlas-F missile silos,” he says.

HGTV

HGTV stars Jonathan and Drew Scott are always eager to please their clients when renovating a house, yet the people they meet on the latest “Property Brothers: Forever Home” throw them for a loop.

In the episode “Bright Future Ahead,” Chris and Melody in Burbank, CA, tell the brothers, with straight faces, that they want a design style they call “alien eclectic.”

You can almost hear a record scratch.

“Did you say alien eclectic?” Drew asks incredulously. “That’s a first.”

The luxury real estate sector faced its ups and downs as the market entered a period of significant transition, but that didn't prevent luxury clients from making some stellar deals.

This week, Byron Lazine and Nicole White are talking about the end-of-year Case-Schiller update, the Twitter account real estate agents should be following, the marketing trends that won't make it into 2023 and the pitfalls of quiet quitting.

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Vogue global editor at large Hamish Bowles is parting with his longtime Manhattan apartment after injecting it with his stylish spin.

“The apartment was completely renovated,” says listing agent Chris Poore, of Sotheby’s International Realty–Downtown Manhattan Brokerage. The two-bedroom, two-bath unit is available for $2,900,000. “It was featured in Architectural Digest a couple of years ago and The World of Interiors.” Bowles is also editor of The World of Interiors publication.

The unit is in a 10-story, elevator building dating to 1925. It was converted to a co-op in 1958. The building is in Greenwich Village, near Washington Square Park and Union Square.

“It’s a very charming neighborhood with tree-lined streets,” Poore says. “It feels more like Europe. It’s one of the most desirable neighborhoods in Manhattan.”

Catch up on this week's most-read stories, as determined by Inman's readers. Here are the top 5 stories of the week, Dec. 23-29, 2022.

Photos by @kelseyleighdesignco / @home_decor_daily / @heidicaillierdesign

With the new year comes the promise of improvement. For many of us, that means improving one of your most used, high-traffic rooms: the kitchen.

Whether the near future holds a light revamp or a gut remodel, there’s nothing more fun than gazing at impeccably designed kitchens to help you get inspired.

For this week’s Instagram decor roundup, we’re showing you five of our current favorite kitchens and highlighting the trendy features that make them stand out.

From eye-catching dark hardwood floors to a chandelier that suits a variety of design styles, the following looks are bold and beautiful—two sentiments we all want to carry into the new year.

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How about a brand-new home to go with the brand-new year? The good news is that 2023 is already full of great opportunities for buyers.

We zeroed in on the markets predicted to be red-hot in 2023 and found a surprising number of excellent homes with clean slates—they’re all shiny and new and have never been lived in.

And get this: These five primo properties we picked are all priced below $500,000.

They’re all located within 25 miles of the cities our experts say everyone will want to live in in 2023.

According to Jimmy Burgess, lead gen is not about reinventing the wheel. Act consistently on these tried-and-true strategies and your lead-generation efforts will start out strong in 2023.

Wear clean socks, avoid jerks, give more to your employees than they expect and learn how to stroll like the Italians — read on for these and 96 other shrewd pieces of advice for the new year.

In a seasonal slowdown in top sales in Manhattan in December, there were still lofty prices, but many fell below what the sellers were asking.

The "remote work-friendly property brand" is in beta with a property sales portal, a marketplace, for selling short-term rental properties. Each listing’s financial filings are provided in full detail.