Most Expensive U.K. Homes 2007

Real Estate Feature

What kind of home would you have loved to own if you had £70 million all to yourself? Probably, you would have considered buying one of the Most Expensive Homes in the U.K. If you love Expensive homes this would be of great value to your money.

Here are some of the lovely homes.

First:

Updown Court

Price: £70 million ($138 million)
Location: Windlesham, Surrey

On the market for over a year, this 103-room home has 58 acres of gardens and woodlands that cover an area bigger than Buckingham Palace. This First Expensive home has a panic room, an indoor squash court, bowling alley, 50-seat cinema, helipads, space for eight limousines and a heated marble driveway. ©Savills/Beauchamp Estates/Hamptons International

Visit a real estate agent in the United Kingdom and ask to buy a £10 million ($20 million) home and you will be told to join a long list of global super-rich who are already lining up for a chance to live there.

That’s because, whether it be Russian billionaires, Arabs buoyed by petroleum dollars or locally bred bankers fueled by seven-figure bonuses, the U.K., and London in particular, is awash with flush buyers looking for an international base they can call home.

“There is tremendous liquidity in the market at present, and property seekers feel safe about their investments here in the U.K. and London in particular,” says Gary Hersham, managing director of Beauchamp Estates, a high-end luxury real estate firm. “It is also globally accessible and centrally positioned for international business.”

This year, £8.8 billion ($17.4 billion) in bonuses were paid to executives in London’s finance and banking industry, according to the Center for Economics and Business Research--a good slice of which is expected to go into luxury housing. Agents and sellers have already upped high-end house prices knowing that there will be increased competition for multimillion dollar estates.

Second rated Most Expensive Home In The U.K.

Toprak Mansions
Price: £50 million ($99 million)
Location: Bishops Avenue, Hampstead, London

Toprak Mansion, built by Turkish entrepreneur Halis Toprak, is in one of the most sought-after addresses in North London. The 28,000-square-foot house has a double staircase and glass elevator. There is a swimming pool with a glass bridge and a Turkish bath for 20. It couldn't have been rated lower than the 2nd Most Expensive home in the UK.

© Glentree Estates
Trophy Homes
The country’s stand-out properties have a unique combination of size, history and character. Many of them are also outfitted with the latest security systems, state-of-the-art technology and leisure facilities necessary for the super-rich family.

Updown Court, for example, the country’s priciest at £70 million ($138 million), boasts 103 rooms on 58 acres of landscaped grounds in Surrey, just southwest of London. A panic room, indoor squash court and 50-seat theater await potential buyers who, should they choose, fly in via helicopter thanks to the property’s multiple helipads.

London’s 19,000-square-foot Old Swan House, one of the largest--and, at £32 million ($63 million)--most expensive in Chelsea, offers a dining room that seats 20, five bedrooms and 11 staff quarters. It was designed by renowned Victorian architect Norman Shaw in 1875 and commands views of the River Thames.

Throw in Britain’s relatively lenient tax regime, which allows the super-rich to legally sidestep some taxation, a prosperous economy, world-class retail and recreation facilities, and top-notch private education, and you’ve got a potent--and pricey--real estate cocktail.

The central London market, in particular, stands out when it comes to buyer desire. Here, one will find super-rich enclaves such as Belgravia, Mayfair and Knightsbridge. This chic area boasts high-end shopping and dining and as a result has separated itself from the rest of Greater London when it comes to attracting the highest prices for what’s becoming increasingly limited property.

“It is the worst supply-demand imbalance I have ever known. There are five to 10 serious buyers for every good £10 million house that comes to the market,” says Tim Wright, partner and head of property at Knight Frank’s South Kensington office.

Wright says international buyers are helping drive up prices--so much so that London’s real estate is now valued at a staggering £724 billion, up 26% from a year ago, according to research by the Halifax Bank.

“The advent of the eastern European nouveau riche and, to a lesser degree, the Indian buyers,” he says, “has dramatically increased the flow of capital into the top-end of the market.”

Third classed:

Old Swan House

Price: £32 million ($63 million)
Location: 17 Chelsea Embankment, London

Old Swan House is one of the largest in Chelsea and was designed by Norman Shaw in 1875. It has commanding views over the River Thames and boasts 16 bedrooms, a 20-person dining room, a swimming pool complex, an elevator and a theater.

© Simon Barnes/Knight Frank

Rural Refuges
London, however, is not the only part of the country getting attention.

“The old idea that international buyers only want to be within 30 miles or three quarters of an hour drive from London has been disproved,” says Crispin Holborow, director of the country department at Savills estate agents. “We have sold property to Russians from one end of the country to the other--Scotland to Cornwall.”

In fact, half of the country’s 10 most expensive homes are in areas such as Surrey, Somerset and Berkshire.

Fourth:

Holland Park Mansion and Holland Park Mews

Price: £28 million ($55 million)
Location: Holland Park, North London, W11

This eight-bedroom, 14,000-square-foot home comes with a two-bedroom, separate mews house. Boasting 14,000 square feet of living space, there is also a gym, wine cellar and basement swimming pool. Looking for some quiet time? Head to the 130-foot garden that abuts Kensington’s Holland Park.

Developer Dream Homes

To keep up with demand, developers are starting to cater directly to the super-rich by building multimillion pound apartments and houses. Some are also buying up existing properties in prime locations intending to knock them down and build state-of-the-art tailored premises with the latest security, leisure amenities such as swimming pools and cinemas, and the latest technology systems.

How will this affect home values? The consensus among agents is that prices at the super high-end of the market will rise by more than 10% in 2007 driven up by a chronic lack of super-luxe property available.

Fifth:

The Compton Castle Estate

Price: £22 million ($43 million)
Location: Compton Pauncefoot, near Wincanton, Somerset

This romantic castle has five cottages, a farm, two lodges and 1,270 acres of land. There’s even a spot to park your helicopter. The house was completed in 1820 and has a vaulted hexagonal entrance hall. There are five reception rooms and 12 bedrooms.

“We are into a new stratosphere when it comes to prices, and there is no shortage of people who want to buy, the value of property in this category could go up by as much as 25%” says Trevor Abrahamsohn, managing director of Glentree Estates who sells high-end property in North London.

So if you’ve got the cash, you’d better buy soon.

Curtesy: Nick Easen; forbes.com

The World's Most Expensive Home

Real Estate Feature

The World's Most Expensive Home

courtesy:http://www.forbes.com

By
Kerry A. Dolan

Price tag: $155 million home.

Carefully set into the hillside above the Yellowstone Club in Bozeman, Mont., the home steps down the hillside, allowing every space, both indoor and outdoor, breathtaking views and secluded privacy.







“Swim-in” indoor/outdoor heated pool and spa

Boasting stone surfaces, massive rock boulders, an upper hot tub and a “wall of water” cascading from above, the pool area opens completely to a Southern stone terrace with breathtaking views of the Yellowstone Club’s Pioneer Mountain. A bonus: massage and exercise rooms off the pool

Lower level guest suites

These deluxe rooms abut private terraces with uninterrupted vistas of meadows, mountain ranges and wilderness. The three suites feature private bathrooms with soaking tubs and wood-burning fireplaces.








Lower level rec room

This area houses a spacious stone wine cellar, antique bar, theater and billiards.















Caretaker and staff quarters

Tucked into the hillside above the home’s six-car garage, the apartment has space for a caretaker family and housing for on-site chefs and waitstaff, nannies and housekeepers. Multiple guesthouses are also proposed for the property.
This area houses a spacious stone wine cellar, antique bar, theater and billiards.

Private chairlift

No ski home would be complete without a private chairlift. Take the elevator down to the ski room to board the lift. (The actual chairlift will have covered gondola-style chairs.)









Great room and sunken bar area

Commanding views of Pioneer Mountain, Lone Peak, Cedar Mountain and the Yellowstone Club, the great room has a distinctly “lodge” feel, with soaring timber trusses overhead, allowing unobstructed mountain views in three directions. There is also a massive stone fireplace and multiple seating areas.







Forget who has the biggest yacht. The emerging battleground for bragging rights these days is who will lay claim to the world’s most expensive home.

Timber and real estate baron Tim Blixseth just upped the ante. He plans to build and sell a 53,000-square-foot stone and wood mansion at the Yellowstone Club, the members-only, Blixseth-developed residential ski and golf resort near Bozeman, Mont. Price tag: $155 million.

Dining room with floor to ceiling glass wall

The dining room has space for 20 guests and features a rustic stone fireplace, timber beams, hand-troweled plaster walls and rustic wood floors.










That outranks the $139 million asking price for the Updown Court in Windlesham, England, which topped the Forbes.com list of the world’s most expensive homes in 2006. It also exceeds the $125 million that Donald Trump is asking for the renovated estate he owns in Palm Beach, Fla.

It seems price is no object for those with a hankering for souped-up real estate. Blixseth says several members of the Forbes 400 have already expressed interest in the home.

Covered deck

Extending from the family room and kitchen and offering sweeping views of Cedar Mountain, Pioneer Mountain and the Lee Metcalf Wilderness, the home's covered deck features extensive use of reclaimed heavy timber trusses, heated flagstone surfaces, an outdoor kitchen and a massive outdoor fireplace for cool evenings.






“I can’t believe the interest,” says Blixseth, who ranks No. 322 in the 2006 Forbes 400 list, with a $1.2 billion fortune. “Some of [the world’s richest] just have to have the best. Price is not an issue.”

Or is it? The very steep price conveys an exclusivity that only a small number of people worldwide can afford. And that may make these homes all the more attractive. Blixseth has a friend in Beverly Hills who he says raised the asking price on his home from $54 million to $100 million and received many more inquiries.

Exterior stairs
Extending from the family room and kitchen and offering sweeping views of Cedar Mountain, Pioneer Mountain and the Lee Metcalf Wilderness, the home's covered deck features extensive use of reclaimed heavy timber trusses, heated flagstone surfaces, an outdoor kitchen and a massive outdoor fireplace for cool evenings.






Mega Manse
The 10-bedroom Blixseth mansion will sit on 160 acres and come with a private gondola-like chairlift that will whisk residents up to the Yellowstone Club’s private ski slopes. There will also be an indoor/outdoor swimming pool separated by a glass wall that can slide away on warm summer days, as well as a home movie theater--practically a standard feature in super high-end homes. The home will come furnished.
“When someone writes that kind of check, they don’t want to have to worry about knives, forks and spoons,” says Blixseth. “The wine cellar should be stocked.”

Work is 70% complete on the 1.25 mile driveway, which will set Blixseth back $2 million because it runs through rugged, difficult terrain. He aims to strike ground on the home in June and, using a construction crew 10 times the typical size, hopes to finish work in 14 or 15 months. The architect for the project is Jerry Locati of nearby Bozeman, Mont. Locati has designed 35 homes in the Yellowstone Club resort.

The Price Of Luxury
Construction costs are expected to total between $35 million and $40 million. That doesn’t include the cost of the land, which he already owns. In 1991, Blixseth paid $19 million for 140,000 acres of timberland near Yellowstone National Park, and later swapped that land for the 13,400 acres that form the Yellowstone Club, plus some other parcels elsewhere in Montana.

Blixseth is confident he will be able to sell the planned super-mansion, if only because so many second homes in the $20 million range are being snapped up of late.

“I’ve never seen such a feeding frenzy,” he says. But, adds the billionaire, who grew up poor as the son of Norwegian immigrants, “I never thought I would ever be talking these numbers.”

keeping A Good Home: Tips for Financing Your Remodeling Project

keeping A Good Home: Tips for Financing Your Remodeling Project

Tips for Financing Your Remodeling Project

Mygoodhome and Magnet uk

- Has being cooped up inside all winter given you the itch to renovate, renew or expand your home? Spring is the perfect time to start home improvement projects and interest rates make home equity loans attractive, but don't commit to anything until you've done a little "homework" first.

A home improvement project can add value to your house; however, some improvements pay off more than others. Before you decide how much to spend and what part of your house to spend it on, keep a few facts in mind.

According to RE/MAX, remodeling your kitchen can add up to 150 percent of the cost of the project to your home's resale value.



Adding a second bathroom increases your resale value by 90 percent of the project cost, and a room addition, such as a family room or an extra bedroom, provides a 60 to 80 percent return. Other improvements, such as new windows and doors or replacing the heating system, may be practical but they necessarily translate into resale profits.


Of course, your decision won't be based solely on the payback. "Choose an improvement project that makes sense for you and your family," says Maxine Sweet, vice president of public education for Experian, a global information solutions company. "In addition to resale value, you should take into account your family's quality of living."


Once you decide on the scope of your project, get bids from several contractors so you can compare prices and services. With these bids in hand, you'll have a better idea of how much money you'll need. But be realistic -- don't let that vision of your dream kitchen get in the way of common sense. Figure out how much debt you can take on, and plan accordingly. If your budget doesn't allow for a complete kitchen remodel, perhaps you can replace your cabinets or countertops now and put off the new appliances until next year.



Home equity loans are a great tool for financing a home improvement project. Because the loan is secured by your home, it will likely have a lower annual percentage rate, and in many states, you may gain some tax breaks on interest. With a home equity loan, the amount you can borrow is limited by the equity you have accumulated in your home. You can calculate your equity by subtracting the unpaid balance of your mortgage from the fair market value of your home. Other factors may also influence the amount you can borrow, such as your credit history, income and current financial responsibilities.

To make sure your credit history won't keep you from qualifying for a home equity loan, visit a credit reporting company online such as www.experian.com to quickly and easily access your credit report. Make sure all the information on your credit report is accurate. "If you notice anything questionable, such as accounts you don't recognize, or payment disputes, deal with those issues before applying for a home equity loan," says Sweet.

Sweet offers these tips about shopping for a home equity loan:

• Make sure all costs, fees, terms and charges are disclosed, including any penalties for early repayment.

• Find out the variances to your interest rate, if applicable, including the "cap," or ceiling, and the amount of the margin.

• Look into all conditions that may apply to your credit line, such as a minimum amount per withdrawal.

• Find out your repayment options.

• Remember, your house is being used as collateral, so be certain you are able to make your payments on time, or you risk losing your home.

Once your loan is arranged, make a final decision on a contractor for your project. Ask around among friends, neighbors and co-workers for recommendations. If you don't know anyone who has used your contractor, be sure to ask them for client references - and check them out.

A great tool for researching businesses that many people aren't aware of is SmartBusinessReports, also available through Experian at www.experian.com. These business credit reports provide consumers with background information, comprehensive financial information and credit risk facts in an easy-to-read, online format. Other good resources to check before you sign a contract include the Chamber of Commerce, the Better Business Bureau, the State Attorney General or your local consumer projection agency. Your lender may be familiar with the contractors you're considering, and you can ask building product distributors or wholesale suppliers to see what other professionals have to say.

And remember, every home improvement project seems to take longer than anticipated, so go into it with an open mind and flexible attitude. In the end, as you're preparing dinner in your new kitchen, or enjoying family movie night in your new family room, you'll know the wait was worth it.

Courtesy of ARA Content

Using a reliable Trim for your home exterior remodeling

Whether you are building a new home or remodelling an existing one, you want your house to look its best inside and out. More important, you want it to look great year after year with as little maintenance as possible, right?

In your remodelling, one simple way to set your home apart from your neighbors is to install or replace the exterior wood trim that frames your windows and doors, caps roof lines and serves as column wraps, porch trim, corner arches and a variety of other decorative applications.
It is an excellent finishing touch and a convenient and inexpensive way to accent the beauty of your home's style.

When choosing an exterior trim, material selection is perhaps the most important factor. Available materials include wood, engineered wood composites, hardboard and PVC. Wood products such as redwood, cedar and primed spruce, can look great when first installed, but may split and swell over time. Many homeowners also complain about paint peeling, chipping and discoloration of wood trim, as well as warping and decay. That is why they put some vital things into consideration while they think of remodelling their house.

Hardboard trim products are made of two pieces of hardboard siding that are glued together. Over time and with extended outdoor exposure, these products may separate and lose their durability, requiring additional maintenance and repair. PVC products may expand or contract with temperature variations, are not environmentally friendly, and cost two to three times that of engineered wood composite trim boards.

Engineered wood composite trim is a functional, economical and easy-to-use option. Some composite trim is treated to withstand harsh weather conditions and to provide enhanced performance. For instance, MiraTEC Treated Exterior Composite Trim from CraftMaster Manufacturing, Inc. (CMI) is treated with zinc borate and made with phenolic resins to offer moisture, rot and termite resistance. Hardboard trim products do not offer such protection. Additionally, MiraTEC Trim is coated with a mildew-resistant primer on four sides, making it easy to paint, thus eliminating the need to repaint as often as standard wood trim products.


Available in 16-foot boards, as well as a variety of thicknesses and widths, CMI's MiraTEC Trim delivers enhanced durability and performance in non-structural trim applications. It is reversible to meet any home's style.
The smooth side offers a contemporary look, while the side with a warm-cedar texture is perfect for traditional homes. Unlike other trim products, MiraTEC Trim is backed by a 25-year warranty that covers rot, hail damage, warp, delamination and splitting -- it's the most comprehensive warranty for any trim product on the market.

When building your next home or remodeling your current one, be sure to ask for MiraTEC Trim. It is available at most local building material suppliers. For more information or a free brochure call (800) 255-0785 or visit www.miratectrim.com.