And speaking of leaf blowers – to clean/dust intricate carvings and such, use one of the canned air things that you use for your computer keyboard. Really works and gets into all the corners and crevices.
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Great idea VeryHappy. I’m not a diligent cleaner so am remembering all these hacks!
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We’ve discussed the Razor House on here before - bought in 2019 by Alicia Keyes and her husband Kasseem Dean. Apparently he had it as his screen saver for eight years then had to talk her into moving to the west coast when the house went on the market. They have now finished decorating and filling it with their extensive art collection.
I am certain they do not clean it themselves, no matter how much they think of it as their family home 
.
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I often wonder if a dramatic infinity pool like that actually gets used and enjoyed. I mean is Alicia Keys splashing around playing Marco Polo in there?!!! 
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Beautiful house and very tasteful decor. This is one of the few instances where the owners likely use the grand piano (instead of it being just a decor piece).
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Some producers gave her the piano when she signed her first contract with them at age 16. And now her son Egypt plays on it. Her husband was all, can’t you get a custom piano now, until he heard the story.
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She might well be, considering how much she likes the artwork in her dining room of Black people enjoying a pool. So perhaps it is a favorite family activity.
The house is gorgeous, the artwork is fabulous, the furniture looks comfortable useful and interesting. It seems very livable. I’m sure they use that pool.
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@Marilyn thank you so much for posting the link to the Razor house tour with Alicia Keys and her husband. We were just at Gliderport a week or so ago and walked near the cliffs above Black’s Beach and saw some people outside at the house.
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Let us know if you run into them at the Sunday Farmers Market .
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Spectacular views.
Their art collection is vast and impressive, and it seems that they truly love and enjoy each piece.
And no, they do NOT clean that house themselves!
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I’ll stick this here - definitely “the bad” for Zillow! As an avid Zillow checker (amongst other realty venues) I had no idea they did some buying and selling of their own.
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Zillow wasn’t alone. There are a number of other companies doing the same things. They help amplify the recent run-up in home prices.
Honestly, most, if not all of us, could have predicted one or more of these iBuying businesses going out of business and/or writing down their portfolio of real estate.
“The music always stops.” And someone is left holding a lot of marked down real estate. The signals are always there. We just miss them sometimes.
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I think it shows that the algorithm they use to value homes is flawed.
I think they bit much more than they could chew through. 
They really underestimated how wrecked up the supply chain would be (no cabinets from IKEA!) and how big demand for contractors would get. I read that one of the plans was to hire and use in-house contractors… lol, that did not go as planned… who would want to work for much less than what they could get now? So now those properties sit as a giant liability with property taxes due and every other headache that comes with the joy of homeownership. Flipping is best left to mom and pop sorta business… like our @coralbrook who know the local markets and have earned their reputation through sweat and hard work.
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I agree. I have no idea how some desk jockey on another side of the country could truly know what a house is worth and how much work is needed to fix the property.
But pricing hasn’t collapsed yet here in San Diego. Probably cooling down soon
And, definitely discovering there are no kitchen cabinets to be had anywhere. Just designed an IKEA kitchen with owner of my next project and there are no boxes in stock. Doesn’t matter what color or style of door front you want, no basic boxes. IKEA is saying 12 weeks out. They might as well say that up front. Tons of people were counting on them.
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Yes, their algorithm and many others. Our home is in a city known for great schools and stable or rising property values. However, we are in a pocket that happens to have a separate zip code from the majority of the city, and as such are always compared to homes in the same zip code, but totally different city and school district. As such, most on-line estimates of neighbor home value rarely match selling prices. Since so little has sold recently, it is also not possible to verify with auditor values. It is also tough to know which homes have been updated or not, which makes a significant difference in our neighborhood.
Well, the tiny house in MA did not start any bidding wars… sold well below listing price.
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/tiny-house-in-wealthy-boston-suburb-sells-for-315000/
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Too tiny, I guess.