Realestock Blog

There have been some surprises and some direct shoe-ins in the nominations for the 2010 Academy Awards. From Best Director to Best Picture, all eyes are seemingly on the battle between the artistic geniuses of former spouses James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow, respectively, while the surprise nominations of Carey Mulligan for An Education and Gabourey Sidibe for Precious have garnered their own group of loyal followers.

With all the hype of the nominations and debates over possible winners, what would it be like to take a look into their lives, catch a glimpse inside their homes and find out exactly how the stars live?

Here’s a glimpse into the houses and homes of some of the 2010 Oscar Nominees

George Clooney

Best Actor in a Leading Role nominee and Sexiest Man Alive, George Clooney is well known to have a home in Italy. Called the Villa Oleandra and situated in Northern Italy, near Lake Como; George refers to the property as his favorite of all the homes in his possession. With a gorgeous pool, rustic Italian kitchen, exquisite master bedroom and historical Italian architecture overlooking the lake, George has the vacation spot millions of people dream of.With his own dock leading into the lake, George can relax in a boat, anytime he wants. Sounds like the ideal vacation home to me.

Sandra Bullock

Best Actress in a Leading Role nominee Sandra Bullock purchased her home on quintessential Tybee Island in Georgia in 2001; shortly after filming Forces of Nature. The home, located on the north end of the island faces the Savannah River inlet, east of Savannah; where portions of the movie was filmed. She and husband Jesse James also purchased a $2.25 million dollar home in New Orleans in June 2009 with 6,615 square feet, 5 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms.The property contains a pool, ornately carved marble mantles on all the fireplaces, 14’foot ceilings in the ballroom and dining room and 16’ x 12’ kitchen with crystal chandeliers. That’s what I call living it up in the Big Easy.

Helen Mirren

Fellow Best Actress in a Leading Role nominee Helen Mirren has a home fit for a Queen, literally. Having won a series of awards playing Queen Elizabeth, Dame Helen purchased a 500-year old castle in 2007, in Puglia after two house-hunting trips in southern Italy. According to reports, Dame Helen spent somewhere in the neighborhood of £680,000 to buy the castle and the grounds three years ago, but there hasn’t been any news on how much she spent to refurbish and renovate the estate to make it inhabitable. Her Italian abode does have high fortified walls and a mature vineyard on the grounds. The Mediterranean can be seen half a mile away. Fit for a Queen, indeed.

Matt Damon

Supporting Actor nominee Matt Damon’s waterfront home in Miami looks more like a villa than a house. With the pool in the middle of the courtyard surrounded with palm trees, two guest houses, multiple balconies and his own private dock for boats and skidoos, it’s little wonder why he’d ever want to be anywhere else.The property is 9,500 square feet with 9 bedrooms on just over an acre of land. That’s perfect for when Matt’s buddies George and Brad want to stop over for a visit.

Maggie Gyllenhaal

Supporting Actress nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal and her husband actor Peter Sarsgaard moved into a vintage 3,600 square foot Brooklyn brownstone in the north Park Slope neighborhood; after tiring of busy Manhattan. The four-storey brownstone still has its original doors and moldings with a restored façade and a parlor with floor-to-ceiling windows. There are also 7 fireplaces with marble mantles and restored pine floors. Sounds quaint and cozy to me.

James Cameron

Canuck Hollywood heavyweight and Best Director nominee James Cameron lives in pretty luxurious comfort, according to more than one source. His 8,272 square foot “cottage” comes complete with 6 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, pool, tennis court and inner courtyard fit for Hollywood royalty. Perfect for brainstorming the next follow-up to Avatar.

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Canadian athletes aren’t the only ones earning medals during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

There are three ultra energy-efficient homes for locals and tourists alike to tour during the Games, Whistler’s first rammed-earth home and BC’s first net-zero energy home, made by a local builder and one, a certified ‘Passive House’ from Austria.

Austria House , as it’s called, is an ultralow-energy building designed to hear, cool and ventilate itself with small amounts of energy. Using a combination of super insulation, thick walls, triple-paned glazing, solar orientation and an advanced heat-recovery system, Austria House anticipates using one-tenth of the energy required by a building that is conventionally built and approximately the same size. This translates to less than half the energy consumption expected from a LEED-Platinum home -- one of Canada's highest standards for "green" buildings.

Austria House will be given to the Whistler community to use after the Games, envisioned as a rental shop for cross-country ski gear in the winter and bikes in the summer as well as a indoor public space and club space for the Whistler Off Road Cycling Association and the Whistler Nordics ski club.

Rammed earth, on the other hand, is a building system with one of the lowest environmental impacts commercially available today. Eighteen-inch-thick exterior walls are formed like conventional concrete, but use locally sourced sand and gravel, including a small percentage of Portland cement and naturally sourced colouring agents.

With a mixture of ancient knowledge and the latest in construction technology -- including double and triple glazing, non-VOC finishes and a hospital-quality air filtration system -- Whistler's first rammed-earth home is positioned as not only one of the healthiest in Canada, but as one of the most efficient. The home, built by RDC Fine Homes, uses 80 per cent less energy than any conventionally built home.

The home is also one of the first in Canada to include an extensive system for monitoring energy efficiency and indoor air quality and it’s currently available to tour in Whistler Cay Estates, just a short walk from Whistler Village.

Aside from the solar panels on its roof, B.C.'s first net-zero energy home looks fairly similar to all the other houses going up in the neighbourhood. When it comes to performance, however, it’s miles ahead of the competition.With a combination of energy-efficient design with high-tech construction and commercially available renewable energy systems, net-zero homes are considered as such thanks to their ability to achieve net-zero energy consumption (energy neutral) on an annual basis. Over the period of one year, the amount of energy the buildings use is equal to what they generate.

Every aspect of the building, another RDC Fine Homes' project, was designed to reduce energy use. Natural light reduces the need for artificial light during the day while overhangs shade the windows; when the sun is high in the summer months, eliminating the need for cooling systems. All windows are triple-paned, low-E gas filled, and both the foundation and walls use systems designed to create highly insulated interior spaces with minimal amounts of construction waste.

In addition to having a heat recovery system similar to that used in the rammed-earth house, an array of solar panels helps the building meet its energy demands. The builders anticipate that the house will at times create more energy than it needs; so it has been connected to another home in the neighbourhood where the surplus energy can be exported.

BC’s first net-zero energy home is open for public viewing from Feb. 17th-24th and March 19th-28th, from 1 pm to 5 pm.

When it comes to energy efficiency, Whistler has three homes that continue to push the envelope and break new ground in being ‘green’.

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For people expecting the real estate prices in Whistler to drop after the Olympics, I’m afraid you’re going to be sorely disappointed.

According to George Klimock from The Whistler Real Estate Company, property prices in Whistler today are already 15-25% lower than previous prices in 2007. In fact, current prices in Whistler are down to 2001 levels.

With a high level of inquiries and good prices, Whistler is considered to good value in the resort market, with, for example, a 2 bedroom condo is now listed at $ 519,000 as opposed to the more expensive $ 630,000 a few years earlier.

According to the 2010 Whistler Report from Landcor Corp,the average price of a condominium has started to climb recently, back to the $400,000 mark, first established in 2002. Since 2008, the condominium market has flattened. But, new ownership types, including quarter share ownership, have been introduced into the market, increasing affordability. This likely has helped to keep assessed values stable at or close to the $400,000 level. Townhouses in Whistler, typically priced between condominiums and single detached units, ranged from $650,000 to $750,000 from 2001 to 2007, but dropped below $600,000 during the recession.

Those looking to step into the Whistler market for the first time under the notion of a lower price, may be disappointed. Whistler homeowners receive good cash flow from renting their properties out most of the year and as such are not as motivated to sell as homeowners in other areas. Whistler is considered to be near the bottom end of pricing when compared to other resorts such as Sun Valley and Aspen, with price adjustments as low as they were in 2001-2002.

“The mistake many people make when they look at prices of property in Whistler is to compare [prices] with the price of properties in their city. You can’t compare Whistler to Vancouver because Whistler is a destination resort, designed for people to own secondary and vacation properties, not their primary residences. In order to get an accurate picture of what prices are like for resorts, you have to look at other resorts like Sun Valley, Park City and Aspen. In fact, Whistler is currently less expensive than Sun Valley and Aspen and Park City is higher priced.Whistler is currently a good buy for resort property,” says Klimock.

Klimock predicts that the current sales volume in Whistler will continue throughout the year with a fairly active winter season. He believes the Olympics will be good exposure for the resort, but through the long term rather than the land rush that occurred in 2002 because speculative buying due to the Olympics has been virtually non-existent. The market will take 6 to 8 months to increase in sales, with more destination travelers arriving to the resort in March and April; after the Olympics, but prices may increase after next year.

Ultimately, Klimock believes that sales volume in Whistler will gradually increase, but Olympic success is a non-issue. “Buyers are still interested in Whistler, with or without the Olympics. As a world-class resort, Whistler has unparalleled world access and is in close proximity to a major city, Vancouver. No other resort in North America can claim that. Having the Olympics is great marketing for Whistler, but I don’t think it would have any major effect on prices or the amount of people buying.”

The message is, if you’re waiting for prices to drop before purchasing property in Whistler, you may be too late. The time to buy is now.

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Improving your home’s curb appeal is real estate lingo for a house that looks so spectacular on the outside that people can’t wait to come inside. Remember that the exterior is the part of the house that the most people will see and it is the first impression that anyone who visits will have of your home. To make a spectacular impression on potential homebuyers, here are a few simple steps to turn your home into an outdoor haven in no time:

Take a ‘Before’ Photo

Taking a photo of the front of the house allows you to see firsthand what everyone else looks at when they arrive at your home and critically examine what should be done to improve the appearance.

Evaluate the Basics

Does the house need painting? Check if your doors are energy efficient and if they add or take away from the appearance of your home based on color etc. Sometimes simply updating your front entrance is enough to boost the curb appeal. Refurbishing your windows can add new life and sparkle to your entire home too.

Take More Photos and Use Programs to Help

Take your original photo to a copy shop and have them enlarge it and make several copies for you to experiment with. Try different paint colors or accessories like shutters or moldings over the windows in the photos. Don’t forget to draw in shrubs and any other landscaping. Try some interlocking brick patterns or stamped concrete on your walkway. Try websites like www.canamould.com or www.fypon.com for inspiration and Adobe Photoshop is a great program for you to experiment with different elements in your photos.

Check Out Hardware Stores

Once you’re satisfied with the results you’ve achieved in experimenting with your photos, check out your local hardware stores. Maybe they have that paint color you’re looking for or the new brick pattern that you were interested in. You might even discover new ideas to boost your curb appeal like old wrought iron for door grills or roof rails or awnings.

It’s easy to overlook the outside of your home when you are busy improving and updating the inside. But take a moment to look at the exterior of your house. You’ll be surprised at how easy it is to boost your curb appeal and have many more potential homebuyers clamoring to see your home.

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