iStock/pidjoe

A cigarette is a small cigar and a towelette is a small towel, so what about a kitchenette? The English language has a tendency to not stick to hard and fast grammar rules, but in this situation, the rule stands. A kitchenette is, essentially, a smaller version of a kitchen.

But don’t be quick to count out kitchenettes based on their diminutive size! The benefits of these space-saving amenities far outweigh the disadvantages—so much so that people have started putting them in their homes in addition to their chef’s kitchens.

Traditionally you may think of kitchenettes as the solution for spaces that cannot accommodate (or do not need) a full-size kitchen—such as dorm rooms, extended-stay hotels, or even rooms in your home that you’re renting out. But these days, kitchenettes are veering more into the mainstream, says Samantha Hancock, a real estate professional with Re/Max Advantage Plus in Minneapolis–St. Paul.

Small size, big efficiency

In most living situations where square footage is limited, a kitchenette is the ideal cooking setup. It takes up only a small section of a wall and provides you with the basic necessities of a kitchen.

Getty Images (4)

Are you looking to live where your neighbors will mow your lawn when you’re away on vacation, donate diapers to a young family that’s just moved in, or buy school supplies for children whose parents can’t afford them?

Then you might want to start looking for homes in Georgia, according to a recent kindness survey led by kindness.org and commissioned by Nextdoor and Verizon.

The second annual survey interviewed 10,000 people across all 50 states to measure which acts of kindness people would do for their neighbors and ranked each state according to a “Kindness Quotient.”

Eight of the 10 kindest states in America are located in the South, known for its friendliness and sense of community. And all but one have a median home list price less than the national average of $427,250 in September. (Utah was the only exception.) Conversely, states such as New York, Hawaii, California, and Florida, where median home prices are among the highest in the U.S., didn’t even crack the top 25 for kindness.

Realtor.com

As a protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright, Wisconsin architect Russell Barr Williamson designed many homes on Milwaukee’s North Shore—including this midcentury modern ranch house on the market in Fox Point.

Fittingly, this house was designed to showcase panoramic Lake Michigan views.

The 5,454-square-foot home was built in 1959. It has five bedrooms and 4.5 baths and is listed with Lauren Siegel of First Weber Real Estate for $1,995,000—down from the original asking price of $2,150,000 in September.

At the start of his career, Barr Williamson was Wright’s chief draftsman from 1915 until 1917. After that, Barr Williamson established his own firm.

Realtor.com

After a sassy makeover by local designer Tracy Turco, the Cheetah Hotel in Palm Springs, CA, is on the prowl for a new owner.

The 12-room, 12-bath inn, built in 1954, wants $2.95 million. That’s a discount of $450,000 from when it came on the market in June (and then again in September) at $3.4 million.

Turco snapped up the vintage building in October 2021 for $2 million. Then she quickly redesigned it—mainly wrapping it in everything cheetah, from wallpaper to bedspreads.

The refresh was mostly a change of spots.

Photo courtesy of Fletcher6 / Creative Commons

A widow’s walk isn’t a sad scene from a funeral. It actually has to do with an architectural feature found on many 19th-century North American homes along the coast. Also known as a roof walk or widow’s watch, it is an iconic feature of coastal homes, like those found in Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket. For lovers of antique homes, the widow’s walk is definitely not something to cry about.

“’Widow’s walk’ is an architectural term for a rooftop terrace area enclosed with railings that became popular during the height of the whaling industry in New England,” says Gerard Splendore, a broker with Coldwell Banker Warburg in New York.

The architectural feature is still popular with New England homes today and is cherished for its character, intrigue, and the potential stories older homes may harbor.

What is a widow’s walk?

Also known as a viewing platform, a widow’s walk has a long and interesting history dating to the 1800s.

Getty Images (3)

Buying a house while simultaneously selling your current home is always a treacherous tight wire to traverse—but in today’s high-priced, high-interest-rate housing market, it’s both a blessing and a curse.

The good news for home sellers is that over the past year, demand for homes has driven prices through the roof, pushing home equity to record levels. Homeowners are essentially sitting on a pile of cash, which would definitely come in handy if they start shopping for a new home.

Yet any homebuyer out there today will also face steep mortgage interest rates, which have more than doubled over the past year to the 7% range. This has raised the cost of housing by around 70% compared with a year earlier, according to a recent analysis by Realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale.

Most sellers who move would need to get a new mortgage, at a higher rate. It’s no wonder, then, that many are deciding to stay put.

imaginima/iStock

If you’ve ever looked over real estate listings and came across an ad for a “luxury home,” you might have thought, “Wow, this one must be special!” But what exactly defines a luxury home, anyway? Is it determined by price, location, square footage, or some magic combination of all of the above?

Well, for starters, “luxury” isn’t strictly about how much cash you blow on the purchase. It’s much more subjective, and a moving target based on what a particular area’s high-end buyers have come to expect.

“It isn’t simply a price per square foot metric,” says The Agency’s Daniel Stevenson, who specializes in selling luxury listings. “Many times luxury is simply in the eye of the very covetous neighbor.”

While it’s hard to pin down an exact definition that encapsulates this air of affluence, luxury homes do tend to have certain features in common. So whether you’re looking to buy a posh place or wondering if you can describe your current digs in such opulent terms, here are some general qualities you can expect to find in a luxury home.

hikesterson/iStock

A California room is an outdoor space that boasts indoor amenities—similar to a porch but more posh. California rooms are an increasingly popular feature in homes today, particularly in warmer climates. So if you spot this term while perusing real estate listings, it’s helpful to know what it is—and whether it’s right for you.

What to know about a California room

Technically a California room isn’t a room at all. Builders tend to define rooms as structures with four walls. Instead Melissa Hazlett, vice president of marketing and sales for Baldwin & Sons, a homebuilding company based in Newport Beach, CA, likes to call a California room “one part porch and one part room.”

Although California rooms are technically classified as outdoor spaces—and thus aren’t factored into a home’s square footage—they do have protection from the elements. For instance, California rooms have a roof to keep out rain and sun. Yet unlike sunrooms or solariums, which are enclosed on all sides with windows, California rooms are open to the outdoors on one or more sides.

Also setting a California room apart from the sunroom is the fact that these “rooms” don’t have to be attached to a house, says Kathryn Bishop, a Realtor® with Keller Williams Realty in Studio City, CA. The California room can be built freestanding in the backyard, with electric lighting added for evening use and often a fireplace to add a touch of ambiance.

ISerg/iStock

If you have a mortgage, odds are your contract includes an acceleration clause. It basically means that if you break any terms of your loan, your lender can demand “accelerated” payment. In other words, rather than paying that money back over 15 or 30 years as planned, the whole amount is due immediately.

Sound stressful? Here’s what home buyers and owners should know about a mortgage acceleration clause, including what triggers it and how to keep this scary scenario from happening.

What to know about an acceleration clause

An acceleration clause is a part of the standard mortgage agreement used by Fannie Mae, a contract used in many residential mortgages, explains Adam Sherwin of the Sherwin Law Firm, in Somerville, MA. And even if your mortgage is not backed by Fannie Mae, most lenders have some form of an acceleration clause in place.

If you adhere to your mortgage contract by paying your monthly bill on time and otherwise, you will avoid ever triggering this acceleration clause. But if you violate any of your contract’s terms, watch out.

Realtor.com

A desert-modern domicile known as the “Dialogue House” has talked its way onto the market. The buzzy abode is asking for $2,195,000.

“Perched on an elevated hillside, this is one of the higher houses, so it has particularly great views,” says Scott Jarson of az architecture, listing agent for this modern mansion in Phoenix. Located at the base of Echo Mountain, the home features giant walls of glass with spectacular views of the surrounding mountain preserve.

The home was built in 2001 and designed by Wendell Burnette Architects, known for the luxury Utah resort Amangiri. It has three bedrooms and three baths.

“In the design sphere, it’s well-known,” Jarson says.

Realtor.com

It’s the perfect place for anyone who ever wanted to see how fast their car could go but didn’t want to risk a ticket.

A sprawling compound on the outskirts of Fayetteville, AR, comes with a 1.2-mile racetrack in the backyard.

“It’s for racing real cars. It runs right by the house, so you can do events and watch the race from down below or the top deck,” says listing agent Daniel Short, with True North Realty Group.

The 7,764-square-foot mansion, 30,000 square feet of metal outbuildings, and 393 acres are listed for $6.7 million. But the list price may change as there is a sale pending for some of the flood plain land for watershed conservation.

Photo by chelseahargraveinteriors via Instagram

The holiday season brings with it a finer appreciation for the kitchen. It’s a place where loved ones gather, cocktails are mixed, and good meals are made (and hopefully not burned).

But the seasonal spotlight on this space can also draw attention to its flaws—and inspire you to improve your kitchen’s form and function.

For this week’s trending Instagram decor, we thought it would be fun to feast our eyes on impeccably designed kitchens and bookmark the ones that are particularly noteworthy. Here are five such looks we encourage you to emulate to make your kitchen the most beloved—if not most used—room in your home.

1. Light gray cabinetry

One of our favorite kitchen design choices trending right now is ethereal light gray cabinetry, similar to these cabinets from @chelseahargraveinteriors.

Realtor.com

Never say die! The house from the ’80s adventure comedy “The Goonies” has hit the market for $1,650,000. Located in Astoria, OR, the three-bedroom abode is this week’s most popular listing on Realtor.com®.

Built in 1896, the historic home has been modernized over the years to now offer restored hardwood floors, an updated kitchen, and a skylit bedroom on the top floor, which is also the famed attic from the film. (Sorry, treasure map not included.)

Other digs that drew your clicks include an affordable farmhouse in North Carolina, a ginormous New Jersey mansion, and a spectacular private island in Florida.

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

BayEast / Realtor.com

A beautifully preserved 2,318-square-foot home—with a big-league architectural pedigree—has quickly found its new owner.

Kate E. McCaffrey and Julia Brady, with Compass, co-listed the Alameda, CA, property in October for $1,495,000.

Designed by Julia Morgan, best known for her work on Hearst Castle, the home has been altered minimally from its original 1925 design.

Morgan was the first woman admitted to École des Beaux-Arts in Paris to study architecture. She later became California’s first licensed female architect.

Getty Images / Realtor.com

Former Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko and his wife, Masha, are ready to part ways with their Los Angeles home.

The 4,500-square-foot home on a half-acre lot in the tony neighborhood of Bel-Air is available for $5,290,000. The couple purchased the property in 2018 for $3,510,000, according to Realtor.com®.

The couple also had another Bel-Air property, which was destroyed in the deadly Skirball fire in 2017.

Elegant estate

The recently listed home has five bedrooms and six baths. It features an open floor plan with a calm, neutral palette. The ceilings are high and hardwood flooring runs throughout the home.

HGTV

Home renovation specialists Ben and Erin Napier have made quite a name for themselves on their hit HGTV show, “Home Town,” so we guess it’s no surprise that they’re expanding beyond reality shows. They’ve just starred in their first movie.

A Hallmark movie, to be precise: On “A Christmas Open House,” the plot revolves around a single real estate agent in Atlanta named David and a professional home stager named Melissa as they attempt to prepare her family home in two weeks for an open house, and hopefully a sale on Christmas Eve.

Um, what?

We can’t help but think that Ben and Erin—who pitch in on some staging and renovations for the property before the big night—would never, ever suggest that clients list their home and have a big open house on Christmas Eve.

Realtor.com

A stately, brick-front home in Farnham, VA, is the oldest property to hit the market this week on Realtor.com®.

The four-bedroom Indian Banks estate sits prominently on 17 sprawling acres. It is here where a cousin of George Washington is said to have lived and the first U.S. president’s initials are inscribed on one of the bricks.

Other antique gems on the market this week include a home that was relocated to North Carolina, a Georgian-style beauty on Cape Cod, and an affordable center-chimney Colonial in Connecticut.

Scroll down for a full look at this week’s 10 oldest homes.

Realtor.com

What was once the most modern school in Latah, WA, has found new life as a home at the top of its class.

The Latah School (aka Union High School) and its attached gymnasium are available for $699,000.

The building dates to 1908, and it served students for 50 years. The rural schoolhouse has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2002.

“It sat vacant for about 60 years before it went through its conversion,” says listing agent Connie Newman, of Professional Realty Services.

Getty Images

While mortgage rates are rarely great conversation fodder over Thanksgiving dinner, this Thanksgiving is a whole different story. If there’s a homebuyer or seller at your table, you can bet your good gravy the topic will pop up.

After all, mortgage rates have more than doubled throughout 2022, blasting past the 7% threshold and hitting a 20-year high in late October.

Yet in the past two weeks, there’s been an astonishing reprieve.

We’ll take a look at the latest statistics that have made the American dream of homebuying such a roller-coaster ride this year in our column “How’s the Housing Market This Week?” And lo and behold, the overall message this Thanksgiving week is actually good news.

HGTV

On the HGTV show “Good Bones,” Mina Starsiak Hawk not only renovates houses around Indianapolis but often builds them from the ground up. Yet the project on the latest episode strikes some of her crew as a head-scratcher.

In “Little but Luxurious,” project manager Cory Miller surveys a piece of land that Starsiak Hawk has purchased for only $10,000.

“This lot looks like a driveway,” Miller declares.

“It’s a baby lot,” Starsiak Hawk confirms. “It’s only 20 feet wide, but goes back 100 feet. It’s a really skinny lot, but I think we could squeeze about a 1,500-square-foot house on it.”