Real Estate Fun Facts!
By Chris Petry
Every year at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices The Preferred Realty, we host an Awards Ceremony to honor the achievements of our hardworking salespersons. Of course, that means a lot of hard work on our end, staging, hosting and pulling off the event. Last year we had the idea to test our agents’ knowledge about matters of real estate and film it for both educational purposes and entertainment. It was such a huge success with the crowd that we decided to repeat that particular pre-recorded segment, albeit with brand new questions. So, I spent several days bouncing around the Google, reading article after article, listening to expert after expert to structure my potential questions. Some of the Real Estate fun facts I found most interesting were… well, I guess you’ll need to read on..
In Japan, most homes are demolished and/or rebuilt every 30 years. Yes, it’s true. Conventional wisdom in the West is that homes are an appreciating asset. Which is to say they increase in value over time, assuming the owners maintain the upkeep and occasionally make updates to their investment. Not in Japan, however. The Northeast Asian Island country, the 11th most populous country in the world, views homes as a depreciating asset and often rebuilds after 20-30 years. Commercial properties and houses of worship are generally excluded from single score demolition. Why are rebuilds so frequent? Well, it appears the answer is mostly cultural. Japanese society has mainly embraced modernity and doesn’t tend to attach much sentimental meaning to the homes themselves.
The US state with the highest median sales price is Hawaii. While most people would’ve probably assumed California or New York, stories of their overpriced and undersized dwellings routinely filtering in to the news cycle, the highest median home sale prices can be found in the tropical archipelago of Hawaii. So why is the Pacific Paradise so pricey? Two reasons: one, desirability. Simple as that. Lots of folks want to visit or move to Hawaii. That demand drives up prices. The other, lesser discussed, is regulations. For that, I’ll refer you to this article which breaks down all the arguments for the position. The most glaring statistic I noticed within was that it takes an average of 10 years for homebuilders to turn a vacant piece of land into new housing because of the various codes and enforcement. Not sure if the regulations are good or bad but the extended gestation period can’t be good for inventory.
Real estate agents were once referred to as “curbstoners.” Curbstoning is a slightly archaic term used to refer to all unlicensed salespeople. At the turn of the twentieth century, believe it or not, that included REALTORS. All I can say is, we’re a lot better off as buyers and sellers knowing that the individuals representing us in today’s real estate transactions require hours of pre-licensing education as well as routine continuing education.
1/3 of American homes are Pet-less. 32.1% of all US homes feature a feline companion. 45.5% of homes own a dog. I’m sure there’s some crossover in there. The most startling statistic of all? About 30% of homes have neither. Nor do they have birds, fish, reptiles or anything else. That means that just under 1/3 of all US homes have no pets at all. Meow that’s very interesting.
The White House has 132 rooms. 35 of which are bathrooms. Now look, I’m no mathematician but if you have 132 rooms, that means that every 3rd room or so in the place is a bathroom. This led me to look up statistics pertaining to the average number of bathrooms in residential homes and, sure enough, the number has actually increased from 2.2 in 1987 to 2.8 in 2020. Current stats indicate that there are, on average, three bedrooms in American households. So, the number of bathrooms at the seat of our government is really what one would expect based on the number of rooms. Are we getting a glimpse of yet another new normal? One where every bedroom gets its own bath? All I can say is, wow, I wish that was a thing when my home was constructed.
Brass door knobs are the most germ-free option. Now why do microbiologists get as jazzed up over brass door knobs as most people do Taco Tuesdays? Well, that’s because of a natural chemical process called the Oligodynamic Effect, wherein brass self-sterilizes. Hold the Lysol wipes, Ethel!
25% of homeowners with a two-car garage never park in it. It appears ¼ of all homeowners with a two-car garage are electing to use them for storage or workshops as opposed to weather-protectant car parks. Which begs the question, do these people just enjoy brushing snow off their car that much?
Buckingham Palace is the most expensive piece of residential real estate in the world. Well, I guess this one’s not really a shocker. After all, this piece from MSN lists the total value of the top 10 residential properties owned by the royal family as $8.1 billion. On its own, Buckingham Palace comes in around $1.5 billion. Spare some change for my kitchen cabinet remodel, Your Majesty?
Black doors bring the value. Believe it or not, homes with a black front door, on average, sell for around $6,000 above their more colorful competitors. I knew I was right when I painted everything in my house black. If a black door alone can command $6,000, my interpretation of what Robert Smith’s private residence must look like is going to fetch some massive doe on the resale. Right? Tell me I’m right.
The highest sale price for a home in the USA last year was $210 million. Where was this massive sale? Malibu, California. Okay, the British Royalty already turned me down. Can ye spare some change for my kitchen cabinet remodel Oh, Majestic Malibuite?
