IF YOU HAPPEN TO SHELL OUT $75 to get your hands on the 2004 National Association of Realtors home buyer profile, you might be disappointed—but probably not surprised. After scanning its 30 pages, you come away thinking today's buyers are fickle, superficial creatures who don't care about anything but big garages, high ceilings, bathrooms, and closet space.
YOU CAN LEARN A LOT BY TALKING with OSHA inspectors. First, they're not jack-booted thugs who are out to get you. Second, they do have a mission, and if you get in the way of that mission, you may pay the price.
IN COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION, THE USE OF SITE-POURED, TILT-UP concrete walls is growing at record speed. But residential builders, for the most part, haven't joined the tilt-up revolution. It's still primarily a commercial construction tool.
Is it art or is it kitsch? That's a question that will undoubtedly arise, if the “Castell'Arquato” ever moves off of the drawing board and into construction. Like its medieval predecessors, this castle is not intended to house peasants and other riffraff. With a price tag of about $6 million, it will be built only if the right ego comes along and falls in love with the concept. Paolo Tiramani, the eccentric designer who came up with the idea, isn't your typical architect. He designs everything from automobiles to luggage, and this over-the-top house is just another piece in his portfolio. Tiramani tackled the Castell'Arquato project after he successfully sold another extravagant property (a mere mansion), which he hyped and sold using the same one-shot marketing strategy.
REZONING INDUSTRIAL PARCELS FOR RESIDENTIAL use isn't new. But here's an unusual snafu that came up in Pennsylvania: If the land to be rezoned for housing abuts other, viable industrial-zoned land, home builders can end up on the opposite side of the table from commercial developers.
