Luxe living in 2024 = resort features at home | Real Estate Newsletter

The start of a new year is usually an aspirational time when we consider how we want our lives to look.

So let’s begin today’s newsletter by dreaming of what our homes would look like if we didn’t have to worry about money. I browsed some luxury home trends that agents selling multimillion-dollar properties say will define wealthy owners’ homes in 2024.

Keep scrolling for that story and to read about the $57 billion cost of racial and ethnic inequity in Philly’s housing market, find out what New Jersey homeowners will have to start telling potential buyers, and peek inside a Victorian home with modern-style decor.

📮 What do you think of Coldwell Banker’s luxury home trends list? For a chance to be featured in my newsletter, email me.

— Michaelle Bond

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Coldwell Banker Real Estate released its first-ever online guide showing home trends and “must-have” amenities for wealthy homeowners. It’s called “Best of the Best.”

What’s in style? Chef’s kitchens, spa-like bathrooms, resort-style backyards, and living spaces that seamlessly connect the indoors and outdoors. What’s out? Stainless steel.

According to the guide:

👩🏿‍🍳 A luxury chef’s kitchen should have two islands and range hoods that are “an object of beauty.”

⛲ The yards of luxury properties should have outdoor kitchens and water features.

🛁 Luxurious bathrooms should have freestanding soaking tubs that are the “artistic focal point for the room.”

And this wasn’t on Coldwell Banker’s list, but an agent I talked to said he recently visited a home that had “his-and-hers” toilets. Imagine.

Keep reading for more luxury home trends and discover the $10,000 amenity that the style guide highlighted as an “ultraluxe pick.”

We know that home ownership is the way most families in the United States build wealth, especially wealth that can be passed down through generations.

But how much and how fast properties grow in value depend on a bunch of factors, including who lives in the neighborhood where the property is.

From 1950 to 2022, home values in neighborhoods where most residents were white grew much faster than home values in neighborhoods where most residents were not, according to an analysis by the nonprofit Economy League of Greater Philadelphia.

Homeowners in Philly’s Black and Latino neighborhoods collectively would have $57 billion more in property wealth if their homes appreciated at the same rate as homes in majority-white neighborhoods.

The report is the first of its kind in Philadelphia, according to the Economy League.

Keep reading for reasons why home value growth is slower in certain neighborhoods and what that means for Black and Latino homeowners.

Desmond Patton and Jeffrey Keyes bought their late Victorian-style brownstone in 2022. (I almost wrote “last year.”) Their home, which was built in 1910, has an ornate staircase, wrought-iron Juliet balconies, and other Victorian hallmarks.

But the couple’s decorating tastes are much more modern.

Artwork includes a print by a graffiti artist and an abstract Mondrian painting of red, blue, and yellow rectangles. The foyer features wallpaper with blue strokes on a white background.

Patton and Keyes also created their own artwork — colorful miniature boxes they bought on Etsy and attached to a wall.

Previous owners moved the kitchen to the basement. The couple kept the arched exposed bricks that create a grotto effect but painted some brick walls white to lighten up the space.

Peek inside their home and find out where they went to pick out art and furniture.

One property — a hospital — represents more than 10% of a Delaware County borough’s tax base, and the hospital’s owner owes about $350,000 for last year’s tax bill. To make up for that shortfall, Ridley Park has approved a tax increase for all property owners.

Question: If the borough doesn’t reach a deal with the hospital’s owner, how much will property taxes in Ridley Park go up this year?

A) 8%

B) 17%

C) 25%

D) 33%

This story has the answer.

Do you know the location this photo shows?

📮 If you think you do, email me back. You and your memories of visiting this spot might be featured in the newsletter.

Shout out to John M., David P., Kathy P., and Denise S. They knew that the photo of a Christmas tree on a beach in the Dec. 21 newsletter was taken in Ocean City.

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The Philadelphia metropolitan area was one of the top 10 metros that home buyers were looking to leave in November, according to Redfin’s analysis of searches on its website.

The online real estate brokerage found that the top out-of-state destination for these home searchers was Salisbury, Md., for some reason.

But before we rise up to defend our region, the difference in the number of people looking to leave and the number looking to move in was 3,000 home searchers, which I don’t think is any reason to worry. About 13,000 people were looking to get out of the Washington metro, for example.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

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