Habitat for Hermanity: Your Real Estate Infotainment...Where Housing Hilarity Ensues! San Francisco Bay Area Realtor Herman Chan - Habitat For Hermanity

Celeb Housing News: Hulk Hogan, Business Moguls & Pam Anderson

11/28/2011

image courtesy of TMZ.com

*Hulk Hogan and ex-wife Linda's are getting body slammed by the housing market! Original asking price was $25M in 2006, and now it's been slashed to (gasp!) mere $8M. Just look at the photo. What is it? The walls say English country compound. The pool in front says sleazy Vegas watering hole. The left roof looks like the top of a Tahiti hut. As I've vlogged before, first rule of home selling: Do not confuse the buyer.

*If you are a closeted Occupy Wall Street supporter, you may find solace in MSNBC's round up of Business Moguls whose mansions are embarrassingly languishing on the market. See, even highfalutin VIP's are part of the 99%...yeah right!

*Pam Anderson puts her Malibu house on the market. Give up one years salary & you too can live in the Bay Watch beauty's abode for $20,000/mo. (OK, I really just wanted to post a pic of Pam!)

How to Decorate a Tiny Teeny Apartment - by Herman for eHow.com

11/28/2011

If you follow my blog, you know I've blogged many times about the small space movement. I've even written some published pieces about this. What can I say, I'm anti-McMansion! Anyhow (or should I say any-ehow), eHow.com asked me to do a video about how to decorate a tiny weensie apartment, so here it is!

If you have any photos of videos of your bite sized abode, please share! I'd love to feature it on Habitat For Hermanity.

How to Decorate a Teeny, Tiny Apartment -- powered by ehow

Glory to Gory Homes: Shocking Before & After Photos of Mega-Mansions Gone Bad

11/23/2011

In an affected attempt to tap in the 99%, Forbes highlights America's Doomed Mansions. The before and after photos are stunning, but I think the real story is the amount of dough people have...and how whimsically they treat it!

Left Image: Steve Jobs bought this 1920's 15,000 sq ft mansion just to tear it down because he didn't care for the way it looked. With him passing, the site is just rubble now with no future plans. What a waste of historical architecture!

Middle Image: Winston Churchill, George Gershwin and the Vanderbilts all partied in this mansion that inspired the Great Gatsby. So much history but alas, last spring it was bullbozed to make way for a new, gated community of 5 custom $10 million to $17 million mansions. (ummm, tract home mansions anyone?)

Right Image: The mega compound was 90% finished when Coca-Cola heir & his wife got bored. So they ditch it. Threw it on the market for $40M, and sold it for $16M. Oh, what's $24,000,000 when you really think about really? Chunk change.

On a less cynical note, be grateful for all you have. Life is fragile and money meaningless without good health, friends & family!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Chris Brown Snags Hollywood Steal & RiRi Gotta Shortsale. No Justice in this World!

11/22/2011

photo montage courtesy of gawker.com

OK, what is wrong with this?!

Chris Brown snags steald of the century (a $1.5M Hollywood Hills bachelor pad, listed 2 yrs ago for $2.7M) while poor Rihanna gets shafted with a leaky shortsale (She's selling for $4.9M but paid $6.9M!).

On a side note, it irks me still that someone who pulverized his girlfriend's face has re-launched his career to new heights! This is the messed up era we live in: Reward wackos with more fame & fortune.

RSVP to meet me in person at the Instinct Magazine Leading Men Bash in Hollywood!

11/22/2011

If you missed me being honored by Instinct Magazine at their New York City Bash, don't worry. You can catch me again at the Los Angeles Celebration November 30th! I'm being feted for my anti-cyber bullying efforts for Say It 2 My Face. Come meet me and all the other Leading Men featured in this month's issue.
Below are some pix from the wildly successful NYC event.
Photo 1: I'm on stage with Instinct Mag's Publisher JR Pratts and Rupaul's Drag Race Manila Luzon
Photo 2: My old friends from UC Berkeley came out to support me. I've always been a little activist!
Photo 3: With NYC writer David Perry who interviewed me for the magazine
Photo 4: Coverboy Rick Welts, CEO of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, who recently came out!

RSVP to meet me in Hollywood: http://instinctmagazine.com/rsvp-la

Homes of Lady Gaga & George Clooney before they were stars!

11/20/2011

The 1 bedroom apartment Stephanie Germanotta lived in before she became Lady Gaga is available now for a mere $1850/mo. A steal for NYC! It's so hard to believe she sat in that teeny-weenie pad composing the hits that would catapult her to universal stardom. Whoever rents out that place hopefully will absorb some serious Mother Monster karma!

By the way, do you like Gaga's new single Marry The Night. (Her decapitated head performance is epic.) My rendition would be called Marry The Knight!

Earlier this year, my friend Lisa Lyons of Budala Communications gave me a little surprise. She showed me a very modest apartment in LA of one of her ex-clients. At the time, she was the publicist for a struggling actor named George. As in George Clooney! I love seeing the humble beginnings of celebs, especially their homes. Gee, they really are just like us!...at least they started out that way....

PS: Look at that Mullet! It wasn't that bad when he played a cop on Golden Girls.

Catholic Church pays $57M for Crystal Cathedral when 1000s of molested victims left penniless!

11/20/2011

Catholic Church plunks down $57,000,000 for the famed "Hour of Power" Crystal Cathedral. Gee, I'm glad to know they are spending their billions on real estate when those thousands of kids they molested around the world could have used some of that dough. Um, priorities?

The Penn State scandal, as horrific as it is, pales in comparison to the global cover-up by the Vatican. And you don't see them snapping up property!

eHow.com: How to Find Out What Your House Will Appraise For

11/12/2011

If I had a penny for each time I got asked this question, I could buy a foreclosure all cash! LOL. For (m)any homeowners, it's the million dollar question (so to speak): What's my house worth?

In fact, I was on an HGTV show with Celebrity Apprentice winner Kendra Todd called called My House is Worth What, whose premise was we'd go assess how much value a homeowner's recent renovations was added to the property. Back in the hey-day, you could buy a busted up shack and it'd appreciate 20%! Then the market tanked. With property values plummeting, ummm, that show wasn't as happy anymore, so it went bye-bye.

Regardless, it is still important to find out the correct value of your house. Ignorance is NOT bliss! Watch my quick tips on eHow on How to Find What Your House Will Appraise For.

How to Find Out What Your House Will Appraise for —powered by eHow.com

Happy Veterans Day! Thank you to all the vets who put their lives on the line for us!

11/10/2011

Catch me speaking for KODAK at the National Association of Realtors Convention

11/8/2011

I had a fantastic time at last year's NAR Conference in New Orleans! I'll be back this weekend for the 2011 Conference in Anaheim to speak for KODAK. If you're at the convention, please catch me at 11am Saturday Nov 12, "How to Snag Clients with Videoblogging!"

I'm also attending RISMedia's Power Broker Dinner Friday Nov 11. Stop by to say hi if you see me!

Real Estate Agents Share Hilarious Wacky Tales on MyAgentStory.com

11/7/2011

My friend David Winans from TexasMLS just launched a new site called My Agent Story, where us agents share all the wackiest, craziest hilarious stories we encounter on a daily basis. Trust me, we see some weird stuff out there, and it is Cray-cray!

If you are a realtor who has got a story to share, please submit! We all need a dose of laughter in this hard economy. My tale is about wearing bullet proof vest to show property in the ghetto.

Enjoy!

I made Instinct Magazine's Leading Men Issue! RSVP for the NYC Bash to meet me!

11/6/2011

Instinct Magazine's November Issue features me and other guys who are trying to make a difference. I'm so honored and flattered to be noticed for my work as spokesperson for anti-cyberbullying campaign Say It 2 My Face. Past leading men have included Andy Cohen VP of BravoTV, Armistead Maupin of Tales in the City, & Tim Gunn of Project Runway.

Instinct Mag writes:
"Many of the LBGTQ advancements this past year can be directly attributed to the 20 gentlemen we honor in Instinct’s 2011 leading men issue. They shattered stereotypes, demanded action and attention and, in some cases, put their own safety at risk in the name of helping others. They are...proudly showing the world what character and virtues a true leading man embodies."

Full list of the 2011 Leading Men are here.

Meet us at the Leading Men Party in New York City, hosted by Rupaul's Drag Race Manila Luzon November 15, 2011.

RSVP here: http://instinctmagazine.com/rsvp-ny
See you all there!

My Appearance at Better Homes & Gardens Bash & AREAA National Convention

11/6/2011

Thanks for everyone who came to see me speak at the National Convention for Asian Real Estate Association of America! I've been getting emails and tweets from some of you who got inspired by my talk about videoblogging. Hooray!

Here I am at the Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate After-Party with my friends: BHG CEO Sherry Chris, powerhouse broker Christophe Choo of Beverly Hills.

Below is the re-cap video. I'm interviewed at 4:29, if you are curious to see. See you at the AREAA 2012 Convention in Vegas!

AREAA 2011 Convention - Recap from ANN on Vimeo.

The McRib is back, but the McMansion is Dead

11/3/2011

Photo from http://mcmansionmakeover.blogspot.com/

Yes, the McRib has made its triumphant return to America, but let's not forget another Mc whose glory days are gone. The Mighty McMansion.

One of my favorite websites Gawker ("Today's Gossip is Tomorrow's News") posted an obituary for the McMansion. Once a symbol of American decadence and excess, the McMansion is now nothing more than brothels, pot farms or remnant of faux suburban paradise.

According to the Wall St Journal, buyers are finally realizing they don't freakin' need a room for every single purpose. It's like the kitchen. How many darn kitchen appliances do you really need!? Some people's kitchens cabinets are stuff to the max with tools. And it's just for the sake of having them...not using them. Buyers see now that rooms can be multi-purpose (gee, that's a novel idea!). This explains why I'm seeing a new design trend: open flexible floor plans where the common area & kitchen blend together.

Like I always say, "It is not Down Sizing, It is Right Sizing!"

PS: Check out this spot-on blog McMansion Makeover. Hilarious stuff!

eHow.com: How to Find a Room Designer by Herman Chan

11/1/2011

While you're taking down your Halloween decorations, this might be a good time to give your home decor a facelift! Some of your homes might have got trashed and there is nothing wrong with asking for a little help (Ain't got no shame!). So, here are my tips on finding a designer from a video I did for ehow.com. From celebrity designers to designers on the cheap, check it out!

How to Find a Room Designer -- powered by ehow