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Whether you?re looking at big, established cities or smaller towns, the places in the United States that are growing most rapidly are likely technology hubs close to universities, according to ?Forbes? magazine. The country?s fastest growing metro areas are also likely to be warm weather places in the west or the south. (more…)

Whether it’s the spartan Brooklyn apartment of Ralph and Alice Kramden or the unrealistically large New York City apartment where Monica of “Friends” resides, where a TV character lives says a lot about that person. In fact, sometimes the house is as well loved as the show.

001 Cemetery Lane, “The Addams Family”

Their house was a museum, where people came to see ‘um. The Addams family mansion at 001 Cemetery Lane was filled with instruments of torture and landscaped with hemlock and poison ivy.

The house was said to be inspired by creator Charles Addams’ real-life boyhood home in Westfield, NJ.
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It’s all about the Foosball and the free meals. That’s what people generally think of when you mention the so-called campuses where today’s high tech companies reside. And indeed many prominent companies take great pains to promote their freewheeling culture and the fabulous amenities available at the workplace.

But it’s not all fun and games. In the tech world, green is the new black as leading technology companies strive to make their HQs more energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

And not every technology company is headquartered in a glass-walled state-of-the-art complex. Sun Microsystems, for example, is housed in a historic landmark that’s been painstakingly renovated to look exactly like it did almost 100 years ago.

Here’s a look at where the employees of some of the nation’s leading technology companies work.
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For celebrities who have the cash to spare, owning an island provides the perfect getaway. Private islands don’t come cheap; in addition to the cost of buying the land, owners have to supply their own water and electricity, create waste disposal and build a dock or an airstrip for access. Then there’s the cost of security: Somebody has to watch over the place when you’re not there.

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Chicago lays claim to the world’s first skyscraper. The 138-foot-tall Home Insurance Building was built in 1888 and was the first building to use steel beams as support. Soon after, builders in Chicago and New York were competing with each other to build the world’s tallest building.

In the early years, the world’s highest building seemed to change from week to week as architects, engineers and business magnates raced to design, build or own the biggest, best and tallest building in their city’s skyline.

It was a race that started in the United States, where the Empire State Building won the race and held the title for more than 40 years after Depression called a halt to the building boom. The US picked up the ball again in the 1970s with the construction of the World Trade Center and the Sears Tower. But in recent years, Asia has thrown its heart and soul to the race: Taipei 101 in Taiwan is currently the world’s tallest building, but Dubai’s Burj Dubai will take the title later this year. And more buildings are in the works. Here’s a look at some of the more noteworthy skyscrapers of the last 100 years or so.

30 St. Mary Axe
London

photo credit: .Martin.

Known in London as “The Gherkin”–also as the Erotic Gherkin, the Towering Innuendo and the Crystal Phallus–this 2004 building is London’s first environmentally sustainable skyscraper. Atria between each floor link together vertically and spiral up the building. These spaces function as the building’s lungs, distributing fresh air drawn in through panels in the facade. This system allows the building to use half the energy needed to cool conventional air-conditioned office towers.

The building sits on the site of the Baltic Exchange, which was damaged by an IRA bomb in 1992. Headquarters for Swiss Re, an insurance company, the building is 591 feet tall and covers 516,100 square feet. The top level contains a private restaurant and lounge while the landscaped plaza on the ground features numerous shops and restaurants and is open to the public.

By the numbers:

• The elevators attain speeds of more than 19 feet per second and can accommodate 378 people.
• The building’s maximum circumference is just two meters less than its height.
• 21 miles of steel and 258,333.850 square feet of glass was used in its construction.
• Each floor rotates five degrees from the one below.

20 Exchange Place
New York

photo credit: C R

The fourth tallest building in the world when it was completed in 1931, architects Cross and Cross originally envisioned a pyramid sitting atop a 71-story structure, which would have made it the tallest building in the world–at least for a short time. But the Depression forced the builders to scale back to 56 floors and to eliminate the pyramid altogether. In June 2004, real estate developers Berman and Bruckner bought the building for $152 million. The firm is in the process of converting the top 41 floors into luxury apartments.

2 International Finance Center
Hong Kong

photo credit: laszlo-photo

Tower 2 in this four-building complex is the seventh tallest building in the world at 415 meters, or more than 1,361 feet. The complex consists of two skyscrapers, the IFC mall and the Four Seasons Hotel.

Fun facts:

• The complex includes three garage levels that can accommodate more than 1,800 vehicles.
• The tower is 56.960 meters wide at its base, and 39.148 meters wide at the main roof.
• The building is featured in a scene of the movie “The Dark Knight.”
• Officially, the building has 88 stories and 22 trading floors, numbers the Chinese believe to be lucky. However, two floors are missing: The 14th and the 24th, both of which are associated with death in Chinese culture.

2 Prudential Plaza
Chicago

photo credit: mrkathika

Its beveled roof makes “Two Pru” instantly recognizable in the Chicago skyline. The tallest reinforced concrete building in the city was built in 1990 and designed by Stephen T. Wright of Loebl, Schlossman & Hackl. The skyscraper has 64 floors and reaches 995 feet with its spire.

Al Faisaliah
Riyadh

photo credit: Snap?

Riyadh’s first skyscraper is part of a complex that includes a five-star hotel, a banquet hall/conference center, luxury apartments and a mall. The skyscraper is organized into three blocks that are nine, 10 and 11 stories high respectively and separated by cross beams that transfer the load of the columns onto the pillars. Offices take up the building’s first 30 floors. Inside the golden glass globe at the top of the building is a three-story restaurant. The globe is 24 meters at its diameter.

Below the plaza is a 50,000-square-foot conference and banquet center, which can be adjusted for size with removable panels. Prince Sultan’s Grand Hall, can accommodate 4,000 conference attendees or 2,800 diners.

American Radiator Building
New York

photo credit: Doonvas

Architect Raymond Hood had been designing the company’s radiator covers when he was chosen to design the its new showroom and office tower.

The black brickwork facade and gold-painted friezes were designed to make the building look like a glowing radiator coil when illuminated at night, at least that’s one theory. Others say the architect made the bricks black so that the windows would blend in with the facade to create the illusion of a solid mass. The bricks were dipped in manganese to make them black.

The base of the structure is clad in black granite and adorned with bronze carved allegories, symbolizing the transformation of matter into energy. The black motif continued into the lobby, which was decorated with black marble and mirrors.

After remaining vacant for years, the building opened as the Bryant Park Hotel in 2001. The interior was completely changed, with black tiles and red leather replacing the lobby’s marble and mirrors. but the exterior remains the same thanks to the building’s status as a national landmark.
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Upside down, in a shoe or up a tree. There’s no end to what an inventive mind can do when it comes to building.

House of the future

Futuro house

The Futuro house was designed in 1968 by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen, who designed it as a vacation house for a friend. After the first house was built, Polykem approached the architect about designing a prefabricated model and it became an overnight sensation.

The house came in 16 pieces of fiberglass and plastic. A hatch door in its lower half opened down to reveal steps, like an airplane, and led into a room outfitted with six plastic bed-chair combinations, a fireplace, a kitchenette and a bathroom. The house sold for between $12,000 and $14,000 in the US before the energy crisis of the 1970s and changing tastes led the manufacturer to stop production.
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credit: TheMuuj
The last thing you need if you’re pulling up stakes is for your mover to hijack your belongings. But it happens. A lot.

Each year, thousands of of people are bilked by movers or have their belongings lost or destroyed due to incompetence. Don’t become one of them.
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credit: Jeff Belmonte
Taxes are tricky. Are you taking advantage of all the breaks you’re entitled to as a real estate owner? Everyone knows you can deduct your mortgage interest from your federal taxes, but property owners can also take advantage of a number of other breaks.

• Points: The IRS consider those hefty fees paid to lenders as a form of prepaid mortgage interest. So if you bought a home in 2007–or refinanced your adjustable rate mortgage you get a break.
• You may also qualify for a mortgage interest deduction on a second vacation home as well as any second mortgages or home equity loans you hold.
• Owners of investment property can deduct expenses related to the property, so keep receipts for repairs, upgrades, or real estate management fees.
• If you rent out your vacation home when you aren’t using it, you might be able to deduct the cost of travel there and routine upkeep.
• Home improvements made for health reasons are deductible from your taxes, if they’re made for the chronically ill or disabled and don’t add value to your home.
• Tax credits can also be deducted for “green” improvements, such as energy efficient windows and doors and solar energy systems.

If you sold your home and moved because of a job, you may be able to deduct some of your moving expenses. You must move at least 50 miles and you must have moved in order to take a full-time job. You can deduct the cost of packing and transporting your household goods. You can also deduct travel expenses for yourself and your family, which includes lodging, but not food.

You cannot deduct:

• Any part of the purchase price of your new home
• Expenses of buying or selling a home
• Expenses of entering into or breaking a lease
• Home improvements to help sell your home
• Loss on the sale of your home
• Losses from disposing of memberships in clubs
• Mortgage penalties
• Pre-move househunting expenses
• Real estate taxes
• Refitting of carpet and draperies
• Return trips to your former residence
• Security deposits
• Storage charges except those incurred in transit and for foreign moves

If you invest in real estate good record-keeping is essential. Keep the purchasing contract and closing statement, which establish the basis on which you’ll calculate depreciation as well as capital gains. Also keep track of capital improvements you’ve made, which you can depreciate; rental income records, including vacancy periods and security deposits received; and operating expenses.

If you work from home, you can deduct expenses that are related to business, including real estate taxes, rent, insurance and maintenance and repairs. Those expenses are based on the amount of square footage you use exclusively for business.

If you have a lot of complex real estate investments, or even if you just own your own home, it’s a good idea to read up on what the IRS allows you to deduct and when.

For example, timing is everything. If you sell your home but immediately reinvest the windfall in a better property, you may be entitled to defer the taxes on those capital gains. On the other hand, homeowners who have lived in a house that served as their primary residence for two years can exclude up to $250,000 of the profit from their reported income–twice that for married couples. Investment property, on the other hand, has a whole different set of rules.

There are a number of places on the Web with information on real estate taxes, starting with the IRS:

• IRS: Selling a home looks at when you can avoid paying capital gains on the sale of your property.
• IRS: Rental Income and Expenses details how to report income and what expenses are deductible.
• IRS: Passive Activity Losses covers rentals.
• IRS: Residential Rental Property is the IRS’ guide to preparing your 2007 return if you own a vacation or rental home.
• Financial Web: A few investment real estate tax tips.
• Motley Fool: Trump Your Taxes With Real Estate.
• Field Guide to 1031 Exchanges by the National Association of Realtors looks in depth at the rule that investors to defer capital gains taxes on the exchange of like-kind properties.
• Financial Web: Taxes and Your Investment Real Estate.
• Smart Money: Taxes when you sell your home.
• Federal Real Estate Tax Rules for Property Owners.

It’s not surprising when a wealthy celebrity buys a fantastic piece of real estate, or when they make a killing by selling one already swank abode and buying another. Like Kelly Ripa did when she traded up on her apartment.

But occasionally, a celebrity shows a real genius for real estate.

Merv Griffin was such a celebrity. Griffin, who entered show business in the 1950s as “the young romantic voice of radio” and hit the big time with the Freddy Martin band, singing “I’ve Got a Loverly Bunch of Coconuts,” is probably show business’s most successful real estate investor.

Griffin, who netted $50 for his first record, became rich as the inventor and producer of “Jeopardy” and “Wheel of Fortune.” After he sold the shows for $250 million, Griffin became involved in real estate out of boredom.

“I said, ‘I’m not going to sit around and clip coupons for the rest of my life,’ ” he recalled in 1989. “That’s when Barron Hilton said, ‘Merv, do you want to buy the Beverly Hilton’ I couldn’t believe it.”

 

Griffin bought the slightly passe hotel for $100.2 million and completely refurbished it for $25 million. Then he made a move for control of Resorts International, which operated hotels and casinos from Atlantic City to the Caribbean.

That touched off a feud with real estate tycoon Donald Trump. Griffin eventually acquired Resorts for $240 million, netting a reported paper profit of $100 million.

“I love the gamesmanship,” he told Life magazine in 1988. “This may sound strange, but it parallels the game shows I’ve been involved in.”

Griffin, who died last year, went on to become a billionaire who was perennially among Forbes’s richest.

Earvin “Magic” Johnson has been as successful off the court as he was in the years he was leading the Los Angeles Lakers to victory more than a decade ago. Johnson’s Johnson Development Corporation has been building retail/entertainment complexes in urban neighborhoods since 1992.

The company has formed partnerships with AMC Theaters, Starbucks, and TGI Fridays to develop previously untouchable neighborhoods in Los Angeles, Harlem, west Las Vegas and other underserved communities. The company recently announced plans to finance and office building and a condominium project in Nashville.

The company’s Canyon Johnson Fund is one of the nation’s largest urban real estate funds. JDC operates five multiplex Magic Johnson Theatres with 60 screens across the country. Since 1998, it has opened 57 Urban Coffee Opportunities stores in 38 cities. There are two Magic Johnson T.G.I. Friday’s restaurants in Atlanta and Los Angeles, and more than a year ago, the company teamed with Washington Mutual to open 15 home loan centers in five cities.

Johnson’s success as a real estate developer has changed the way other athletic superstars invest their money.

Basketball star Shaquille O’Neal has invested in urban real estate in Newark, New Jersey. Football player Keyshawn Johnson has been similarly inspired.

Johnson followed Magic into South Central Los Angeles and invested more than $1 million in real estate projects near where he grew up. He helped to fund the first new shopping center to open in the area since the 1992 riots, the Chesterfield Square Mall, where one of Magic’s Starbucks franchises leases space. Partnering with Los Angeles developer Capital Vision Equities, the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers receiver recently invested in a $123 million retail project that will connect to one of Magic’s 12-screen movie theaters.

Not surprisingly, Oprah Winfrey, the first first African-American woman to join Forbes’ list of the World’s Richest People, has put some of her money into real estate, including:

Oprah has actually been blamed for rising real estate prices in Hawaii. An urban legend has it that Oprah told her viewers to buy land on the Big Island. What Oprah actually recommended was that viewers invest in real estate.

The truth is, Winfrey, who owns 102 acres on Maui, never mentioned the Big Island on the show in question. Her guest was real estate mogul Donald Trump on April 8, 2004, when she mentioned Hawaii.According to transcripts, Winfrey said she likes investing in land because “God’s not making any more.”

 

“So if you get oceanfront property in Hawaii, a couple thousand acres … right along the beach. God’s not making any more land in Hawaii,” she said.

One of the people who Oprah helped to make famous, personal trainer Bob Greene, has been dabbling in real estate for years. Long before his association with Oprah made him famous.

Greene got his start in Miami in the 1980s buying foreclosed properties in Coconut Grove, as rental properties.

I found a house that had a guest house and it had a lot that could be separated and sold. This was 20 years ago, and it was $52,000, which I didn’t have, but I knew in my gut it was such a great deal: Oh my God, I could fix it up and I would have a rental and I could have income and a house and I could have a lot I could even sell out. It was my first experience, I tried to beg, borrow and steal and just didn’t have enough for the down payment and wasn’t able to get it. A year later, when I was finishing grad school, I visited the house and it was for sale for over three times that price. And from that day on, I said, the next time I know it in my gut that it’s a good deal, I won’t hesitate, I’ll do whatever it takes to buy the property.

Some celebrities, like Martha Stewart, have lent their name to developments as brands. A North Carolina community called Twin Lakes features homes decorated with Stewart-designed products from her Martha Stewart Living line. Other such partnerships include:

• The Jade, a 57-unit building in Manhattan whose design was influenced by Jade Jagger, a jewelry designer and daughter of Mick.
• Andre Agassi and his wife, Steffi Graf, formed a partnership with Exclusive Resorts to develop high-end vacation communities in the United States and abroad.

And some celebrities

, have just made good deals, including:

• Lindsay Lohan, who bought a condo on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip last year for $1.9 million and sold it, untouched for $2.5 million a few months later.
• Gwen Stefani, who bought a 5,000-square-foot home in Los Angeles for $1.4 million in 1998 and sold it in 2007 for almost $4.8 million.
• Paris Hilton, who sold her Spanish-style Hollywood home for $4.25 million three years after she bought it for $2.9 million.