SOURCE: theclose.com
Real estate has its quirks, and we’ve got the facts to prove it.
From houses made entirely of bottles to a home listed for sale with a ghost included, real estate has its fair share of oddities. Discover some of the strangest facts in this post.
1. NY Requires Sellers to Disclose That Their Property Is Haunted
In a case that made it all the way to the New York State Supreme Court, the decision from Stambovsky v. Ackley compels sellers of real property in New York State to sign a separate disclosure if they do, in fact, believe their property is haunted.
Popularly known as the Ghostbusters Ruling, the case is frequently discussed in property law classes, mentioned in textbooks, and cited by other courts.
“Ghostbusters,” by the way, was written by Dan Ackroyd and based on his own family’s long history of ghost hunting.
2. The Most Expensive Zip Code in the United States Is 94027 in Atherton, California
Atherton, California, has held the most expensive ZIP code title for more than three years. The exclusive homes in this San Francisco Bay Area sold at a median price of a cool $9 million in 2022, topping their previous price of just under $7.5 million in 2021. California is one of the most expensive states to buy real estate in overall, boasting 70% of the priciest ZIP codes, including six in the top ten.
3. San Francisco Was Built on Sunken Ships
During the California Gold Rush, hopeful prospectors sailed to California from all around the world. Once they arrived, many sailors and captains abandoned their ships, hoping to strike it rich in the goldfields.
Because real estate in San Francisco was at a premium (even back then), the ships were repurposed as jails, houses, or hotels. Some rotted and sank in the harbor or burned in the fire of 1851. Enterprising speculators just continued building, right on top of the sunken ships.
4. The World’s Tallest & Largest Private Home Is in Mumbai, India
Antilia is the name of the private residence of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani and his family. The structure stands an astounding 27 stories tall and has a total living floor area of 400,000 square feet. It was completed in 2010 and also includes a 168-car garage, three helipads, several swimming pools, a health spa, a ballroom, nine high-speed elevators, a 50-seat theater, terrace gardens, and a snow room that spits out snowflakes from the walls. It is also designed to withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake. Costing from $1 to $2 billion dollars to construct, Antilia is also on record as the most expensive private home in the world.
5. In Hong Kong, Many Buildings Skip the Fourth Floor
You may already know that some U.S. developers purposefully skip the 13th floor when planning mid- and high-rise buildings due to the superstition around that supposedly unlucky number, but there are other versions of this aversion across the world. When constructing buildings with multiple floors, Chinese builders often skip the fourth floor due to the belief that the number itself brings bad luck. Transversely, the eighth floor is considered rather lucky and typically goes for a higher price tag. In Chinese, the word “four” sounds similar to the word for “death.”
We’ll have more of these weirdest real estate facts on our future blog posts, so make sure to check this page from time to time! 😉