Weekly Blend: January 9, 2015

The Weekly Blend is your ‘weekly’ source covering real estate news that you just may have missed. Our hard at work Weekly Blend crew scours the web, newsgroups and forums looking for obscure, bizarre, interesting and informative real estate (or real estate related) stories. If you have one you’d like to share please feel free to share it in our comments section or tweet about it using the hashtag #WeeklyBlend. So brew yourself a fresh cup of coffee and enjoy these stories…maybe even share them with friends or colleagues. Happy reading!

Here are my weekly picks:

To celebrate the fifth season of Downton Abbey, the Weekly Blend has a look at what it would cost to insure the property.

And if Downton Abbey is somewhere you’d like to visit, you can now book an overnight stay on Valentine’s Day.

As we head into 2015, let’s take a quick look back at Atlas Obscura’s 20 most incredible new places of 2014.

Vancouver’s Skwachays Lodge – a once fledgling boutique hotel – is both a popular place for visitors and a place for Aboriginal artists to live, work, and display their artistry. (VIDEO)

Piggybacks, vodka, claustrophobia … here’s what happens when two couples and a single guy try living (for a few hours) in a tiny house. (VIDEO)

How many people have access to your house (or houses you show)? Kwikset SmartKey™ takes a humorous look at home invasion.  (VIDEO)

I wonder whether a 5 ½ foot Columbian rainbow boa that slithered out of a San Diego Marketing firm’s toilet is considered a chattel?

If winter isn’t your cup of tea, maybe these 15 scenic cabins will keep you from hating the snowy season.

You have to respect an article with the headline: “9 Houses Built Just for Spite”.

Curbed.com also takes a look back at twenty-five of 2014’s most atmospheric abandoned buildings.

Did you know the average U.S. resident has as much individual space in their house as an entire 1950’s family would have shared? This is the graph to prove it.

“More choice for buyers and welcome competition among developers” is one way to describe the Year of the Condo in New York City.

Another story from the New York Times … this one looks at the decline of the American shopping mall or, as some call them, “dead malls”.

Here’s a quick article that will satisfy lovers of architecture and philately.

We here at the Weekly Blend like to point out significant pop culture milestones and none could be more significant than, what would have been, the King of Rock and Roll’s 80th birthday on January 8th (oh, and his two airplanes are being auctioned off).

And finally, how cold is it where you are? Mental Floss offers-up 11 obscure regional phrases to describe cold weather (I like the Yukon one the best).

Jonathan Baker, our former Speech Writer, contributed to the development of speeches, advertisements, and communications to our membership. Our staff knew him as the go-to guy at 200 Catherine for some comic relief. Prior to joining CREA, Jon worked in the radio industry in Ottawa. If you meet Jon, be sure to ask him to tell you about his encounters with many famous musicians while volunteering at a local music festival for more than 10 years.


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