🏠 A buyers market?

Have your heart set on a bungalow in Los Angeles or a ranch house in Dallas? The time to buy could be sooner than you think.

Experts are predicting home prices to drop 20% and for the market to favor buyers in 2023. As housing demand goes down due to high mortgage rates, cities that were hotspots during the pandemic will see the most drastic price declines while home values in suburban areas will continue to hover where they’re at.

SPILLING THE (REAL)TEA

Emma Chamberlain took Architectural Digest magazine on an Open House tour of the 21-year-old influencer’s 1950s Hollywood home. Swooning 😍! Check it out.

The most-liked home on Airbnb is an idyllic A-frame eco-cabin with all-glass walls overlooking Zion National Park, priced at $798/night. Book a stay!

Is now the time to buy real estate in Portugal? With the U.S. dollar the strongest it’s been in two decades, American investors can take advantage of the Portuguese Golden Visa, which lets non-EU residents live, work, and study in the country as long as they purchase property valued at at least €500,000.

Vibe check! Google Maps is launching a feature that lets you check out the vibe of a destination before you even arrive. Using AI tech and local content curated from users, the app helps you get a feel for what to expect.

It’s like The Sims, but in the metaverse… with furnishings from West Elm. On the gaming platform Roblox, you can customize a virtual home with more than 150 products—from furniture, to lighting, to decorative accessories—with West Elm-identical replicas.

So… Airbnb is doing background checks. And it’s becoming problematic. One woman was banned from the platform for having a “criminal record.” The reason? A decade ago, police reprimanded her for having an unregistered and unleashed dog with two misdemeanors (harsh).

TIP OF THE WEEK

Fall is synonymous with fashion, which informs interior design. As you curate your autumn aesthetic, here are a few home decor trends you can take right from the runway.

01 — The color comeback: White-wash walls are a snooze. In 2023, jewel tones and contrasting colors are all the rage. Stone slabs are even trending away from whites and beiges, and moving toward coral-colored marble and deep-red plinth. Green and terra-cotta are two of the top trending shades.

02 — Welcoming warmth: The sterile, minimalist home with clean lines and neutral color palettes is tired. Instead, take inspo from European-villas with warm wood tones, linen drapes, and other elements that make home feel a little more worldly.

03 — Swanky ’70s style: Shake up stale interiors with eclectic call-backs. An era known for low-slung furniture, repetitive geometric shapes, and funky accent pieces, 1970s interiors are on-trend and this Airbnb got the memo.

WHAT WE'RE CURRENTLY INTO

📚 What we're reading: 31 Ways to Practice Financial Self-Care from Ellevest Magazine. Can a bubble bath and face mask cure this economy? Not exactly. But, there are a few takeaways in here that will help you sleep a little more sound at night.

🎧 What we're listening to: The Call Her Daddy podcast has evolved since host Alex Cooper signed a whopping $60 million deal with Spotify in 2021. What started as a sex podcast has turned into an interview-style show with big-name guests like Hailey Bieber and Demi Lovato. But on this week’s show, Alex visited an abortion clinic in North Carolina, showing what it’s like to drive past anti-choice protesters outside.

👀 What we're watching: Remember the New York Times bestselling book “Luckiest Girl Alive”? We’ve been waiting nearly a decade for this mystery novel by Jessica Knoll to be adapted for the big screen, er, straight to Netflix. Peep the trailer.

🛒 What we're adding to our shopping cart: All-things Amazon Prime Day (below!)

PRIME DAY IS BACK!

Spooky season celebrations wouldn’t be complete without scary good deals! 👻 From October 11 to 12, Amazon Prime members can start their holiday shopping early on Prime Day.

Here are 5 short-term-rental must-haves we’ve got our eyes on 👀

Lightweight Linen Robe - Give your guests something to lounge in! $22.39-$29.99

50-inch Amazon Fire TV - Your living room wall will look great once it’s mounted. $399.99

Cordless Vacuum Cleaner - It’s literally 73% off 🤯. $135.98

Soft Linen Towels - You can never have enough! $33.99

Carbon Monoxide/Gas Detector - Safety first! $36.75

WOMEN OF THE HOUSE

Featuring Kristie Wolfe, investor and Airbnb Superhost 

We chatted with Kristie about building out her business and how even far-flung locales can garner a return on investment as long as your property has an innovative edge.

Your properties are all so unique—where do you come up with the concepts for each?

I have a list of different builds that I want to do, so I usually start with the type of building and then seek out a property or area that suits it.

What is your process? Do you build from the ground up?

I have built two of them from the ground up: my Hawaii treehouse and the Washington Hobbit Hole. Two have been from taking pre-existing buildings and remodeling: the Crystal Peak Lookout in the Idaho panhandle and a project I’m working on called The Shipwreck house in Salmon, Idaho.

Then there’s the Big Idaho Potato Hotel, which is some combination of the two. Every project is really different but typically it takes a few months of building and another month to get all the systems and caretakers in place to start hosting. I do most of the work myself so I am not reliant on general or subcontractors.

What are a few non-negotiable that every property has to have?

I like to incorporate some sort of portal that guests have to enter through that feels different than a house, whether that is a trap door, an arbor, or a giant round door. I think that ignites something that feels magical. I also make sure that all five senses are being stimulated in every build.

What are your tips for other hosts who might just be starting?

Create systems from the get-go! Some of my favorite third-party apps that help me manage the day to day are Guesty—they do all the correspondence with guests in a timely manner and with great service—and Turnoverbnb, which allows you to create checklists for your cleaners and automatically pays them.

What is something you wish you knew back then?

That I didn’t need to build where the tourists are; that if you create a cool enough experience people will build their vacations based on your destination.

What freedoms has being a real estate investor allotted you?

I get to spend almost all of my time creating beautiful experiences.