Dang! We need green buildings. Not this kind. The other kind.

We should have supported The Green Building Center better—you, me, everyone. This is the kind of business we really need to introduce us to new better ways of doing things, ways that avoid toxic chemicals and environmental squalor.

Well, to be crass about it, there IS an upside. From now until  September 12, everything in stock is 20% off. From September 14-19, it’s 30% off, and after September 21, it’s 50% off. Special orders are exempt, duh.

And at least the staff is getting to sleep in for the last few weeks. The store is open Monday thru Friday from noon to 8 and Saturday from 11 am until 4.

Shed a tear and go shop.

Take a tour of 10 fantastic homes located from Layton to North Salt Lake this weekend at the annual Designer Showhouse Fall Tour, presented by the Utah Designer’s League. The tour homes all feature designs from local architects, craftsmen, suppliers and designers, spotlighting the unique and creative talent in the state.

All proceeds from the tour go to ‘Circle the Wagons‘ a local non-profit that provides survivors and their family and friends with resources to help them recover from the experience. The organization was founded by Vickie Walker,  the wife and mother of victims of the Trolley Square rampage. Walker notes that the support she received during that time was like a group of wagons circling together to help her move on.

The tour takes place September 10–11 from 12:00 to 7:00 p.m. and tickets are $10. Click here for more information on the tour and tickets.

Foreclosures or underwater mortgages? Take your pick.

The Good News: According to real estate analytics provider CoreLogic, the number of homes with underwater mortgages is making a slow, but steady decline.

The Bad News: Foreclosures are the culprit.

Underwater mortgages, mortgages that leave the owner with more debt on their property than the current market value, make up about $2.9 tril. in mortgage debt. (Yikes.)  Underwater mortgages generally decline when home prices are on the rise; giving hope to a rising economy. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case this time. The number one reason for declining underwater mortgages is due to the overwhelming number of foreclosures and short sales taking place, opening a whole new bag of difficulties.

So, how do homeowners deal with it? Some attempt to make payments in attempt to recover the lost property value while others just walk away, losing homes to foreclosure. Homeowners can’t sell in these situations and get trapped in their own debt.

Not a good sign of the times, and definitely not a good sign for homeowners.

So what does this all have to do with Utah?

Well, there’s somewhat of a silver lining on the SLC side of things. While Utah may not be on the list of places to be for the next decade, our real estate potential is still holding strong(er than most, that is). Congrats’ Utahns, we are no where in sight on the list of top states for underwater mortgages.

Who has it the worst?

1. Nevada: 69.9% of all mortgages
2. Arizona: 51.3%
3. Florida: 47.8%
4. Michigan: 38.5%
5. California: 35.1%
6. Georgia: 27.8%
7. Virginia: 24.3% of all mortgages
8.-13. South Dakota, Maine, West Virginia, Wyoming, Louisiana, and Mississippi: 23.8% of all mortgages
14. Maryland: 22.9% of all mortgages
15. Idaho: 22.7% of all mortgages

So take that California and Arizona… Sunset may say you’ve got the best towns, but at least we don’t have underwater mortgages drowning us!

The West desert welcomes the weird.  Case in point the Sherman Ranch.  The Vernal, Utah, ranch resides (now owned by Robert Bigalow)on a 480 acre pure paranormal playground.  UFO’s, skinwalkers, roaming dinosaurs and other strange sightings have occurred here.

The locals have experienced the UFO sightings, but the other mysteries remain on the ranch. So, if you can handle living near a UFO crash pad and want a decent priced home, this is it.  Just make friends with the aliens, have them over for a beer (what beer would you serve? Tell us here), and find out what outer-space is like.  Even better, take them to Dinosaur National Park and tell them about earth before humans.

The houses are going for 125,000-200,000.

This home is $150,000.  It’s a 4 bed, 2 bath house on 1,732 square feet.

For more info click here.

This home is $250,000. It’s a 4 bed, 2.75 bath home on 2,581 sq. feet.

Click here for more info.

These average homes are resonably priced for those wanting to surround themselves in beautiful landscape and outdoor excursions. Flaming Gorge and other recreational parks are nearby.

Living in Vernal there is always an adventure to be had, from snowmobiling and skiing in the winter to white water rafting, hiking and visiting National Parks.

And, if you get bored you can always relax and watch for mysterious lights in the sky.

The scenery makes any photo you take, whether walking your dog or visiting the mall, look like a postcard. But that’s not the only reason to live in and around Park City. The homes are just as beautiful and luxurious.

I call dibs on this one, but there are other homes just as or even better looking, presented by the Park City Area Home Builders Association at the 2010 Park City Area Showcase of Homes.

PC has world-class hiking, biking, and skiing trails, clean alpine air, gourmet restaurants, and phenomenal entertainment. If you’re not already there nearly every day, then you should be. Even better, save yourself the wasted time of driving to your next adventure in Park City and move to your own little piece of PC paradise.

At the showcase you will meet the home builders, see the home features like gourmet kitchens and spa-like baths and experience the luxury and peace of Park City. A portion of all tickets sold will be donated to the Park City Area Home Builders Charitable Foundation.

Click here for tickets and to see more exquisite interiors.

After the showcase mingle with the locals. Take a walk or bike ride in the mountains or around the block. And, at some point in your explorations of all Park City has to offer, I’d recommend stopping in for a meal at one of our Dining Award winners.

Goldener Hirsch
Spruce
Royal Street Cafe

When is the showcase:

10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Aug.  21–22, 28–29 and Sept. 4–6.

Click here for the map and info.

Welcome to Nirvana.

I never thought I’d use house-hunting and fun in the same sentence, but I did… and I believe it.

David Nelson with Keller Williams Realty has developed a way to find your new digs: neighborhood roll n’ stroll tours.

The walking or cycling tours allow you to explore all the homes for sale in the area while getting acquainted with local businesses.

That’s a biggie for me.

You may love the house but not have a clue about the surrounding ‘hood.

The tour lets mingle with the locals and get your bearings set before you buy. As he says, “It’s a great way to find your place to call home.”

Keeping up with the sustainable lifestyle is a must and proximity is key. Being able to walk and roll to the store or the coffee shop saves the gas and the earth. Double score.

The tours take place every Saturday or can be arranged by appointment.

Saturday, Aug. 14 the Roll n’ Stroll takes you to the 9th and 9th area and Sugarhouse.

You’ll see a couple houses and stop in to some local businesses to check out what’s nearby.

Even if you’re not in the market to buy a house you are welcome to ride along.

Not breaking news that Katherine Heigl, 31, and husband Josh Kelley, 30, have love for the Beehive.

The pair married up in PC in ’07 and quickly closed on a spread in nearby Oakley and frequently get spotted browsing at Dolly’s or dining at Adolph’s (or at Equus Tack and Supply in PC).

But now it’s official, musician Kelley this week spilled the beans to UsMagazine.com that the couple plus adopted daughter Naleigh, 1, will eschew LA for Utah and Nashville.

An excerpt from Kelley’s interview:

Us: Now that you’ve gone country, are you going to move to Nashville?

JK: I lived in Nashville before I met Katie. That’s how Lady Antebellum (brother Charles is in the country trio) kind of started. I bought I house out there in 2005, the first house I ever bought. I told Charles [and his band] they could come live there, so Nashville has been in my heart for years.

Us: Are you in Los Angeles now?

JK: We live up in the mountains in Utah now. Katie rides horses, I do a lot of fishing and golfing, it’s a lot of fun.

Us: How did you find Utah?

JK: Just kind of randomly. It was a dream of Katie’s for years. We got married out there and I just fell in love with it. It’s amazing and one of my favorite places in the world. What we’ll probably do is put our time between Nashville and Utah. When we were in L.A., we were never in the scene. We don’t really leave the house. I stay in my studio and write music all the time.

…

Heigl’s interest in Utah might have started on the Wasatch Front, actually closer to the Oquirrhs when she starred with Danielle Harris in Wish Upon a Star 14 years ago — filmed at Hunter High School in West Valley City.

Alexia Wheaton (Heigl) spends her days finding ways to be popular, living by the rules of fashion and never keeping a boyfriend for more than a month.

Sister Hayley (Harris) wishes she could be more like her sister and not the geeky science nerd she became.

Hayley wishes to become Alexia when she sees a shooting star, and the next morning she is. The rest of the story follows close to Freaky Friday or Vice Versa, but probably better.

Hunter High’s commons area became the film’s lunchroom (not sure why they didn’t just use the lunchroom), and all the students in the movie parked in the faculty parking lot.

Alexia’s boyfriend Kyle lived in my neighborhood (Yes, the one I’m living in right now).

It’s pretty close to the school, so I’m not sure why he needed her to drive him.

In any rate, hopefully I’ll Katie and Josh will save a seat for me at next year’s Oakley Rodeo.

One of the biggest complaints we get about the real estate blog is, well, none of it is affordable in real life.

Sure, it’s nice to look at this $19 million Deer Valley monstrosity and imagine a man knocks on your door one day to tell you that Dick Cheney, having to pay off outstanding student loans at Wyoming, donated to a sperm bank and wamm-o, next thing you know you’re on the Jackson Back 40 riding a horse called Ol’ Paint listening to “Dad” regale you with stories about starting voluntary wars and, here, indeed is your share of Halliburton stock options.

But for the rest of us, $19 million is as untenable right now as $900k, or even $90k.

And that antiquated notion of home ownership is nothing more than a relic from the generation who left us with a $13 trillion debt, gadgets whose lifespans are two years (max) and Microsoft Windows — until perhaps now.

Take a gander at this 8-minute video on how to build, (yes, own) and live in a tiny house. Three-hundred square feet = an $8/month electricity bill, no maintenance and, when it comes time to remove the shingle and head for greener pastures, it fits on a trailer. …So like, no HOA dues either:

‘Course, this notion may ring less true in the land of four-plus children, but the lesson is clear: We can all do more with a little less.

(Tiny house — houses under 1k square feet — Courtesy: Dwell)

Perched on a coastal bluff, the Montage Laguna Beach in Southern Cali is a dream vacation spot w/ one of the most picturesque settings of any resort. Now, the Montage wants to add snowy mountains to their repertoire.

Montage Deer Valley opens above Old Town PC this December, complete w/ 174 luxury rooms and 81 private residences (one, I’m going to try to reserve).

Residences: One to four bedrooms with access to every resort amenity and a private owner’s lounge. Model residences are open to view now. Prices start at $2 million. Pics below, and yes, that is the bathroom.

And the Web site is already up for you to check room availability if you’re planning to stay a weekend. The average room is about $993 with some peaking $1045.

You can also check out the full photo gallery of the grounds, now.

We’ll keep you updated on any opening events the Resort will hold, so keep it locked to SLmag.

My house gets kind of creepy when a concert is at USANA, which is only a mile and a half away. The music reaches my doorstep and sounds like a whisper… gives me chills.

Last night Rush played. Whisper “Philosophers and ploughmen, each must know his part. To sow a new mentality. Closer to the heart.” Scary, no… just me? While Geddy’s faded voice sends chills down my spine, I know for a fact I’d take my digs over these scary places on the market.

First, former home to 70s serial killer Ted Bundy.
1058 S. West Temple, SLC

The cozy house offers two bedrooms, one bathroom, 1,396 square feet and was built in 1940, according to Trulia.com. If Trax were built back then, Bundy could have been to the U’s law school in a flash. Sweet digs for students attending the LDS Business College, Eagle Gate College or the Utah College of Massage Therapy, too.

The home is just down the street from Spring Mobile Ballpark, and you can just walk to Downtown. It’s right there!

You won’t have to start a new mortgage. The house is for rent, stop by for the amount. Drove by last night, pretty cute considering one of the country’s most notorious killer/rapist lived there.

Second, the Amnityville Horror House is for sale.
108 Ocean Avenue, Amnityville, NY
UPDATE: THIS HOME WAS JUST SOLD

We know it’s out of town and just went off the market, but it might go on sale again given its supposed history— expertly depicted by James Brolin and later Ryan Reynolds.

Nice community and a great retirement home for a nice Utah County couple. The five bed, 3.5 bath home spent only 70 days on the market— others nearby have been on sale for more than a year, according to Newsday. It’s been fixed up since supernatural forces caused Ronald DeFeo Jr. to murder his family… Did we mention the sprinkler system and spacious patio? You can serve lemonaide out there.