BUNGALUX

TOP 10 LISTS

• Alex Brunkhorst

  Winter Wonderland: Ten Swoon-Worthy Chalets

  

  When DOMAINE HOME asked me to swing on by and pick a few of my favorite ski places on the market ... well, let's just say it was my version of a winter fairytale. Though there's something fun about "beach," I admit with X Games, Sundance, and the Olympics in the near past and future the slopes are feeling much more appealing than ever.
  
  So, if you're looking for a place to ski, snowboard, or just plain apres-ski (no coordination necessary for that .. well maybe a little ...), take a peek at ten great spots to do just that. So from Gstaad to Aspen, let the Snow Games begin. Read More

• Alex Brunkhorst

  Ten Homes We Want Right Now

  

  Alex Brunkhorst for Domaine Home. Read More

• Alex Brunkhorst

  Ten Homes For Halloween

  

  When Domaine Home asked me to write about Halloween real estate, I admit I had a moment when I didn't believe I was up to the task. But then our editor Eleanor Donohue and I got to work: And what we found were a few purportedly haunted spots (including one of my favorites in Lake Forest, Illinois) and a bunch of places that are beautiful AND perfect for penning your next horror novel or just plain scaring trick-or-treaters. Hmmm. Who needs modern? It's all about castles now. Read More

• Alex Brunkhorst

  Ten Amazing Vacation Homes

  

  Tips for Vacation Home Buying:
  
  1. Choose a good real estate agent. This is obvious for any purchase, but particularly when buying a vacation home. Most likely you don’t know the ins-and-outs of a foreign market, so work with someone who does.
  
  2. “Too good to be true” often is. That four bedroom shingle house in the Hamptons with a pool for $500K? Before you stick it on your Black AMEX do some checking. Maybe it’s sitting on a rarely used runway at East Hampton airport or in a mosquito protection area.
  
  3. Visit the house you’re buying in person. Remember that guy you met on Match.com who looked so cute in photos? Vacation homes are often the real estate equivalent. Photos lie.
  
  4. Consider investment objectives. If times turn the vacation home is the first to go. Is the area blue chip and saleable? Should you need to lease it out, is it a viable and/or profitable rental?
  
  5. Don’t make an emotional buy. A vacation home is one of life’s ultimate luxuries, but you still need to be practical about it. Is the house in an area you’d want to visit during all seasons? (Ski destinations are great second homes because they’re fantastic in summer too.) Sure, Marbella sounds great, but is there stuff for the kids to do there? Does the area have easy in-out-access or does it take you a weekend to get there? Are you buying on a lake but hate lakes? The last is a true story from one of my clients, so think it through.
  
  Read More

• Alex Brunkhorst

  Ten Romantic Rooms

  

  As a companion piece to my article on Valentine's Day, I pulled together ten of my favorite romantic rooms from houses currently on the market. There are infinitely many and I know I missed some, but take a look to find inspiration for romanticizing your life ... whatever your definition of romance. Read More

• Alex Brunkhorst

  Alex's Picks: Great Luxury Homes in LA for Under a Million

  

  When I conceived of Bungalux around a year ago, it was as a place to showcase some of the best homes for sale. We then added lifestyle, product, and design elements to finish out the houses our readers were buying.
  
  Importantly, I never intended to feature only expensive homes. Yet so many of the people who read our content focus on the occasional thirty million dollar mansion or twenty million dollar shell of an apartment. Sure, aspirational residences are fun to look at (I spend hours getting design ideas from them) but, alas, most of us will never live in one.
  
  And so, in that spirit, this month’s real estate picks were particularly fun for me. I plucked out my favorite places in Los Angeles UNDER a million dollars. Some of you Midwesterners will get a bit of sticker shock to see what places in Los Angeles are going for, but I don’t set the prices ... I just pick the places. Oh, and the buildings I’ve chosen have housed Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Louis L’Amour, Marlon Brando, and many other Hollywood luminaries, so there's lots of good creative energy here. Read More