The Most Outrageous Garages

Now that the election is over, Mitt Romney can focus on his garage. Before the former Massachusetts governor won the Republican nomination for president, he made plans to raze the house on a beachfront plot in La Jolla, Calif., that he snapped up for $12 million in 2008 and replace it with an 11,000-square-foot mansion with a basement addition and outdoor shower. But when blueprints leaked in March, the garage got all of the attention: a split-level, four-car space touting a $55,000 PhantomPark car elevator. Put on the spot, the Romney team said that the project was on hold until after the election.

Sound extravagant? Perhaps, but the former private-equity kingpin is certainly not the only homeowner dedicating space, creativity and big money to steel on four wheels.

With the help of Realtor.com, Trulia.com, Sotheby’s International Realty and Coldwell Banker Previews International, we whipped up a list of homes for sale with outrageous garages. We included homes ranging in price from $699,000 to $50 million.

On the West Coast, particularly in California, auto enthusiasts get creative with their car storage. Thanks to the hilly terrain and a premium on land, some high-end homeowners carve out subterranean parking garages with car elevators that resemble Romney’s. In Laguna Beach, a cliffside home on the market for $8.75 million elicits comparisons to a super villain’s lair. Entrance to the aptly nicknamed “Spy House” is through the street-level garage, which can store two cars. From there a hydraulic lift can drop you and your car down into an entry gallery, where your ride can double as an art installation, greeting guests.

Some avid car collectors do away with the dark, dank garage concept altogether in favor of massive, elaborately finished showrooms that showcase prized vehicles along with amenities like wet bars and TV lounges. A gated estate in Fairfield, Calif., that’s on sale for $20 million boasts three auto barns, an antique gas station, a maintenance bay — even a “diner.”

In Indian Wells, Calif., the Falling Rock Lane Estate spans 18,400 square feet of glass and concrete in an homage to indoor-outdoor luxury living. Discreetly tucked under the side of the main house is an additional 12,000-square-foot, climate-controlled space designed to house up to 25 cars. Accessible by elevator, the space has a separate work station, a half bath and an adjoining golf cart garage. Price tag: $12 million.

In Pelham, N.Y., a quiet Westchester town just north of New York City, a 10,000-square-foot Georgian Colonial comes with a two-part, 28-car garage. But the garage hasn’t necessarily been the big draw of the home – rather the extra space is.

“We have had both car collectors and people simply looking for a large property close to the city look at this,” says Mary Quinton, the McClellan Sotheby’s International Realty agent representing the property. When she initially took the listing in 2011, she believed the sweeping automotive space would contribute greatly to the home’s value and attract a car collecting buyer quickly. One has not yet emerged and the asking price has subsequently been slashed by about $1 million to $2.9 million.

Garages remain desirable features that can value to a home. (A 2011 National Association of Home Builders study found that the lack of a garage can diminish a home’s value by thousands.) But the more lavish the garage, the smaller the buyer base tends to become. In fact, upscale garage additions recoup a modest 52% of their cost, according to the Remodeling Cost vs. Value Report. Realtors say the value of these over-the-top spaces manifests in two less tangible ways: as extra square footage to buyers seeking more space and as a marketing tool that garners attention and sets an estate apart from its local competition.

In Manhattan, where storage in a public lot will run upwards of $500 per month, parking is a prime commodity. The city doesn’t typically issue building permits that allow private garages in new single-family homes, meaning if you want to live in a townhouse with private parking you’ll need to find one with a garage grandfathered in. In Greenwich Village, a $13.8 million townhouse offers a rare opportunity: a private two-car garage. Another option: an 8,700-square foot penthouse on nearby Perry Street. The $80,000-per-month rental includes a 3,000-square foot subterranean garage capable of holding six cars. A private elevator connects the floors.

While garages have most often been associated with suburban living, some urban real estate developers see an opportunity to add high-tech auto amenities to their new luxury high rises. In Manhattan, architect Annabelle Selldorf created a boutique condo building in which 13 units come with their own “en-suite sky garages.” An owner drives into the building, loads the car onto an elevator that identifies it via scan tag and then, 60 seconds later, parks it right outside of the apartment door.

Just north of Miami in Sunny Isles Beaches, Fla., Dezer Properties has teamed up with German carmaker spinoff Porsche Design to construct a car elevator-equipped, 57-story condo building, as well. Expected to break ground in 2013, the Porsche Design Tower will house a lift that operates much like the one in Selldorf’s 200 Eleventh Ave building, with one aesthetic exception: glass partitions between parking spots and units that allow the car to always be visible to its owner and guests. Apartments will range from $3.9 million to $21 million, for 4,200 to 14,000 square feet.

Source:- http://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrennan/2012/11/09/the-most-outrageous-garages/

It’s The World’s Biggest House For Sale – And It's Top Secret

This enormous castle is on the market for £20m - but its location remains a secret 

It says something about London’s affluenza that for the price of a five-bedroom penthouse in Connaught Place, Hyde Park, you could buy a whopping Italian estate with a 12th-century medieval castle and a sprinkling of Tuscan farmhouses in the grounds, where the number of bedrooms adds up to 115, with 100 bathrooms on the side. The first costs £20m and the second €28m (£19.8m).

This castle just east of Siena, wrapped in 630 hectares planted with 1,500 olive trees producing award-winning olive oil, is thought to be the largest property in the world currently on the market. But the Italian market is as keen on discretion as the Mafia is on anonymity, so even the name of this prize piece of history is being kept firmly under the estate agent’s pillow.

^{The lavish interior of the 11th-centry castle somewhere near Siena}

It will probably sell to one of those in the top 1 per cent of the richest people in the world – the ones who own roughly 99 per cent of the planet’s wealth – so the purchaser’s name, too, is likely to remain hush-hush. The setting in Tuscany, the medieval courtyard with tower and chapel, the Italianate gardens with palms and box hedges, the interiors with marble floors and elaborate painted ceilings, make it so romantic that it is sometimes hired for weddings. It goes without saying that there is plenty of room for guests to sleep, as well as pools for them to swim in.

“It is exceptionally beautiful. There are many castles in Tuscany but very few are medieval,” says the agent John Jonk of Sotheby’s International (0039 05507 51888; sothebysrealtycom). “The approach to it is wonderful and you go into another world. There are thousands of wild boar and roe deer, magical woods, vineyards, olive groves and grain fields. On the estate it is always silent. The castle was built at a time just before Giotto, when the Renaissance lay around the corner and Siena was at war with Florence.”

^{A view of the interior courtyard}

From the 1400s it had been in the hands of the Piccolomini family until the current owners bought it more than 30 years ago. “The price is unusually low considering it provides 154,139 sq ft of accommodation. But this reflects the market in Europe at the moment.” It is believed that Galileo Galilei stayed in the tower and must have gazed out upon the same night sky.

^{The property really is an authentic castle}

How does it compare to other global Godzillas of the property world? One of the largest newly built palaces is the 27-storey skyscraper Antilia in Mumbai, India, which provides 400,000 sq ft of space, including six storeys of parking lots, a lobby with nine elevators and several lounges, a ballroom with crystal chandeliers, swimming pool, bar, yoga studio, ice room, four-storey garden and private sleeping areas for a family of five. It is thought to have cost $2bn (£1.3bn) to build and is the home of Mukesh Ambani, head of the India-based petrochemical Reliance Industries.

^{The tasteful gardens}

According to therichest.com, the largest home is the Istana Nurul Iman Palace, at 2.15 million sq ft. This is the official residence of the Sultan of Brunei and has 1,788 rooms, 257 bathrooms, five swimming pools, a 110-car garage, air-conditioned stable for 200 polo ponies, banquet hall, and a mosque large enough for 1,500 worshippers. Its estimated cost was £1.4bn.

^{The brick interior}

In Britain, the largest property still used as a home is Windsor Castle at 484,376 sq ft, but that includes St George’s Chapel and Queen Mary’s Dolls House. Interestingly, the original castle was built in the 11th century, after the invasion of William the Conqueror, at just about the same time as the Italian castle was being built and the cathedral and Leaning Tower in Pisa were going up.

^{A view of the castle in its surroundings}

^Source:- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/11467864/Its-the-worlds-biggest-house-for-sale-and-its-top-secret.html

Errrrr.....so where is the garage then?

Hormann United Kingdom

This company has some cool stuff.....
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If you’re looking for sectional garage doors in the UK, go with Hörmann to ensure quality. Hörmann’s elegant automatic sectional doors open vertically, meaning that you have more space both inside and in front of the garage.

Sectional doors fit anywhere, no matter whether your garage opening is rectangular or chamfered, or whether it has a segmental or Norman arch. The other great benefit is that sectional doors are made in standard sizes, meaning it is easy to modernise if you feel the need.

Use the door configurator at your leisure to select your dream door: you have all kinds of options. The catalogue provides comprehensive information and, of course, your Hörmann partner would be happy to give you individual advice.

The RollMatic garage door from Hörmann provides plenty of space in front of and inside the garage. You can drive directly up to the door for parking and the ceiling area of the garage remains available. Made of high-quality corrosion-free aluminium, the RollMatic door profile is equipped with modern Hörmann operator technology as standard.

The operator is located outside the support bracket for trouble-free maintenance. Start and stop of the RollMatic door are particularly soft and silent, preserving the door. An internal push button and garage illumination are already integrated in the control housing.

For more information, please see the catalogue.

The original is simply the best: quality and security; appearance and convenience; and advanced technology. Each Hörmann up-and-over garage door contains the expertise gained from over 50 years of building garage doors.

Thanks to the wide variety of styles of up-and-over garage doors, you are sure to find the right one for your home. Use the door configurator to select your dream door. Get the right style, the right surface and the right colour. You have all kinds of options:

The side sliding sectional door offers many advantages:

1. A lot of space under the garage ceiling
Because the door opens to the side, you can use the entire ceiling of the garage, for example, to store surfboards or canoes. Thanks to its unique design, the side sliding sectional door can also be used in difficult fitting situations with sloped roofs.

2. Fast access to the garage
The so-called wicket door function is standard in the new side sliding sectional doors. This means that both manual and power-driven doors can be opened just slightly, in order to get into the garage faster. This is practical and reduces waiting time if, for example, you just want to get your bicycle out of the garage.

The catalogue provides comprehensive information and, of course, your Hörmann partner would be happy to give you individual advice.

Save Money By Walking

I hate paying for parking...........

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10 reasons why you should walk instead of drive

 

Everybody knows why walking is better for you than driving, but sometimes people have a way of ignoring what’s good for them.

So, let’s remind ourselves of why we should be walking – and how to enjoy it more.

 

10 REASONS FOR WALKING INSTEAD OF DRIVING

 

1. It saves money on petrol. Lots of it.

 

2. It saves the planet. You’d be doing your bit to save the world.

 

3. It saves on parking. Don’t you just hate having to pay for parking?

 

4. It’s free. The pleasure of knowing you are getting something for nothing while other people have to pay is not the same as benefiting from saving money. It’s even better.

 

5. It’s good exercise. The benefits are obvious. Ask your doctor.

 

6. You’ll get more fresh air. It’s the best kind.

 

7. It might even be quicker than driving. People often underestimate the time they spend driving, thinking a 10-minute journey may only take two minutes. And they often don’t take into account the unavoidable extra time involved, either, when calculating journey times. Add up the time you spend looking for your keys, filling up with petrol, defrosting the car, walking from the car park, etc, and compare it with a simple walk from A to B. And even if it still takes longer to walk, remember that only the extra time spent walking is the issue, not the total time of the walk. It may only be costing you a few minutes extra per day to walk instead of drive.

 

8. If it takes longer to work after all, what the heck? You’re walking to work, so what’s the rush?

 

9. Walking improves your image. Have you noticed that everybody in the office admires the person who has the motivation to walk instead of drive? In a word, walking is cool.

 

10. Walking is fun - and here are some tips for making it even better…

 

17 WAYS TO MAKE WALKING EVEN BETTER

 

1. Remember that you don’t have to walk every day. Try walking and driving on alternate days - but don’t be surprised if you find the advantages are great enough or you are enjoying it so much that you want to do it more regularly.

 

2. Vary your route. Making the walk more interesting makes it seem shorter.

 

3. If you can’t vary your route, vary your entertainment. Get an iPod. It makes walking even more of a pleasure - and you don’t have to be listening to music all the time. Download podcasts of your favourite radio programmes, or invest some of the money you have saved by buying yourself some talking books.

 

4. See your walk as quality time or escapism, and enjoy the fact that you aren’t subjected to road rage, boy racers cutting you up, feeling guilty about not getting enough exercise, and helping to ruin the environment. Press the button on that crossing and make the suckers wait!

 

5. Think. See your walk to work as a chance to give some serious thought to work matters. You’ll be amazed how much better you can think with the clear head you get from breathing fresh air. You may even be able to use the time to make necessary phone calls. Save the walk home for thinking about other aspects of your life and making decisions.

 

6. Talk to people. You never get a chance to say ‘Good morning’ to fellow drivers, but fellow walkers appreciate it - and so will you. After all, you’re in this together! And you’ll get to speak to the neighbours properly too.

7. Sing or hum to yourself. Choosing songs with a fast tempo will make you walk faster, therefore increasing the benefit of the exercise and getting you there even quicker. Don’t do it too loudly, though.

8. Set yourself ‘no-go’ areas for driving. Get a map and mark a circle at least a mile around home - and challenge yourself never to drive to any destinations inside the circle.

9. Keep your eyes open. At walking pace you have more time to notice and enjoy what’s around you. Stop to smell the flowers!

10. Treat yourself to some comfortable shoes. Now you can afford them and your feet deserve them!

11. Remember: it’s free. You’re getting something for nothing, and doesn’t that make you feel good?

12. Walk because you can. Some people’s motivation for walking is having friends and relations who are unable to walk - because of illlness, infirmity, accident or age. Keep in mind somebody you know who would love to be able to walk too. Make hay while the sun shines and think yourself lucky.

13. Enjoy the cold. No, really - there is something strangely gratifying about wrapping up warm against the cold and beating the winter. And the more you are out, the less likely you are to get a cold.

14. Try walking with somebody else - especially close friends and relatives. It’s a great way to spend quality time with them without irritating distractions.

15. Feel the rhythm! Dancers and musicians often walk because they say it helps their sense of rhythm. As one dancer put it: “Walking is the metronone of my life.”

16. Take a shorter lunch break. You’ve already had your ration of fresh air, so you don’t need so much time to recoup in the middle of the day. You may end up getting home earlier than if you had driven.

17. Don’t feel guilty about driving once in a while. If the weather’s especially bad or you really aren’t in the mood, you’ve every right to take the driving option - as long as you don’t fall back into bad habits.

Source:- http://www.swindonweb.com/?m=862&s=867&ss=0&c=4963&t=save+money+by+walking

I Bought A Car And Have Now Changed My Mind…

Buyer’s Remorse is very common in the car industry. You have signed on the dotted line for a car – possibly rushing into it, maybe getting carried away at the showroom or perhaps buying one car and then spotting a better one advertised cheaper elsewhere – and now you have changed your mind. What can you do about it?  It’s a very common question, so it’s now the topic of an #AskTCE article.

As an example, Chris asked on the TCE forums in August 2014: “I recently went to purchase a new vehicle & paid £250 deposit to “hold” the vehicle. The following morning I no longer wished to purchase the vehicle as I had found a much better offer. I called them up, explained the situation and asked for my deposit back but they refused. Am I entitled to get my deposit back?”

Buying a car in the UK is generally different from most retail industries in that you don’t usually choose your car, pay for it and drive it home on the spot. Finance, insurance and registration requirements usually mean that there is a gap of up to a week before you collect your new pride and joy (or potentially much longer if you are ordering a new car from the factory rather than buying one in stock).  This waiting period often leads to the buyer reflecting on the enormity of the money they are spending, and starting to question whether or not it is a good idea.  Once these thoughts start creeping in, buyers often start looking for ways to get out of their new car purchase. If this sounds like you, then what are your options and what rights do you have?

The answer depends on whether you have bought the car from a dealership in person, bought it from a dealer via phone/internet (“distance selling”) or bought it privately. Let’s deal with the last one first. If you have bought the car privately, you basically have no rights and no protections. Simples. You can go back to the owner and try to get them to take the car back for a full refund, but this has probably never happened in the history of mankind.

If you are buying a car from a dealership, your cancellation & refund rights are different if you are buying in person or buying via phone/online (distance selling).  To buy a new or used car from a dealership, you generally need to do two things: 1) sign a vehicle order form (which is a binding contract), and 2) pay a deposit. Once you have done these two things, you are considered to have committed to buying the car. The dealer takes the car off sale so no-one else can buy it, and you arrange to make payment for the vehicle before taking possession of it.

When you sign a vehicle order form, you are signing a legal contract to buy that vehicle. You are committing to purchase the vehicle at the price shown, with any extras listed on the order and subject to any caveats listed on the order. If you are part-exchanging your old car, you are contracting to sell the car as presented to the dealer at the price listed.

Buying a car in person from a dealership

A vehicle order signed on the dealer’s premises has no cooling-off period. Once you sign it, you are legally committed to everything shown on the form. Obviously you have consumer rights to return a car which is faulty and get a full refund, but you don’t have the legal right to simply change your mind either before or after taking delivery. You have signed a contract and you are expected to fulfill it.  A dealer may be prepared to negotiate changes to the contract in order to keep you from walking away, but they do have the moral high ground here as it’s you who wants to change the contract.

Buying a car at a distance or off-premises

If you are buying a car over the phone or online, which can be quite common if you are buying a car located in a different part of the country, then you do have more legal protection. The same applies if you are buying a car off-premises (eg – a dealer brings a car to your house and you sign a vehicle order there). In a nutshell, you have the right to cancel from the moment an order is placed until 14 days after taking delivery of the car. The dealer is required to provide you with details of their returns/cancellation policy and explain who pays for the cost of returning the car if you change your mind. Their policy may include charges for returning/collecting the vehicle, but they must provide you with this information up front.  You are liable for any damage you cause to the car.

What is important with regard to Distance or Off-Premises Selling is that the specific act of sale must be done at a distance. This means that you have to sign and return a vehicle order form, and have the dealer sign it and provide you with a copy, without you setting foot on their premises. Many dealers will try and avoid this by taking a deposit to “hold” the vehicle for you, or sign a draft contract “subject to viewing the vehicle”, and the final contract is only signed when you trek over to collect the car. The new contract supercedes the old, and vehicle is technically sold on the premises rather than at a distance. Dealers often use this technique to try and avoid their cancellation obligations under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, which replaced the old Distance Selling Regulations.

What does this mean in the real world?

In reality, rather than legal theory, there is very little that a dealer is going to do if you walk away from the contract. They could try and take you to court to force you to pay for the car and take it, but that would cost them much more than the profit they would make on the sale. Which is the reason for…

Your deposit

Usually you will be expected to put down about 10% of the purchase price, or at least a reasonably hefty sum of money that you wouldn’t want to lose, when you sign the vehicle order. There is no legal requirement for this, but it is standard practice. A dealer incurs costs in preparing a car for sale, processing paperwork and taxing the vehicle. They are not going to start spending money getting your car ready without a significant financial commitment from you when they know you can walk away from your contract without any real repercussions.

Once you pay a deposit on a car, you are committing yourself far more than simply signing a piece of paper. This deposit is usually non-refundable, so it is a way of holding you to your purchase if you start to waver.

A deposit is also used as a way of forcing a commitment from an undecided customer. If you are looking at a nice car at a dealership, but want time to think it over or get your finances in place, the dealer will often offer you the chance to put a deposit on the car to “hold” it while you finalise yourself. Don’t be fooled – once you give a car dealer your money, you will have to fight to ever get it back again.

Cancelling your order – what rights do you have?

If you signed the vehicle order on premises and later change your mind, then the dealer is within their rights to keep your deposit – or at least any monies that they have spent on getting your car ready. But they can’t realistically force you to pay the remainder and take the car, so at worst you walk away having lost a few hundred or a couple of thousand pounds. You can fight them to try and get your money back, and if you battle long and hard enough you will probably get there, but it won’t be easy.

If you are buying at a distance or off-premises, then you are entitled to your full deposit back, regardless of your reasons or any money the dealer has spent.

If there is a clause in the contract that the dealer has not fulfilled, or the car is not as advertised, then you are entitled to cancel the contract and have your deposit returned. For example, the car is advertised as having 30,000 miles on it but turns out to actually have 60,000 miles on the clock when you get it, or the purchase was subject to any condition noted on the contract (usually for cars sold unseen).

If the contract cannot be completed so you are unable to take delivery of the car, then you are entitled to get your deposit back. This usually also applies if you fail a finance application. If a dealer takes a deposit from you before your finance has been approved, they will usually give you your money back with no problems if that application is rejected.

Summary

Basically, it’s very simple.  Don’t sign a vehicle order or pay a deposit for a car if you are not 100% comfortable being held to it.  If you are unsure about anything, or want to sleep on it, then do so before signing or paying a deposit.  Even if a salesman promises that your deposit is fully refundable, you will probably still have a fight on your hands to get it back.  Don’t be talked into signing or paying unless you are sure that it is what you want.  Then once you have signed your life away, do yourself a favour and stop combing the internet looking for a better deal!

Source:- http://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/bought-a-car-and-changed-my-mind/

How To Get The Smell Of Smoke Out Of Your Car

So you've finally quit smoking or are well on your way, congratulations! One thing that a lot of people want to do is get that lingering smell of smoke out of their car, once you quit you tend to notice the smell much more, not to mention that it hurts the resale value of your car! So this post is a guide to getting that dang smell of smoke out of your car!

Smoke can deeply permeate the materials inside a car, making it very difficult to remove its smell. The seats, mats and other soft, interior components of the car are excellent at absorbing scents and particles and holding them in. Our guide will walk you through several different methods you can use to deodorize your car and get the smell of smoke out for good.

Start Simple

If the smell of smoke is rather faint, then it may not have permeated yet. You may be able to simply air out the car and spray a deodorizer. Just roll down your windows and spray some Febreeze or another deodorizer on the seats and mats.

Of course, this is only going to work if the smell is faint and if it hasn’t settled in. If some serious smoking has been done in the vehicle, you will have to resort to more extreme measures.

Before you get there though, make sure the ashtray is cleaned. This should be a no brainer, but it can be a forgotten part of the car, especially if there are multiple ashtrays throughout the car and they can easily be covered or concealed. If they are removable, you can just lift them out and dump them out then wipe them down. Otherwise, you will need to vacuum them out or pull the particles out with a cloth.

Clean Out Permeable Materials

For serious smoke smells, you will need to get down and dirty a little. Start by vacuuming everything- in all the crevices, under all the mats and the seats. Then take out the mats and any other removable fabrics. You will want to clean them down with warm soapy water. Once they are cleaned, you can let them dry in the sun.

The upholstery- the seats and floors, will be a bit more difficult to get clean. You can wipe them down with a solution of Murphy’s oil, which is part oil and part water. Just follow the instructions on the container to find out how much of each you will need. Then you can wipe down the seats and floors lightly. You don’t want to apply a lot of the solution to them, as that will just permeate them with a different smell.

Alternately, you can use an upholstery spray cleaner. You can usually apply this directly to the materials or to a cleaning cloth. Let it sit for a few minutes before drying it off.

To make cleaning easier, you should remove any items from the car that you can. Any removable seats should be taken out. This allows them to air out, but it also allows you to get to many hard-to-reach locations and to clean the carpet under the seats.

Get Rid of Nicotine Collections

Nicotine tends to collect inside your car in some odd places. The most common location is around the edges of your windows. You can wipe them down with a window cleaner. If you see any yellowed areas, you should concentrate on those.

All glass and other hard surfaces need to be cleaned. And be sure to roll up your windows all the way to get all the corners and edges of the glass. You should also clean along the grooves of the window, as nicotine will collect there as well. 

Remove any Lingering Scent

It’s possible that all your cleaning efforts have still left behind a slight smell. If that’s the case, you should place an air freshener near the vents and allow the vents to operate on high for about half an hour. Just let the air circulate, with the windows open to cleanse your car of the smell. This not only removes the smell of smoke that may still be left behind, but it also gets rid of the smell of the cleaning chemicals you have used, making your car smell fresh again.

If you want to replace or overpower the scent of smoke, you can use coffee grounds. After you have completed your cleaning, you can place a pan of coffee grounds inside your car, with all the windows closed. Leave if for a few hours, and your car should be permeated with the new smell quickly. Of course, if you don’t like the smell of ground coffee, then this won’t really be an option, but there are other strong-smelling scents you can use to replace the smell of smoke.