Fun Real Estate Facts

Mind-blowing Real Estate Facts

1. There’s a Secret Apartment at the Top of the Eiffel Tower

When Gustave Eiffel designed the Eiffel tower, he included a private area for himself just below its spire. Completely surrounded by an open-air balcony, this dwelling measured approximately 1076 square feet and included a living room with a table, a couch, a piano, and three small desks, a kitchen, a bathroom with a sink, and a separate toilet cubicle. The apartment, where Eiffel presumably never slept, has since become an area for technical facilities. Now available for the public to tour, it is a recreation of his office.

2. Sears Catalog Used to Offer Mail-order Houses

From 1908 to 1940 they shipped out some 75,000 homes across the country. Customers could select from dozens of models in Sears Modern Homes Catalog, order blueprints, send in a check, and a few weeks later everything they needed would arrive in a train car. The lumber came pre-cut, along with an instruction booklet. Sears promised that working without a carpenter and only rudimentary skills, a person could finish their Sears mail-order home in less than 90 days.

3. Fans of “Breaking Bad” Still Toss Pizza on Walter White’s House

If you’re a “Breaking Bad” fan, you are familiar with that scene where Walter threw a pizza onto his roof in a fit of frustration. The scene became a fan favorite, with many taking a pilgrimage to the famed New Mexico home just to recreate that scene and throw pizzas on its roof. In 2015, Breaking Bad creators even asked fans to stop throwing pizzas at Padilla’s house. But that didn’t quite work. Current owners of the home said they’ve removed hundreds of pizzas from their property over the years.

4. Sellers in Four States Have to Disclose if Their House Is Haunted

Four states deal with paranormal activity in their real estate disclosure laws: New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Minnesota. In New York state, homebuyers are allowed to rescind a contract for sale because the seller intentionally failed to disclose that the house was haunted. In New Jersey, a seller must truthfully tell a buyer if their property comes with phantom roommates - only if asked.

5. Hollywood Sign Used to Be a Real Estate Ad

The H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D sign is one of the most recognizable images of Los Angeles and a universal metaphor for ambition, success, and glamor. Spelled out in 45 ft-tall white capital letters and 350 feet long, it was originally created in 1923 as a temporary advertisement for a suburban housing development called “Hollywoodland.” Originally intended to last just a year and a half, the Sign has endured almost a century and still remains one of the world’s most famous monuments.