Most people make their housing choices based on practical concerns—expense, schools, and the like—so on vacation it might be nice to go with something a little off-the-wall to break from the norm. Agree? Well do we have some delightfully oddball rentals for you, starting with this treehouse nestled in the olive groves of Arlena Di Castro, Italy. Trading in the traditional rope ladder for a gracefully-curved stairway, this treehouse delivers its childish fantasy with a dose of grown-up luxury. There's space on the balcony to take breakfast, full electricity, and a cozy double bedroom for $458 per night.
OK, so we're not really sure where to begin. Basically, there's this brand-new blog that chronicles the adventures of two roommates (Karen and Ellen) who move from Seattle to Oakland, Calif., and proceed to torture their landlord (Mark) with a totally insane, bonkers, crazypants quantity (and quality) of letters. CalledThe Karen & Ellen Letters, the blog is posted anonymously not by one of the roommates themselves but by an anonymous person who claims to have received all these letters in the late-'80s for his/her 24th birthday. Whatever. Details, schmeetails. The meat of the letters is what's funny. There's one particularly inspiring example of the correspondence above; click over to Curbed Seattle for more.
On paper, landlords and tenants have plenty to disagree about. In the real world, those disagreements sometimes escalate to horrific levels. Next time you think about holding a grudge against a landlord or tenant take a look at these ultimate horror stories and think again:
1. ↑ If you happen to live in China, good luck. Preventing a developer from evicting tenants to make way for a new project in Shenzhen seemed like a good idea, until the Shenzhen Luosha Engineering Development Co. dumped more than 100 pounds of stinging scorpions on the property. According to the Shanghai Daily,
"A resident surnamed Chen woke up early Monday morning and discovered a scorpion crawling on his body. Chen turned on the light and was astonished to see the bedroom full of scorpions, which have a poisonous sting, local news portal Southcn.com reported yesterday. Chen woke up his family and together they captured several hundred scorpions in his apartment."
For the purposes of this round-up, the West Indian island of St. Barts has all the necessary equipment: tropical island, stylish crowd, and high-dollar real estate. This rental villa on Point Milou is sited at the edge of a rock outcropping and surrounded on three sides by the turquoise blue waters of the Caribbean. A swimming beach is a decent drive and we wouldn't want to try to tackle the roiling waters at the foot of the cliff, so luckily there's a swimming pool. The rental rates vary wildly, from $1,560 per night in low season to $11,000 per night—with a 14 night minimum stay—over the Christmas and New Years holidays. For that price the furnishings are a little dated, but the daily maid service should help to make up for any decor disappointment.
The votes have been tallied on all the Curbed sites; here now: the Renters Week 2011 Horror Story Finalists. One of these guys will win a free month's rent (up to $2,500), funded jovially by Curbed. Let the voting begin!
Editor's Note: This poll will be open until Monday, Nov. 14 at noon EST. Voting irregularities will be strictly policed.
Location: Scottsdale, Ariz. Price: $20,000 per month The Skinny: With a similar stucco facade and elongated swimming pool, this Scottsdale, Ariz. home bears more than a passing resemblance to Jeff Greene's $195K per month mansion in Beverly Hills, Calif. In a classic case of "location, location, location," this 13,000-square-foot spread is asking for a little more than one tenth of that price, $20K per month. Sure, the Arizona place is smaller, sits on a more compact lot, and doesn't have that coveted "entertainment villa," but it does have plenty of extravagant features, like five carved limestone fireplaces, a 1,200-bottle wine cellar, a built-in grill, and an outdoor bar with two flat-screen TVs. Still, no number of extravagances can overcome this mansion's questionable decor, particularly the cheesy portrait of a piano given pride of place over one of the fireplaces.
· 10947 E Wingspan Way [Hotpads]
· Five of America's Most Stunningly, Staggeringly Costly Rentals [Curbed National]
· All Renters Week 2011 posts [Curbed National]
The renters of New York City are no stranger to tiny, cramped, barely-livable apartments, but even a Big Apple native might be surprised at the size of this Upper West Side rental. Measuring in at a minuscule 100 square feet, the not-even-studio is located on the fourth floor of a walk-up townhouse, has no stove or refrigerator, and still costs $1,000 per month. Worse yet—and this isn't really made clear in the admittedly frank brokerbabble—there's no window, just a skylight, and the shower and sink sit in the corner of the room. In fact, the foot of the bed cozies up to the shower stall. After signing on for a year of claustrophobia, renters will have to pay a brokers fee of "under $2,000." Oh good, what a deal.
From the outside, the house doesn't look much like something we'd typically call "midcentury modern," but the stone structure, located in Newton, Mass., was built in 1948 by the esteemed Bauhaus architect and theorist Walter Gropius. It doesn't get much better than that! But wait, what's this?! At some point over the past 63 years a horrendous glass pavilion was tacked onto the back of the house as a "recreation area," containing both an indoor swimming pool and a billiards table. This would have Gropius rolling over in his grave, and it'll have whomever rents the place—for $18,000 per month, no less—wishing that they'd purchased instead. If only to have the right to tear down that abomination of an addition.
We've already taken a look at what a budget of $2,000 per month can procure, so we're turning our attention to something a bit higher end, rentals with $5,000 monthly rates, from around the Curbed markets. Click through the gallery above for the coast-to-coast round-up.
Welcome to Renter Week 2011's Craigslist Power Hour! For the next full hour, Curbed National—along with every Curbed city blog—will become Craigslist central, and that means all the desperate, tenant-seeking starchitecture, nutjob roommates, things related to sleeping on a couch, people with too many pets, and cheap-rent-at-the-expense-of-dignity you can handle. Below, we're liveblogging the action, culling content from the city sites as well as from our own stalker tendencies. Stay with us from 2 to 3 p.m. EST.
2:02
Off to a solid start. Seems like there's a ton of people who want to live somewhere without paying rent in Atlanta. This guy makes a pretty sweet offer:
At the tail beginning of the Renters Week 2011 hullabaloo, we implored Curbed readers to send their goriest Renter Horror Stories with brighter, rent-free days ahead promised to the person with the best tale to tell. We published the two finalists yesterday—Mandy in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and Chelsea, in Syracuse, N.Y.—and now it's up to you to decide which of these lasses is in the running for one gloriously rent-free month—the winner will face the winner of all the city-site polls (concurrently running) right here on Curbed National tomorrow. Editor's Note: This poll will be open for 24 hours and voting irregularities will be strictly policed.
Here again, the semifinalists:
Renter Horror Story 1: Cockroach, Mice, and Wolf Spiders [link] SNIPPET: "Yes, those were WASPS living in the wall right outside said balcony door. And giant wolf spiders stringing their webs over our BBQ and balcony furniure, rendering the lake view unenjoyable. Then those spiders found their way indoors. How? We never did find out. Plus [...] I found cockroaches under our kitchen sink. The last straw was the mice. I stored our cat's food under the kitchen sink. One evening I reached for a bag, tipped it over the pet food dish and out tumbled two mice."
Renter Horror Story 2: Bedbugs Ignored For Three Months [link] SNIPPET: "It turns out, EVERY BUILDING in the complex is infested. [...] The landlord refused to pay for the extermination, and told us if we refused to pay the $1,400, we would be evicted. Livid, my boyfriend and I called the health department (who said they could not help us) and the town code enforcer, who, as it turns out, was friends with the landlord. The property manager’s husband, who is head of maintenance, got into a verbal altercation with my boyfriend, calling him a liar because the exterminator only found one bug in our place. We had bed bugs for three months. "
Location: Los Angeles, Calif. Price: $8,500 per month The Skinny: The Sierra Towers complex, built in 1965 as the decidedly unsexy Spoon Apartment Building, is now the only tall tower in the Hollywood area, leaving this building with spectacular views of the city and surrounding hills. This one bedroom features floor-to-ceiling glass, a chef's kitchen, and covered terrace. The renters here can count Rachel Zoe, Elton John, Joan Collins, Vincent Gallo, and Cher among their neighbors. Those views and celebrity aura come at a price, a high one, $8,500 per month. Luckily the amenities list is plenty long, with "a concierge, valet parking, pool area, weight and cardio room, spa, and party room."
· 9255 Doheny Road [Hotpads]
· All Renters Week 2011 posts [Curbed National]
"My first rental apartment was kind of a bittersweet affair. It was sweet because I roomed with the most divine girl named Julia, whom I love—she's a really good friend of mine—in a very, very glamorous doorman building on 9th Street between 5th and 6th [avenues in NYC]. The bitter part was that I was sleeping in the nursery, which had baby-blue infant wallpaper with little balloons and elephants, and it was just big enough to fit my full-size—wait for it—futon. So needless to say I couldn't sleep for a year because I was sleeping on a futon but it was a very, very pleasant place to spend sleepless nights staring up at the happy balloons and elephants."
The Galápagos Islands lie 525 nautical miles west off the Ecuadorian coast and are known to most travelers as a unique and delicate ecosystem that's threatened by human intrusion. Well apparently the environmental angle hasn't stopped people from building vacation homes on the islands, including this luxe villa known as La Iguana. With five bedrooms and seven baths, this Spanish-style tiled-roofed structure has plenty of space for wannabe naturalists and boasts such creature comforts as air-conditioning in every bedroom, wireless internet service, two docks, two large living rooms, and a swimming pool. Plus, to ensure that the little Darwins don't have to lift a finger, a maid, cook, and caretaker will assist to renters every need. All that luxury sounds great, but prospective tourists will have to inquire to learn the price, indicating that none of this comes cheap.
For a hardcore fan of the James Bond series, there could hardly be a better vacation destination than the Goldeneye resort in St. Mary, Jamaica. The centerpiece of this luxe 22-room resort is Ian Fleming's own private villa, which retains the author's original writing desk, carved from Jamaican red bulletwood. As evidence of the impact this place had on Fleming's writing and the ensuing films, a short boat ride takes you to Laughing Waters, the beach where the famous white-bikini scenes from Dr. No were shot. For a little extra entertainment-related gossip, the current owner is Island Records entrepreneur Chris Blackwell, who is charging$7,500 per night in high season for the five-bedroom villa.
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"My first rental apartment was kind of a bittersweet affair. It was sweet because I roomed with the most divine girl named Julia, whom I love—she's a really good friend of mine—in a very, very glamorous doorman building on 9th Street between 5th and 6th [avenues in NYC]. The bitter part was that I was sleeping in the nursery, which had baby-blue infant wallpaper with little balloons and elephants, and it was just big enough to fit my full-size—wait for it—futon. So needless to say I couldn't sleep for a year because I was sleeping on a futon but it was a very, very pleasant place to spend sleepless nights staring up at the happy balloons and elephants."
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