Doc3

The $100,000 Closet

When Rochelle Maize renovated her 6,110-square-foot Beverly Hills, Calif., home, it wasn't a new kitchen or home theater at the top of her list of must-haves-it was a closet. Martin Perri Interiors She hired a designer to create a 400-square-foot master closet with a flat-screen television, a refrigerator for Champagne, white cabinetry with silver-leaf etchings and a large crystal chandelier.

http://on.wsj.com/XeOUGn

Partnering in Life and Design

Partnering in Life and Design 02/14/13 Price: $11,500,000 Location: Mamaroneck, NY Type of Home: Detached Home The owners of this Mamaroneck home on the Long Island Sound had clear design ideas for the property, from the landscaping and Georgian-style architecture to the wallpaper and lighting system. -- Jackie Bischof

http://on.wsj.com/Uk8gu7

Tensions Mount as China Takes Farms for Homes

Chinese law lets local governments take over farmland for minimal compensation and sell it at far higher prices to developers, under a system that exacerbates China's already wide gap between well-off urbanites and lower-income rural residents.

http://on.wsj.com/12kRBu2

Stone Manor in Houston

Stone Manor in Houston $7,995,000 Houston, TX Detached Home This limestone-faced home in Texas is inspired by the architecture of French châteaus and features a warm, traditional design.-Stefanos Chen The owners, David Hull, 68, and his wife Stormy, 66, purchased this roughly 1-acre property in Houston, Texas, in 2002, according to public records.

http://on.wsj.com/12kRxdM

Feng Shui-Approved in Hong Kong

Feng Shui-Approved in Hong Kong $9,000,000 Hong Kong Detached Home To ensure a happy home, this Hong Kong house's owners hired a few feng shui "masters" for an evaluation before closing on it. -Payal Uttam Gerald Alserda, a branding and retail executive, bought this home in June 2010 for 27 million Hong Kong dollars (roughly US$3.5 million at current rates).

http://on.wsj.com/UgOOyc

Andre Barbosa's Music Video Pokes Fun at Squatting Stint in Boca Raton Mansion -- AOL Real Estate

By The Florida man who gained notoriety from claiming he had a legal right to squat in a $2.5 million home in Boca Raton has published a music video, shot against a backdrop of the mansion, days after police ejected him from the mansion.

http://aol.it/12ASMkt

Casino Revamp Banks on U.S. Program

A closed Las Vegas landmark that was a Rat Pack hangout in its glory days may get a makeover through a federal program that offers green cards to foreign investors. Los Angeles nightclub operator and hotelier Sam Nazarian is set to begin a $415 million renovation of the old Sahara casino and hotel, which once entertained such guests as Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.

http://on.wsj.com/XAoO0E

Toronto Condos Cool

TORONTO-The once red-hot condominium market here is suddenly teetering, as sales plummet and prices ease. The downdraft is threatening a boom that has transformed the skyline of Canada's largest city and come to symbolize the country's economic outperformance in recent years. As real-estate markets crashed in the U.S.

http://on.wsj.com/Wkh4Pc

New Jersey Fund Move Could Clarify Prices

The murky world of real-estate pricing by private-equity funds is about to become a little less murky, thanks in large part to New Jersey's state pension fund, which disclosed last month that it is putting on the block $1 billion of its positions in private-equity funds.

http://on.wsj.com/Wkh55q