Healthcare Concerns

By LAURA KUSISTO

MakerBot Industries’ 3-D printers can create everything from jewelry to bottle openers seemingly out of thin air. Now developers are hoping the hip tech company will work similar magic on dowdy Downtown Brooklyn.

MakerBot, a start-up with offices now in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, that has grown to more than 125 employees, will move into the full 21st floor of One Metrotech, a massive pink-and-gray tower also occupied by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley.

MakerBot is the first technology company to move offices into Downtown Brooklyn, according to officials.

“We’re going to put the tech in Metrotech, literally,” said Bre Pettis, one of the founders.

Downtown Brooklyn has been pegged, along with Dumbo and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, as a leg of Brooklyn’s burgeoning tech triangle. But thus far the district, which is dominated by back offices for the financial-services industry, has lagged behind in attracting tech talent.

In another major boost to the area, a couple of weeks ago New York University announced plans to create an applied-sciences institute, which will eventually have about 530 graduate students and 50 full-time faculty members.

But long before the full NYU campus opens at 370 Jay St., MakerBot will bring its engineers, marketers and support technicians sporting jeans and plaid shirts to the buttoned-up office district.

MakerBot was founded in a “hacking collective” called NYC Resistor, at 397 Bridge St. Mr. Pettis and his partners, Adam Mayer and Zach Smith, quit their jobs in 2009 and locked themselves in a room with caffeine and a case of ramen until they came out with a prototype for a 3-D printer.

The printer allows users to scan and reproduce full objects in plastic.

As MakerBot’s popularity took off, the company eventually moved into 87 Third Ave. in Boerum Hill in early 2011.

Whenever they needed more space, Mr. Pettis would knock on doors around the neighborhood to see what else he could find, which resulted in a hodgepodge of several different spaces.

But now the company plans to hire yet another 50 people and its current office-space situation looked increasingly untenable. Mr. Pettis said the new space appealed to the company because of its transportation, views of the bridges and proximity to Five Guys and Shake Shack eateries that have opened nearby.

Nonetheless, officials have thus far struggled to persuade more technology companies to move to Downtown Brooklyn.

Tucker Reed, president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, the local development corporation, said the area still needs to add amenities to catch up with competing neighborhoods. “Dumbo has charming cobblestoned streets and views of the city and the waterfront. There’s a real sense of place around that neighborhood. We’re working to create more public space and improve pedestrian access” in Downtown Brooklyn, he said.

The MakerBot lease is also good news for Forest City Ratner Cos., which owns One Metrotech and a large chunk of Downtown Brooklyn’s office space.

In recent years, the landlord tried to attract more media, nonprofit and technology companies to the area, especially given that demand for back-office space has shrunk.

“We’ve had creative, media and not-for-profit tenants. This is our first technology company. We hope it’s the first of many,” said MaryAnne Gilmartin, executive vice president of commercial and residential development for Forest City.

Mr. Pettis conceded the move will still require some growing up. The landlord at 87 Third Ave. included a lease clause requiring that MakerBot comply with science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov’s “three laws of robotics,” which require that robots follow orders, not injure humans and protect their own existence.

“There’s no science fiction in our [new] lease. We’ve officially hit the threshold” of maturity, Mr. Pettis said.

Write to Laura Kusisto at laura.kusisto@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared May 8, 2012, on page A18 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Putting the Tech in Metrotech.

By SARAH TILTON

Open House

1171 S. Ocean Blvd.,

Delray Beach, Fla.

STATS: A 9,805-square-foot home with six bedrooms and seven full bathrooms and two half bathrooms, asking $9 million, or $912.79 a square foot. Property taxes in 2012 are $122,072. The price has been lowered from $10.5 million.

DETAILS: Built in 1994 and remodeled in 2007, this home has 100 feet of ocean frontage on a lot of more than an acre. The pool, spa and cabana sit oceanside and the owners planted a species of firm grass to make it a more pleasant walk from the pool area to the beach. “It’s not squashy,” says the husband of the grass surface. The house has vaulted ceilings, a home theater with suede walls and a master bedroom with a private terrace overlooking the water. An upstairs bedroom includes a fireplace and a “morning kitchen” with a sink, refrigerator and coffee maker.

NEIGHBORHOOD: It’s about 20 minutes to the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens.

SELLERS: Stewart and Catherine Wiley. The Wileys are the retired founders of the Kingswood Group, which runs summer camps and outdoor-education programs in France and England.

WHAT WE PAID: The Wileys say they paid $7.5 million for the house in 2004 and put a million dollars into an 18-month remodeling.

WHY WE’RE SELLING: The Wileys plan to spend more time at their home in England which they say was once a Franciscan monastery built in 1347. They also have a home in Ireland (Mrs. Wiley is Irish) and an apartment in London near Harrods.

WHAT WE’LL MISS: The Wileys say they’ll miss the tranquillity and the friends they made here. Mrs. Wiley says she’ll also miss the consignment shops in Palm Beach, particularly the Chanel hand-me-downs at Déjà Vu.

WHAT WE WON’T: The Wileys like their tea and say they won’t miss that it takes a full five minutes for the kettle to boil because of the 110-volt electricity in the U.S. (In England, the electricity is 220-volt.)

COMPS: Nearby, a 5,700-square-foot waterfront house with five bedrooms and 5½ bathrooms is listed for $8 million.

OTHERS SAY:
Nualagh Strugger of the Corcoran Group has seen the house and says the price is “really good” considering the location which offers privacy as well as easy access to shopping on Atlantic Avenue. She says the house has a unique feel to it: “It is a mansion on the ocean, but it doesn’t have that cold feeling that a lot of them have.” Candace Friis, also of the Corcoran Group, has the listing and says that the house stands out because of the size of the lot, the beach and finishes like the cypress ceilings.

Write to Sarah Tilton at sarah.tilton@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared April 13, 2012, on page D9A in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: An Oceanfront Florida Mansion.

By JUNE FLETCHER

Q: My wife and I want to sell the four-bedroom home she owns in Suisun City, Calif. She refinanced it in 2006 for $310,000, but it’s only worth $180,000 now. We want to sell it to get rid of the financial burden, so my wife can quit her job and we can start a family. But we can’t do it without a short sale. We have a good tenant renting the place right now who may want to purchase it. What should we do?

—West Sacramento, Calif.

A: A short sale is the quickest way out of your dilemma, but it will wreck your wife’s credit for years to come. Given that she will be out of the work force, limiting her ability to rebuild her credit, I’d consider this only as a last resort.

In the meantime, look into these other options:

• Consider a loan modification. Because this home is now an investment property, and not your primary home, it won’t qualify for any refinancing programs sponsored by the federal government. Still, your lender might be willing to restructure your loan. An attorney can advise you on the best way to broach the issue. The attorney can review your loan’s documentation to see if it fully complies with the Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act–a federal law designed to prevent kickbacks and promote ethical lending practices. If the loan isn’t in compliance, your attorney will be able to argue that the loan is void, and will be in a good position to negotiate a reduction of your principal and/or interest (you may also be due a refund of your original closing costs).

• Wait for the real estate market to recover. According to Zillow.com, home prices in Suisun City have indeed taken a steep hit since their mid-2000 highs, and dropped almost 15% in January 2010 from a year earlier. But home prices in the city have always been volatile—they rose 131.5% between 2000 and 2005—and at some point, perhaps soon, the bottom will be reached and prices will recover. In fact, the most recent statistics are encouraging: Yahoo.com’s research shows prices for Suisun City homes that are not in foreclosure actually rose 6.1% in March 2010 from the month before. And while there are still more than 170 bank-owned properties in the city, according to RealtyTrac.com, local officials have rolled out a first-time buyer program that subsidizes loans for certain foreclosed homes. That should reduce some of the foreclosed inventory, and prop up prices of all homes.

• Talk to your tenant. Usually, I’m a big fan of rent-to-own deals, but since your property is only worth 58% of what you owe, I doubt you could negotiate a sales price and terms that would recoup all or most of your debt. But you never know. If your tenant has blemished credit, loves your house and wants to rent for four or five years before buying (when prices are sure to be higher), you might be able to come to an understanding. Such a deal would ensure that your property is kept in good condition, and it would spare you real estate broker fees when the property is sold.

Write to June Fletcher at fletcher.june@gmail.com

By JUNE FLETCHER

Q: I’m hunting for a rental apartment, and it seems that real estate agents get ticked off if they find out you’re talking to more than one. One agent has been fairly helpful so far. But when I show her ads that others have listed, she often takes a few days to respond. While I’m waiting, should I call the other agents in the ads? And should I call ads listed by owners, to avoid paying a Realtor fee?

—Jersey City, N.J.

A: I understand your dilemma. Despite all the technological advances of the past decades, the way most agents and buyers get together still reminds me of a 1950s teen romance. You’re the ingénue, who meets a few agents, goes out a few times, then waits by the phone for a call. The agents are members of the football team, who are ready to dazzle you for a few dates, but just as ready to drop you if you don’t commit to a more serious relationship.

Who can you blame them? In the beginning, agents must audition for your business by wooing you with their knowledge of the market, listening to your design and decorating preferences, and running up gas bills showing you listings. Whether they admit it to you or not, they all know that you’re also “dating” other agents, at least when you first start home shopping. But at some point, just like a suitor, they want to know whether they’re wasting their time.

Of course, you have the prerogative to choose the agent with whom you have the best chemistry. And you shouldn’t allow yourself to be guilt-tripped into working with someone who doesn’t respond quickly to you (though you should ask her why she is slow getting back to you—she may simply be trying to arrange an appointment to show the unit). Whether you continue your commitment with this agent or break up with her, you should tell her what you are doing and why. Even if you decide that she’s not the right agent for you, if you are honest with her, she’ll respect you—and your reputation with other agents will remain intact.

Meanwhile, it’s up to you whether to respond to for-rent-by-owner ads. People rent places without using agents all the time. If you are an experienced renter with solid knowledge of the neighborhood, it may be a good idea to avoid brokers and their fees. However, if you haven’t had much experience as a renter before, this may not be advisable. A good agent with a granular knowledge of the neighborhood can steer you away from problem buildings that have a history of maintenance issues, like mold or mice. She may be able to help you negotiate more favorable terms on your rent, security deposit or lease length. And perhaps most importantly in these troubled times, she can also help you avoid signing up with a landlord who is in some stage of foreclosure or otherwise in financial distress, so you don’t wake up someday to find a notice to vacate because the property is being sold at auction.

Write to June Fletcher at Fletcher.June@gmail.com

EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. $885,000

A 1,500-square-foot two-bedroom, one-bathroom house on ½ acre in the Hamptons.

DETAILS: The midcentury-style home was recently renovated and has a great room with central fireplace and a swimming pool that overlooks the water. It is within walking distance to the village. There’s also a stainless-steel kitchen and central air conditioning.

WHAT’S OUTSIDE: The house is located near a private community beach as well as a boat mooring at Three Mile Harbor.

GROCERY RUN: The family-run One Stop Market is about a half-mile from the house.

FRIDAY’S FORECAST: Partly sunny, high 74 degrees.

SOURCE:Tony Cerio with Brown Harris Stevens, 631-903-6151, tcerio@bhshamptons.com.

SPRING ISLAND, S.C. $790,000

A 1,270-square-foot two-bedroom, two-bathroom house on 5.3 acres in a private island community.

DETAILS: The house, built in 1997, has a metal roof, wide-plank wood walls, a wood-burning fireplace and built-in shelving. The master bedroom has a screened-in porch. The 3,000-acre community has golf, art classes and equestrian facilities.

what’s outside: The community has a large nature preserve and the home overlooks a pond and salt marsh in the distance.

grocery run: Major grocery stores on the mainland are about a 15-minute drive away.

FRIDAY’S FORECAST: Possible thunderstorms, high 89 degrees.

SOURCE:Craig Lehman at Spring Island Realty, 843-987-2200, clehman@springisland.com.

OKEECHOBEE, Fla. $750,000

A 1,700-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bathroom cabin in a private recreation club between Orlando and Palm Beach, Fla.

DETAILS: The two-story home has lake views, a loft and a 1,600-square-foot wrap-around porch with an outdoor fireplace. There are vaulted ceilings, slate floors and marble countertops.

WHAT’S OUTSIDE: The Pine Creek Sporting Club has horseback-riding stables, bird-shooting facilities, fishing and archery.

GROCERY RUN: A concierge service can deliver groceries or the Fort Drum General Store is about a five-minute drive away.

FRIDAY’S FORECAST: Clouds and sun, high 90 degrees.

SOURCE:John Reynolds, Pine Creek Sporting Club, 561-346-9365, jreynolds@pinecreeksportingclub.com.

—Candace Jackson

Restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow is asking $18.8 million for his 3,700-square-foot Manhattan condominium, 15% higher than his original $16.4 million asking price last April. The increase reflects the heating up of Manhattan’s luxury market, says the listing broker.

Restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow is asking $18.8 million for his 3,700-square-foot Manhattan condominium, 15% higher than his original $16.4 million asking price last April. Juliet Chung has details on The News Hub.

Mr. Chodorow, whose group of restaurants includes Asia de Cuba and China Grill, spent $5.4 million on three apartments in 2004 and spent three years combining and redoing them, turning 10 rooms into seven. The modern, corner space in Trump Tower is on the 38th floor and has three bedrooms and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Central Park. The master bedroom connects to a white marble bathroom and a walk-in closet. Two of the bedrooms are in a wing with a kitchenette and its own entrance.

“I call this apartment ‘un-Trumplike’—there’s no gold in here,” says listing broker Oren Alexander of Prudential Douglas Elliman. He calls the new asking price a “discount” from luxury buildings such as 15 Central Park West. Mr. Chodorow, 61, says he and his family are trying to simplify their lives and plan to spend more time in Florida, where he’s from.

A Duplex With Slide Lists in New York for Nearly $4 Million

Professional poker player Phil Galfond is asking just under $4 million for his duplex penthouse apartment, which has a sculptural steel slide connecting the two floors, in Manhattan’s East Village.

Professional poker player Phil Galfond is asking just-under $4 million for his duplex penthouse apartment, which has a sculptural steel slide connecting the two floors, in Manhattan’s East Village. Juliet Chung has details on The News Hub.

The 27-year-old online poker player bought two identical, two-bedroom units in a new East Village development in 2008 for $3.2 million, then combined them into a modern space with two bedrooms (convertible to four) and four baths. A private elevator opens into the roughly 2,500-square-foot apartment, which has an 18-foot atrium and a game room. The slide connects the office with a wet bar on the upper level to the floor below (there’s also a staircase). The apartment also has a private roof deck and two terraces. The building has a rooftop pool.

Mr. Galfond has moved to Vancouver to play poker online following the crackdown the U.S. Justice Department began in April on several major online poker companies. “It just doesn’t make sense for me to hold onto [the apartment]” given the uncertainty about when online poker playing might be allowed to resume in the U.S., he says.

Elizabeth Kee and Lindsee Silverstein of CORE share the listing.

A Fort Lauderdale Mansion Asks $22 Million

A 31-room, Mediterranean-style mansion on the water in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. is on the market for $22 million, one of the most expensive listings in the area. Juliet Chung has details on The News Hub.

A 31-room, Mediterranean-style mansion on the water in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is on the market for $22 million, one of the most expensive listings in the area.

The seller of the 17,800-square-foot home is Esther Lambert, the ex-wife of local businessman Daniel Lambert. The couple built the home in 2004 and Ms. Lambert received the home in the divorce settlement, says listing agent Eileen Kedersha of One Sotheby’s International Realty. The property has 650 feet of water frontage and several docks and is surrounded by water on three sides. The main home has seven bedrooms; other rooms include a beauty salon, ballet room and gym. There are more than 5,000 square feet of terraces and decks and a 102-foot-long pool. There’s also a two-bedroom guesthouse.

—Juliet Chung—Email: privateproperties@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared February 24, 2012, on page D6 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Private Properties.

By DAWN WOTAPKA And A.D. PRUITT

Highland Estates, a residential community in Greenwich Township, Pa., has all the trappings of a pastoral idyll: manicured lawns, pristine roads and quaint homes perched on 55 acres offering views of the countryside.

But this isn’t yet another ritzy suburban community. The homes in Highland Estates are made in a factory and assembled on site.

In other words, they are examples of the latest generation of manufactured homes, which some corporate executives hope will help to update the industry’s image to get beyond its association with trailer parks.

Many manufactured homes today are built to resemble traditional single-family homes. Hitches are gone. Kitchens include wood cabinets and granite countertops, not just laminate and plastic. Walls are made from drywall rather than fake wood paneling.

The industry—and Wall Street—also is betting that consumer attitudes toward housing have been updated, that buyers are soured on the bigger-is-better mantra of the boom years and looking for affordable alternatives.

There are early signs of a rebound. The Census Bureau reported 51,600 shipments of new manufactured homes in 2011, an increase of 3.2% from the prior year. In January, shipments were 3,945 new homes, up 42.1% from January 2011, according to the Manufactured Housing Institute.

By contrast, sales of newly constructed traditional single-family homes sank nearly 6% last year to 304,000, the smallest tally since the government began collecting data on the industry in 1963.

“Years ago, people were leaving manufactured houses to go to a stick-built community. Many of those people are returning and probably disappointed with the experience of trying to achieve the single-family dream,” says Thomas Heneghan, chief executive of Equity LifeStyle Properties Inc.,

the nation’s largest owner of manufactured-housing communities.

In his annual letter to shareholders released in late February, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s

Warren Buffett noted the company’s Clayton Homes division, which makes manufactured homes and arranges mortgages for buyers, continues to operate profitably and its mortgage portfolio has performed well. Mr. Buffett said he expects earnings to “improve materially” when the nation’s excess housing inventory is worked off.

To be sure, current sales remain well below the industry’s heyday. In 1998, 373,000 homes were shipped, according to the Census. But that was during a time of lax lending standards, which led to a wave of repossessions that left plenty of cheap, used manufactured homes available and little demand for new products.

The industry’s woes were worsened by cheap credit for traditional homes, which lured people with modest incomes away from manufactured housing. As a result, the sector was clobbered during the housing crisis, with shipments hitting a low of 49,800 in 2009.

But Wall Street has been warming to the sector. While prices of most home builders—traditional and nontraditional—have rallied this year, stocks of manufactured housing companies were first out of the gate. The three manufactured-home real-estate investment trusts tracked by Dow Jones All Equity REIT Index posted a total return of 20.5% in 2011. By comparison, the Dow Jones US Home Construction Index fell 3.9%.

Paul Adornato, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets, says investors believe more people who have downsized their housing will give manufactured housing a chance. Makers of manufactured homes say they are seeing interest in their homes from a wide spectrum of buyers, from young families to retirees. Cost is a big draw—the average sales price for a manufactured home was nearly $64,000 in December, according to the Census, while the average price of a traditional new home was $264,900.

Lower property taxes and location are factors, too. Many communities were built decades ago in prime locations that couldn’t be built today because of increased land values and community opposition.

Six years ago, Carol and Robert Egbert purchased a spacious three-bedroom manufactured home in Highland Estates for $86,000. The retirees have added their own upgrades—hardwood floors and a new shower—and landscaped the front yard. They praise the community’s small-town feel and enjoy sitting on their porch. “We like the peace,” Ms. Egbert says.

Still, the industry is well aware that many people still associate manufactured housing with flimsy trailers that, while they are still around, haven’t been built since federal code changes set tougher manufacturing standards in 1976. Sam Landy, president of UMH Properties Inc.,

which owns Highland Estates, says manufactured homes are built as well or better than stick-built houses. “Our houses can go down the highway at 60 miles per hour and nothing happens to them,” he says.

Write to Dawn Wotapka at dawn.wotapka@dowjones.com

A version of this article appeared March 21, 2012, on page C8 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Manufactured Housing Under Renovation.

By NICK TIMIRAOS

The Federal Reserve has pushed mortgage rates to near half-century lows, but millions of U.S. homeowners haven’t benefited from that because they can’t—or won’t—refinance.

Falling home prices have left many owners with little or no equity, making it harder to qualify for refinancing. Moreover, stricter lending standards and higher fees by banks and mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and declining incomes have made it tougher and less attractive for borrowers to seek new loans.

Around 37% of all borrowers with 30-year conforming fixed-rate mortgages—who collectively hold about $1.2 trillion of home loans—have mortgage rates of 6% or higher, according to investment bank Credit Suisse. Many could reduce their rates by a full percentage point if they refinanced at current rates, about 5%. More than half could lower their rates nearly three-quarters of a percentage point, according to Credit Suisse.

But new refinance applications in January stood near their lowest levels in the past year. Weekly data compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association also show that refinance activity has been muted, considering that rates are so low.

“Traditionally, these borrowers would be aggressively refinancing,” said Mahesh Swaminathan, senior mortgage strategist at Credit Suisse.

Click on image to enlarge

One indicator of the economic impact of refinancing: Loans that refinanced in 2009 will result in $3.4 billion in savings for consumers this year, according to a report by First American CoreLogic, a research firm based in Santa Ana, Calif. That will return an additional $17.2 billion in savings to borrowers over the next five years. That’s money consumers can potentially use to help spur economic recovery.

About a quarter of all mortgage holders are “underwater”—they owe more on the house than it’s worth—which normally makes it impossible to get refinancing: Banks want collateral to back the value of home loans they make. The Obama administration recently extended a program intended to help underwater homeowners refinance, but few people have tapped it so far. The program has faced logistical hurdles, delays and confusion from brokers and lenders.

Some people are so far underwater, refinancing ends up being out of the question. John Albright, a retired Navy officer in Manassas, Va., hasn’t been able to refinance because the value of his home has plunged. He figures its market value is now around $275,000, but he and his wife still owe more than $500,000 on their mortgage.

Their refinance application was turned down last year because they lacked equity in the home. He says his lender told him he could refinance only if he could come up with about $200,000 to pay down his mortgage. So they are stuck with an interest rate of about 6.5% at a time when his wife’s income has declined. “We’re going from paycheck to paycheck, but what can you do?” Mr. Albright says.

Some mortgage bankers say higher fees by lenders have undermined the effort to encourage refinancing. Fees that Fannie and Freddie began imposing in 2008, as loan delinquencies began to rise, have made it unattractive for some borrowers to refinance. For example, a borrower with 20% down and a 695 credit score seeking to refinance must pay fees equal to 1% of the loan amount. Those fees rise for borrowers with weaker credit scores, higher loan-to-value ratios, or other risk factors.

Overcorrecting for the abuses of financial institutions “has defeated the Fed’s purchase program,” said Alan Boyce, a mortgage-securities-market veteran. Those loan fees, he said, are partly “responsible for why there’s been no refi boom.”

The higher fees and tight credit standards show the tensions facing Fannie and Freddie. As the government-controlled companies try to raise revenue to offset their losses, those efforts can conflict with their basic public-policy mission: to help stabilize the housing market.

Fannie and Freddie have to strike a balance between risk and access to credit. Figuring out “where that line is involves some trade-offs,” said Edward DeMarco, acting head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie and Freddie.

The last time mortgage rates were at current levels, in 2003, refinancing activity hit $2.9 trillion, according to trade publication Inside Mortgage Finance. Last year, refinance volume reached $1.2 trillion, the highest amount since 2003 but not nearly as much as expected, considering how low interest rates have fallen.

Traditionally, borrowers have an incentive to refinance when they can reduce their mortgage rate by one percentage point or more.

Borrowers who are refinancing tend to be those who need it least. Fannie and Freddie refinanced 4.2 million borrowers last year. On average, borrowers who refinanced through Freddie Mac saved $2,600 annually. But the savings on the whole have gone to “very, very good credit borrowers and it really isn’t going very far down the credit spectrum,” said Michael Fratantoni, the head of research and economics for the MBA.

The experience of Connecticut resident Cathy Grandahl shows some of the trade-offs borrowers must grapple with in today’s low-interest-rate, high-fee environment. She wanted to refinance two loans on her West Simsbury, Conn., home: a fixed-rate mortgage with a 5.75% rate and a second mortgage with an adjustable rate that she worries will rise sharply in coming years.

Refinancing would save them around $125 a month on their first mortgage while providing a fixed rate on their second loan. But extinguishing that mortgage by refinancing into one larger loan—considered a “cash-out” refinance—would trigger an additional fee. That, plus several thousand dollars in closing costs, ultimately persuaded the couple not to refinance after all.

“It’s not a matter of our credit. We just can’t get a good enough rate to make the refi worth it,” says Ms. Grandahl, a 53-year-old land-records researcher who has three children in college.

Her broker, Michael Menatian, said that sort of scenario “happens all the time” with qualified borrowers. “There’s nothing wrong with these people—good equity, good income—and you have to tell them, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t give you the low rate you thought you could get.’ “

Falling home values are one of the biggest factors raising borrowers’ refinancing costs. Borrowers with less than 20% equity may have to pay for mortgage insurance.

On Monday, the Obama administration said it would extend for a year a program launched last April to help homeowners with little or no equity to refinance. That program, which had been set to expire this June, was called a “failure” last week by analysts at Barclays Capital. While the administration had said it would benefit millions, so far just 188,000 borrowers who owe between 80% and 105% of the value of their homes had refinanced through December. Last September, it was expanded to include borrowers who owe up to 125% of their home value, but fewer than 2,000 borrowers have used that program through December.

The administration says it is also considering new ways to allow distressed homeowners to refinance through the Federal Housing Administration.

—James R. Hagerty contributed to this article.

Write to Nick Timiraos at nick.timiraos@wsj.com

NEW YORK $1.2 million

A roughly 900-square-foot apartment, with one bedroom and one bath, a block away from Gramercy Park

DETAILS: This 12th-floor corner apartment was renovated in 2008. The apartment has five walk-in closets. The building has a doorman and a roof deck. Monthly maintenance costs are about $1,650.

SCHOOL: Washington Square Park, where New York University buildings are concentrated, is a mile away

MEAL WITH THE PARENTS: Gramercy Tavern, three blocks away, serves seasonal American fare. A lunch tasting menu costs $58.

FRIDAY’S FORECAST: Mostly sunny, high 50 degrees.

SOURCE: Rajan Khanna, Brown Harris Stevens, a Christie’s International Real Estate affiliate, 212-588-5625, rkhanna@bhsusa.com

WASHINGTON $1 million

A condo of more than 1,400 square feet, with two bedrooms and 2½ baths, in Dupont Circle

DETAILS: This three-story apartment was built in 2002 and has a townhouse feel. The condo is in a five-unit building and comes with a parking spot. 2011 property taxes are about $6,600.

SCHOOL: Georgetown University and George Washington University are each less than three miles away.

MEAL WITH THE PARENTS: The lounge at French restaurant Citronelle, two miles away, offers braised rockfish at dinner for $29.

FRIDAY’S FORECAST: Sunny, high 74 degrees.

SOURCE: Claudine Chetrit, Coldwell Banker, 202-277-2814, pact4@aol.com

LOS ANGELES $1.2 million

An apartment of about 2,200 square feet, with two bedrooms and 2½ baths, in Westwood

DETAILS: This corner penthouse condo in a doorman building has a fireplace, 14-foot-plus ceilings and comes with three parking spaces. 2012 property taxes are estimated at $16,000.

SCHOOL: The University of California, Los Angeles campus is less than a mile away.

MEAL WITH THE PARENTS: Lucques, less than five miles away, offers a $45 per person, three-course “Sunday supper.”

FRIDAY’S FORECAST: Partly cloudy, high 52 degrees.

SOURCE: Jordana Leigh, Prudential Realty, 310-383-1701, jordana769@gmail.com

—Juliet Chung

A version of this article appeared Oct. 28, 2011, on page D6 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Relative ValuesOff-Campus Living.

By JUNE FLETCHER

Palm trees seem so out of place in Pennsylvania. So it was with some trepidation that I visited the Philadelphia International Flower Show, which has a Hawaiian theme this year.

The show, which runs through March 11 at the city’s convention center, was mobbed when I visited it on Wednesday. Attendees roamed through exhibits ranging from jewel-box displays of single orchids to a 40-foot misty waterfall in a volcanic cliff studded with ferns and flowers. Experts spoke about how to make rain gardens and grow orchids, while vendors sold everything from $4 seed packets to $4,200 life-sized stainless-steel palm trees.

Despite the sultry setting, I found some ideas that could carry over to colder climates:

Color Blocking: Blocks of monochromatic color, big on runways this year, have captured the imaginations of the show’s landscape designers. Fortunately, the designers didn’t just mass one kind of flower like you see in gas station median strips; instead they grouped a variety of rare or surprising plants that just happen to share similar shades. For instance, one all-green exotic exhibit shows the expected bromeliads and ferns interspersed with flowers not often found in that hue, such as anthuriums, kniphofias and orchids. The sophisticated, subtle play of shades and textures grabs your attention in a way no garish mixed border could.

The Color Purple: A few years ago, status-conscious gardeners lusted after ebony plants, like black irises and mondo grass. This year, purple is the new black. Violet bougainvilleas, lavender ti plants and royal purple princess flowers blossom profusely in the tropical exhibits, set off by red, orange or yellow accent blooms. Meanwhile, vendors are selling seeds for purple plants more suited to suburban backyards. Among them is D. Landreth Seed Company, in business since 1784, whose offerings include Dark Purple Basil, Royalty Purple Bush Beans, Purple Calabash Tomatoes, and an extra-sweet asparagus named Purple Passion.

Chemical Détente: For years, garden experts touted chemicals; then they shunned them. This year, while still tilting toward the organic, the approach is more balanced. In one session, Ballston Spa, N.Y., garden writer Kelly Ann Mendez recommended many different methods for preventing weeds in perennial beds, from smothering the soil with black plastic to sun-steaming it under clear plastic. But for weeds that have already popped up, she noted, there’s always the “kill anything” herbicide Round Up.

No-Bend Blooms: Since most gardeners are in the “boomers and beyond” age group, according to the National Gardening Association, much of the show is geared to the graying. Among the easy-to-pick exhibits are a 40-foot long lettuce wall; cherry tomatoes tumbling from a trellis; and herbs poking out of old wood boards; products include soft-squeeze pruners that are kind to arthritic hands; strawberries dangling from hanging plastic bags; and vines trailing out of suspended, blown-glass bubbles. But the most ergonomic idea, shown in several displays and vendors’ booths, is also the most ecologically friendly—self-sustaining terrariums. Showcasing entire mini-rainforests, the retro glass gardens are the easiest way to have an aloha ambiance in your home, without straining your back.

Write to June Fletcher at fletcher.june@gmail.com.