<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="180909" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Kamala-Harris">Kamala Harris</keyword> and her husband have been living in Biden's guest house for more than two months.</li><li>A spokesperson said the pair would be moving into their official residence next week.</li><li>The delay was due to renovations being done at <keyword id="10645668" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Number-One-Observatory-Circle">Number One Observatory Circle</keyword>.</li></ul>Vice President Kamala Harris is moving into her official residence next week, after spending more than two months in President Joe Biden's guest house.Symone D. Sanders, senior advisor and chief spokesperson for Harris, said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/SymoneSanders46/status/1377664935438733324?s=20">tweet</a> Thursday that the vice president and Second Gentleman <keyword id="10160446" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="doug-emhoff">Doug Emhoff</keyword> will move into Number One Observatory Circle next week.While Biden and the first lady were able to promptly move into the White House, Harris and Emhoff were placed in temporary housing while the vice president's residence underwent renovations, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kamala-harris-washington-dc-residence-naval-observatory-renovations-2021-3">Insider's John Dorman</a> reported.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kamala-harris-staff-biden-administration-white-house-senate-campaign2021-2">It's Kamala Harris' administration, too. Her former staffers are landing senior gigs throughout the government that will help the VP exert influence in Bidenworld.</a>The pair have been living at <a href="https://www.insider.com/blair-house-presidential-guest-house-photo-tour-2018-1">Blair House</a>, a historic building that is also known as the President's Guest House. The house is located directly across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House and has been called the "world's most exclusive hotel." Only those invited by the president or State Department can stay there.<div type="image" title="Blair House" height="1666" width="2222" msid="81869956" hostid="261"></div><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/27/politics/kamala-harris-vice-presidents-residence/index.html">CNN</a> reported Sunday Harris was "frustrated" by the living arrangement and the pace of the renovations at her future residence. It wasn't immediately clear what the renovations entailed, but two administration staffers told CNN Harris asked for updates to the kitchen.In a tweet Thursday, Sanders said the delayed move was due to repairs "that are more easily conducted with the home unoccupied.""The repairs included maintenance on the HVAC system, replacing the liners in the chimneys and refurbishing of some of the hardwood floors," she said.Built in 1893, Number One Observatory Circle has served as the residence of the vice president since 1974. Biden also lived there during his time as vice president from 2009 to 2017.Have a news tip? Contact this reporter at <a href="mailto:kvlamis@insider.com?inline-read-more">kvlamis@insider.com</a>.

After more than 2 months of living in Biden's guest house, Kamala Harris will finally move into the official residence of the vice president

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Jeff and Anna Batterton and their five kids live and travel on a 270-square-foot <keyword id="6394228" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="school-bus">school bus</keyword>.</li><li>While designing the bus, the couple realized Jeff was too tall to stand in the shower. </li><li>They removed part of the roof and added a chimney-like extension, skylight, and rainfall shower. </li></ul>Couple Jeff and Anna Batterton and their five kids live in a <a href="https://www.insider.com/family-kids-turned-school-bus-tiny-home-rainfall-shower-2021-5">tiny home on wheels</a>. The <a href="https://www.instagram.com/regainingadventure/">family of seven</a> lives and travels on a 270-square-foot school bus that Anna and Jeff bought and renovated for $35,000. Even though their <keyword id="6363870" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="home">home</keyword> is tiny, it's filled with fun additions like cubby-style bunk beds and a spacious living room.The couple even managed to create a shower that's both spacious and luxurious, and it's one of the family's favorite parts of the home. The husband-and-wife duo told Insider that they designed their shower around Jeff, who is 6-foot-3. Since he's taller than the height of the area where the couple originally thought they'd install a shower, they had to find a creative solution.<h2>Jeff walked Insider through the making of the 9-foot-tall shower</h2><div type="image" title="Untitled design 2021 05 21T110839.260" height="900" width="1200" msid="82859062" hostid="261"></div>In 2017, the family was eager to travel more, and they realized they could do it if they lived on the road full-time.That year, they purchased a <a href="https://www.insider.com/couple-shares-biggest-regrets-school-bus-home-renovation-2021-1">school bus</a> - an International 3000 model from 2004 - and mapped out the <keyword id="6373314" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Design">design</keyword> and layout of their future <a href="https://www.insider.com/couple-lives-mid-century-modern-bus-tiny-home-wheels-2020-12">tiny home on wheels</a>.Immediately, they knew they'd have to find a solution to a major problem. The family planned to install a shower, but because of his height, Jeff wouldn't have fit in it.Jeff is too tall to fully stand on the sides of the home. Since the bus has an arch-shaped roof, this means that throughout the bus, the sides - near the windows - have a lower ceiling point than the middle.<div type="image" title="120202192_2721061074818458_7082510056035305517_n" height="1125" width="1500" msid="82859063" hostid="261"></div>For the majority of the bus, this wasn't an issue. The sides of their home aren't used for standing. Instead, they are spaces for kitchen cabinets and their children's bunk beds. But Jeff's height became a problem in the bathroom, which inspired the couple to think beyond the confines of the bus and tear up the roof."We actually cut out the bus ceiling and roof. We extended that part up, and then put a skylight on top of that," Jeff told Insider. Today, the shower is about 9 feet tall, and every member of the family fits in the space. <h2>The shower has a skylight and rainfall showerhead</h2><div type="image" title="87264676_607111840072554_4848079973137250504_n" height="809" width="1080" msid="82859064" hostid="261"></div>Since Jeff and Anna were doing a large renovation to the bathroom, they decided to add even more luxuries.Instead of patching the extended ceiling with wood or metal, they used plexiglass, which created a skylight.They also added a rainfall showerhead and covered the shower in subway tiles. The bathroom also has a sink and toilet. The couple's entire <a href="https://www.insider.com/couple-built-shipping-container-tiny-home-with-suspension-bridge-2021-2">tiny home</a> cost about $35,000, which included the cost of the shower extension. The family has spent the last three years <a href="https://www.insider.com/woman-driving-1960s-camper-van-mid-century-tiny-home-2021-1">traveling across the country</a> and recording their adventures on Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/regainingadventure/">@regainingadventure</a>. Along the way, they enjoy the view and night sky from their shower.

A 6-foot-3 dad was too tall for the shower in his school-bus tiny home, so he and his wife tore out the roof and added a skylight

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="180909" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Kamala-Harris">Kamala Harris</keyword> and <keyword id="10160446" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="doug-emhoff">Doug Emhoff</keyword> have not yet moved into their official Washington, DC, residence.</li><li>Sources told CNN that Harris was "getting frustrated" at the pace of renovations at the home.</li><li>According to two administration staffers, Harris asked for work to be completed in the kitchen.</li></ul>When Vice President Kamala Harris <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kamala-harris-makes-history-inauguration-joe-biden-vice-president-2021-1">took her oath of office</a> in January, she became the first female, first Black, and first Asian American vice president in US history.But while President <keyword id="99719" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Joe-Biden">Joe Biden</keyword> and the first lady, Jill Biden, were quickly able to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bidens-white-house-residence-staff-greeting-inauguration-day-2021-2">settle in</a> at the White House on Inauguration Day, Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, would have to stay in temporary housing at the historic Blair House while the vice president's residence was undergoing renovations.Harris and Emhoff are still residing at Blair House, the official residence of White House guests located across from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/27/politics/kamala-harris-vice-presidents-residence/index.html">according to CNN</a>.An administration official told CNN it was "unclear" why the renovations were taking longer than expected, but several people told the network that Harris was becoming uneasy with the situation."She is getting frustrated," another official said of Harris' situation of seemingly living out of suitcases more than two months after Inauguration Day.The official also said Harris' desire to move into the residence had become more pronounced with each passing day.Number One Observatory Circle, where Harris and Emhoff will eventually live, is a stately Queen Anne-style mansion that dates to 1893 and is located on the grounds of the US <keyword id="3776608" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="naval-observatory">Naval Observatory</keyword> in Northwest Washington.The Biden administration has not indicated the reason for any delays, and Harris did not respond to the CNN report regarding the matter.According to CNN, the 128-year-old residence has required foundational work over the past few years, along with a myriad of other repairs and updates, including a $3.8 million contract for "plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors" that's still in progress, according to an official US government spending report.<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/27/politics/kamala-harris-vice-presidents-residence/index.html">The CNN report</a> indicated that the existing contracts didn't indicate why Harris and Emhoff had been unable to move into the residence.The network reported that Harris had been seen at the residence, most recently for an hour-long visit several weeks ago.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-best-friends-congress-delaware-delegation-coons-carper-rochester-2021-3">Meet the presidential confidants, Delaware's closely knit and well-positioned congressional delegation, Joe Biden has entrusted with cementing his legacy</a>According to two administration staffers, Harris, who enjoys cooking, asked for the kitchen to be updated.<div type="image" title="kamala harris doug emhoff" height="1066" width="1600" msid="81738048" hostid="261"></div>Elizabeth Haenle, the vice president residence manager and social secretary for Vice President Dick Cheney, said it wasn't uncommon for there to be a few weeks in between residents living at the home."From time to time, the Navy will ask the vice president and their respective families to delay <keyword id="2148844" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="moving-in">moving in</keyword> so that they have time for maintenance and upgrades that are not easy to perform once the vice president takes up residence," she told CNN.After the inauguration, an aide to Harris told the network that the vice president and second gentleman would not move into the Naval Observatory residence that day, saying repairs were needed "that are more easily conducted with the home unoccupied."An administration official told CNN that the residence's chimneys were being renovated, along with other unspecified updates.There was no official move-in date announced in January.While Blair House doesn't hurt in the luxury department, with its ornate accommodations and a private hair salon, Harris and Emhoff prefer a more relaxed, California-esque vibe.The residence at the Naval Observatory is much different from the White House, with fewer residence staff members and a location farther from the city center."The White House is office and home to the president, so there is that feeling of living above the 'shop' at the White House," Haenle told CNN. "For the vice president and his or her family, the vice president's residence is calm in the midst of a stormy Washington, both politically and logistically. At the end of the day, the vice president can travel a short distance northwest and find respite in a country-like setting."Biden, who lived in the home as vice president from 2009 to 2017, praised its amenities on CNN last month."You're ... overlooking the rest of the city," he said of the property. "You can walk out, and there's a swimming pool. You can ride a bicycle around and never leave the property, and work out."

Kamala Harris is reportedly 'bothered' that she hasn't been able to move into her official Washington residence over 2 months after inauguration

<ul class="summary-list"><li>In "<a href="https://www.insider.com/category/the-hunt">The Hunt</a>," a group of conservative Americans is kidnapped by a group of wealthy liberal Americans and attacked for sport. The <a href="https://www.insider.com/category/movies">film</a> culminates in a face-off between the characters Athena (<keyword id="67908" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Hilary-Swank">Hilary Swank</keyword>) and Crystal (<keyword id="4654614" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="betty-gilpin">Betty Gilpin</keyword>).</li><li>The fight sequence takes place in a manor and utilizes a kitchen island, a fireplace, and windows as an action set pieces.</li><li>Director <keyword id="2886257" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Craig-Zobel">Craig Zobel</keyword> worked closely with the production designer, <a href="https://www.insider.com/category/stunts">stunt</a> coordinators, and special effects team to make sure each part of the sequence got pulled off safely while convincingly turning the house into what is basically a giant weapon.</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>Following is a transcript of the <keyword id="21654" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="video">video</keyword>.Narrator: Oof. Ouch!In the climatic fight scene in "<keyword id="1063202" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="The-Hunt">The Hunt</keyword>," you see a lot of falling on the floor, which should hurt, but what you don't see is that under a layer of vinyl made to look like real flooring, the floor is actually all foam, according to the director.To make this elaborate fight scene work, the filmmakers built an entire set with each stunt in mind. A set that was meant to be destroyed. This left the film's production designer with the tough job of building sets that were tailor-made to fit the needs of a scene without the audience ever noticing.<h2> Warning: spoilers ahead. </h2>In "The Hunt," a group of conservative Americans is kidnapped by a group of wealthy liberal Americans and attacked for sport. No surprise, the satirical film was met with much controversy.The film culminates as Crystal, played by Betty Gilpin, faces off against Athena, played by Hilary Swank, who helped organize the hunt near her sprawling manor where the fight takes place. When director Craig Zobel was given the script for "The Hunt," all it indicated was that the climax would be an epic head to head, so he worked with the stunt coordinators, special effects team, and production designer to choreograph a fight scene that was a standout moment of the movie.Craig Zobel: We wanted this whole fight to just feel more messy and real, and that drove a lot of the decisions that we were making. The production designer and I, you know, had all these kind of ideas that were built around building this jungle gym of a set.Narrator: To map out the fight, the stunt coordinators constructed their own version of the home out of cardboard boxes, which stood in for the 60-foot-by-50-foot set. While working with the cardboard model, the stunt team came up with the idea of turning the kitchen island into a stunt piece by having the characters vault across it. While production designer Matthew Munn had already planned to have a kitchen island, he now had to retrofit and redesign it to ensure it was strong and sturdy enough to support this one stunt. To pull off the move successfully, the island was built out of strong wood and painted to look like concrete. Then the top was removed and replaced with a foam pad, similar to how they used foam underneath the vinyl floor covering.Zobel: Kind of like a kid's playhouse foam floor for certain parts of it. Narrator: The two characters also fight on top of the kitchen table. Like with the island, they needed something sturdy, but they also wanted something aesthetically pleasing, so the production designer and decorator picked out a rustic-looking table that fit in with the rest of the set. But because they knew it would have to handle a lot, they made sure the solid wood table also had a steel base. Even average household items were chosen and strategically placed so they could be picked up and used as weapons. Like this light fixture, which both looks cool and turned out to be practical.Athena: That was good.Narrator: And this food-processor blade, which was Zobel's idea, because it's something he has been afraid of his whole life. Almost all the props you see, from cabinets to jars, are breakaway props, which means they're built to be safely broken.Zobel: What I learned is, once you're working with this many breakaway items, you do a lot of practice runs before you break them.Narrator: The next stunt was perhaps the most difficult one to shoot: moving the fighters from the kitchen to the living room. To make this transition more dynamic, the filmmakers decided they wanted to use this unusual double-sided fireplace, which the production design team would need to build. Zobel saw a double-sided fireplace while location scouting at a real house and thought it would be perfect for a stunt.The fireplace was built with your standard drywall and concrete, but they laid special propane lines underground that the special effects team could use to increase the height of the flames as the stunt double went through the fireplace. The opening of the fireplace was originally smaller, but after some experimentation, they expanded it so that it was 5 feet wide by 3 feet tall. It's a dangerous move, so as an extra precaution, they soaked the stunt double's clothes with a fire retardant. Then, under that, she wore protective CarbonX and fire gel to prevent her skin from burning.Following this, Athena fires at Crystal with her gun and hits the chimney. For that shot, Munn said the chimney was altered to fit the move. They took a piece out of it, replaced it with hard foam, and then rigged it with squibs for the perfect shotgun effect.Athena then chases Crystal up the stairs, where they duke it out some more. But Crystal would eventually need to get back downstairs somehow. That's where these big ropes came in handy. In the manor, they're meant to be large art pieces, but the team knew they could double as a stunt piece.For the first part of the stunt, Gilpin's stunt double was connected to two lines in a Y shape that were attached to her harness. The lines went through pulleys above the set, which were then redirected to a pole station across the room. A stunt rigger made sure the stuntwoman got just the right amount of tension on her lines. Too much tension, and the stunt would look fake. Not enough tension, and she would peel off the rope right away.For the second part of the stunt, she dangled about eight feet off the ground. At the count of...Director: Three, two, one. Narrator: She would be pulled forward. Then, once the rigger heard this sound, [crack] he had to make sure to drop her at just the right speed so she fell directly onto this table. Knowing that she would land on it, this had to be built as a breakaway table, and the legs on the table had to be constructed in such a way that they would break immediately on impact for this stunt.Meanwhile, because the rope had to collapse, it was held up with specially made breakaway brackets, which you can see here. According to Zobel, they had enough materials to do this fall four times. In the end, he says he got it done in just one or two takes.While the interior was shot on a soundstage, it still had to match the actual exterior of the house shown on screen, a real house in Louisiana. So one element the production design team had to match with the real house: a hallway with big glass windows. It served as the key part of the set to move the fight from inside the house to this small courtyard. The window turns into an active part of the action at the moment when Crystal tries to throw Athena through it.On the first try, the window doesn't break, and then it does on the second try. In reality, the windows were made out of a tempered glass, which they chose specifically for this move. This type of glass is strong enough to not break immediately, but when it does, it breaks into tiny pieces as opposed to sharp shards. The stunt actresses were attached to a rope, which was attached to something stationary known as a dead man, allowing them to bang up against the glass without being pulled through it. Then, for the second attempt, Munn said the special effects team rigged the glass with explosives that were timed to go off at the exact moment the two characters needed to go through the glass. The glass was also retrofitted to allow for this pulley system put together by the stunt team, which would then launch the characters out into the courtyard.Staging the scene this way gave them an excuse to move the fight outside and then come back around the kitchen for the fight's conclusion. Their transition from one side of the house to the other via the courtyard was captured in one move by this camera on a track. Zobel, the cast, and crew managed to film the entire sequence over five long 12-hour days at the very end of the shoot. Building the set to support the fight allowed them to shoot everything safely and efficiently, while still looking spontaneous instead of overly choreographed.While big parts of the set, like windows and the fireplace, were most crucial, even the most unexpected objects and set decoration helped advance the fight, like this expensive bottle of Champagne. Zobel knew he wanted it there for Crystal to grab at the end of the fight as a reward, but what he didn't know was how perfect the moment where Athena catches it would turn out to be.Zobel: When we go to shoot that portion of the scene, on the very first take, Hilary kind of dove and did this amazing football catch that I certainly did not anticipate, and I don't think anybody on set anticipated her really going for it that much. A cheer erupted on set as she caught the Champagne.Hilary Swank: [laughing] Oh! Oh, my God. The reaction after is funny. It's like I'm a masochist. [laughing] Come for more.Read the original article on <a href="https://www.insider.com/how-fight-scene-in-the-hunt-movie-was-filmed-2020-4">Insider</a>

How the epic final fight scene in 'The Hunt' was designed and filmed

New Delhi, Dec 8 () Somany Home Innovation Ltd (SHIL) is betting big on the Internet of Things (IoT) and plans to introduce the feature in all the products in its portfolio by March next year, according to a senior company official.
 The company, which is looking at an overall turnover of around Rs 550 crore in the ongoing fiscal, expects to grow at around 30-40 per cent in the next financial year.
 "In the next three to four years any consumer appliance or durables company, security company or a health-related company, if they don't have an IoT product they are looking at grim future," SHIL CEO &amp; Whole Time Director Rakesh Kaul told .
 SHIL, which had recently launched its 'iPro' range of IoT-enabled products for water purifier, chimney and water heater, is looking at these new-age appliances to contribute more to its overall revenues going forward.
 "As far as our revenues are concerned I believe that in the next ten years I wouldn't be surprised if revenues of our IoT-based appliances, smart appliances are at least 15-16 per cent of our overall revenues," Kaul said.
 In terms of overall revenue, he said from just Rs 18 crore four years back, the company has grown manifold.
 "This fiscal year ending March 2020 we will definitely cross Rs 550 crore. We have grown at a CAGR of 60 per cent. We will also have IoT product in all the categories that we are present by the same time," he said adding at present IoT products are very small in the overall piece.
 SHIL has a range of products under consumer appliances, home retail solutions and furniture and kitchen fittings business.
 He said the company will soon launch IoT-enable air purifiers and air coolers as well.
 Elaborating on the company's strategy for IoT products, he said, "Our efforts in IoT are predominantly to make meaningful changes to the lives of consumers and also we have been focussed on conserving water and energy efficiency. It is not just about shifting the remote to smartphones."
 When asked about the growth outlook for the next fiscal, Kaul said, "In terms of revenue since we have been growing handsomely over the past three to four years, we would like to continue the momentum with another 30-40 per cent growth in the next year as well."
 He said the growth will be based on existing portfolio and incremental change in models such as new IoT products.
 Commenting on the impact of the economic downturn on sales, Kaul said, "As far as consumer consumption is concerned, there is definitely a downturn in the expected consumer spend...Yes, we can't deny the fact that there is some element of slowdown but we are looking at future which is promising."
 He, however, hastened to add, "I would like to believe in the long-term story of India. Long-term today doesn't mean the next ten years. Long-term to us means the next two years. We will continue to stay invested."
 SHIL will focus on both physical stores and e-commerce channels to push sales, Kaul added. RKL RKL SHW MR
MR

Somany Home Innovation bets big on IoT products, full range by March 2020

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="REUTERS/Mike Segar" title_caption="Gordon Ramsey: Despite all the yelling, he's still the best." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/524ed14269bedda16d91b0a8-960/gordon-ramsay-london-new-york.jpg"></a>REUTERS/Mike SegarGordon Ramsey: Despite all the yelling, he's still the best.</div></div></div>The Michelin Guide awarded a new set of stars to restaurants in Britain on Thursday, the highest honor any chef can attain. As usual, the new ranking came with some controversies:
<ul>
<li>London's <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/11120946/Nobus-two-London-restaurants-stripped-of-Michelin-star-status.html">two Nobu restaurants were both stripped of their stars</a>.</li>
<li>Manchester, widely expected to feature, didn't get any stars.</li>
<li>Britain still has no new two- or three-star restaurants - a cultural humiliation for a country that many have argued is leading the way internationally.</li>
<li>Two stars went to restaurants on remote Scottish islands, "The Three Chimneys, housed within a crofter's stone cottage on Skye, and the Isle of Eriska on the tiny island of the same name in Argyll," <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/sep/25/skye-scottish-island-restaurant-awarded-michelin-stars">The Guardian noted</a>.</li>
</ul>
<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-25/michelin-awards-new-stars-to-14-u-k-restaurants-six-in-london.html">Bloomberg added, archly</a>:
"It's a slim haul for a country whose food scene is developing so rapidly. The total of 167 stars is paltry and just four establishments have the top ranking."
The UK's most famous chef, Gordon Ramsey, kept his three-star rating at his Chelsea restaurant.
See the full breakdown of <a href="http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/articles/michelin-guide-2015-list-results">new and current Michelin starred restaurants here</a>.
Here are the new restaurants with stars:
<ul>
<li>Fera at Claridges - Mayfair</li>
<li>Gymkhana - Mayfair</li>
<li>Clove Club - Shoreditch</li>
<li>Barrafina - Soho</li>
<li>Outlaw's Fish Kitchen - Port Isaac, Cornwall</li>
<li>Treby Arms - Devon</li>
<li>Isle of Eriska - Scotland</li>
<li>Three Chimneys and The House over-By - Isle of Skye</li>
<li>Ynyshir Hall - Wales</li>
<li>Crown at Whitebrook - Wales</li>
<li>City Social - City of London</li>
<li>Kitchen Table at Bubbledogs - Bloomsbury</li>
<li>Cross at Kenilworth - Kenilworth</li>
<li>Star Inn - Harome, North Yorkshire</li>
</ul>

Britain Gets Humiliated In New Michelin Star Restaurant Rankings

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Even with the COVID-19 pandemic slowing down production, <keyword id="2370" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="hollywood">Hollywood</keyword> managed to put out a slew of exciting new projects full of ambitious stunts and special effects.</li><li>From the massive battle scenes in <a href="https://www.insider.com/disney-live-action-mulan-movie-review">"Mulan"</a> to the gripping <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-wild-stunts-and-fights-of-birds-of-prey-2020-2">fight sequences</a> in <a href="https://www.insider.com/birds-of-prey-movie-review-2020-2">"Birds of Prey,"</a><a href="https://www.insider.com/netflix-extraction-chris-hemsworth-one-take-fight-scene-2020-5">"Extraction,"</a> and <a href="https://www.insider.com/the-old-guard-fight-coordinator-charlize-theron-injuries-2020-7">"The Old Guard,"</a> this year's action films pushed actors and stunt performers to undergo extensive weapons and <a href="https://www.insider.com/how-the-airplane-fight-in-the-old-guard-was-done-2020-7">combat training</a>.</li><li>With Pixar's <a href="https://www.insider.com/how-pixar-revolutionized-way-clothes-are-animated-digital-cloth-technology-2020-3">"Onward"</a> and Netflix's "<a href="https://www.insider.com/netflix-over-the-moon-review">Over the Moon,"</a> 3D-animated films found innovative ways to animate and <a href="https://www.insider.com/netflix-over-the-moon-animators-light-scenes-in-animated-movies-2020-11">light</a> their characters and worlds, the likes of which we've never seen before.</li><li>Boundary-pushing digital effects made <keyword id="406" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Movies">movies</keyword> like <a href="https://www.insider.com/dolittle-movie-review-robert-downey-jr-2020-1">"Dolittle,"</a> <a href="https://www.insider.com/every-version-sonic-the-hedgehog-1991-today-evolution-2020-2">"Sonic the Hedgehog,"</a> and <a href="https://www.insider.com/call-of-the-wild-real-life-dog-2020-4">"The Call of the Wild"</a> possible by combining CG animals with live-action humans and environments. </li></ul>Following is a transcript of the <keyword id="21654" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="video">video</keyword>.Narrator: 2020 was in many ways a rough year for Hollywood, with the COVID-19 pandemic pushing back some of the year's most anticipated movies. But the industry rallied by releasing no shortage of ambitious and exciting new projects, which brought their own set of breakthroughs in the world of special effects.From massive battle and fight sequences to some of the most realistic practical effects we've ever seen, here's a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the biggest films of the year. Three, two, one!To play the legendary warrior <keyword id="3026859" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mulan">Mulan</keyword> in Disney's live-action film, Liu Yifei spent three months training for up to seven hours a day. This demanding regimen paid off. The film's cinematographer, Mandy Walker, told insider that Yifei was able to execute about 90% of her own stunt work.In preparation for the film's acrobatic fight sequences, Yifei and her castmates were schooled in everything from weapons handling and archery to military marching and horseback riding. The performers did their most dramatic midair stunts while attached to wires or beams so that it looked like their characters were flying or spinning through the air.All in all, the film's action sequences required 90 horses, 80 trick riders, 4,000 prop weapons, 281 sets of armor for the Chinese army, and 730 pieces of armor for the Rouran army.How do you create a terrifying monster out of nothing? It turns out, with a lot of clever camera and stunt work. This scene from "<keyword id="920693" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="the-Invisible-Man">The Invisible Man</keyword>," where the titular villain throws Elisabeth Moss' character across the table, is actually a bunch of shots stitched together.First, the crew filmed Elisabeth as she was about to be thrown. Next, they swapped in the actor's stunt double and filmed her being thrown by another stunt performer in a green suit. Then they swapped in Elisabeth again. In postproduction, VFX artists combined the plates, then digitally erased the green-suit performer and the ropes used for the stunt.For it all to match up perfectly, the crew had to shoot the whole thing with a motion-controlled camera, which could be programmed to perform precise, repeatable camera movements.That wasn't the only bit of camera trickery in the film. On the last day of shooting, when filming this scene, the camera team had to get what they called "an impossible shot" -- one that involved passing a camera out of a moving car into another moving car, all in one smooth handoff."Extraction" marked the directorial debut of Sam Hargrave, the veteran stunt coordinator behind "Atomic Blonde" and a number of Marvel movies. Naturally, then, the Netflix thriller was full of daredevil stunt work -- just as much from the camera crew as from the actors and stunt performers.The centerpiece of the film was what the crew referred to as "the oner" -- an extended fight scene made to look like one continuous shot. Sam is familiar with big, long action sequences from working on the famous one-shot fight in "Atomic Blonde." But this one for "Extraction" required Sam to take us right into the middle of the action, even strapping himself to the hood of a chase vehicle. Just to get this one smooth shot taking us from outside to inside a car, he had to unstrap himself from that one car, run over to the other vehicle, and then repeat the same shot twice. This is what you call a stitch point, one of the invisible cuts that joined about 36 different segments into what looks like one long, seamless 12-minute take.For the third installment in the "Bill &amp; Ted" franchise, special effects legend Kevin Yagher created special bodysuits for scenes where Bill and Ted meet future versions of themselves.The process began with lifecasts of Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves' bodies, which were then used to sculpt the shape of the actors' suits, both the muscle suits they wear in the prison scene and Keanu's fat suit worn in a different scene. Kevin and his team sculpted and spray-painted tiny details like pores and veins onto the muscle suits and added bags of beads into Keanu's fat suit to get just the right jiggle in his belly.[beads shaking]The rollout of the "<keyword id="163980" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sonic">Sonic</keyword>" movie got off to a rough start when the first trailer was met with backlash from fans who objected to this Sonic's disturbingly realistic appearance. In response, the VFX artists gave the character an overhaul, making his eyes bigger, his mouth more animated, and his nose and limbs more cartoonish, more like the original design in the video games.Just about everyone liked the redesign better, including the man behind the hedgehog, actor and comedian Ben Schwartz. Ben not only lent his voice to Sonic, but also provided facial motion capture to inform the character's animation. On set, they used different stand-ins for Sonic to give costars like James Marsden something tangible to interact with, whether it was a blue stuffy or just a ball on a tripod.We saw CGI turn man into hedgehog. What about turning man into dog?In this year's remake of "The Call of the Wild," veteran motion-capture performer Terry Notary provided an incredible mo-cap performance for the movie's canine protagonist, Buck. Having Terry on set provided a raw-size reference for the other actors and gave costars someone to interact with emotionally.For Buck's design, the filmmakers used the reference of a real-life shelter dog, whose own name happens to be Buckley. To help guide the animation of the many dog and wolf characters in the film, the team brought in five other dogs for a mo-cap playtime session. But don't worry; no pups were involved in the filming of this scene, where Buck and John Thornton navigate a treacherous river.The filmmakers enlisted a stuntperson to shoot the real deal on a river in British Columbia. They then combined the on-location shots with blue-screen footage of Harrison Ford paddling on a canoe gimbal, filmed on a motion-controlled camera that allowed for some particularly cinematic, sweeping shots. Finally, VFX artists digitally added Harrison's canine friend into the mix in postproduction.The character in "Onward" that presented Pixar with the most challenges was this guy, known simply as Dad. He's introduced when Ian, voiced by Tom Holland, carries out a spell to conjure up his late father, but only half of his body appears.Pixar's animators spent a lot of time on Dad's first scene to make sure it would capture the force and unpredictability of magic. They even took turns blasting each other with a leaf blower to get a feel for what the conjuring effect should look like.From there, the challenge was giving life to a pair of pants, a task that forced Pixar to bring its cloth technology to a new level. The studio used a process called simulation to program how a character's clothing should respond to his or her movements and the different forces acting on them. But because Dad's upper half is all clothes and no body, simulation played an even bigger role than usual.To figure out how a person would move if he were missing his top half, Pixar's animators took turns putting on green suits with khakis and moving around in front of a green screen. Later, they digitally removed their top halves and used the footage as reference for what Dad's body language might look like."The Call of the Wild" wasn't the only film where CG animals figured prominently. The majority of scenes in "Dolittle" feature live-action humans and CG animals interacting in some way.The tricky part of that: making sure the humans were looking in the right places during filming. Nailing the eyelines was especially challenging with a character like Betsy the giraffe. To help guide the actors on set, the crew used stuffy props as stand-ins for the CG animals and got creative from there.Like with Betsy, for instance. They ended up sticking a giraffe head on a long pole, which got driven around on a motor cart. In another scene, Robert Downey Jr. needed to ride the ostrich Plimpton into Buckingham Palace. So they devised a gimballed riding rig that they could later replace with a CG creature, voiced by Kumail Nanjiani.The action-heavy "<keyword id="3367480" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Birds-Of-Prey">Birds of Prey</keyword>" involved a lot of physical preparation, with each actor's training program tailored to her particular character. Since Harley Quinn is a whimsical and unpredictable fighter, Margot Robbie's stunt work involved a lot of gymnastics.Black Canary's fighting style was supposed to be more grounded with a lot of legwork, so Jurnee Smollett-Bell's preparation combined tae kwon do and kickboxing. And Mary Elizabeth Winstead adopted judo, jujitsu, and karate to play Huntress, the deadly-accurate assassin who's all about precision.Early on in Netflix's "Project Power," there's an unforgettable scene where Machine Gun Kelly's character spontaneously bursts into flames. To figure out how to turn MGK into a human fireball, the effects team first set stuntpeople on fire in a series of camera tests.Then they came up with a breakthrough: an LED suit that would be embedded within layers of burn prosthetics. The LEDs were programmed to illuminate the actor as his character is seen exploding in flames. The gruesome prosthetics helped hide the LED strips, along with all the wires and battery packs.For MGK, this meant spending five hours in the makeup chair every day of shooting to get hundreds of prosthetic pieces glued on over 95% of his body. The process was so intensive that the rapper started just sleeping in his body prosthetics, and did so for five days straight, even wearing them for a night out on the town with costar Jamie Foxx.For Netflix's "Jingle Jangle," the biggest challenge was creating a fantastical world where magic and spontaneous musical numbers would feel right at home.To make Jeronicus fly in this scene, the crew attached Forest Whitaker to wire rigs, later removed in postproduction.Another particularly fun sequence, the kids' factory escape, was shot in front of a blue screen, with the two young actors rigged to the wooden chest. VFX artists later added in the tunnel and the giant fan and fireball.In this comic-book adaptation, Charlize Theron's character is supposed to have 6,000 years of martial arts experience, ranging from Greco-Roman wrestling to Filipino stick work. Charlize had to do intense combat training so she could look effortless handling both modern and ancient weapons.Of course, the star is no stranger to this kind of hardcore training, having done a lot of her own stunts for "Atomic Blonde" and "Mad Max." The "Old Guard" fight coordinator, Danny Hernandez, told Insider that Charlize and Kiki Layne spent four months training for the film's major fight sequence, where their characters engage in epic hand-to-hand combat inside a plane mid-flight.The payoff? The actors were able to pull off 90% of the fight themselves, without stunt doubles.How does this shot become this? Through the process of CG lighting, which was especially important to building the magical worlds of Netflix's animated film "Over the Moon."Creative lighting helped emphasize the dreamy light coming from the moon, which plays a central role in the story. In this shot, the lighting team is perfecting the big, bright moon reflections in Fei Fei's eyes. And in this shot, they're balancing the different light sources coming from the moon, the kitchen, and the colorful lanterns.These decisions about the intensity and placement of lights are laid out early on in color scripts, which are like artistic blueprints, expressing the mood of any given scene.For the scenes set on Lunaria, the artists wanted the light to be overpowering and the colors vibrant and bold to give an otherworldly aura to the moon kingdom and invoke a sense of awe in the audience.The horror movie slash political satire "The Hunt" follows a group of liberals hunting conservatives for sport, so there were lots of opportunities for practical gore <keyword id="37533" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Behind-the-scenes">behind the scenes</keyword>.But the most talked-about sequence was the climactic kitchen fight between Betty Gilpin and Hilary Swank. To make the head-to-head between these two characters feel as messy as possible, the crew designed a special set that was made to be destroyed.The set included foam floors, a chimney rigged with squibs, and a bunch of household-item breakaway props that were built to be broken, just like this glass window, which shatters in this scene. It was like a twisted jungle gym, meant to serve as the ideal backdrop for all the chaotic violence.So, did we miss anything? And what do you think were the most impressive effects of 2020?Let us know in the comments.

A behind-the-scenes look at 2020's biggest movies

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>My husband and I <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-mistakes-when-buying-home-real-estate-what-to-avoid-2019-6">bought our first home together</a> in Hamilton, Ohio - it was in between our jobs, so neither one of us would have a terrible commute.</li><li>We paid under $100,000 for the house, but it's an older home and has some quirks.</li><li>We think it was a steal, though, since it's in a great location and our monthly bills come to about $1,000.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/yourmoney?utm_source=bullet">Read more personal finance coverage</a>.</li></ul>When my husband and I got engaged, we started <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-buying-first-house-tips-advice-2019-1">shopping for our first home</a> together. Up until then, we'd both always <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-rent-a-house-a-guide">rented apartments</a> or rooms in apartments.We had a unique challenge: Our jobs were a total of about 1.5 hours away from each other. I wanted to take on a bit more of the commute (I'd chosen my job knowing it would create this giant commute; he applied for and got his job earlier) and we wanted to live somewhere between the two cities where we were employed. That landed us in ... Hamilton, Ohio.&#xa0;Lucky for us, we were able to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mortgage-tips-first-time-home-buyer-2019-5">buy our first house</a> for under $100,000. Here are the factors that we think made it such a steal.<h2>Location, location, location</h2>Hamilton is a city of 60,000 people, which makes it substantial but not a big city by any stretch; it's too far from Cincinnati to really be a suburb - about a 40-minute drive - but it isn't really out in the middle of nowhere either.&#xa0;Our area is not a high-income zone. We've experienced, like other cities in the Rust Belt, problems with factories closing down and jobs heading to other places.&#xa0;Near Hamilton are a few more prosperous towns where the cost of housing is higher. In nearby towns like West Chester, homes are much more likely to go for higher amounts for the same square footage as Hamilton. According to Zillow, the median house price for Hamilton homes is $161,600, while West Chester has a median price of $243,000.&#xa0;Looking for your first home? Find out how much house you can afford:We made the choice to live in Hamilton instead of the other towns around us based on these housing prices as well as the commuting distance to our jobs.We discovered that Hamilton is experiencing a lot of urban renewal and that there are lots of great civic organizations functioning here, so opting for an up-and-coming town was a good choice for us.<h2>Older home vs. new construction</h2>By opting for a home built in 1912 or so (the records are murky), we got a lot of charm but also a not-ideal amount of future maintenance.&#xa0;A very thorough property inspector helped us verify that we'd need some serious repairs, though the previous owners had been in the house for 30 years and had done a great job keeping it updated.&#xa0;Within the first two years, we replaced a hot water heater, fixed a broken chimney (nothing with roofing is cheap), and had a dead and dangerous tree taken down. Those costs - $600, $2,500, and $450, respectively - were not chump change.&#xa0;The third and fourth years of living in the house were much less costly by comparison, but we're saving for when the furnace or central air inevitably bite the dust.While by no means ideal, even a few thousand dollars' worth of repairs didn't raise the overall cost of owning our home by very much. Opting for more recent construction - and a higher price tag - would have made it much less possible for us to purchase a home.&#xa0;We also feel that we got a better deal than we would have in a house with newer construction, since our home has stained glass, hardwood floors, and beautiful detailed woodwork on the staircase, all things that would be out of reach of our budget if we went with a newer home.&#xa0;<h2>Oddities of the house&#xa0;</h2>While these things don't bother us, there are some oddities that we notice about our home. For one thing, our yard is not large (just 0.11 acres), which mostly means that mowing it is easy. It'd be a bad fit for a family with a super-active dog or two, though.&#xa0;It also had only one bathroom when we moved in, and the bathroom was on the second floor. We've since changed a big closet on the main floor into a bathroom, but I can see how "four bedrooms, one bathroom" was a tough sell, since families with enough members to need four bedrooms are likely to want at least two bathrooms in their homes.The last thing I thought might have helped us score a lower price is that the kitchen is small and not modern, a little galley off the main area of the house. I don't mind it, but it doesn't have that "open-plan living room/dining room/kitchen" look that is so popular right now.While we don't know for sure, I believe that the $98,000 list price we saw when we first considered the house was artificially low already because of these quirks.&#xa0;Houses of similar size in our area were going for a little more, around $110,000, and the original list price of the house, before we saw it, was $105,000.&#xa0;We placed an offer of $93,000, since we liked the house but weren't in a rush to buy, and they countered with $96,500. When the inspector's report showed some needed repairs, we documented what they would cost and were able to negotiate another $3,000 down for a final cost of $93,500.<h2>Our mortgage interest rate is low</h2>Between my husband and I pooling some savings, we were able to put 20% down. That offered some benefits on costs like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-private-mortgage-insurance-definition-cost">private mortgage insurance</a>, which is required for smaller percentages.&#xa0;We also opted for a 15-year mortgage with a low interest rate of 3.25%. While literally everyone told us that it is perfectly fine to keep a mortgage long-term at such a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-find-the-best-mortgage-rate">low interest rate</a>, both of us really loved the idea of paying off our house in under 30 years if we could.&#xa0;Others said that the lower monthly payment on a 30-year mortgage would increase our cash flow, but we liked the slightly higher monthly payment with the lower interest rate (the rate would have been closer to 3.75% for 30 years).We&#xa0; also figured out property tax in our area (around $2,000 a year on our house's current valuation, which was just a little lower than what we paid for it) and we figured out what it would cost to insure it ($1,200 a year, once we found a good insurance agent).&#xa0;When everything was said and done, our monthly bill amounted to around $750 for property tax, home insurance, and our mortgage itself. We'd seen one-bedroom and two-bedroom places that cost more than that in rent.&#xa0;We also worried that utilities would eat us alive - after all, 1,800 square feet feels like too much for two people. But it has worked out: With a smart thermostat that keeps us from heating and cooling excessively when we are out of the house, our bills for all climate control, electricity, water, sewer, and trash rarely break $200 per month. This probably varies by location, but it was good enough for us.&#xa0;<h2>The takeaway</h2>If you divide everything out, we've been paying something like $1,000 a month, including occasional repair and upgrade projects on the building, to live in our beautiful old house. We like the low cost of living in Hamilton, and we try to pay ahead on the mortgage whenever we can.<h3>Can you afford to buy a home? Use this calculator to find out:</h3><ul class="read-more-links"><li>More <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/personal-finance-insider">personal finance</a> coverage</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-airline-credit-card-comparison-delta-united-american">What's the best airline credit card?</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com//best-cash-back-credit-cards">The best cash back credit cards</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/are-cds-a-good-investment">Are CDs a good investment?</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/when-to-save-money-in-high-yield-savings">When to save money in high-yield savings</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-rewards-credit-cards">Best rewards credit cards</a></li></ul>Personal Finance Insider offers tools and calculators to help you make smart decisions with your money. We do not give investment advice or encourage you to buy or sell stocks or other financial products. What you decide to do with your money is up to you. If you take action based on one of the recommendations listed in the calculator, we get a small share of the revenue from our commerce partners.<div></div><div></div><div></div> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jake-bernstein-panama-papers-offshore-banking-shell-companies-2018-2">How the super-wealthy hide billions using tax havens and shell companies</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

Here's exactly how much it costs to own my 4-bedroom, 2-bathroom home outside of Cincinnati

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>I've owned two homes in Minnesota; <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/things-i-wish-id-know-before-becoming-a-landlord">I bought my first in 2012</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-it-costs-to-own-my-home-in-the-minneapolis-suburbs">my second in 2017</a>.</li><li>When I bought my first house, I was paying $2,200 a month in rent, so I thought a house with a small mortgage would be cheaper - it wasn't.</li><li>I wish I'd known a few things before becoming a homeowner, including the hidden costs of maintenance and how difficult it can be to find a realtor and lender who work well together.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/yourmoney?utm_source=bullet">Read more personal finance coverage</a>.</li></ul>My journey with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-buy-a-house-step-by-step-guide">home ownership</a> has been complicated. Since my husband and I got married in 2011, we've purchased two homes: one in 2012, and another in 2017.If we had just stayed in our 2012 home, made money on the sale, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-it-costs-to-own-my-home-in-the-minneapolis-suburbs">purchased again in 2017</a>, there probably wouldn't have been any problems. But we took a more roundabout path.&#xa0;After our son was born in 2014, I quit my office job to stay home and finances were tight. To make ends meet, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/things-i-wish-id-know-before-becoming-a-landlord">we rented out our 2012 house</a> and moved into a cheap, old apartment to save money. Not a bad move.&#xa0;When our second son was born in 2017, though, we upgraded to a fancier apartment downtown. After that lease ended, we were at a crucial crossroads: Would we keep "throwing money away" on rent, move to a smaller, cheaper apartment, or buy? We opted to purchase.&#xa0;While we don't have any major regrets about our twists and turns between homes, we definitely could have thought things through more carefully to protect our finances.&#xa0;Here are a few things I wish someone had told me before we took the leap into home ownership.<h2>Owning a house is expensive&#xa0;</h2>It may seem obvious, but home ownership comes with so many hidden costs - and in some cases, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/when-renting-is-better-than-buying-a-home">renting could be the smarter financial move</a>.&#xa0;When we purchased our 2017 home, we were paying $2,200 a month on an apartment in the middle of Minneapolis. Buying a home made sense to us at first, since our house payment would be $400 less than our rent.&#xa0;But we failed to consider that renting also meant we weren't paying for home maintenance.&#xa0;When we bought the house, we also spent money on a lawn mower and other lawn-maintenance tools. Within the first year of purchasing, we paid landscapers, a chimney sweep, and an HVAC contractor to keep up with our house's issues.&#xa0;I also wish I had known that a home with more space means buying furniture to fill it. Compared to our tiny two-bedroom apartment, our house felt like a castle, which meant we dropped a good amount of money on furnishing the rooms.<h2>Dipping into your 401(k) for a down payment isn't worth it</h2>When we hopped into home ownership, we wanted to benefit from cheaper monthly payments. But because we'd been spending so much of our income on rent, we didn't have much extra to set aside for a down payment.&#xa0;Unfortunately, we decided to withdraw from my husband's 401(k) to increase the down payment on our 2017 home so we'd have a lower monthly payment. It wasn't a great choice. Not only did we basically drain his retirement savings, but we also paid a tax penalty on the withdrawal.&#xa0;<h2>Freelancing can make it hard to buy</h2>My husband and I felt like we were in a stable financial position when we went to get pre-approved for our 2017 mortgage. He was making a decent salary, and I had been growing my freelance business for the past year.&#xa0;Then we learned from our mortgage officer that for my income to count towards our pre-approval, I had to have two years of 1099s.I only had one year, so we could only use my husband's income for our pre-approval - which meant that even though we could technically afford a more expensive home, we were limited to purchasing one that his income would cover. Luckily, next time we buy, I'll have several years of freelancing under my belt.<h2>Find a mortgage broker/realtor team that works well together&#xa0;</h2>I had no idea how frequently our mortgage officer and real estate agent would be in touch during the pre-approval and search process.When we bought our first home in 2012, we opted for a mortgage officer a friend had recommended and a realtor another friend suggested. The experience was fine, but the pair had never worked together, so communication was slower.&#xa0;When we bought our second house in 2017, we let our realtor recommend a loan officer he enjoyed working with. I was impressed by how efficiently the two communicated, and the entire process went smoother than I could have imagined.&#xa0;<h2>You may have to settle on negotiables&#xa0;</h2>Going into the search process, I had far too many non-negotiables for the home itself. I wanted at least three bedrooms and two bathrooms, at least twice the square feet of our apartment, a fenced-in yard, central air, and an updated kitchen. No wonder the results on our MLS were scant.&#xa0;By opening up our search prospects to include houses with one bathroom, we found a home we wouldn't have otherwise come across. The house was cheaper than options with multiple bathrooms, so we hope to add a second when we can afford it.&#xa0;<h2>It can pay to expand your search</h2>Having lived in the city for most of my adult years, I was resistant to the prospect of moving to the suburbs. I had just had my second son when we set out to buy our home, and I didn't want to be "that parent" - the one who buys a minivan and moves out of the city.&#xa0;Unfortunately, limiting our search to very specific neighborhoods in the city left us with few options we could afford. If we wanted a nicer, bigger home with a yard (and lower property taxes), we realized we'd have to expand our search to at least the first ring of suburbs around our city.&#xa0;After doing so, we <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-it-costs-to-own-my-home-in-the-minneapolis-suburbs">found and made an offer on our house</a> within a few days, and we haven't regretted it! Sometimes letting go of expectations is the best way to find what you need.<h3>Ready to buy a home? 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We do not give investment advice or encourage you to buy or sell stocks or other financial products. What you decide to do with your money is up to you. If you take action based on one of the recommendations listed in the calculator, we get a small share of the revenue from our commerce partners.<div></div><div></div><div></div> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/japanese-melons-cost-price-so-expensive-japan-2019-6">These melons can sell for as much as $22,500 each in Japan</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

You Searched For "kitchen chimney" and got 10 results

After more than 2 months of living in Biden's guest house, Kamala Harris will finally move into the official residence of the vice president

Kelsey Vlamis

A 6-foot-3 dad was too tall for the shower in his school-bus tiny home, so he and his wife tore out the roof and added a skylight

Monica Humphries

Kamala Harris is reportedly 'bothered' that she hasn't been able to move into her official Washington residence over 2 months after inauguration

John L. Dorman

How the epic final fight scene in 'The Hunt' was designed and filmed

Ian Phillips,Kyle Desiderio

Somany Home Innovation bets big on IoT products, full range by March 2020

PTI

Britain Gets Humiliated In New Michelin Star Restaurant Rankings

Jim Edwards

A behind-the-scenes look at 2020's biggest movies

Meredith Geaghan-Breiner,Kyle…

Here's exactly how much it costs to own my 4-bedroom, 2-bathroom home outside of Cincinnati

Laura Leavitt

I've owned two houses and I don't regret buying, but there are 6 things I wish someone had told me before I became a homeowner

Ashley Abramson

Apple's smart photo app will be way behind Google's - here's why

Kif Leswing