house

We Spaniards are stopping having Christmas trees because they don’t fit in our house. So there are already companies renting them

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The year or the city doesn’t matter. At least in Spain, Christmas usually comes accompanied by a series of images that are repeated December after December, invariably: streets full of colored ledsbalconies in which they begin to appear papanoels and other Christmas decorations, shop windows in which gold, silver and reddish colors suddenly predominate… and living rooms in which trees full of tinsel and garlands sprout overnight. Year after year the same questions are also repeated: better natural or artificial tree? And above all… What the hell do we do with it after Epiphany, when it’s time to pick up the decorations? Where do we store it, if we already have the storage room all the way up? There are those who have seen In those doubts a promising business. Tree Earrings. There is no Christmas without decorations. And there is no Christmas decoration worth its salt without a good tree. It’s been like this all our lives, but just in case there were any doubts, cities like Vigo, Barcelona, Badalona either Madriddetermined to build gigantic trees in the heart of the urban area. Something similar happens in businesses, offices and homes. People demand trees (both artificial and natural), something that is felt in the nurseries and the big chains of decoration. As a reference, the National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA) estimates that each year they are sold in the US between 25 and 30 million of natural Christmas trees, which requires a huge plantation with hundreds of millions of copies distributed throughout the country. The dilemma, whether you choose real or fake fir trees, is… What to do with them later? A question, a business. There are those who have seen that question and the demand for Christmas trees as a business. After all… Why rack your brains choosing decorations, assembling them, disassembling them and then looking for a place to store them for months if we can pay a company to take care of everything? Or better yet, what if instead of buying the tree we rented it? Leasing trees may sound strange, but there comes a quick search on Google to find a few companies that operate in Spain and they dedicate precisely to that: to temporarily give up trees full of lights in exchange for a fee. The offer is wide and includes everything from small specimens to others of large size and size, for both indoor and outdoor spaces. But is it a business? Yes. The holidays may only last a few weeks, but if companies like Ximenezthe Córdoba company that has been in charge of setting up decorations in Vigo, Madrid, Barcelona or Milan, is that Christmas decorations can become a million dollar business. After all, it is not only families who demand decoration. Governments and companies of all kinds also do it, from businesses that do not have space to store decorations the rest of the year to hotels that need trees for their living rooms and hallways. In a warehouse in Madrid… One of the most popular Christmas tree rental companies in Spain is B&M, a family business with twenty years of experience that works from a warehouse in Tetuán, Madrid. Recently those responsible they explained to The Spanish Newspaper Every campaign, about 200 trees come out of there ready to decorate and that the company itself is in charge of collecting once the holidays are over. Their work involves several challenges, such as matching the taste of their clients and coordinating the logistics that require dismantling and removing 200 trees during the second week of January. “The pickup is intense because on the 9th everyone wants you to pick it up.” “Three, four hours at least”. The company also makes it clear that although it may seem like a simple task, preparing the ideal tree requires work. First they convey a proposal to the clients. Then they shape it. “A four or five meter tree is a job for five or six people, who have to spend at least three or four hours on it,” clarifies the signaturewhich explains, for example, that there are businesses that want trees with their corporate colors. How much do these services cost? In your website There are rates (with delivery and collection service included) ranging from 265 to 2,800 euros, without VAT. It all depends on the tree you want. They range from 1.5 to five meters. Are there more options? Yes. The demand for Christmas decoration is intense enough that it has encouraged other businesses, such as those that are committed to sustainability and offer a rent in pot. Your proposal? Instead of buying a plastic tree or taking a felled fir, rent one that you can place in your house alive, with its pot. Once in your living room you can decorate and take care of it and after Christmas the company will collect it to take it to a forest or to its nursery of origin. Images | Arun Kuchibhotla (Unsplash) and Jared Lind (Unsplash) In Xataka | Without knowing it, we all honor Thor during Christmas thanks to a pagan ritual: the Christmas tree

A British MP did not have permission to build a house in the countryside so he was left with only one option: dig it up

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Housing is one of the main problemsnot only because of the scarcity that makes its price skyrocketsbut because, even if you already have a plot on which to build the house of your dreams, urban planning and environmental legislation will not always allow you to build it. That is precisely what happened to British MP Bob Marshall-Andrews in the late 90s, when he wanted to build a house with sea views in Wales, but faced a huge dilemma. Environmental regulations did not allow him to erect any buildings since it was a natural space. There was only one way out so that your home was legal: dig it out. A house in a hole with sea views As and how did he count Wales Onlinelawyer and Labor Party MP Bob Marshall-Andrews and his wife Gill wanted to escape the bustle of the city and enjoy the leisurely pace of the waves crashing into St. Bride’s Bay on the Pembrokeshire cliffs in the far west of Wales. For years, he and his family had been spending vacations in an old military barracks. on Druidston Cliffuntil the structure began to deteriorate and the need to build something new became apparent. That’s where his problems began. The land of the MP and his wife Gill is located about 150 meters from the sea, in the heart of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, a protected area since 1949 that covers more than 300 kilometers of coastline with cliffs, open beaches, sheltered bays, marshes and dunes. In this environment, the authorities have been traditionally very strict: the neighbors considered practically impossible to obtain permission even for small glazed extensions in existing houses. To comply with the regulations and still stay in that place, the only way was to literally hide the new house underground, excavating the land and taking advantage of the natural ridge of the cliff as part of the construction. The idea came from his son Tom, who thought it would be a good idea to integrate the house into the landscape by excavating it between two hills. The result was Malatora semi-buried house, almost invisible from afar, which today has become one of the most striking examples of architecture integrated into the landscape of the Welsh coast. So much so that it even has your own reference on Wikipedia. A crazy idea that ended in genius The British parliamentarian left the commission to the architects Jan Kaplicky and Amanda Levetefounders of the Future Systems studio, had a central premise: to obtain legalized housing that would not give arguments to those responsible for the park. to deny license. To avoid any feeling of privilege towards a parliamentarian, the project was planned from the beginning as a construction that would not compete with the landscape, but would hide in it and reduce its visible impact to a minimum, just as Tom, the son of the owners, had proposed. Thus, the architects chose build downexcavating the hill instead of raising a traditional construction, so that the house will be buried under a cover of earth and grass that continues the shape of the hill. This strategy is reminiscent of ancient techniques from northern Scandinavia, where layers of earth and grass were accumulated to form thick walls with good thermal inertia and great camouflage capacity in the terrain. The designers were inspired by the wing section of an airplane for its visible part. The façade facing the sea is resolved with a large glass plane and portholes, while the upper part and sides are buried and covered with grass and vegetation, so that from the park path the house is perceived as a simple mound covered with grass. This extreme integration with the landscape It was decisive for the local authorities to give their approval, since the construction does not break the undulating line of meadows and bushes nor does it introduce visible plot limits, fences or gardens separated from the rest of the park. Furthermore, technically, no construction had been “raised”. Inside, the curved floor plan is organized around a central fireplace, inspired by the great medieval halls. A large semicircular sofa and prefabricated walls that separate the rooms of the house without touching the ceiling, reinforcing the feeling of continuous space. Respect for the environment was taken to the extreme even during its construction, as many of the internal elements, including the bathrooms, were manufactured in workshops and brought in small pieces to the plot. A decision designed to reduce heavy truck traffic to a minimum on a narrow road adapted to the orography of the cliff. The house soon became popular in the area and, given its peculiar design, the locals have baptized it as “the Teletubbies house” due to its resemblance to the half-buried house from the children’s series, a nickname that its owner receives with humor. In Xataka | Of all the places there were to build a $400,000 house, this millionaire chose the most unusual: in a tree Image | Geograph.org (Cered, Deborah Tilley, Simon Mortimer, Michael Graham, Dave Challender)

For years, foreigners who wanted sun and beach bought a house in Spain. Now they are looking for something else: luxury housing

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The real estate market emits signals which show that foreigners have won a relevant weight in the sale and purchase of luxury homes, which leads us to think about changes in the profile of the international buyer. Spain is no longer just a destination for families or couples from other countries interested in getting a small apartment for their vacation in search of sun and beach. It also receives wealthy people who want settle herein the cities, and is able to pay for his house out of pocket. The data are certainly suggestive. “First level destination”. I warned him recently in an interview with Idealista Paloma Pérez Bravo, CEO of Residencial de Lucas Fox, a platform specialized in the premium market: “Spain has gone from being a sun and beach getaway to a top-level luxury destination.” From your experiencethe country “has stopped being the home of the sun and has become the home of investment. People want more first homes than second homes because they are moving to Spain.” It’s not the only change he appreciates. Upon your signature, Bravo explains to SERdigital nomads are now arriving, entrepreneurs from America, English and American, also businessmen and investors who used to invest in the US and now find themselves with problems there due to Trump’s immigration policy. Is there data? Yes, although they come mainly from companies, so they must be handled with some caution. In your report On market forecasts for 2026, Lucas Fox reveals for example that 62% of buyers Those who close transactions worth more than 2.5 million euros are foreigners, more than 60% of ultra-luxury sales are signed without the need for financing and a good part of the acquisitions are made in search of a “main residence”, not to convert the property into a vacation home or as an investment. Looking ahead to next year, the company also expects that activity in the segments prime and super prime grow 3-6% and 6-10% respectively and leaves behind a fundamental idea that tells us about the profile of those clients who purchase the most expensive houses: “The international buyer is already the majority.” Specifically, the weight of Europeans stands out, followed by Americans and British. Other percentage: 92%. Lucas Fox is not the first to warn of the frequency with which foreign accents are heard in real estate agencies specializing in the premium market. A few months ago Barnes claimed that 92% of buyers from the Spanish luxury market were already foreigners. Of them, around half (49%) were also investors from outside the EU, with a notable presence especially of Mexicans, Colombians, Venezuelans, Russians, Chinese and Arabs. The community members They accounted for 43% while the Spanish, according to the real estate agency, were left with a meager 8% of the total. Are there more clues? The answer is once again affirmative. Another company that shared data recently is LuxuryEstatea premium housing portal that confirms that searches by international buyers interested in the Spanish market already represent a substantial part of its traffic. Above all, the demand for information from european countries such as Germany, France, Italy, Belgium or the Netherlands and the interest aroused by the premium segment of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Madrid or the Valencian Community. Other regions, such as the Canary Islands and the Basque Country, also seem to be emerging. A consolidated destination. LuxuryEstate confirm in fact that ours “is no longer just an aspirational destination, but a highly competitive market.” The comment is in line with what it points out to Lucas Fox or even CaixaBank Research, which in a recent analysis Regarding the changes in the profile of the resident foreigner who acquires housing in Spain, he warns: “Spain has established itself as one of the most attractive destinations for luxury investment in Europe.” Different buyers. In the same reportCaixaBank recalls that the demand for housing by foreigners has grown in recent years, first after the pandemic and then thanks to the improvement in financing. It also clarifies that there are differences between resident foreigners and those who do not live here and are mainly looking for houses for their vacations or as an investment. On average, the former (residents) paid around €1,795/m2 in 2024 and the latter (non-residents) €3,063/m2. These are values ​​significantly higher than those recorded by national buyers, which moved at 1,713. However, the last balance of Property Registrars shows that foreign demand for housing has reduced in the third quarter of the year, representing 13.6% of the total. The percentage reflects the entire market, not just the luxury segment, although there are those who warn that the latter is not immune to the shortage of supply, which among other issues affects its prices. Images | DaYsO (Unsplash) In Xataka | After Catalonia, there is another autonomous community considering prohibiting buying a home to invest: Canary Islands

If you buy a house there it is to live there

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The Canary Islands have an idea to alleviate their serious residential crisis and make it easier for people who live and work on the islands but are unable to find an affordable home: limit purchases of housing among non-residents. It is not a new proposal nor is it free of controversybut in recent days the island Government has managed to sneak it back into the center of the public debate. He has even achieved the direct backup of the Ministry of Housing. The big question, in view of the latest data of purchase and sale, it is… Will it really help the Canaries to opt for “decent homes”? What has happened? That the Canary Islands want to limit the purchase of housing among non-residents on the islands. It’s not a new idea and it’s not easy either put it into practicesince it would have to fit into the community legal framework, but in recent days the island Government has managed to sneak it into the center of the debate. First to raise that restriction publicly during a European summit. Second, by getting the Ministry of Housing support your position. What exactly has he done? To begin the Government of the Canary Islands has transferred to Brussels for its “concern” about the lack of a “courageous strategy” on crucial issues affecting the island territories, such as housing. This was stated last week by the vice-adviser of the President’s Cabinet, Octavio Caraballo, during the Conference of EU Peripheral and Maritime Regions held in Barcelona. In that forum, Canarias went further and put an idea on the table: protect those who buy houses to actually live in them. “The Canary Islands maintains its efforts to establish limits on the purchase of housing on the islands by non-residents to guarantee a decent home for the people who live in the archipelago,” explains the regional government, which reminded the conference that foreign purchases and vacation rental boom is “straining” the market and reducing the housing supply available to locals. “It compromises social sustainability.” Has it stayed there? No. His proposal has been in the news again this week because the Canary Islands Executive he put it on the table during the meeting held on Thursday with Minister Isabel Rodríguez to discuss the State Housing Plan. From that meeting the Canarian authorities left with the “express support” of the State to limit the purchase of housing by people outside the islands. “He has shown his support for the defense that we are carrying out before the EU to protect the right to housing of all Canary Islands and limit the purchase of housing by non-resident foreigners,” assures counselor Pablo Rodríguez. Without going into details, the ministry issued a statement after the meeting in which he confirmed that he is in favor of the EU allowing “speculative purchases” to be prohibited. Is it a new proposal? No. Just a year ago the Canarian Government already announced which was looking for a way to take advantage of the islands’ Outermost Region (ORP) status to restrict the weight of non-resident foreigners in its real estate market. The truth is that the idea it’s been a while installed in the public and political debate, where it has not reached the necessary consensus for get ahead. Nor is it an idea exclusive to the Canary Islands. In 2024 Add came to present a non-legal proposal for the Government to veto the acquisition of houses by investment funds and non-resident buyers in Spain for three years. It did not prosper, among other reasons due to the vote against the PSOE. The same idea has sounded in the Balearic Islands either Cataloniawhere the markets are also very marked by vacation rentals. Why this interest? In the words of the Canary Islands Government, to guarantee that those who live and work on the islands can reside there and are not “expelled” by rentals for tourists and a market in full escalation. According to Idealista, since 2020 rents have become more expensive than 50% and the price of residential m2 has risen 68.3%. Housing is so expensive that there are temporary workers who have no choice but to stay in caravans. The island government assures that in recent years “a third of sales in the Canary Islands have been carried out by non-resident foreigners”, which complicates accessibility to a residential market that already deals with a “limited supply and growing demand”. To solve this, the Executive proposes restricting purchases by foreigners who do not live in the region, a measure that has precedents in other countries but faces a challenge: the European lawthat explicitly protects the “free movement of capital.” Is housing that expensive? Yes. At least it’s expensive enough to be in production. a curious phenomenon: foreigners themselves are being expelled from the market. a report published in October by the General Council of Notaries shows that, while in communities such as Asturias, Castilla y León or Galicia, home purchase and sale operations grew during the first half of the year, in tourist-rich markets such as the Canary Islands they have declined. In the Balearic Islands they ‘punctured’ by 6.8%, in Navarra by 3.7%, in the Valencian Community by 3.6% and in the Canary Islands by 7.7%, a decline that comes in the midst of a rise in prices. Images | Reiseuhu (Unsplash) and Bastian Pudill (Unsplash) In Xataka | There are those who think that the housing crisis can be solved by building. At the Polytechnic University of Catalonia they believe they are wrong

change house doors

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Changing the doors of the house, a seemingly minor and routine renovation, has become one of the most expensive household items in recent years. To the point that many carpenters are already talking about a “new era of prices” in the sector. As a professional said interviewed by El Español: “Before I charged 120 euros per unit; now they go over 250 without a problem.” And it is not an isolated case: specialized platforms confirm that renewing a single interior door can today cost between 150 and 600 euros. This price increase responds to a combination of factors that has strained the entire production chain. A climb from the forest to the factory. Wood, the base of most interior doors, is primarily responsible. As Maderea explainsa reference platform in the sector, species such as radiata pine or oak have recorded increases of up to 20% in Spain. This variation is not punctual: the market is experiencing a period of volatility marked by international demand, the supply crisis, energy costs and the rise of the bioeconomy. The Basoa reports show high values in the radiata pine in all its categories. Although they are prices at origin, they serve as a thermometer: the cost of raw materials continues to be stressed, with no signs of falling. However, not only does the tree go up: everything around it also goes up, from electricity necessary for manufacturing to transportation. A minor reform that is no longer cheap. The result of these increases is evident for the consumer: changing a door no longer costs what it used to. According to Habitissimothe average price of replacing an interior door is around 350 euros, within a range that can go from 150 to 600 euros depending on the material, type of opening or complexity. The Idealista platform offers similar figures In terms of prices, MDF and solid wood are the cheapest, reaching €600. For its part, the Cronoshare portal raises the national average at 300 and 900 euros, depending on the type of door and installation. On the other hand, if we talk about an exterior door, the figure multiplies. Both Idealista and Habitissimo point out that an armored door usually costs between 600 and 1,500 euros; an armored one can go up to 4,800 euros, and those made of aluminum or PVC range between 200 and 900 euros. That’s not all. Added to the increase in materials is that of professionals. According to Idealistaa carpenter can charge between 25 and 50 euros per hour, and removing an old door plus installing the new one can cost between 200 and 300 euros. For its part, from Habitissimo agrees that The installation adds between 60 and 140 euros per unit. The professionals themselves say it clearly. The carpenter interviewed by El Español He explained that today they do not only charge for assembly: “The client believes that it is ‘just hanging a door’, but behind it there are expensive materials, transportation, higher quality hardware and much finer work than before.” In addition, interior design trends—such as lacquered, sliding, large-format or flush doors—also raise the final price. And what will happen from now on? For now, no indicators suggest that prices will decline. According to Madereathe wood market continues to be highly volatile, driven by energy and logistics costs that are pushing upwards. The Basoa reportsfor their part, show high rates and no significant declines in the price of standing timber during 2025. Neither do the reform platforms they foresee reductions in material or labor costs. The conclusion is clear: unless an unexpected economic turn occurs, changing the doors in your home will continue to be an expensive renovation for years to come. Is there a cheaper way to change my doors? What all the consulted guides do agree on is a series of recommendations to contain spending. On the one hand, request several quotes to compare prices and avoid excessive differences between professionals. Also can be useful Take advantage of seasonal offers, such as Black Friday campaigns or sales of discontinued models, where some stores apply relevant discounts. Another strategy for those who want to renovate without completely replacing is to restore or lacquer the existing doors. And it suits avoid special measuressince ordering doors outside of standard sizes can multiply the final cost. We’ll have to think twice. What was once an affordable domestic intervention—changing an interior door for just over a hundred euros—has become a renovation that can easily exceed 300, 400 or even 600 euros per unit, depending on the material and installation. The rise in the price of wood, the impact of energy on manufacturing, logistics and the growing demand for higher quality designs have pushed this item to unprecedented levels. Image | Unsplash and Pexels Xataka | Even when Spain does it well, it goes wrong: becoming the third most forested country in Europe has become a problem

If you bought your house before 2013 and paid off the mortgage with its sale: The Treasury owes you money

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If you bought your house before 2013 we have good news for you: now you will be able to recover up to 1,356 euros on your tax return thanks to an important change in the way in which the Treasury recognizes mortgage deductions. If you used the money from the sale of your home to pay what you mortgage pendingthis change in Treasury doctrine can directly affect you. The new resolution of the Central Economic-Administrative Court (TEAC) opens the door for thousands of taxpayers to review their statements from recent years and request returns that they couldn’t ask for before. An opportunity to save on rent. The Central Economic-Administrative Court (TEAC) has dictated a change of doctrine in a resolution in which he has clarified that, if you use part of the money from the sale of your house to pay off the remaining mortgage, you can also deduct that amount on your income tax return. This changes the way the Treasury saw things until now and may mean recover more money on your taxes. Previously, you could only deduct mortgage payments while you lived in the house and owned it. If you sold the home, you lost the deduction from the day of the sale, even if you used part of the money to pay off the mortgage. An example to understand it easily. The TEAC resolution has been based on the binding consultation of a taxpayer from Santa Cruz de Tenerife, so his case can serve as a practical example. This taxpayer sold his home in June 2018 and used 10,202 euros of the amount obtained from the sale to pay off the mortgage. At that time, the Treasury only allowed him to deduct the installments paid until May, the month before the sale of the home, because the cancellation payment for the same, although it is part of the investment in that home, was no longer counted because it was no longer his property. With the new TEAC criteria, this cancellation with the money from the sale can also be deducted and therefore the excess withholding in personal income tax that was not previously recognized can be recovered. This represents a real change for those who have sold their house and paid off their debt with the money from the sale, since their right to the deduction does not disappear the day they sell the house, but remains in force as long as they use that money to pay the cancellation of their mortgage. Conditions to access the deduction. As and as they remember in IberleyIn order to benefit from this deduction, a series of conditions must be met. The first condition is that the home had to be your habitual residence until the moment of selling it. The second condition is to have purchased that home before 2013 and to have applied the personal income tax deduction prior to its sale. The maximum base for calculating the deduction is 9,040 euros per year, and the Treasury allows you to deduct 15% of what you pay for the loan. That leaves a maximum deduction of 1,356 euros per year which, if you had not applied it after the sale of the home, you can now claim if applicable. Review of declarations from 2021. From Idealistic stand out that, although this deduction is only for those who bought before 2013, those taxpayers who have sold their home and canceled the mortgage since 2021 can review their returns to see if the personal income tax deduction was correctly applied, including that final cancellation amount. This means that there may be pending returns for those who did not claim it at the time and meet the requirements in the years between 2021 and 2024, as long as their term has not expired. In Xataka | Just in case Madrid had few problems with housing, now it adds one more: US millionaires investing in the city Image | Wikimedia Commons (Jordiferrer, Ruth Leong)

House renovations used to be to make them more habitable. Now they can also be converted into Lego sets

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At the beginning of October we count that the lack of space in modern homes or the impossibility of collecting quantities of LEGO due to how much they occupy had led to the creation of a business especially aimed at those who do not want to give up building new sets, but do not need to keep them. Brick Borrow rent LEGO sets…which are then returned. It happens that more and more people are directly renovating their house to make room for it. to these jewels. Domestic brick utopias. I was telling it on the weekend the wall street journal. In recent years, the rise of adult collecting Lego has transformed entire domestic spaces into carefully designed and detailed miniature worlds, urban landscapes, beaches with bathers and functional amusement parks. Of all, the case by Christie Northin Salt Lake City, is especially representative: he has torn down walls, renovated his basement and spent more than $100,000 in building and displaying his Lego city, which he accesses through a fingerprint scanner and which he is considering monitoring with cameras to observe when he travels. The origin. The woman started as a hobby to combat boredom during the pandemic, but became your emotional refugea task where methodical construction and imagination combine into something he describes as “feeding the soul.” In his brick world you can see a mix of technical dedication, nostalgia and the search for a personal space in the face of everyday routines. Adult collecting. The truth is that Lego has been able to cultivate, especially since 2020, a growing base adult amateurmany of whom could not afford the most ambitious sets during their childhood, but today they have income and a sentimental motivation to rebuild what they before it was inaccessible. The problem is not only economic, but also spatial: the largest sets can occupy entire tables or even entire rooms, forcing coexistence decisions, as in the case by Steve Isomwhich has assembled more than 275 sets and has given its dining room, office and shelves to spaceships suspended from the ceiling and monumental models like a titanic shelf or an Eiffel Tower almost meter and a half. His wife tolerates the hobby, but imposes clear limits: The bedroom is left out of the invasion of bricks. This negotiation silent It is repeated in many homes, where the passion for building clashes with shared aesthetics, functionality and the simple space available. Architecture, interior design and adaptation. The transformation of the home into a gallery of Lego pieces has even given rise to a specific demand in interior architecture. He architect Jeff Pelletierhimself a fan, claims to have designed more than twenty houses with rooms dedicated to Lego, mostly for adults. His advice includes Avoid rooms with direct light to avoid discoloring the pieces and use closed display cases to reduce dust. In other cases, it suggests integrate small Lego pieces as discreet decorative accents on shelves, walls or artistic compositions that imitate famous works. These solutions seek balance passion and aestheticspreserving the visual identity of the home without eliminating the collector’s creative space. Even in the real estate market, agents like Niko Cejic they claim that houses with Lego rooms can be more attractive, providing character and differentiation compared to the neutral standardization of so many contemporary interiors. The home as an emotional refuge. Beyond the hobby, these Lego rooms reflect an emotional need profound in a context of increasingly fast-paced lives, demanding jobs and changing family structures. Evan Rubinfor example, finds in his Lego room an oasis of manual repetition and visual calm, a selective return to a childhood reinterpreted. Many homeowners describe these constructions as a way to regain creativity in the face of monotonous routines, and also as a way to build an identity within the home. They told in the Journal that the replacement of more traditional life projects (such as raising children in increasingly smaller and late-term homes) is intertwined with this phenomenon: pets, plants and Lego appear where cribs once appeared. The house is no longer just a place to live, but a stage in which to reconstruct an intimate version of oneself. Tiny “real” worlds. Ultimately, the lego roomshidden in basements, domestic extensions or carefully reserved rooms, aim to be one (another) cultural manifestation of a contemporary desire for belonging, refuge and creative control. If you will, they also represent a silent, patient and manual response to digital speed, constant productivity and the pressure of adulthood. The worlds built with bricks They do not replace the outside world, of course, but they offer continuity between the child who played and the adult who seeks his own space in the midst of obligations, schedules and demands. Ultimately, in those miniature cities There is a simple and universal statement: although life pushes us to grow, there will always be parts of us that need to continue building. Image | Brickset, PXHere In Xataka | The secret to continuing to accumulate LEGO sets is not to keep them. This rental service helps you with that. In Xataka | One thousand euros for the Star Wars Death Star: the most expensive Lego set to date does not make all fans happy

The race to put a humanoid robot in our house has begun. It’s an absurd race

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A robot that walks around the house picking up what we have left lying around, loads the dishwasher and even starts the washing machine. It is not a science fiction movie, it is the advertisement of the Figure 03 and it is not the only company interested in sell us the idea that soon we will all have a home robot. Detective Spooner doesn’t like this. Robots for everyone There are people convinced that in a few years Humanoid robots will be as common in homes as robot vacuum cleaners are now. One of those people is Elon Musk, who assured that In five or six years we will all be able to afford a personal robot. Peter Diamandis, well-known writer and “futurologist” predicts that the first humanoid robots will reach homes as early as 2026. It is not an obsession of the West, In China they are also obsessed with robotics, although from a different approach. The government wants robots to have transformed the industry by 2035, but it also contemplates creation of robots as accompaniment within the home. We do not know if this future will materialize or if humanoid robots will end up being an eccentricity for a few. Regardless of whether they succeed, These are the companies that want to make it possible. Figure AI Figure 03 Based in California, it is the company that has shown the most progress in creating a humanoid robot for the home. Its latest model, the Figure 03, is presented to us as a kind of robotic butler that does all the housework. Until now the previous models did not go much beyond the “wow” effect of the video, but this time it is different because Figure has a plan to mass produce them. The first year They hope to produce 12,000 robots a yearalmost nothing. Figure is the spearhead of robotics in the United States. Its valuation is 39,000 million dollars and among its investors are NVIDIA, Salesforce, Qualcomm, Intel, Microsoft and Jeff Bezos himself. At the moment it is not for sale nor do we know the price it will have. tesla Tesla Optimus Gen 2 No introduction needed. The first time we learned that Tesla wanted to make a humanoid robot it was in 2021. In 2022 they had a functional prototype and in 2023 they presented the Optimus Gen 2. Although we have not seen him doing household chores, they did show how he was capable of handling fragile objects like an egg. According to Musk, the Optimus will be cheaper than a car (between 20 and 30,000 dollars), but the reality is that we are in 2025 and The promise has not yet come true. Musk continues determined to build “an army of robots” and just showed your worry about who will control him. In Tesla’s latest earnings call, he stated that he wants to maintain strong influence over this hypothetical army. 1X Technologies Neo Gamma It is based in California, but it is a Norwegian company. 1x’s goal has been the home from the beginning and its goal is a robot that does cleaning, organizing and even running errands. A year ago they presented the Neo Beta robot and in February of this year they presented the Neo Gammaits most advanced model. It is capable of interacting with humans, can manipulate all types of objects, and is covered in soft materials. 1X’s plan is to start deploying its robots in homes this year, but in a pilot project. The company has been set as a goal manufacture 100,000 units in 2027 and “millions more in 2028”. We don’t know anything about how much it will cost, although 1X says it is “expected to be priced competitively within the home robotics market,” whatever that means. The company is valued at 10 billion dollars and between your most powerful investors There are OpenAI and EQT. Unitree Robotics Unitree H2 Based in Hangzhou, it is one of the companies that form the ‘Six Little Dragons’ and leader in robotics in China. We knew her for her quadruped robotsbut recently they have moved on to humanoid robots. Its most advanced model, the Unitree H2was announced just a few days ago and is capable of dancing and even doing kung-fu, but it is not as focused on the home as other proposals. In China, spectacular demonstrations of robots that dance or box have become very fashionable, but for the moment They are not showing practical applications for these humanoid robots. Of course, it is the only one that already has humanoid robots for sale and at very competitive prices. The Unitree G1 costs $16,000, but the Unitree H1 costs 131,000 euros. Deep Robotics DR02 It is also a Chinese company and part of the ‘Six Little Dragons’, which are the six most cutting-edge companies in the country in AI and robotics. Like Unitree, they also launched quadruped robots and recently switched to humanoids. Its focus is the creation of resilient models so that they can work in sectors such as industry, logistics or public services. Their latest model is the DR02, a robot resistant to water and dust and is designed to work outdoors. In the future the company also wants to expand to other areas such as the home. What is the point of a humanoid robot? There are other voices at the opposite end of these visionaries, such as that of Rodney Brooks, the co-founder of iRobot. Brooks believes that humanoid robots are a fantasy and they are a format that is anything but practical. Keeping such a robot standing requires a lot of energy and can be a huge risk if it falls. Furthermore, he states that Imitating the dexterity of a human hand is practically impossible. For Ehsan Saffari, robotics engineer, There is no point in making human-shaped robots. At least not if we want them to be efficient. To illustrate this, he gives a very good example: “Imagine that instead of building a … Read more

give you money to buy a house

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In a context in which the housing is one of the main actors of territorial inequality In Spain, some rural municipalities have decided to intervene by directly offering money to whoever is willing to move and buy. We are not facing a “return to the countryside”, but rather public programs with specific amounts designed to reverse decades of population loss and to reactivate areas where the demographic decline has already had visible consequences in services, economic activity and social structure. National panorama. It is estimated that more than 3,400 municipalities Spaniards have been at structural demographic risk for years. They occupy almost the entire interior territory, but they barely concentrate the 10% of the population. The cumulative output of inhabitants deteriorated schools, commerce and employment, which in turn accelerated emigration to large cities. That loop has been difficult to reverse with soft incentives. Hence, the novelty of the current moment is the leap to material incentives to try to generate real population movement in the opposite direction for the first time in decades. Urban crisis and opportunity. While the rental and purchase markets in capitals such as Madrid, Barcelona or Malaga have become directly prohibitive For average incomes, much of inland Spain has a inverse problem: abundance of empty houses, low demand and shrinking economic bases. Urban pressure and rural emptying are not separate phenomena, but rather two sides of the same territorial asymmetry. And that is where the logic of pay to move: displace population where there is idle capacity and alleviate, at least on the margin, the residential saturation of metropolitan areas. An idea that already we had seen beforenot only in Spain, also in Italy. The DIVA program. He DIVA plan in the north of Cáceres it is possibly the clearest and most quantified initiative. Offers up to 15,000 euros to people who move to the towns in the region and telework from there, yes, with a minimum registration obligation of 24 months (and 36 for full payment) and accredited continuity of remote work activity. The overall endowment amounts to 200 million and its stated goal is to attract about 200 new stable residents. It does not finance residential tourism or second homes: it requires effective permanence and sustained employment relationships over time. Castilla y León. Here the Board grants up to 2,000 euros to families who move to small municipalities and acquire housing there. The amount starts at 1,000 euros for units without children and goes up to 2,000. for families with minors. The aid is processed after registering and requires establishing residence effective in the municipality. The objective is to induce purchase and roots in localities that have been losing density for decades, reinforcing stable tenure as a mechanism of permanence. Valladolid. The Provincial Council guide the program to young people from 18 to 36 years old in towns with less than 20,000 inhabitants, with income limits of up to 33,600 euros per year. For purchase with a mortgage it covers up to 10 installments (maximum €4,000), and for rehabilitation it covers up to 80% of the technical fees also with a limit of €4,000. The design seeks to lower the initial financial entry barrier to rural property among profiles that, without incentive, would choose to remain in stressed metropolitan areas. Rioja. He Revive Plan grants between 20,000 and 40,000 euros to those who buy housing in municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants and occupy it as their habitual residence. The maximum amount is reserved for towns of up to 500 inhabitants where depopulation is more acute. The property cannot exceed 180,000 euros and it must be inhabited within a maximum period of time after the purchase, maintaining a minimum residence of five years. The incentive does not finance rotation: it requires roots measurable in time. Navarre. Navarre guide the help to those under 35 years of age who buy housing in towns with less than 5,000 inhabitants or in non-urban areas up to 20,000. The subsidy is calculated as a percentage of the price with limits per square meter, so that an 80 m² apartment below 153,827 euros can be partially subsidized. The final requirement is habitual residence. The program is not about subsidized rent, but rather about establishing ownership as a mechanism for demographic return. Conditions, intention and limits. All programs share or repeat two traits: They seek continuous residence, not opportunistic mobility, and subordinate the aid to documentary proof of real roots (registration, habitual use, periods of permanence and, in the case of Ambroz, effective teleworking). The design, as we said at the beginning, seeks to induce functional repopulationnot symbolic. Of course, its scope is limited in scale, but it represents a phase change: for the first time there is competition for population with direct incentives. In a country where the cities seem to be expelling the citizens for the cost, and the interior collapses due to vacuumpaying to move stops being an anecdote and becomes an instrument of territorial policy. Image | Diego Delso In Xataka | The pistachio has worked an unexpected wonder: generating thousands of jobs in the fields of Castilla-La Mancha In Xataka | In rural Salamanca someone has had an idea to revitalize the towns: give you the bar

House prices are so sky-high that a millionaire built a tree house and spent a fortune on it

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High housing prices have caused buy a house has become little less than a utopia for many people, especially the youngest. Todd Graves, a Louisiana millionaire who founded the fried chicken restaurant chain Raising Cane’sdecided to do something different and quite crazy: build a house on the top of a giant tree in the garden of his mansion in Baton Rouge. It is not a toy house, but a real house, with everything you expect to find in a conventional house, but looking at the entire landscape from above. A house, on a house, near another house The millionaire did not decide to build his peculiar house in the heights due to lack of space for his family. In fact, the Graves have built the house on a more than 30-meter live oak tree that is in the garden of their enormous mansion, and right next to the 465-square-meter guest house. As the businessman confessed in a recent interview with Forbesdecided to build a house 20 meters high in 2015, after seeing one of the television shows Treehouse Masters. In the show, a group of professionals are dedicated to build tree houses. However, Graves wasn’t interested in just any house: He asked the team to build a real house with three floors, a terrace, a dining room, a bedroom and even a bathroom with running water. For anyone who doesn’t have a checking account with millions of dollars in it, this sounds strange:why spend so much on something like that When can you have everything on dry land? Graves assures that he uses it to disconnect and have fun, which is like going back to childhood, but as an adult. “It’s fun to have magical things,” he said. A house to move into…if you can afford it The Graves tree house has a first level with a terrace of about 42 square meters to enjoy the outdoors equipped with a slide and another 37 square meters in a living room on the first floor, with everything what a house needs to be comfortable, including a bar counter and a bathroom with running water inside. In addition, for its construction they used wood from an old sewing factory and stained glass that they rescued after the Hurricane Katrina that devastated the area, which gives it a special touch and full of history. On the upper floor, a room invites you to relax and rest, with views that are beginning to be unsuitable for those with vertigo. However, the final climax puts it a viewpoint at the highest part of the construction from which you can see the entire landscape that surrounds the mansion from a height of 25 meters. In addition, it has a suspension bridge almost 21 meters long that connects with another viewpoint overlooking a nearby lake. The millionaire’s whim is truly spectacular, but to the same extent as its cost. Build all this infrastructure It cost $400,000 in 2015a sum that for a normal person is a fortune, but for Todd it represents only 0.002% of his immense fortune, estimated at more than 22 billion dollars, according to data of Forbes. A meeting point for celebrities Graves’ treehouse is not only a treat for his children and their friends to play in, but Graves uses it as a refuge to clear your mind and “improve your performance at Raising Cane’s.” For him, it is a space that combines fun, childhood nostalgia and creativity, even if it is an unnecessary luxury in the eyes of many. The peculiar construction has become a meeting point for some famous friends of the businessman. Rappers like Snoop Dogg and Nelly, and athletes like Shaquille O’Neal and NFL star Ja’Marr Chase have stopped by after appearing on the show.Treehouse Masters’. In fact, Shaquille O’neal liked the Graves treehouse so much that he commissioned a similar one for his home in Georgia from the same builders. On that occasion, the lack of a tree the size of the 100-foot Graves oak made the house a little more contained in terms of dimensions and height. The height already Shaq brings it as standard. In Xataka | A businessman built a mega mansion without permission: the neighbors have gotten the city council to demolish it Image | Raising Cane’s, Animal Planet

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