Fulton Selling Her Upper East Side Home

[Paul Raven]

Just had another look at Dano's apartment and have to agree about the decor ...waaay too busy for me. That ugly screen in the bedroom and all that clutter in and on top of the armoire. And one of my personal hates-paintings over the top of bookcases.

[SFK]

You're right, that's beautiful alpha, reminds me of perhaps my favorite tree, the Japanese Maple.

See, I think Linda's apartment is quite warm. Yes, it is very white, but it's more cream than white, and her choice of dark brown over black warms it up a bit. It's also a relatively small space, so the white keeps it from feeling too claustrophobic.

I totally hear you on NY/LA real estate being a "fool's affair", but it just boils down to what you want in life. I have never lived anywhere other than a major city or a suburb of a major city on the East coast, and I love urban-suburban condo living so an a thousand acre spread in Colorado doesn't really appeal to me. I'd much rather have my cozy little apartment in an urban-suburban burb like White Plains, NY, Stamford, CT, or Chevy Chase, MD, and the capital to travel. Of course condo maintenance fees can be a bitch, so you have to be careful with that too. My grandparents own a HUUUGE $$$ home in FL, but frankly, it is Yawn City for me. It's all good though if enjoying the confines of your large beautiful home is what you're all about. I like to take the elevator from my cozy little well-appointed space down to the lobby, walk out the front doors onto the street, and, "BAM!", LIFE! Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks. I'd also move into EF's place in a minute (redo it of course), but there are plenty of Manhattanite snobs out there who wouldn't dare live over there by that *undesirable* 59th St. Bridge. Crazy.

[SFK]

Re: Linda's former penthouse... She and Frank had large pieces in a relatively small space. The bed for example out-sizes the room. The thing is, they had large pieces, but not "too many" pieces, so it wasn't necessarily "cluttered" as much as it was... "full" looking. That to me is a matter of taste. That can be viewed as "busy" or "cozy" depending on how you look at it. If your bedroom is for sleeping and your huge ass bed fills it, then that's really not a problem. If you have really austere, minimalist taste, it's just not going to work for you. I think it worked for Frank and Linda being a childless couple who spent the bulk of their time out in CT anyway. Staying in the city was probably like a plush hotel stay for them. Personally, I love the touches like the dual-purposed sofa/dinette table. Again, a lot of the pieces are BIG, but they served multiple purposes and were "simplified" by the monochromatic color scheme. Having said that, I wouldn't have done that big ol' bed. The sunbrella sofa was pretty ingenious, though the *feel* of a fabric to me far outweighs its practicality.

[alphanguy74]

I agree... my sunbrella fabric is outside on my deck. I think your'e right about the scale of the pieces. Also, i'm a bitch for earth tones.. so white is something I don't use all that often. Here's one example of midwest real estate, this condo is over to 3,000 square feet, INCREDIBLE looking, the building is on 10 beautifully landscaped acres, so it's almost like you have your own park right outside the door.. BUT, one of the country's most prestigious shopping districts, the Country club Plaza, is literally 1 BLOCK away. You get views of the famous Plaza Christams lights, and all the shopping and restaurants your heart could desire, all within walking distance. And for roughly a similar price to Eileen Fulton's digs:

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/5049-Wornall-Road-Unit-2D_Kansas-City_MO_64112_1111405574?source=web

And incidentally... this is a picture of the Country club plaza. This picture is 3 blocks from that condo listing above:

http://fwnet.ipower.com/images/2009/03/country_club_plaza.jpg

[SFK]

Nice! My first thought was that it's pretty comparable to what you'd find in Westchester County, NY, but it exceeded that price point in terms of number of rooms. There are some things I'd do differently, but overall, a really nice unit. Some might find it a little choppy, i.e., smaller rooms that could have been better implemented as larger, fewer rooms, but for example, I like that cozy little room with the window box-style daybed. Great for reading.

I'm all about coziness and convenience. i could probably live anywhere as long as I could walk downstairs and get to a coffee shop and at least one decent bar and two or three restaurants, a CVS and a grocery store to complete the package. I like apartment living that's more akin to hotel living, why I've always admired the Watergate, a city within the city.

[alphanguy74]

I love coziness as well. That's why HUGE places like the Spelling mansion turn me OFF, theyr'e museums, not homes. Now THIS is a single family home just two blocks west of the condo above... with the addition of color, THIS kind of house is REALLY my speed:

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/5100-Sunset-Drive_Kansas-City_MO_64112_1112738404

[SFK]

With a couple of exceptions, that is very much my taste. SFK could be quite happy there.

[Ann_SS]

I am sorry to hear this. At her age and limited income, she isn't going to be able to recoup those losses.

It isn't only NY and LA. The housing market has crashed where I live also. Houses and condos have lost thousands of dollars of value. People with stable incomes can ride it out. However, people like Eileen Fulton who have their lost major income cannot and have to take losses to off load their homes to get income and reduce their debt.

[alphanguy74]

I have to say, though... Eileen made some very bad decisions here. A woman of her advanced age, purchasing such an expensive condo at this stage in her life, when she hasn't exactly been used to a large degree on ATWT for the last DECADE, was a really bad move. And she's fully aware of the ever increasing downward spiral of the soap genre. Ususally someone Eileen's age is living in something that is already paid OFF, so if they want to live out their days in a particular condo or home... then resale value wouldn't and shouldn't matter to someone in that stage of life. I'm very much a "stay put" kind of person. Since I paid cash for my house, I don't give a crap if it's value goes down to 500$, I'm never going to sell it, so it doens't matter to me. And I think that's the way to go, if your career doesn't move you around, then settle on where you want to be and STAY there. Then you won't be at the mercies of the fickle housing and financial markets.

[Ann_SS]

This sounds great if everything in life is falling your way. However, tons of people have lost their jobs and are unable to afford their mortgages so they have sell their homes and move to other places to find new jobs or move in with family members.

[alphanguy74]

This is so very true. Of course, in regards to Eileen Fulton... she had every opporotunity to have had any sort of luxurious home she wanted, whether it be house, penthouse, condo... and have it all paid off at this point in her life. In some ways, it irks me when I see people with priveledge make bad decisions and throw so much away. i'm EXTREMELY appreciative that the hard work of my grandparents enabled me to pay cash for my home, and I worked for my home, too... because it wasn't enough money to buy a finished house, so I had it roughed in, had someone do the cabinetry, plumbing and electrical, and I did the rest myself. Roofing, finishing the hardwood, sheetrock, painting, etc. I wish everyone who is fortunate like I was would care for and nurture more what theyv'e been given.

[Sylph]

Re-wind a few pages back when money mismanagement was first mentioned. That's it, nothing else to talk about it.

[DRW50]

Eileen and Meg Ryan should work together as former ATWT stars.

http://www.housingwatch.com/2010/08/03/bel-air-home-for-40-000-a-month/

[Mitch]

I hate to think of the "stars," I grew up with living hand to mouth! I hope that is not the case here. But have to agree, Fulton back in the day was the "Queen of the Soaps," so she had to be getting paid a pretty penny all up through and beyond the Marland years into the first of G-Man. You would think in an industry such as this, she would have saved her money up!

I guess she is not like Lisa after all, or she would have married rich a few times, and parlayed that into collecting businesses/investing.

[Paul Raven]

Fulton did have a messy divorce from Danny Fortunato around 1980 and maybe this was costly to her.Pure speculation,but she may have poured money into his projects(he was a restaurateur).And really,her earnings from the soap the past 10 years wouldn't have amounted to much. I get the vibe that La Fulton still very much wanted to live(and spend)like a star.