Some have also repeatedly shifted the second-home designation back and forth among various houses, allowing them to make renovations on more than one property at taxpayers' expense.
Empty buildings would make renovation or sale easier.
It said the reasons behind the drought of homes on the market varied around the country – in expensive areas it blamed the high cost of stamp duty and other fees making renovation and extensions more financially appealing than moving.
"We've just made renovations for them, and now it will be demolished," she said.
At the much older National Gallery of Art, the glass skylight system installed in 1939 lasted more than 50 years before leaks made renovation necessary, a spokeswoman at the gallery said.
As for the renovation, it "will make the society more accessible, more welcoming and more compelling," Dr. Mirrer said.
"This building is a classic, so let's landmark it before they make any more bad renovations".
Torrey Pines South, one of the few courses played by P.G.A. Tour pros that are regularly open to the public, has undergone major renovations to make it more challenging.
SOME closets need major renovations to make them more efficient, but most can be updated with the installation of new shelving systems.
The plan, which the owners said was too costly, called for all buildings of 50,000 square feet or more to undergo audits to determine which renovations would make them more energy efficient, and for owners to then pay for many of those changes.
So there is much to like, but how to solve your problem, particuarly as hard renovation can make pyracantha more vulnerable to the unsightly bacterial disease fireblight?
