Winter wonderlands are cute and all, but they get pretty cold too.

By Zillow

While September brings the first day of fall, October can be the harbinger of the winter and all of its frigid pitfalls. It's best to be prepared for the frost and snow with a few simple tasks that will prevent drafts, frosty windows and every homeowner's nightmare: Busted pipes.

A good place to start prior to tackling problem areas in your home is a home energy audit. This will pinpoint specific places in your house where heat escapes. The U.S. Department of Energy has a do-it-yourself energy assessment, or you can hire someone to do the audit for you.

Weatherstripping

Cold air can seep in through those little gaps between your door and the door frame, quickly reversing any effort you take to heat your home. Weatherstripping covers the sides and top of the door and a sweep fills the space between the threshold and door bottom. Hardware stores and home centers sell numerous products in metal, foam, rubber and plastic for this purpose and many can be installed in an afternoon.

Windows
This may be another area where additional weatherstripping or caulk is needed to fill any visible gaps, though that still might not be enough remediation to prevent drafts. While windows add much needed winter light, they can let out a lot of heat — up to 12 times more than a wall if they're single pane. Blinds can keep a little heat in, but heavier shades or curtains will minimize heat loss.

Fireplace
Fantasizing about a cozy evening in front of the fire? Your romantic night might be cut short if your fireplace hasn't been serviced. The National Fire Protection Association recommends that chimneys are swept at least once a year.

Furnace
It's also recommended that furnaces be serviced once a year. A heating system can break down at the most inopportune time is it's not serviced. Worse, it can pump carbon monoxide into a home or eventually stop working. While a furnace service can run up to $100, the cost benefits are undeniable, considering the cost of a major fix or replacement.

Ducts
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, a home with central heating can lose between 10 and 30 percent of its heated air before that air reaches the vents if duct work is not well-connected and insulated, or if it must travel through unheated spaces.

Pipes
Frozen pipes are a royal nuisance, but with a little effort, many instances can be prevented. The best way to tackle these is to wrap pipes that run the exterior of the home with heating tape. Turn off the water and drain the remaining water at the inside valves. You can also purchase insulated covers for additional prevention.

By Zillow

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This San Francisco home sits above tunneled water caverns.

881 Innes Ave, San Francisco, CA 94124
For Sale: $975,000

It's not every day that you find a home for sale with underwater stone caverns, but this isn't just any home. This unique property on the San Francisco real estate market is the Albion Castle, and even listing agent Debbie Herzfeld, who has been in real estate for nearly 30 years, says she even hasn't seen anything like it.

"It's an interesting property to sell," Herzfeld said.

According to San Francisco City Guide, London brewer John Burnell immigrated to San Francisco in 1868 and purchased waterfront property in a section of San Francisco now known as Hunter's Point. The parcel featured underwater springs, and he set about starting Albion Porter & Ale Brewery.

Burnell dug out low, arched tunnels to serve as reservoirs and built a three-story, Norman castle-style stone tower in which to store the casked beer in a cool, dry space. Although popular, the brewery was short-lived. Upon the onset of Prohibition in 1920, the brewery was shut down and the property was abandoned. The home's three caverns are still accessible, explained listing agent Herzfeld.

"You just go down through a gate."

In 1928 the property found new life. Leonard Mees, president of the Mountain Springs Water Company, purchased the water rights to the springs and reportedly supplied San Francisco with spring water until 1947. Whether the water is still good to drink is unknown; no testing has been done.

While Mees was tapping into the spring water, the property was falling into disrepair until 1933 when sculptor Adrien Alexander Voisin purchased the property and built a home and adjacent studio amidst the ruins.

The unusual mix of medieval-style stone work and 1930s home is now for sale for $975,000. The Hunter's Point home has bounced on and off the San Francisco real estate market in recent years, first listed in 2009 for $2.95 million with a few price changes before the listing was removed in 2011 and re-listed at $1.1 million, and then $975,000, respectively.

The home last sold at an auction for $2.1 million in 2005. Median San Francisco home values are $679,000. According to a mortgage calculator, at the current price, this home will have a $3,619 monthly payment with a 30-year-fixed rate mortgage and 20 percent down.

Currently the home is a receivership sale, meaning that the court has assigned the sale to a receiver to liquidate the assets for the owners. An offer has been accepted, but Herzfeld says that she's continuing to show the property for possible overbids.

Although the home would work as a great single family home with 1,436 square feet of living space and an updated kitchen with new Viking appliances, many of the people who have been interested in the property are brewers, restaurateurs or people who are looking for a place for special events.

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The home was built in the 1930s on the site of a former brewery.

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The underground caverns still hold spring water.

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The home's unusual vibe continues with a literal throne in the bathroom.

See more photos of the Albion Castle on Zillow.

Zillow's site is filled with information on homes for sale and apartments for rent, plus we have data on more than 100 million homes in the U.S., so lots of homes catch our eye.

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Two windows poke out from the grass roofline of this unusual home.

By Zillow

1941-1943 Beach Ave, Atlantic Beach, Fla.
For sale: $1.2 million

You may be used to mowing your backyard, and perhaps your front yard, but how about having to mow the tops and sides of your house? For homeowners of a grass dune home in Florida, it's a reality.

The little rounded piece of Atlantic Beach real estate is for sale for $1.2 million. Originally listed for $1.85 million, the property has bounced on and off the market with a few price cuts along the way since 2009. Its latest price cut, from $1.35 million to $1.2 million, is a decrease of 11.1 percent. Median Atlantic Beach home values are at $214,200, down about 5 percent year over year, although prices have been edging higher in recent months.

Built in 1975, the oceanfront home is actually a duplex, with two separate living spaces, each with one bedroom, one bathroom and 750 square feet of living space.

Designed and currently owned by architect William Morgan, the home was, he said, "built to to preserve the ecological setting to the greatest possible extent."

The home is two concrete shells dug into the sand dune, "like giant sea shells in the sand dune," explained Morgan. It was the first time he had built a home completely encased in the earth.

Located in an area that is susceptible to hurricanes and ocean storms, Morgan says the house is "a bomb shelter."

"It would be a good place to go if there was a hurricane," he said. "Inside, you don't hear anything, but you can look out through the sliding glass windows and see the hurricane blowing the waves outside."

Currently each of the apartments in the dune duplex are rented, and whoever purchases the home can continue to use it as investment property, or as a single-family home.

Real estate agent Tansy Moon says the home has garnered lots of interest, but in the end whoever puts an offer down will be a unique buyer.

"It's just really a unique home," she said.

With a 20 percent down payment and a 30-year-loan, this grass dome can be yours for $6,475 a month, according to current mortgage rates.

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The dome duplex entrance is below ground.

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One of the dome's living areas.

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The dome barely peaks up from between the palm trees.

See the full listing here.

Our site is filled with information on homes for sale and apartments for rent, plus we have data on more than 100 million homes in the U.S., so lots of homes catch our eye.

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This Vermont home has several acres of landscaped gardens.

1161 West Rd, Dorset, VT
For Sale: $1,500,000

Why travel all the way to Italy when you can walk out to your backyard? This Dorset home for sale features Italian renaissance-style gardens designed by landscape architect Charles Downing Lay in the 1920s.

The gardens have marble walkways and walls that were added to the property in 1915," said listing agent Sara Buckley. "[They] incorporate a lovely pool with a fountain and peaceful marble tea-house."

This style of garden was first developed in the 15th century in Italy and was copied throughout Europe, leading to the English-style and French renaissance gardens. An Italian Renaissance garden is classified by a grand and symmetrical design and water grottoes, fountains and statues as well as multiple levels.

Landscape architect Charles Downing Lay designed a number of homes' gardens besides this one in Dorset, but he's best known for his work in city parks, particularly New York's Battery Park, Marine Park and Madison Square Park as well as the National Academy of Sciences grounds in Washington D.C.

The home was built in the 1820s from marble quarried on site. The old quarry is still on the property as well as other outbuildings, says Buckley.

Another historical part of the property is the dining room that have "feathered edge (no nails) paneling from a tavern said to be frequented by Ethan Allen," Buckley said.

Although the gardens are undoubtedly the focal point of the property, the home is nothing to sneer at. The 8-bedroom, 6.5-bathroom home has over 6,000 square feet of living space.

The property was first listed for sale on the Dorset real estate market for $2,495,000 but recently had a significant price cut, dropping down $995,000 to $1.5 million. Located in southwest Vermont, Buckley says Dorset, is "quintessential Vermont – picture perfect town with stunning natural beauty and endless outdoor activities." Much of the properties are historic, keeping median Dorset list prices on the higher side at $575,000.

Even with a price cut and low interest rates for mortgages, a monthly payment for this home is almost $6,000, hitting at $5,738 with a 30-year-fixed mortgage and 20 percent down according to Zillow Mortgage Marketplace.

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A fountain from 1915 is featured in one portion of the gardens.

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Italian Renaissance gardens are characterized by levels and symmetry.

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The interior of the home recalls the home's 1820s construction date.

See more photos of the home here.

The Zillow web site is filled with information on homes for sale and apartments for rent. We have data on more than 100 million homes in the U.S., so lots of properties catch our eye.

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This house looks like it belongs in the lavender fields of Provence

By Zillow

210 Alvarado Rd, Berkeley CA
For Sale: $2,335,000

Situated in the hills of northern California, blue shutters and a red tile roof make this piece of Berkeley real estate look like it would be more at home among the lavender fields of Provence, rather than a half-hour drive from San Francisco.

California became a state in 1850 and it's pretty difficult to find homes for sale that date any more than ten years before that. In an effort to bring some history to real estate in the sunshine state, a homeowner in Berkeley incorporated 17th century French antiquities, making the home look like it was built in 1698 rather than 1998.

"It's a new house, it has a massive modern foundation, but because of all these old pieces — which are not just a little bit here and there but are prominent to the structure — it feels like an older house of great character," said listing agent Peter Damm.

The home is currently listed for $2,335,000, and the price does include numerous French antiques throughout the home, including:

• The metal gate at the entrance to the property
• Provencal roof tiles
• The iron railings
• Arched kitchen window
• Spiral staircase in the detached studio

The most significant antique part of the home is undoubtedly the floor tiles found in the living and dining area of the main home. Once a part of a 17th century monastery in Burgundy, France, one of the tiles has two unmistakable paw prints, a mark that neither Damm nor the current owners know the history of.

"My clients bought it from the person who built the house so some of these things are anecdotal," explained Damm. The story goes is that often when mud tiles were made, they would be placed in the sun to dry. Occasionally a wild or domestic animal would come by and step into the tile before the bricks were fully formed.

"We don't have explicit knowledge of the exact animal or how it happened," Damm said.

Rather than filling the home with historic pieces, the antiques in the home are integral to the structure. Even the wood ceiling beams, measuring nearly 12 to 16 inches thick, were reclaimed from an old barn in Canada.

"None of this is what you get at the local home-building supply store," said Damm.

With current low mortgage rates, this French piece of history will run a new homeowner $12,485 a month.

View the full listing at Zillow here.

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Look closely at the iron work above the fireplace and you'll see it's dated from 1697.

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The current owners of the estate aren't sure how the paw prints came to be in the centuries-old tile floor.

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Brick tiles and plastered walls lend to the Provencal feel of the home.

Zillow's site is filled with information on homes for sale and apartments for rent, plus we have data on more than 100 million homes in the U.S., so lots of homes catch our eye.