This year's hottest ticket in town isn't the Super Bowl, it's the Presidential Inauguration on January 20, 2009. Yes, tickets are technically free and handed out a week before the event but that hasn't stopped the sale of tickets. Some people who already know they will be getting a ticket are selling them to brokers. StubHub.com already lists tickets to the parade, the swearing-in ceremony and the inaugural gala for several thousand dollars each.

U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. has spoken out against ticket selling, expressing fears that people could be swindled. Members of Congress are giving away 240,000 tickets. Jackson's office will have around 400 tickets and will distribute the bulk of them to the public, first come, first serve which is the policy of most of the elected officials with tickets. The offices of senators and representatives are said to be flooded with constituents asking for tickets. Of course this varies by region. This might be a time to find your friend in Wyoming or Alabama or other traditionally Republican areas and ask if they can request tickets for you since there may be less of a mad rush there. You can also discreetly inquire through various concierge services. They may not advertise tickets but especially if you are already a customer, they may be able to offer you some assistance.

California Senator Dianne Feinstein is said to be considering legislation to make it illegal to scalp tickets to the event following the news that a pair of tickets sold for $10,858 each through Stub Hub. As with any other prized events, there always three main ways of going about things: the persistence approach which mainly relies on luck and standing for hours in the right place, using your connections or spending a boatload of money. If you happen to have the third option there are also plenty of ultra-pricey inauguration packages. None of them come with tickets to the swearing-in ceremony but they do give you a chance to celebrate in style. Washington.org has rounded up the best of the bunch which we will check out in the gallery below.

In anticipation of record-breaking crowds (think everyone at Grant Park bringing +1s), Expedia has created an Inaugural Page to help travelers facilitate their visit to the nation's capital.

The January 20th inauguration of Barack Obama as President is expected to draw so many visitors to DC that travelers will need to seek out hotels in nearby suburbs like Bethesda, Maryland.

Expedia offers a number of tips from local experts on getting there and where to stay--any hotel close to the Metro.

The Wall Street Journal's Private Properties column led me to today's home in Washington D.C. on Thompson Circle, in the Massachusetts Avenue Heights neighborhood near St. Albans School. The seven-bedroom home was built in 1929 and has a classic exterior. It was built by Christian Heurich, a brewmaster, as a wedding gift to his daughter. Real estate developer R. Donahue Peebles and his wife, Katrina bought the 0.35-acre property in September for $5.9 million. The couple landscaped, added a laundry room, a wine cellar and finished the basement and look to have given the entire place a bright white coat of paint. It is listed at $8.3 million.

Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

NeighborhoodScout.com has used their matching function to find neighborhoods that are "discount equivalents" of some of the hot and pricey communities we recently covered in our Most Expensive Zip Codes estates.

The Neighborhood Scout sees the Wesley Heights area of Washington D.C. as an equivalent to the Lakeshore Drive area of Chicago. In that area of Chicago, the median house value is $1.955 million. Wesley Heights has a median of just $1.63 million. Both areas offer easy access to the heart of a city and are full of lovely traditional homes. Today's home has five bedrooms and a classic style that reminds me a little of the Chicago home we found for the most expensive zip code's feature. It has a graceful staircase, formal dining room, large shuttered windows and a big kitchen with adjoining eating area. The property includes gardens, outdoor entertaining area and a putting green. This home is listed at $2.395 million.

Usually I prefer a to see a house with the furniture in it but today's estate, located in Washington DC, is bare. Not just bare, it seems to have been scrubbed clean and given some sort of charmectomy. The walls are landlord white. Still the bones of this home are beautiful so let's just think of it as a blank slate. it was built in 1929 and has a stone Tudor exterior. Inside, there are six bedrooms, a wine cellar, billiard room, library and what they call a orangier (otherwise known as a conservatory). It is listed at $9.125 million. After the jump, some splashes of understated color, a few truckfuls of furniture and the work of a skilled decorator and this could be lovely.