Estate and mortgage
Last year, the corn fed stove replaced pellet stoves as the hot new home heating appliance on the block.
"Fahrenheit 9/11," The Corporation," "Bush"s Brain," "Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry," and all the other films among the sudden rash of political documentaries don"t really hit home like the lesser-known "The End of Suburbia."
Washington state Realtor Mike Kent has a voice as smooth as velvet, and he uses it to get Whatcom County listeners to make their housing transactions go more smoothly.
The vast majority of complaints to a state agency created to give Texan home owners redress for new home defects may as well be fed into a paper shredder, according to findings in a study by the Lone Star State"s comptroller.
Bills introduced earlier this month in Congress slipped quietly under the radar screens of most of the popular press. But that doesn"t diminish their importance.
In the world of real estate investing, the worst nightmare is the reptilian tenant who slithers into your investment and starts abusing your rights as a landowner, by using tenant law to support their own lack of a backbone. What I am referring to, is the tenant who never intends to pay for rent and, furthermore, doesn"t care about the property and continues to damage it throughout their stay.
San Francisco Bay Area home sales plummeted so far in September, sales were at a level not seen since at least 1988 and the high-tech, high-priced Silicon Valley region saw sales slip the lowest level since 1984.
Redeveloped downtowns, apartments and more affordable smaller homes are coming into vogue.
Cost-vs-value studies consistently reveal how you can use home improvements to boost or retain the value of your home, in just about any market, but not if you expect buyers to pay for them.
The median price of a single-family home in Silicon Valley -- $760,000.
Home buyers in New Hampshire, the nation"s most livable state, are getting a boost from growing inventories of homes for sale and home price appreciation a fraction of what it was in recent years.
Even when traveling, there"s no place like home -- especially if it belongs to someone else.
Much like the real estate industry"s success as a sound investment in the general economy, a real estate segment is proving it"s strength in one of the hardest hit economic sectors.
We"re a nation of super-sized everything -- from food to homes -- but developers are scaling down in some areas of the country in an effort to make houses more affordable.
In a short time, I"ll be moving again. The thought of it makes my hair
Most homeowners landscape their property purely for aesthetic reasons. Yet providing your home with a little shade has another and perhaps more consequential advantage: Landscaping may significantly reduce your energy bills. A strategically placed tree, for example, could save as much as 25 percent of a household"s energy bill for heating and cooling, according to the U.S. Department of Energy"s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Clearinghouse (EREC).
It was mortgage lender against mortgage lender last week in an unusual Washington brouhaha -- with new FHA Commissioner David Stevens as the referee.
The Massachusetts region has been much more active than the overall national market since the second week of December.
We all know that as things age, they often need replacing but sometimes homeowners neglect to take care of their home"s electrical wiring and that can set them up for potential danger. Electrical consumption since the middle of the last century has increased in most homes on average about 400 percent.
San Jose, California, is on its way to a brighter economic picture, according to the city"s latest Economic Center Report. Job growth rose through 2007 and commercial real estate vacancy has dropped by nearly a third, creating opportunity for those selling and buying in the nation"s 10th largest city.
Following a report that the economy expanded an anemic .60 percent in the final quarter of 2007, the Federal Reserve’s central bank cut key interest rates another 50 basis points to 3.0%. That is the target rate at which banks borrow money overnight from each other.
The U.S. Treasury is poised to announce a finalized plan to expand mortgage relief efforts to include short sales.
If you are still climbing a ladder to adjust your rooftop TV antennae or leaving the couch to reposition those "rabbit ears," your TV will go dark in another year.
A growing number of homeowners who used their homes like ATMs are beginning to suffer withdrawal symptoms.
More than 20 years ago, the Canadian Home Builders" Association (CHBA) was heavily involved in developing the R-2000 standard for super energy efficient homes. The program was refined and expanded over the years, but only a small percentage of the homes built each year were constructed to the R-2000 standards. Builders said the homes were a tough sell, and that buyers were more likely to choose upgraded finishes than spend their money on energy efficiency.
Do you know why you will not be killed or maimed by carbon monoxide? What steps have you taken to ensure this toxic, odourless, colourless gas -- universally known as The Silent Killer -- does not become an unwanted guest in the spaces you consider safe?
[Note: To follow is an excerpt of an interview with John D. Williamson, President/CEO, Uvestor.com, a real estate communications platform, who details some of the "ins and outs" of what a Short Sale business would look like, how to organize it, who should be on the team and their individual responsibilities, and basically gives an understanding so you can master the "paper" game that"s involved in creating such a system. To listen to the show archive or download an MP3, go to www.IncomePropertyInvestmentTalk.com/093009.]
The Ottawa Business Journal reported this week that condominium prices continued their upward climb in the fourth quarter in Ottawa, to an average price of 197-thousand dollars. Prices were up more than 7 percent over the same reporting period last year.
San Antonio, Texas, known as The Alamo city, has seen prices rise in recent months.
Whether you"re a buyer or a seller you want to succeed in the realty marketplace. That"s natural and reasonable, but what are the steps you need to triumph?
We"re well into the prime real estate selling season for much of the country, a marketplace less certain in many areas than in the past few years.
The hometown of 1960"s rocker Janis Joplin is rocking in its own way these days, with the beginning of a market upswing that could mean great returns for its residents and investors.
Most buyers and sellers of real estate look at 1031 exchanges as an option as they consider their investment agenda. They figure that they defer paying state and federal capital gains taxes and depreciation recapture until they die and their estate goes to their spouse, charity, their children or grandchildren. They may also be able to stave off the alternative minimum tax that might sneak up on them if they were to sell a property.
Expert Gary Hall of Modesto, California, reports that the real estate market in and around Modesto is beginning to settle into a more normal market.
Rates on the move downward today. The economy is slowing, there"s no doubt about that. But there is also no doubt
6.125%
St. Petersburg, Florida, has seen inventory levels go up, and then up again, as market time continues to increase.
Taos, New Mexico, located in the north-central region of the state, remains a weak real estate market at this time.
You have less time than you think to cash in on the federal home buyer tax credit.
[Note: To follow is an excerpt of an interview with Edward Mermelstein, managing principal of the international law firm Edward A. Mermelstein & Associates, who has assited in more than 300 real estate deals with foreign investors, and my special co-host this week Adrian Arriaga, broker/owner of AAA Real Estate and Investments in McAllen, Texas, a major player in both commercial and residential real estate and a leader in the international section of the 1 million member National Association of REALTORS. To listen to the show archive or download an MP3, go to www.IncomePropertyInvestmentTalk.com/091609.]
Freddie Mac is using YouTube drama to get the word out about foreclosure fraud.
Have you noticed that the more Decembers you live through, the less attractive the material side of this month becomes? Many Canadians are discovering that this disillusionment with shopping and accumulating "stuff" is spreading into other areas of their lives, too. The current emphasis on "green" encourages this simplifying approach to life.
Beautiful Kihei, Hawaii -- located on the island of Maui, has seen a total of 40 condo units sell so far this month. The low price was $170,000.
Today"s Interest Rates from Realty Times are based on a 30 year amortization rate, with good credit and no origination fees.
Will Lewis, real estate expert in the Vail, Colorado, area, is reporting a downward pricing trend in this neutral market.
We saw another "battle of the warring housing price indexes" last week, with the federal government reporting positive price appreciation in more than two-thirds of U.S. metropolitan markets -- at the same time a widely-publicized Wall Street index said home values were down by a record 4 percent for the year, and down by 5 percent in the top 20 markets.
Answer: Since the vast majority of members are disconnected from day to day HOA operations and have little first hand knowledge of the manager"s contract obligations, few have an informed basis for evaluating the manager"s effectiveness. A suggestion form might be more appropriate. List the various categories of tasks the HOA is responsible to perform like General Maintenance, Landscaping, Pool, Janitorial, Communications, Newsletters, Rules Enforcement, Financial Reporting etc. and ask for specific recommendations for improvement. Don"t be surprised if the recommendations are tied directly to a member"s critique of service quality.
For months, Sheila Bair, head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, has been saying that there"s an instant solution to the mortgage meltdown that can prevent massive numbers of foreclosures. Not a perfect solution, but a solution.
It would be tacky to call it a cause for celebration, but California real estate agents can be gratified that the State Supreme Court has upheld the dismissal of Hughes v. Pair, a sexual harassment case. Why should real estate professionals care about sexual harassment suits? Because the laws involved apply to them.
One of the most satisfying perks of my job as a mobile technology consultant is how people seem to value my opinion when it comes to choosing a smartphone, netbook or mobile application. I do my homework, compare the devices as objectively as one possibly can, and after all that, my answer more often than not is, "it depends upon how you intend to use it most."
Foxtons, the innovative discount broker in the New York metropolitan area, is closing down. Reports from various news outlets say the company has already laid off 90 percent of its workforce.
The simple fact that the internet is a part of the returning real estate market is not big news, but with so much information coming out so fast, understanding it can be difficult. This article is the fourth in a series of six that decodes the basics, and even some mild intricacies, of the world of electronic marketing and will show you how to compete and succeed in an area of marketing where you might have previously feared to tread. In this portion we will discuss the core of your electronic marketing strategy – your website. In the interest of full disclosure it should be noted that I consult for a company that provides web sites for real estate agents. As such I will not be citing sources to specific providers as I have in previous articles. This is in the interest of fairness.
Under new rules adopted by the Federal Reserve Board, beginning July 30, 2009, mortgage lending will be subject to expanded disclosure requirements. This may well be a good thing. However, until everyone gets used to it, it also may cause occasional delays in closings. First, some background.
A recent headline in the business section of the Orange County (Calif.) Register noted that the median price of home sales had risen, but that the statistic was misleading. Most of my Realtor® colleagues would complain that the paper was going negative again. Okay, point conceded; but the paper was correct.
In Cleveland, OH, more than 10,000 families -- one in eight of all homeowners in the city -- will face eviction this year according to Claudia Coulton, co-director of the Centre for Urban Poverty at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
Seller disclosure has become an important element in any residential real estate transaction. Maryland and the District of Columbia have recently revised the legal requirements when property is sold, and buyers, sellers and real estate brokers and agents must immediately become familiar with the new procedures and the new forms.
Q. At our settlement recently, a lawyer charged us $215 for a survey. When we questioned this charge, we were told it was a lender"s requirement and we could do nothing about it. Just what is a survey?
I got a call from a friend here in Austin that told me his brother wanted to buy a house. His brother, a Veteran, lives in North Carolina but was moving to Laredo and wanted to buy the home his mom used to own. Not just that, but he had his "Green Sheet," or his VA Certificate of Eligibility that "qualified" him for a VA mortgage. I talked to his brother. Unfortunately, his VA eligibility didn"t qualify him for a home loan.
The core subject on the table is money, but you would hardly know that listening to industry discussions concerning listings and the Internet.
Question: A year and a half ago, when the market was hot, we purchased a home in Virginia which we thought would be ours for a long period of time. However, I have just been transferred to the West Coast, and we are now facing a loss when we sell our home. Fortunately, we do not think we will have to come up with cash to sell it, because we put down a large down payment.
Consultations about Ontario"s proposed Greenbelt Protection Plan, which would prohibit new development in an area of 1.8 million acres around the Greater Toronto Area and the Golden Horseshoe, are almost complete -- but the war of words between those for and against the plan is just getting started.
If you"ve been wondering what you can do around the house to help cool global warming, a major utility company offers its customers a first-of-its kind payment plan as an alternative or adjunct to existing do-it-yourself options anyone can choose.
Replace old appliances with Energy Star rated appliances, turn in all your incandescent lamps and fixtures for fluorescent lamps and fixtures, perform several energy efficient home improvements and you can boost the value of your home by almost $18,000, according to a return on investment study of 10 energy efficient home improvements.
It"s a good time for a home inspection.
At the start of every year, and with the regularity of celebrations in Times Square, new conforming loan limits go into effect.
If you are refinancing this year, the odds are good that you are also tapping your home equity -- "cashing out" additional money for investment, large consumer purchases or for other purposes.
The Commerce Department finally has those much-talked-about Christmas spending numbers. Consumers spend 0.4 percent less than a year ago, the worst consumer showing since June 2007, and that"s accelerating fears of recession. We"re not there yet, but many pundits believe we"re about to be.
Climate change, turmoil in the world"s oil regions and consumers" apparent refusal to drive less, conserve energy and reduce demand means rising energy costs are here to stay.
Often maligned because it makes it tougher for consumers to erase their debts, the new federal bankruptcy law also contains provisions to help make it tougher for consumers to slip into another personal financial recession.
While the group of second home owners most often flees to their second homes just to get away from it all, their profile is steeped in family values.
Vacation rental owners have an expanding circle of resources to help them both find tenants and keep their investment in tip top shape, and they can do it with varying levels of hands-on, or hands-off participation.
Before you join the gold rush to buy investment properties in the burgeoning second home market, take off your rose-colored glasses and proceed with caution.
As the resale housing market goes, so does the renovation industry. For most of the last decade, existing homes sold at record levels. Since people tend to renovate their homes within the first three years of moving in, that meant residential renovation spending also set new records.
Landlords can put a damper on your decorating flame. Your contract may forbid you from nailing up your favorite paintings, but according to Cia Clinton, there"s no need to leave your walls naked! She offers the following tips:
If you have house plants, and you"re moving to a new location, you have three
The California Association of Realtors (CAR) says the median home price in California will decline 4 percent to $553,000 next year compared with a projected median of $576,000 this year, for the first home price decline since 1996.
In a hot market, there are more buyers than homes for sale. Prices may rise, and the days a home is on the market may shorten to a week or even less than a day. Some homes will sell before they are even registered in the local MLS.
It"s difficult to think of real estate as a "fad" if only because property tends to be held for the long-term. That said, it"s hard to overlook the notion that 2007 and beyond may be very good for rental ownership.
Home prices of six of the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties are in the red and the rest show year-over-year home price gains of less than 3.5 percent, according to October statistics from La Jolla, CA-based DataQuick Information Systems.
Lots of big news rumbling out of FHA, which continues to rack up record market shares of the home mortgage business.
If you"re looking for a home security system, the choices are wide and expansive -- but, frankly, they"re not that clear.
The success of home staging and other cosmetic make-overs, seems to indicate that buyers viewing a property may not know how to look beyond the surface to visualize their own lives and taste superimposed on someone else"s personal space. Buyers may benefit from making a conscious effort to strengthen their visioning ability since the acquired skill of productive home viewing forms the basis for the significant financial decision -- to buy or not to buy.
What type of investment real estate has been holding up best in tough economic times?
[Note: To follow is an excerpt of an interview with Jon A. Galane, Principal of Mountain West Entrust IRA, a third party administrator of self-directed retirement accounts and part of the Entrust group, the nation"s largest IRA administrator, and Jeremy Hanks and Michael Madsen of RealSource Retirement Services, whose firm over the years have placed hundreds of self-directed investors into real estate investments in the right place, at the right time. To listen to the show archive or download an MP3, go to www.IncomePropertyInvestmentTalk.com/082609.]
To help move at least some of the unsold houses glutting local markets, lenders are beginning to look "back to the future" for financing techniques that worked in the tough times of the 1980s.
Across the country the real estate market is slowing and the news media is reporting on the decline in sales, housing prices, and appreciation. Quite often this creates fear and a holding back by buyers as they wait to see just how low prices will go. One TV news station in Sacramento reported that desperate sellers are turning to ancient spiritual/religious rituals to help sell their homes, such as burying a statue of Saint Joseph in the backyard.
When and where do you give yourself time to listen to nothing and to think about what drifts into your over-stimulated mind?
I"d hate to be a landlord.
I was taking the pulse of the local real estate market a few days ago, and was interested to learn that, in some of the neighborhoods where sales have slowed to a crawl, open houses are again in demand.
Who says the housing boom is losing steam? The latest federal housing price appreciation study, released last Thursday, documents the reverse: The boom is stronger than ever, and appears to be spreading to areas that haven"t seen double-digit price inflation in recent years.
Whew!
Question: My husband and I have lived in our home for many years. We have been fortunate that it has appreciated significantly. We were planning to sell in a few years and move to a location near our children. We know that we would be able to exclude a lot of our profit when the house is sold. Unfortunately, my husband has just had a stoke and has been placed in a nursing home.
A new national research study confirms what many Realtors know only too well: "Preapproval" and "prequalification" letters presented by would-be buyers of homes often are faulty and cause problems later in the transaction.
You won"t hear the housing bubble pop, but you could begin hear it give off a slow hiss.
It has been a most-interesting few weeks in one of the nation"s hottest real estate markets, the area just outside my front door.
A few years back, I wrote about a house contaminated by toxic mold.
The housing price appreciation bandwagon rolls on, according to a new federal quarterly study released last Wednesday. But the 12.5 percent average jump in the value of an existing home in the U.S. between first quarter 2004 and first quarter 2005 "raises the potential for declines in some areas later on," according to the chief economist of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), which conducts the government"s definitive housing price study quarterly.
Once you purchase your dream home, the contract used to exchange the property between you and the seller will most likely wind up in a cabinet drawer, long forgotten until you want to review it for the next sale or purchase in which you"re involved. The multi-page file (usually about an inch or so thick) has a long-term effect, but not a daily influence on your life.
Demand for apartment rentals jumped in the last quarter, giving real estate investors in various markets some hope that the renters market may be softening. The National Association of Home Builders released its Multifamily Market Index (MMI) last week, showing that there are no signs of the hot condo market cooling off.
Question: I have signed a contract to sell my house, but it appears that the buyer is having a case of "buyer"s remorse." I believe she wants to back out from under the contract. My real estate broker has asked me to determine if she is in default on the terms of the contract. How do I do this and what exactly constitutes a "default?"
After many long years of waiting, the Internal Revenue Service has issued final regulations regarding the tax treatment when a taxpayer sells the principal residence less than two years after it was purchased.
The Internal Revenue Service issued final rules recently that could reduce capital gains taxes for some homeowners. Current rules allow taxpayers to exclude $250,000 in gains for single sellers and $500,000 for married sellers if they have met certain criteria.
As home builders compete for a limited pool of buyers, customer satisfaction with new-home builders and new-home quality have improved notably from 2008, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 U.S. New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Studysm. Overall customer satisfaction improves for a second consecutive year, averaging 811 on a 1,000-point scale in 2009, and up 32 points from 779 in 2008. Markets with the highest levels of overall satisfaction in 2009 include Orange/San Diego, Calif.; Sacramento, Calif.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Inland Empire, Calif.; and Tampa, Fla.. In addition, overall satisfaction has increased in 22 of the 23 individual markets that were also surveyed in 2008.
Question: I plan to sell my house this fall. I am unmarried and have lived in my house as my principal residence for many years. I believe that I will "realize" $500,000 from the sale. I understand that I can shelter $250,000 by taking the exemption. Can I "roll-over" the remaining $250,000 by purchasing a new principal residence of equal or greater price? I have heard that section 1034 of the Internal Revenue Code would permit that. Am I correct?
Question: I have a problem, which may turn into a lawsuit. A month ago, I listed my home for sale with a real estate broker. He agreed to charge four percent of the selling price if he was the only broker involved, or six percent if he had to cooperate with another company or agent. A couple of weeks after the listing, the broker presented me with a full-price offer, but the buyer wanted $8,000 in "seller"s costs." I counter-offered, and the final contract requires that I give a $5,000 credit to the purchaser. Settlement is scheduled for mid-May. The broker has advised me that all is going well, but reminded me that I will owe a real estate commission of four percent based on the full selling price.
Question: My comatose mother is expected to die soon. She owns, in the name of her living trust, a home with a small mortgage (in the name of the trust). Her trust provides that my sister shall have the option to acquire the house, which my sister intends to exercise.
Although the housing recovery continues to roll in most parts of the U.S., there were fresh signs last week about the bumps ahead.
If you owned and lived in your home for two years, the law is clear: you can exclude from profit up to $250,000 if you are single or $500,000 if you are married and file a joint return.
Despite testimony from the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice, LendingTree, and a McCarthyesque diatribe against the real estate industry by the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, U.S. Rep. Michael Oxley, R-Ohio (HFSC), and others, the HFS" subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity may not be convinced that the current system is harming consumers.
Once escrow has closed without a hitch and you"ve handed the keys over to
Your yard is in perfect order, the front door is freshly painted, the interior is sparkling, and soft music plays lightly in the background. Your house is ready for potential buyers. Or is it?
The process of buying and selling a house is much like the Domino Effect. Everything get"s lined up perfectly and when it"s time to get things going, you just flip a switch and watch all the pieces fall into place.
[Note: To follow is an excerpt of an interview with Joseph Haymore, co-founder, CEO and Managing Partner of United Capital Group and United Capital Fund, whose firm has partnered with an global network of investors, selling over $400 million in real estate, and Kevin Peay, Associate Director of Marketing for RealSource, whose firm boasts the track record of placing thousands of investors in the right properties in the right markets at the right time. To listen to the show archive or download an MP3, go to www.IncomePropertyInvestmentTalk.com/072209.]
If you"re selling your home, your best chance at cooking up a sale is in the kitchen.
Since Sept. 11th there has been a tendency to cocoon -- spending more time at home.
Dear George: An Escrow Officer employed by a major title company in the Houston area told me that she did not care what
After the searching, after the contract, after the loan application, comes the appraisal. The appraisal is the traditional ceremony of determining if you paid too much for the property or to see if you nabbed yourself a great deal.
The stock market may be jumping around and jittery, but housing numbers are headed in just one direction, and at least for the time being, that"s better and better.
You"re one of the lucky ones. You not already own your own home, but you"ve also built up considerable equity over the years...enough to make a sizable down payment on an even bigger home. And you"re even luckier....your dream house finally came on the market! Wee-hooo!
Buying a home without having it professionally inspected first is about as
Just when you’ve pretty well figured out what real estate sales agents do, along comes another breed---real estate licensees working as real estate consultants. Are they really different from typical real estate agents or merely applying new window dressing to look unique to lure consumers?
Maybe you should be perched high and hanging tight up there on the fence with the rest of the crows cawing about all the reasons not to buy a home right now.
A housing market that once danced to the beat of the double-digit home-price jump is giving apartment rents a whirl around the ballroom floor.
One of the most contentious issues that tenants and landlords grapple with in their rental relationships is the final stage -- the move out -- especially the security deposit return portion of the move out process. I have tried to play out some of the issues with the following three scenarios. I encourage you to review them.
Like calling a nuclear-tipped missile the Peacemaker, real estate market buzz words "stabilizing market," "returning to normal" and "market softening" may send the wrong signal to consumers.
When affordability for decent housing slips beyond the reach of many renters, the issue isn"t an isolated one. Housing ails are symptomatic of a bigger issue at hand -- one that could severely affect our economic and political spheres.
A recent survey of renters commissioned by Trusted Choice found that most Americans who rent their homes don"t have insurance that would cover their losses in the event of burglary, fire or other unexpected occurrences.
Real estate investors are playing a key role in the housing recovery now underway, buying up bank REO property, wading into distressed neighborhoods to turn around boarded-up foreclosures into rentals.
The window is closing further on rental concessions, rent reductions and other incentives designed to get you to stay put in your current apartment or move for a better deal in rental housing.
For many buyers without cash or with credit problems, the solution to homeownership in the past has been a lease-to-own contract. The traditional wisdom behind this arrangement has been that the buyer is able to rent the property from an owner for a designated time period, usually paying a rent higher than market rate. The extra cash is then applied to an agreed upon down payment amount. In the end, once the down payment is acquired (and hopefully a better credit rating for the buyer with time), the transaction is consummated with a settlement and the property exchanges hands.
In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the number of condos for sale in North Texas has jumped by about 26 percent this year and while pre-owned home prices are flat, condo prices are up 6 percent.
Renters out West who want to buy a home soon may want to make that purchase very soon.
If market conditions have forced you to remain a renter longer than planned and you"d like to make some improvements to customize your apartment for the extended stay, don"t lift a hammer until you read your lease or rental contract.
Allen owned a local restaurant chain and was looking for a new location for another restaurant. He always worked with Sheryl Smith because she was so organized and his lease negotiations were so easy. Everyone wants easy negotiations, but Sheryl had gotten it down to an art. Allen had negotiated 25 leases over the past five years for his company, but Sheryl was the one that made him wealthy with her approach to lease negotiation.
Just as home owners have electronic mortgage payment options, renters can now choose to pay their rent electronically -- provided their landlord subscribes to one of the growing number of rent-payment services.
Most people realize there are millions of households in this country who cannot afford to pay for decent housing. But how of many of us actually know the extent of the affordability problem in our own communities?
With all the attention given to the nation"s rising ownership rate, apartments tend to get lost in the shuffle. But the number of units in buildings with at least five apartments also has grown, even as the number of renters had remained practically flat.
Cash-laden investors are getting in line to shell out millions of dollars for beach-front condos all across the Sunshine state. Except this time, instead of just one luxury unit in South Florida for million, investors picked up 51 of the units in the One Bal Harbour complex from a bankrupt developer.
For a landlord, determining how to keep tenants longer can be much like nailing jell-o to the wall. After all, apartment-renters are by nature a transient population. In many cases, that"s why they"re renting and not buying. They want flexibility, the ability to move or buy when the time is right.
The House and Senate may still be on summer break, but the battle lines are growing sharper every day in Washington on one key real estate and mortgage issue that will be front and center in September: Should Congress create a new federal agency that does nothing but protect consumers from high-risk mortgages, bad lenders and real estate settlement rip-offs?
The 15-year FRM this week averaged 4.56 percent with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 4.68 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 6.00 percent.
It sometimes happens that someone will rent an apartment and later take in a roommate who promises to share the monthly rent.
Those of us who have never used a storage facility might be tempted to dismiss them as best-suited for pack rats. After all, if you own so much "stuff" that you need to store it away and pay for the privilege, you need to learn the fine art of throwing things away, don"t you?
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), recently set up a Web site to keep consumers, drywall manufacturers, builders and other apprised of its investigation into the latest problematic Chinese import, drywall used to build homes.
Just because the complex you"ve moved in to seems safe, doesn"t mean you shouldn"t follow extra safety precautions. The following is a list of safety do"s and don"ts to help you keep your apartment extra safe:
Over the past two years, households that earned $50,000 or more annually and had the means to join the ranks of home owners or continue owning the roofs over their heads represented the fastest growing segment of the rental market, according to the National Multi-Housing Council.
Your lease is up and you"re moving out of your apartment. You"ve packed your boxes and stuffed your bags, and now all you need is to retrieve your security deposit. By law, the landlord cannot refuse to return your deposit without reason. Unfortunately, sometimes there is a dispute over how much the tenant should be refunded or whether the tenant should be refunded at all.
According to Diane L. Silva, an attorney at law in California, "The purpose of filing an eviction action, an "unlawful detainer," is to obtain possession of the premises. The landlord may also obtain a judgment for rent owed, court costs and attorney"s fees (sometimes). The award of rent in the action is considered to be incidental to the primary purpose--the recovery of the premises."
High-rise apartment buildings are generally considered to be safer
Living on campus in a student apartment is an excellent way to avoid commuter costs. Unfortunately you might have to room with someone you either don"t know, don"t get along with, or both and the competition for space in an already cramped living area can be gruesome... especially around mid-term season.
Since there are no set boundaries in a one room space, it"s hard to distinguish one area from the next. Here are some tips on creating the illusion of rooms within a room.
Mirror mirror on the wall
The Internet has made apartment-searching easier than ever before, but if
"Households confident in their positioning within the current economic environment have taken advantage of housing affordability in the GTA," said TREB President Tom Lebour. "The real estate sector has been one of the sectors making a positive contribution to economic growth in the GTA, not to mention Ontario and Canada more broadly."
You"ve just moved into your new apartment. As you look at the uniform white