Search results for: “stormwater”
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Climate Change Hits Home: Q&A on the New Stormwater Fees
Climate disruption has caused more extreme weather. As we’ve noted before, the impacts of out-of-whack weather systems are making their mark on real estate. Results of these extremes include intensified stormwater management challenges all over the continent, as unusually heavy storms inundate buildings. Of course, engineers design stormwater systems to handle and redirect the water. These systems,…
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Wait—Did Alabama Put Restrictions on Flooded Home Deeds So Owners Can’t Sue?
Homeowners in Shiloh, situated in Coffee County in southern Alabama, have questions. According to an exposé by Inside Climate News, officials put deed restrictions on their home titles, preventing them from suing the state. These covenants run with the land, binding the deed holders — and anyone who might ever receive their deeds, far into…
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Epic Heat? New Study Links Racial Deed Restrictions to Temperature Risk
What impact do racial covenants in property deeds have on heat-related health risks? You might be surprised. In a first-of-its-kind effort to answer this question, researchers looked at greater Minneapolis. They mapped out the places where homes have a history of white ownership, maintained by racial deed language. These historically exclusive neighborhoods are cooler, with…
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Deed Records Go Digital: Getting Up to Speed in Delaware County, PA
Delaware County (“Delco” to the locals) is home to more than a half-million residents, making it Pennsylvania’s 5th most populated county. It borders the southwest edge of Philadelphia. It’s a little bit country, a little bit urban. It includes scenic Ridley Creek State Park. Several universities stand at least partly within it: Cheyney, Villanova, and…
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Condo Shopping: Does My Agent Warn Me About HOA Red Flags?
Many of today’s buyers want condos. They’re compact and low-maintenance. Condos are cheaper, typically, than standalone homes. Still, it’s entirely possible to make a costly mistake by missing condo warning signs. Sometimes, a real estate agent notices things the buyer won’t. A good agent becomes that extra pair of eyes, extra ears and nose… Alert…
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Safe or Sorry? The Evolving Law of Disclosing Flood Risk (and How to Look Up Your Own Home’s Risk of Flooding)
How many of us ask about flood risk before buying a house or renting an apartment? In many areas of the country, whether we rent or buy, no one mentions flood risk. And yet, for millions of homes, flood risks keep increasing. Knowing whether a home has flooded, or is at high risk of flooding,…
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“Unlicensed Appraisal” and Other Stories: How Scam Artists Chase Disaster Victims
After Tropical Storm Hilary blasted the Baja and San Diego regions in mid-August, the Federal Trade Commission urged people to watch for a surge in rip-offs. Opportunists may say they’re performing appraisals, but unless they are licensed appraisers, they lack professional accountability. If they’re improperly doing the work of adjusters, they might be violating state…
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Building an Addition, Shed, or Cottage? Know Your Home’s Setback Requirements
If you’re buying a home, your real estate agent can help you locate the setback requirements. These requirements control the distance any structure on the property must be from the road, or from a natural feature, or from the boundaries between owners’ properties. Setbacks can also restrict the height of structures on a given property.…
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Can Zoning Boards Be Climate Heroes?
How City Planning Models Are Changing The single-family home is losing its cool. Some homebuyers now see multi-unit properties the way they see electric bikes or solar roofs — as part of a climate-aware lifestyle. We already know single-unit residential zoning limits supply in a time of tremendous housing demand and overpriced real estate. We…
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Does the Government Seize People’s Homes?
Rising Profile Ahead for Eminent Domain When you think of eminent domain, what comes to mind? Perhaps you think of land that suffered some kind of toxic dumping or spilling, so that the government has to take it in order to restore it, if possible, to a non-hazardous state. And that does happen. But sometimes,…
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Houston: The Zoning-Free City. Right?
Some interesting real estate law news has come from Texas. In 2021 the Texas Supreme Court said Houston may regulate some development, without breaking the city’s unusual no-zoning rule. Wait. Houston has a no-zoning rule? And the state’s high court is endorsing ways to regulate around it? Let’s see what’s going on here.
