Category: General

From the northeast to the west coast, artists have been pushed aside for profitable real estate projects. But some creative communities are standing up to developers that would displace them. The artists’ quest to take back their living spaces is making cities stronger and more diverse. 

Consider an area in Boston called Fort Point. There, in place of home offices, the members of Midway Artists Collective manage home art studios. They’re teachers, designers, professional musicians, actors, and sculptors. Among the places they call home are 89 spacious, open-plan Midway Artist Studios, built within in a set of former warehouses at Fort Point.

Over the years, they’ve managed to gain ownership and control of their buildings, even as nearby artist groups were moved aside by developers of luxury apartment complexes, offices, chain stores, and banks.

Continue reading “Creative Communities Grab Housing…And Cities Flourish”

The Companies Placing 40-Year Listing Rights on Deeds

A listing agreement is the document the seller signs so a real estate pro can start marketing a home. It commits the homeowner to work with the broker.

Would you feel comfortable committing to one particular real estate broker for 40 years? Some homeowners are doing just that. Recently, the agreements made the news in Michigan.

Continue reading ““Cash for Listing”: Getting Paid to Commit to a Future Real Estate Broker”

Behind the Scenes in a Mortgage Approval…

What’s the holdup? You’ve found that house you want and the seller was ready for you to move in — yesterday. But your final approval still isn’t here. Could the mortgage fall through?

These are the things that run through the buyer’s mind in the days leading up to closing.

The underwriting process can feel like forever. Through it, the lender vets your financial profile and the property’s condition. You don’t get direct communication from the underwriter. What is happening behind the scenes?

Let’s look over the lender’s shoulder and see what’s going on throughout the timeline.

Continue reading “Why Is My Underwriting Taking So Long?”

The Good, Bad, and the Tragic…

After buying a condo, a unit owner will have to pay regular (usually monthly) assessments. Dues can go up when the condo board creates a new budget. Usually, unit owners just roll with the changes. But when they’re hit with special assessments — lump-sum charges over and above the regular dues — they can get pretty annoyed.

If a homeowners’ association (HOA) lacks the reserves to fund capital improvements, owners can be hit with major charges they hadn’t budgeted for. How does a condo buyer prepare for this kind of thing? And why does this even happen? Can’t associations protect their residents by creating realistic budgets and planning for the unexpected?

Here, we talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly of special assessments by homeowners’ associations.

Continue reading “Condos and Special Assessments”

Planning Ahead…

What if a homeowner dies and leaves the house to multiple grown children? They have several choices, and the decision needs to be carefully made.

Here, we explore a few options the siblings have as they work with their inherited house.

Continue reading “When Siblings Inherit a House”

For self-employed creators, contractors, and business owners, getting a mortgage loan can be challenging. But it’s entirely possible. Even in a tough economy. It just takes persistence and patience — and being ready to answer a lot of questions from your mortgage specialist.

And finding a mortgage specialist is all about forging a relationship.

Continue reading “For the Self-Employed Home Buyer, Is Getting a Loan About “Who You Know”?”

It’s Been Well Received in the Industry. How Will It Work?

Housing is in short supply. Home prices are unbearable. The plot keeps getting more dire, with the prices of building materials up 19% from last year, and mortgage rates hitting a 12-year high. 

And it’s not as though people can just rent some place and wait for things to normalize, given the surging costs of U.S. rents. Rising costs are leaving potential buyers stranded. Market inflation is crushing ordinary working people and minority communities. And now, massive increases in rents are battering residents of mobile home parks, where residents fear losing their homes and having no housing options at all.

Something’s got to give.

In May, the Biden administration announced “the most comprehensive all of government effort to close the housing supply shortfall in history.” The Housing Supply Action Plan from the White House aims to create options for people who desperately need them, and to rein in costs for renters and homeowners.

Here’s what the administration is doing.

Continue reading “The Biden Administration’s New Housing Supply Action Plan”

Four Major Reasons…

Houses are expensive. Many people trying to buy homes today are finding they need significantly more income than they thought they would need to qualify for a mortgage.

Going for a townhouse in a multi-unit development, rather than a free-standing house, makes sense for many buyers for this reason alone. There are other reasons, too — environmental and social benefits. Let’s take a look.

Continue reading “Buying a Townhouse Makes Sense in 2022”

Why are all those staged photos and information about your home still open for all to view online, along with the history of the home’s pricing? If you haven’t looked since you bought your home, it’s likely to be easy enough to find. Just do a search for your address.

Whether the internet puts your home in a laughable light, fails to show its real current state, or makes you feel exposed to friends and “frenemies” who might be snooping, you might not be thrilled about the exposure. Just how long is all that information going to hang around the internet? Can you take it off?

To an extent, you can change your home’s information online. Here, we explore what the internet says about your home, and steps you can take to control the narrative.

Continue reading “We Bought Our Home Years Ago. Why Is It Still on the Internet?”

An Intro to Solar Easements

Solar electricity changes real estate. When a homeowner adopts solar energy, other homeowners are impacted. Solar systems create aesthetic changes. Because of community resistance, they also create a need for solar access rights.

Does any of this affect the title or property value? It can — in the form of a solar easement for unobstructed sunlight.

In this article, we take a look at how basking in the rays can affect homes, communities, and real estate titles.

Continue reading “Going Solar: Does It Impact My Title?”