Category: Real Estate
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When Some Buyers Are More Equal Than Others: Will the U.S. Government “Reboot Redlining”?
Not long ago, New Jersey-based OceanFirst Bank agreed to pay more than $15 million in a settlement with the federal government. This was to resolve the government’s allegations that, for several years, beginning in 2018, the bank violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Fair Housing Act. The problem involved an alleged pattern of ignoring…
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How to Use Mapping to Buy a Home
Thinking about buying a home? Online maps can offer plenty of details about the major investment you’re about to make. Let’s get started, because there’s much to map.
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Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff: No Need for Home Buyers to Walk Away Over These Common Issues
Understandably, house hunters look for “issues” as they search for the right homes. They wait with bated breath to scour the reports from inspectors, appraisers, and title reviewers. Any time a mortgage is involved, a lender requires a title search. Through this process, the deed’s history is traced, to check its integrity. The key question?…
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With a Million Homes Now on the U.S. Market, Why Aren’t Prices Falling?
This year, for the first time since 2019, a million homes are on the market. Listings are up more than 7% from last year, According to Realtor.com. Inventory is rising nationwide, with the southern and western parts of the country actually back to 2017-2019 levels! And homes are starting to linger on the market for…
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Time’s Up! MV Realty Ordered to Lift Its Claims From Thousands of Property Records
The party’s over! States are now rushing to ban listing agreements that tie deed holders to particular brokerages to sell their homes in the future. One big reason for this appears to be their residents’ complaints about a certain “MV Realty” company. Several states are acting on MV Realty agreements as you read this. The company has…
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Could Climate Change… Your Credit Score?
Since the 1980s, climate-related disasters have gradually ticked up. And the annual dollar cost of disaster losses and recovery has risen 1,580%. This statistic comes from First Street, a firm known for its analyses of climate risks to real estate. The firm researches the costs of wildfires, storm winds, and water infiltration. In a year…
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And “America’s Most Affordable Big City” Is…
In this beloved city, today’s typical deed holder needs a yearly income of $60K to live comfortably. Considering it’s a big city, this is a modest income. So this news is impressive. And so is the city itself. Frank Zappa even did a jazzy song about moving there, so you know there’s something to this.…
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Shakeup at Freddie and Fannie: Update
How is that shakeup going so far? When we last checked in on things, new director William Pulte was slashing jobs at the Federal Housing Finance Agency. That’s the umbrella agency for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Additionally, Pulte claims to have saved millions of dollars by eliminating programs related to climate effects and diversity.
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Why People Who Could Pay With Cash Get Mortgages
If you happen to have half a million dollars, you could buy the typical U.S. home with cash. But would you? Do the current mortgage interest rates impact your decision? Let’s take a walkthrough, Q and A style.
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“We Buy Ugly Houses” (And Other Ponzi Schemes)
We’ve all stumbled into bad deals at some point — but maybe not as painfully as Ronald. In 2017, a retired Texan named Ronald took some very questionable advice. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Ronald invested with a certain Charles Carrier, who owned (what appeared to be) a hugely successful franchise…
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Will Congress Expand the Capital Gains Exemption to Help People Sell Their Homes?
Property values keep going up. Why doesn’t the capital gains exemption do the same? Taxes on home sales can make deed holders hold their homes when they might otherwise sell. When current deed holders don’t want to sell their properties, inventory suffers. Meanwhile, there are young people looking for homes to buy.
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The Bulk of U.S. Home Deeds Are About to Be Passed Along. Millennials, Are You Really Ready?
A Realtor.com survey is out, showing 23% of millennials feeling ready to buy a home in the next six months. This is an interesting turn in attitudes. And it only appears with millennials. Just 15% of their generation felt ready in late 2024. If you happen to be a millennial getting ready to buy —…
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Can Ohio Stop You from Transferring Your Deed to a Green Card Holder?
Ohio lawmakers are debating a bill that could restrict non-citizens, including green card holders, from purchasing land in large segments of Ohio. It would be the most severe law of its kind.
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Time to Make Financing a Manufactured Home Easier. Meanwhile, What a Difference Holding the Deed Makes!
Manufactured housing — and this includes mobile homes — make up a key segment of financially accessible housing. Today, 18 million people have roofs overhead thanks to manufactured homes. Most own them. Most are deed holders who took out mortgages from banks or credit unions. But it wasn’t easy for them. Some applied for regular…
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Married, and Not on the Deed. What Are My Rights?
Sometimes, only one spouse is named on the deed. This can be because one person already owned the home before marriage, or because one spouse inherited a deed. Or perhaps there are financial or tax advantages to having only one person on the deed and not the other. Or the sole named deed holder simply…
