Category: Real Estate
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Someone’s Got to Do It: Are You Holding the Deed to a Haunted House?
Maybe you’re looking at homes you might want to buy. Maybe you already hold a deed. In any case, your late October thoughts may turn to spirits, and ghosts, and all kinds of past matters that haunt homes. It happens to the best of us — even well-known politicians have to deal with such matters,…
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LLC Owners: Read About the 2024 “Beneficial Ownership” Filing Rule, and the 2025 Reporting Rule for Cash Home Sales
This year, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced a new rule on Transparency in Residential Real Estate Transfers. This is important to the owner of an LLC for real estate, and it’s triggered by cash transactions. Here are the basics you should know.
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Acquiring a Deed in Stormy Times: Consider the Contractors
If you’re making plans to buy a home, heads up. Especially if the location has been exposed to storms or other physical disruptions. When the Clever Real Estate company surveyed homeowners this year, a third of the poll responders said they might hire a contractor with a flawed reputation to save funds. In the aftermath…
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Who Wins With Rate Cuts? First-Time Home Buyers, or Wall Street Investors?
Hopeful home buyers have waited for the Feds to cut interest rates forever. Well, it feels like forever. In September 2024, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell finally did it. It was the first time the Federal Reserve lowered banks’ interest rates since the stimulus days of 2020. Anticipating a better economy, mortgage rates are starting…
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Here’s How You Can Teach Kids About Deeds
Many of us learn about deeds only when we receive one of our own. The power of holding a deed, like many practical things in life, rarely gets taught in school. But no one is ever too young to learn what a deed is. If you have youngsters in your life, you can use this…
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Voters Tell Candidates: Act on Housing Affordability Now!
With absentee ballots already issued in Alabama, early voting has started. The Center for Popular Democracy ran a survey, and 84% of voters in swing states say housing is a big deal as they fill in their ballots, The Financial Times reports. So, does the 2024 election runup bring us hope that people will soon…
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Alert for Veterans: New VA Website Fights Housing Scams
Vets and family members can qualify for certain benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, including home loans. Some swindlers want to steal their glory. Members of the military, and their loved ones, are more likely than other households to become fraud targets. Now, Veterans Affairs officials are confronting the new wave of scams…
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Can Working with a Real Estate Attorney Instead of an Agent Save You Money?
A lawyer can guide you through a real estate transaction. A lawyer can prepare (or check) your paperwork, represent you, and advocate for you. A lawyer runs the title searches, ensuring that the seller has a good title to transfer. Real estate attorneys also handle settlements. And yes, using a lawyer rather than a…
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Real Estate, Meet the Bots. Not Everyone’s Amused.
Digs, a purveyor of software for home builders and managers, is doing what many companies are doing these days. It’s revving up the artificial intelligence (AI) tools on its platform. With Digs, home builders and deed holders collaborate and store information. They make digital twins to simulate touring or working in the actual homes. Builders,…
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Update: State Lawmakers Have “Fast Cash for Houses” Wholesalers on Their Radar
Tempted to sell your home quickly and easily to one of those “We buy any house” outfits? Wait. Don’t even think about giving up that deed until you read this.
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Whether You’re Selling or Buying: How the Deed Works
Whether you’re about to receive the deed to your first home, or could use a refresher on all things deed-related, we’ve got you covered. A deed is a legal document (also called a legal instrument) that serves to transfer a real estate title from a current owner to a new owner. That is, the deed…
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A Deed in a Box? Understanding the Deed in Escrow
Deed in escrow has multiple meanings. In this article, we’ll discuss the concept as it applies to community restoration, and we’ll also discuss the deed in escrow as a way of averting a foreclosure.
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NIMBY or YIMBY? Here’s Where People Stand on Rezoning for More Housing.
The United States sorely needs to make homes affordable for more people. Millions of households are financially fenced out from acquiring their own deeds. Local and state policy makers are under pressure to allow higher density in residential neighborhoods, in order to ease the housing shortage that takes a particular toll on working people,…
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Seniors’ Advocates Urge States to Ban Predatory ‘Cash for Listing’ Contracts
States are outlawing listing agreements that bind homeowners to specific companies to sell their homes in the future. In the last two years, 30 states have acted to prevent businesses from taking control of people’s property by recording brokers’ contracts against their deeds. The agreements can result in restrictions, liens, or even stealth mortgages recorded…
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What’s the Low-Down on This Housing Market? Harvard Weighs In.
The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard has just published its 2024 State of the Nation’s Housing report. HOUSING COSTS STRAIN OWNERS AND RENTERS ALIKE, the report proclaims. MILLIONS PRICED OUT OF HOMEOWNERSHIP. The headlines say it all, right? While construction is starting to bolster inventories, the new report notes certain persistent issues: record…
