housing: There's Plenty of Money - Too Few Just Have too Much of It
- 05/20/12 10:55 PM
DOES ANYONE ELSE hear that sucking sound? As I listened to pundits debate on the Sunday morning TV talk shows about how to jump start the stumbling economy, I kept hearing the sound of something valuable being sucked out of the system: money. Both Republicans and Democrats appear to be ignoring this background sound, instead preferring to argue about where to cut and how best to tighten our belts. I don't know about you, but my belt already feels tight enough. And it seems like every time I read the news, I am reminded that there appears to be plenty of money to go … (7 comments)
housing: Discrimination Prohibition Ends at Your Front Door
- 05/15/12 10:47 PM
APPARENTLY IT IS LEGAL to discriminate when renting out that extra room in your house. While the Fair Housing Acts prohibits discrimination of any sort when renting any "dwelling," that act does not extend into a person's own residence, according to a ruling earlier this year by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. So, that extra room you want to rent out? Feel free to be as biased as you like- just keep it inside the walls of your house. The decision by the Ninth Circuit comes after California-based Fair Housing organizations filed suit in federal court alleging an internt based business that … (3 comments)
housing: The End To Market Crash Still Nowhere In Sight
- 05/06/12 11:53 PM
DESPITE OCCASIONAL numbers and wishful thinking that lead us to hope we are on the far side of the worst housing crash since the Great Depression, that appears to not yet be the case. Apparently, surviving this crash is going to take yet more patience, much patience. And perhaps even a bit more creative thinking. The bottom line? According to numbers released this past week by Standard and Poors, home prices fell 3.5 percent in February compared to last February. In another report, sales of new single family homes dropped in March to the lowest level in four months. The reports are … (2 comments)
housing: Beware The Boom
- 04/24/12 11:44 PM
BEWARE the oil boom. Real estate prices go through the roof, pipelines begin to dot the landscape and scams, residential complaints and crime become commonplace in what were quiet communities. Examples of the downside to booming growth currently can be seen in eastern Montana and North Dakota, areas in the middle of the biggest boom they have seen in decades. The on-going development of the Bakken oil fields has created tens of thousands of high-paying jobs and brought hundreds of millions of dollars into the small towns scattered across the area. Some areas in North Dakota have reportedly seen their population jump … (6 comments)
THIS IS A CASE of someone thinking a bit too big - or perhaps even a lot too big. It also is a case of even the rich sometimes not having enough money to build their dreams. So far, David Siegel, the founder of Westgate Resorts, has spent 50 million on his mansion at Windermere, Fla. According to a recent article in Fortune magazine , the sprawling half-finished home has been put up for sale for a whopping $65 million (that is reduced from the $75 million that was being asked). … (2 comments)
housing: $10,000 Houses? You Bet - Take Your Pick
- 04/02/12 11:23 PM
WHAT CAN YOU GET for ten grand these days? Well, among your choices are houses - thousands of them. It seems the bust the real estate market has been struggling to recover from has left behind a host of properties that can be picked up for a fraction of what they would have cost five years ago. According to an article recently published on MSNBC, there are at least 10 major markets in the United States that each have at least 100 homes for sale for under $10,000. If you can pony up a bit more money, there are 17 cities with more … (2 comments)
RATHER THAN LEARNING from a neighbor's mistake, Canada appears to be making some of the same blunders the United States still tries to recover from. Overvalued housing and unsustainable consumer debt have some Canadians worried their country may soon have a recession of its own to deal with. Similar practices caused the U.S. housing market and its broader economy to begin collapsing in 2006. It remains easy to see the consequences of such practices. Here in the United States, the price of … (1 comments)
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