Areas like Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Miami — all hit pretty hard by the collapse of the last housing bubble — are now seeing home prices rise at rates above the national average. But rather than this being an indicator that these areas are finally recovering, some worry that it’s just a lot of hot air being pumped into another bubble by Wall Street investors. [More]
Real Estate Political Correctness: ‘Master Bedroom’ Becomes ‘Owner’s Suite’
By April 17, 2013
Anyone can own a house. Why, women are even allowed to own property all by ourselves now! That’s why we suppose it’s good that The word “master,” with its connotations of slaveholding and maleness, is slowly fading from its intended use in the residential real estate business. [More]
Get Your Gray Sweatsuit OnUsually if you want to buy a house featured in a famous movie, like The Godfather or Amityville Horror, you need to pony up seven figures. But the 3-bedroom, 1.5-bath South Philly rowhouse from Rocky II (aka, the one where Rocky finally wins) is up for sale for the completely reasonable price of $139,000. [via Philly.com]
Man Lives In Tiny Apartment For 15 Years So Of Course Now Authorities Kick Him Out
By January 18, 2013
If you think the real estate market is bad here in the U.S., can you imagine subjecting yourself to an apartment so small you couldn’t stand up in it for 15 years? That’s a lot of years worth of stooping and otherwise being cramped as all get out. A man in Paris has been dealing with cramped quarters for years but now that authorities are on his case, he’s been booted from his tiny abode. [More]
Report: U.S. Home Prices Up 7.4% Over A Year Ago
By January 15, 2013
If the price of your home took a beating when the housing bubble burst, or if you bought a home in recent years and have been waiting for prices to trend upward, the data on one new report should be good news. [More]
As Offline Retail Dies, Commercial Real Estate Apocalypse Looms
By December 31, 2012
As we do more and more of our shopping while sitting on our couches in our pajamas with an Ultrabook, we’re destroying a glorious American institution: the mall. Realspace retailers large and small alike have gone bankrupt and shut down or scaled back: a process that the recession only sped up. The best case scenario? Those former malls might become community colleges or gain some condos. What’s more likely? Rotting husks of shopping centers dotting our cityscapes, dragging down property values and making everyone sad. [More]
Downsizing Your Home Might Not Make Retirement Any Easier
By December 10, 2012
If you’re at or nearing retirement age and living in a house with rooms you don’t use, it would seem to make sense that you could save by downsizing to a smaller abode. But unless you have significant equity on your home and are willing to make big changes, that might not be the case. [More]
Homeowner Says He Lost $250K In Equity To Foreclosure
By December 5, 2012
When a property is sold at foreclosure for more than what is owed on the mortgage, the homeowner is supposed to receive that difference. But what happens when the bank sells the home for hundreds of thousands of dollars less than what it is worth? [More]
If You Buy A House Next To A Golf Course, Don’t Be Surprised When Your Lawn Is Littered With Balls
By November 15, 2012
There are some real estate surprises that are actual shocks — oh, look, someone covered up some nice built-in shelves! — but then there are things that shouldn’t be seen as out of the ordinary. A couple in Montana bought a home nestled along the 18th hole of a golf course and subsequently sued the golf club and the county because they were annoyed at golf balls landing in their yard. Again, they bought a home basically on a golf course where there will no doubt be golf balls flying everywhere. [More]
Homeowner Realizes Too Late That A Home Inspection Is Better Than Uncovering A Mouse Infestation Later
By November 5, 2012
Talk about a nightmarish scenario: A Canadian woman discovered that the $1 million house she’d just bought had a mouse infestation so thoroughly entrenched that she’s had to rip apart the home down to the framework to get rid of it. So how did she miss it before buying the home? She says she didn’t get a home inspection. [More]
Couple Says Church Wouldn't Let Them Buy Mansion For Fear They'd Turn It Into Gay Wedding Site
By September 10, 2012
Potential homeowners may have a slew of ideas for what they’d do with a house once it changes hands, but is it discrimination to prevent someone from buying a property because of what that home could become after the sale takes place? A gay couple in Massachusetts says that’s the case with a mansion the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester is allegedly refusing to sell them. [More]
House Flipping Is Cool Again, Say Reality TV Producers With Very Short-Term Memories
By July 25, 2012
When the housing market went into the toilet in 2008, all of those house-flipping shows that were hits on basic cable went down the drain too. But now that the housing bust is apparently over, reality TV producers seem to think it’s once again high time to dedicate hours of airtime to flipping. [More]
Today’s Young Adults: Home Ownership’s Lost Generation
By July 18, 2012
The housing market is stalled, and the reason why is pretty simple: young adults aren’t all that interested in buying houses. It’s not hard to see why. Americans who are currently between 25 and 34 spent their formative years watching housing prices soar, then abruptly collapse, taking the entire global economy with them. Among those Millennials who haven’t already purchased and lost an underwater home…who wants to buy a starter condo after that? [More]
Bloomberg’s Shrink Ray Hits Again: NYC Mayor Seeking Designs For Teensy Tiny Apartments
By July 10, 2012
For New Yorkers who already feel like they’re living in an expensive shoebox stacked into buildings with tons of other shoeboxes, it might come as no surprise that Mayor Mike Bloomberg is trying to downsize yet another part of city life. First it was sugary drinks, and now the mayor has launched a competition for plans to develop dozens of “micro-units.” In other words, teensy tiny apartments. [More]
Botched House Construction Forces Couple To Tear Down $150K Worth Of Building To Make Room For A Pool
By July 2, 2012
What’s a little thing like $150,000 when a pool is on the line? A couple in the Hamptons on Long Island, N.Y. went on vacation while their new house was being built, and weren’t too happy when they came back to find it had been situated too far away from the curb. Not because they looove watching street traffic, but because that left no room in the back back the pool that was planned for the house. So they had it torn down to rebuild from scratch. [More]
Condos Sold Without Owners’ Permission For 1/3 Their Value
By June 28, 2012
Imagine that you’ve recently purchased a condo for $100,000. The complex where it’s located is about 90% rented, and 10% owner-occupied. The complex’s owner struggles, and the whole neighborhood goes up for sale in a foreclosure auction. The new owners dissolve the condo association, since they own all of the rentals, or 90% of the homes in the complex. This gives the owners permission to sell the entire complex at once, including what used to be condos. Your proceeds from having your home sold out from under you: $33,000. You still owe the rest of your mortgage, but have nowhere to live. Condo owners in Reading, Pennsylvania experienced this nightmare recently, and there is no legal way out for them. [More]
Church Buys Foreclosed Property, Ends Up With $170,000 Tax Bill
By June 18, 2012
Members of a Dallas-area church congregation thought they had done their due diligence when they looked into buying some foreclosed property. They were told that all the back taxes had been cleared off the books; so why are they now facing a tax bill for $170,000? [More]
Residents Of NY Town Face $1,000 Fines If They Fail To Mow Lawns
By June 12, 2012
Most suburban neighborhoods have at least a handful of residents who just can’t be bothered to roll out the lawnmower and opt for the “natural” look on their yards. The problem has gotten worse in some areas hit hard by foreclosures. Now one town on New York’s Long Island has decided that folks who can’t maintain their lawns are deserving of thousands of dollars in fines. [More]
