It's easy to wear rose-colored glasses when we look at homes. And first-time buyers are most at risk for missing major flaws. Leneiva Head, owner at Welcome Home Realty, went over some red flags for which first-time buyers should keep an eye out.
Successful mediations have benefits for all parties, but getting everyone to the table is another matter.
(Chicago Breaking News) — The Bridgeport couple accused of violating fair housing laws in the failed sale of their million-dollar home are refuting Justice Department charges that they refused to sell it to an African-American family. In separate responses filed this month with U.S. District Court in Chicago, Daniel and Adrienne Sabbia deny that they […]
(AJC) — Home prices are dropping in the nation’s largest cities and are expected to keep falling next year, as fewer people purchase homes and millions of foreclosures come on to the market. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index released Tuesday fell 1.3 percent in October from September. All cities recorded monthly price declines. […]
While the overriding story is one of misfortune, people like Fysah Thomas can thank the market for her dream home.
(AJC) — Lenders foreclosed on nearly 99,000 properties in eight metro Atlanta counties through November of this year, a toxic tidal wave swamping home values in a region that went from ceaseless boom to endless gloom in a few years. A crash in housing led the nation into the Great Recession, and a recovery in […]
(AJC) — The Fulton County tax assessor’s office says Martha Fletcher’s northwest Atlanta home lost 56 percent of its value last year, plummeting to $29,200. That’s far less than what she spent, during her 50 years living there, expanding what was once a shack with plank floors into the two-level home where she raised two […]
(Daily Finance) — On Oct. 20, New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman ended robo-signing in New York state foreclosures by requiring a special affirmation from the banks’ attorneys. They now must swear that they know the banks’ documents are true because they checked the paperwork. At the time, attorneys in the state told me […]
(Chicago Sun Times) — Cook County’s mind-boggling property tax system should be simplified and made fairer, a taxpayer watchdog group argued in a report to be issued today. The nonpartisan Civic Federation said widely used tax breaks such as homestead exemptions should be reduced or eliminated. Tax relief for homeowners, the group said, could come […]
(AJC) — In 2009, an exclusive, in-depth investigation by the AJC found that amid the historic real estate collapse, many of us paid more in property taxes than we should have. Today marks the beginning of an eight-part series revealing continued flaws in the property tax systems in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett counties. […]
(AP) — The Obama administration’s central foreclosure-prevention effort won’t reach its original goals and the government should come up with clear, measurable objectives for the two-year-old program, according to a new report from a congressional watchdog. Because the Treasury Department has failed to properly analyze the program it runs, it is nearly impossible for overseers […]
(Washington Business Journal) — Washington was one of only two metropolitan areas to see housing price gains in the third quarter. Honolulu was the other city with quarter-over-quarter gains, according to report from real estate data tracking firm Clear Capital. Nationwide, it says home prices were down an average of 5.8 percent in the third […]