Tag: income property
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Investing Lessons From a Food Diva's Downfall
Love her or hate her, it seems you can’t escape her. Celebrity chef Paula Deen keeps on making headlines as she’s dropped by sponsor after sponsor and products bearing her name are yanked from store shelves. Her fall from grace for making racist remarks isn’t just a topic for the tabloids, though. The collapse of…
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Can Online Home Buying Boost the Recovery?
Time was, buying a house was a straightforward process, largely controlled by real estate professionals who had the listings and banks who had the say-so over financing. But the Internet has changed all that. Last year, over two thirds of home buyers in the annual Home Buyer Survey said they’d used social media in the…
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House Flipping is Still a Risky Business
In the years after the housing crash, house flipping hit the news as a surefire way to reap quick profits in real estate. Flippers would buy a cheap house, maybe a foreclosure, do some superficial cosmetic fixes and make a quick sale. But as a couple of high profile house flippers are finding out, this…
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Today’s Rates and the Down Payment Debate
Is conventional wisdom crippling the housing recovery? It’s almost a given that a homebuyer can expect to produce a down payment of at least 20 percent in order to secure a mortgage. And the more a buyer can put down, the more they can save over the term of the loan. But given the unique…
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For Some Landlords, Vacant is the New Rented
As consumer advocates push for expanded tenant’s rights laws, landlords are wondering where their protections have gone. As a recent op-ed column in The New York Times reveals, the landlord presiding over an entirely legal eviction can end up vulnerable to a host of potentially dangerous outcomes from disgruntled tenants. And for some property owners,…
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Landlord-Tenant Lawsuits Clog the Courts
You’d think it would be simple. Landlord meets tenant, tenant checks out, a rental agreement is signed: a match made in heaven. But judging from the number of landlord-tenant disputes reaching the courts, the relationship can also go sour. And because investors making money from rental real estate so often become the targets of lawsuits…
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The QM Rule: Coming Soon to a Lender Near You
A busy housing market and encouraging stats on employment offer some optimistic news about the economy. But even with a rosier financial outlook, tighter lending standards are keeping many borrowers from qualifying for mortgages and other loans. And those standards will tighten even more come January 2014, when the new Qualified Mortgage Rule takes effect.…
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Major Lenders Face New Complaints
Like the endlessly looping rerun of a really bad television show, the nation’s top five banks behaving badly are still stalling and misleading customers, even after a string of lawsuits, settlements and accusations of mismanagement. According to a new report in The Washington Post, new complaints charge the main players in the “robosigning” foreclosure abuse…
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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Offer Streamlined Modifications
Although the housing market continues to show signs of a rebound, its recovery is still dogged by ongoing problems with mortgage lending. In addition to lingering shadows cast by allegations of fraud and mismanagement, the number of mortgage defaulters and delinquent borrowers remains high. That’s why, in an effort to make homeowner assistance even easier,…
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Green Homes Mean Greenbacks
Green is still in. More and more businesses large and small are jumping on the bandwagon of environmentally friendly products, services and community planning initiatives. And now, the demand for energy saving features and earth-sensitive practices appears to be providing a not-insignificant boost to the recovering housing market: green homes command not just higher purchase…