LANDLORDING
Rental nightmare: Tenants face trespassing, bad check charges
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- A situation that started as trouble with tenants ended up with four people being arrested on felony charges. A Bakersfield landlord said people moved into his rental home without his permission after paying the deposit with a bad check. That started a much bigger case that ended with the arrests.
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Fort Pierce man accused of threatening to kill landlord
FORT PIERCE — Police took a man into custody after he made repeated threats to kill his senior citizen landlord, police said.
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Landlord bill to be tweaked at hearing
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Charleston landlords finally spoke out last week against a proposed city ordinance that would require them to obtain annual licenses and open their apartments for periodic inspections.
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Murder suspect to be arraigned March 4
Iowa City -- Charles Thompson, 17, is accused of shooting and killing 64-year-old landlord, John Versypt on Oct. 8, 2009, at one of his properties at 1958 Broadway St. in the #C building. Police said they think Thompson, who came to Iowa City last year from Michigan, intended to rob Versypt with a revolver.
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Tenant at fault, not landlord
In regard to the injustice committed on the renter article, “Renters caught up in foreclosure crisis” (Page 5, Feb. 18): The tenant, Von Touye, decided to stop paying his rent and was given a 30-day notice to move, and he refused to do so. He has been living in the home since November 2009 without paying rent and has had ample time to move and had ample notice.
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Tenants Sue Landlord Over "Ugly" Ikea Kitchen
For anyone that thought Ikea made something you can be proud to have in your home, a new lawsuit filed in New York City has some bad news. The former tenants of a Gramercy Park building are pursuing legal action against their onetime landlords for, among other things, installing an "ugly" Ikea kitchen.
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COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
Commercial Real Estate Losses Could Reach $1 Trillion
Columnist David Fletcher reports on the sate of commercial real estate, and why it is in serious trouble.
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TransUnion Study Finds More Consumers Making Payments on Their Credit Cards Before Their Mortgages
A new study developed by TransUnion confirms that the "new" payment hierarchy -- where consumers pay their credit cards prior to their mortgages -- is continuing, with the trend occurring more readily than ever before.
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Long-Term Rates Rise to Over 5 Percent for the First Time in Three Weeks
Freddie Mac today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 5.05 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending February 25, 2010, up from last week when it averaged 4.93 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.07 percent.
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Taxpayers Seeking Homebuyer Tax Credits, Refunds Must File Paper
New filing requirements for homeowners seeking the home buyer tax credit or refund demands that taxpayers file hard copies of their returns. They cannot file electronically.
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INVESTING
Real Estate Outlook: Reading the Numbers
When it comes to the current housing recovery, never assume the path leads straight up. That's just not the way it's playing out.
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Mortgage Rates Rise; 30-Year Crests 5%
Most mortgage rates were higher, with the average on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages jumping back above 5%, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey.
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First American CoreLogic Releases Q3 Negative Equity Data
According to First American CoreLogic, nearly 10.7 million, or 23 percent, of all residential properties with mortgages were in negative equity as of September 2009. (As a point of comparison, using the previous methodology, which did not account for amortization or HELOC utilization, the Q3 negative equity rate would have been 33.8 percent.)
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Sellers: Staging is a Must
You may not have the budget to hire a professional stager, but every home seller can follow a few helpful staging tips to make sure their house looks like a buyer's dream home.
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Landlords Catch a Break
Because real-estate prices have fallen much faster than rents, the math of buying a rental property has actually improved substantially in most areas.
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Why Existing Home Sales Are Flat, Not in Free Fall
The housing market remains fragile, of course. It isn’t roaring back, but it isn’t in free fall either. Home sales for all of 2010 are likely to be about even with last year’s level, Mr. Lawler figures. The outlook still depends heavily on when the economy begins creating more jobs, how much interest rates rise and how many of the 8 million U.S. households that are behind on their mortgage payments can be saved from foreclosure.
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REGULATION
Deadline for lead: EPA requirement leaves local remodelers scrambling
Local contractors who work in older homes have until April 22 to meet the requirements of a new federal EPA rule pertaining to lead safety, but many won’t meet the deadline and some contractors have fears of unintended consequences. “The ramifications of this lead rule are huge,” said Bjorn Freudenthal, general manager of Lakeville-based College City remodeling.
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HUD seeks help with anti-gay discrimination study
CHICAGO -- When federal officials studied housing discrimination based on race, the setup was simple: They sent in testers of different backgrounds and gauged how landlords and real estate agents treated people of color compared with whites. As the government prepares a first-ever study of housing discrimination against gays, however, the issue is more complex. How do you design a study to make an applicant's sexual orientation or gender identity as obvious as race and color?
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Rockland County Landlord Agrees to Settlement With United States to Protect Fair Housing Rights of Tenants With Mental Disabilities
The United States filed suit against Berk-Cohen Associates on May 6, 2009, alleging that its refusal to accept rental guarantees from Loeb House, a local social service provider that assists people with mental disabilities, violated the Fair Housing Act. The United States alleged in its complaint that Berk-Cohen Associates should have allowed people with mental disabilities to include rental guarantees provided to them by social services organizations toward meeting the eligibility requirements to rent an apartment at the Tor View Village Apartments.
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NY landlord settles case with Attorney General for $1 million
A New York real estate group has agreed to pay $1 million to settle allegations that it harassed tenants as part of a campaign to replace them with people paying higher rents.
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Replacement Windows and Siding Have New EPA Requirements
On April 22, 2010, the new EPA rules for Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting go into effect. Replacement windows and siding fall under the new rules. The new rules are meant to protect young children and pregnant women from lead poisoning from lead based paints. The new rules require the containment of any renovation related dust and extensive clean up after the project is finished. Window World MN is a lead certified firm. Its crews are trained and the company is positioned to be in full compliance with the new regulation.
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Company renovating housing hit with $276,000 fine from 2001-03. Tenant lead-paint notification at issue in EPA violation
New London - The property management company slated to renovate and manage two moderate-income housing complexes in the city has agreed to pay a $276,000 penalty for allegedly violating federal lead-based paint disclosure requirements.
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Locals Fear New Rule’s Impact
Some local building industry professionals feel a new federal rule regulating the removal of lead-based paint in homes will bring economic disaster with it. “It will put remodelers out of business,” said Dave Hughes, Greater Fort Smith Association of Home Builders executive director.
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Minnesota landlord donating kidney to tenant
MINNEAPOLIS -- A Minneapolis woman will finally get a much-needed kidney transplant Tuesday thanks to her landlord. Sherry Hanson, a mother of six children, was diagnosed with kidney disease a few years ago, forcing her to spend three days a week getting dialysis. A potential kidney donor came forward last year but had to withdraw. That's when Hanson's landlord Dan Hunt stepped forward. "We were talking about it and I said, 'How about if I get tested? If I'm a match, you can have my kidney,'" Hunt recalled. It turns out, he was a match.
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Working the System: One Cancer Patient's Story
James Mannett rarely thought about medical bills or insurance during 41 years of near-perfect health. Then he got cancer and became an expert.
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Census Scams: The Red Flags
As the 2010 U.S. Census ramps up in March, you should be on the alert for potential scams. Con artists could use the event to acquire personal information that can lead to identity theft.
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