Headline News Archive
2006
December
14
- Umbrella policy a holiday party essential. If you're hosting a holiday party this year and think your homeowners insurance provides enough coverage, think again. Let's say you serve alcohol at your…
- High-cost mortgage foreclosures increase. A record number of homeowners with high-cost mortgages have fallen behind on their payments or are facing foreclosure, a side effect of the growth in…
13
- Affordable housing: Low-wage workers ignored. Affordable one or two-bedroom rental housing remains beyond the means of most low-income Americans with full-time jobs paying the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an…
12
- Private mortgage insurance (PMI) tax deduction. Before Congress turned off the lights and went home for the holidays last weekend, it approved a new tax break for middle-income taxpayers who plan…
11
- Florida homeowners fight soaring insurance rates. Florida homeowners are no longer silent victims of the state's insurance crisis. From the Keys to the Panhandle, they've mobilized. In Miami-Dade County, they have…
- A loan that'll get ugly fast. Every day, Will Hertzberg owns a little less of his three-bedroom house in Corona. Like hundreds of thousands of other homeowners around the state, Hertzberg…
10
- Los Angeles seniors get help with houses. On a quiet residential street in Cypress, where a basketball hoop waits for children to come home from school, secrets lie behind the pink facade…
09
- Locked into a builders contract. Lisa and Reggie Starr thought they were getting a good deal when they signed a contract to buy a new six-bedroom house in Woodbridgealmost a…
08
- Falling mortgage rates = big savings. If you're thinking of buying a home, here's a sum that will get your attention: $13,763. That's what you'd save in interest over the life…
07
- Financial health? Do the math. The end of the year often provokes questions about your financial state. If it doesn't, it should. That was on my mind after receiving this…
06
- Mortgage refinancing applications jump. Mortgage applications rose sharply last week, as the lowest interest rates in more than a year prompted a surge in demand for refinancing, an industry…
- Subprime mortgage loans: Boom to bane. In the housing boom of the last six years, millions of blacks, Hispanics and members of other minority groups achieved the dream of homeownership. While…
04
- Alternative credit scoring gains support. The heavy reliance on credit scores to determine a person's "worthiness" for loans has led to the exclusion of many otherwise responsible citizens from the…
02
- Coastal insurance crisis hits dream homes. A place near the water has been an American dream for a very long time. Fifty-four percent of Americans live within 50 miles of a…
- The housing median is the message. You might have seen the scary news reports just before Thanksgiving: Housing prices fell nationwide last quarter, the first such decline since 1993. Even grimmer,…
November
25
- Low down on low-doc mortgages. If the IRS wants to spot large numbers of people who are stiffing the tax collectors, it might want to consider auditing a fast-growing segment…
18
- 'RESPA police' help with builder disputes. When home builders behave badly, some of their customers may have an unexpected resource: The federal government's "RESPA police," who say they have become increasingly…
16
- Tips for pulling cash from your home. Not long ago, a well-known economist surprised me by suggesting that it's a good time for homeowners to tap their equity to buy stocks.Crazy, I…
14
- Home sellers offer 'buy-down' savings. As the housing market slows, big builders and developers are stepping up concessions and incentives to buyers - now small-time individuals are doing it too.…
12
- Predatory lenders prey on Habitat homeowners. The guiding principle of the nonprofit Habitat for Humanity, founded in 1976 to build affordable houses for underprivileged families, comes from the Old Testament: "If…
11
- Giving credit where credit's due. Picture this: You have lived in this country for 15 years, earned a decent wage, raised a family, and always paid your rent, utilities, cellphone…
07
- Home-office deduction rules challenging. A recent analysis of American commuting habits confirms what many weary workers already know: Commutes are getting longer. More Americans than ever are leaving home…
- Homeowners hesitate over equity loans.
While 91 percent of homeowners deem equity in their primary home as an important financial asset, a nationwide survey released today reveals that many…
04
- Appraising online appraisal site Zillow. Have you ever checked out the satellite photos and market-value estimates of homes in your neighborhood on Zillow.com, the Internet real estate site that says…
October
31
- Zillow appraisal site accused of discrimination. Zillow.com, the Web site that provides free home valuations, has been accused by a coalition of community activist groups of undervaluing the homes in black…