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Real Estate News
Source: Wash Post Real Estate
Washington Post's Real Estate section is your source for buying and selling a home and finding open houses in Washington,DC,Maryland and Virginia. DC,Virginia and Maryland. Post Real Estate also includes discussions and blogs on DC metro area real estate issues.
Effects of financial reform law might not be felt for a while
The financial reform bill signed into law by President Obama might look like a cornucopia of helpful changes for homebuyers and loan applicants -- not the least of which will be the creation of a powerful Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to ride herd on the mortgage lending industry. But how ...
Law - United States - Politics - Business - Health Care Reform
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Where We Live: Lansdowne on the Potomac, in Virginia's Loudoun County
The first thing house hunters typically notice about Lansdowne on the Potomac is the neighborhood's aesthetic: the manicured lawns, the landscaped common areas, the decorative street signs and the manmade waterfall near the entrance.
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U.S. housing slump continues, but D.C. area is doing better
The housing bust isn't over, but the worst is past, according to economists participating in a U.S. Chamber of Commerce panel this week.
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BOUNDARIES: Lansdowne is bordered approximately by Lansdowne Boulevard to the east, the Potomac River to the north and Route 7 to the south and extends a mile past Goose Creek to the west.
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With Silver Spring home, family wins Washington Post's Mad Men Look contest
"It's the first time in our lives we've been hip. And it came to us -- we didn't go to it," said Melissa Talley, 51, winner of The Post's Mad Men Look contest.
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Where We Live: Town Creek, in Maryland's St. Mary's County
When Kathy Weigel moved into her brick rambler in the community of North Town Creek in St. Mary's County in 1993, she got an unusual housewarming gift: a military-base ID card for the wife of Apollo 12 astronaut Pete Conrad. The Conrads lived in the house in the 1950s, and the card was discovered...
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Taking steps toward refinancing a rental property
I have a rental property that I bought five years ago for $170,000 but now is valued at $120,000. I have a mortgage at 6.75 percent with about $45,000 in equity on the property. I am not in financial difficulty, but I would like to take advantage of low interest rates. Is it possible to refinance...
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Don't assume that a door opener will make your garage immune from unwanted entry in your absence. Just about every garage-door opener is equipped with a safety release handle where the door connects to the track. When your door is in the closed position, this handle dangles from the track just be...
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Sibling rivalry over family home: No one wins
Q: Mom died a year ago, leaving the family home to my brother and me. I live in the house and would like to stay there, but my brother, who lives in California, wants to sell it and take his half of the proceeds.
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Mortgage rates again at new low; average for 30-year fixed loan at 4.54 percent
Mortgage rates dropped to the lowest level on record for the fifth time in six weeks, making home-buying and refinancing -- for those who can get loans -- the most attractive it has been in decades.
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Shaping the City: Let there be light (carefully) in Metro stations
Lately Metro has taken a lot of heat because of persistent subway system deficiencies: lack of air conditioning in rail cars; escalator and elevator outages; and operator or equipment failures resulting in derailments and collisions -- along with injuries and fatalities.
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Amid the heat wave, gardeners still have questions
Even though the heat has been record-breaking, you are still working in your gardens and have lots of questions. It's time to address some of them.
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Ask the builder: Are garage-door openers worth it?
DEAR TIM: The house I moved into doesn't have a garage-door opener. I'm wondering whether these devices are really necessary. Also, the price differences between models have me seriously considering a discount opener. What should I take into account when purchasing one? -- Samantha R., Providence...
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Citigroup agrees to $75 million SEC settlement on subprime mortgage investments
Citigroup, one of the nation's largest banks, agreed Thursday to pay $75 million to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission complaint that it misled investors about $40 billion of its holdings in subprime mortgage investments.
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Source: Baron Briefs
Real estate news and commentary from RealtyBaron.com
[Q&A] – “what is the house num…
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[Q&A] – “Is EAGLE MOUNTAIN TRA…
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Announcing the RealAnswers WP Plugin: Own the Real Estate Q&A Conversation
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Top REALTORS Featured in Home Search Results
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The World’s First Risk-Free Listing
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Introducing the ListingHedge(TM)
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Tweet Your AgentRank(TM), Realtors
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ReferralAuction Scenario #2: Personal Referral
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ReferralAuction Scenario #1: Client Referral
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Source: About Home Buying / Selling
Get the latest headlines from the About.com Home Buying / Selling GuideSite.
Look for the Message in Real Estate Market Reports Friday, July 30, 2010
Depending on your point of view, you can read a real estate market report and draw completely different conclusions than Joe Blow Realty down the street. Consumers find it difficult...
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About Those Bogus Short Sale Offers Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Sellers have a very difficult time understanding why some buyers will write an offer on their short sale without committing to buying that short sale. These buyers expect the seller...
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You Might Qualify for a Short Sale Without a Hardship Monday, July 26, 2010
A strategic short sale can happen if the bank qualifies the property for a short sale without a hardship from the seller. For years, banks have been insisting that sellers face...
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Financial Reform Isn't Necessarily Straight-Laced Friday, July 23, 2010
The financial reform bill has its supporters and those who would like to drive icepicks through the hearts of our legislators. I, for one, am totally in love with the...
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Cheap Luxury Homes Are New Hot Ticket Wednesday, July 21, 2010
It may very well be true that you can buy a champagne home on a beer budget. Forbes says that cheap luxury homes are one of the best deals out...
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How to Write a Winning Hardship Letter Monday, July 19, 2010
I've seen a lot of sellers struggle with writing a short sale hardship letter. Generally speaking, they start out OK by talking about how they got into their present situation, but...
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Low Mortgage Rates Are Not Enticing Home Buyers Friday, July 16, 2010
Basically, the federal home buyer tax credit program is over. Oh, there are still those hapless buyers stuck in some delayed short sales who will still get the credit if...
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IRS Blocks 10% of Home Buyer Tax Credits Wednesday, July 14, 2010
It's pretty clear that a large number of home buyers may not understand how the first-time home buyer tax credit works. A disturbingly high percentage of filers trying to claim...
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Why You Should Care About Hard Money Loans Monday, July 12, 2010
Lots of unsuspecting homeowners have no idea that when they refinance mortgage debt, they could be turning what was once considered purchase money into hard money loans. This is especially true...
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Foreclosure Discounts Tracked Friday, July 9, 2010
The online foreclosure giant, RealtyTrac, has found a way to track the average discount on foreclosures. Nationally, the average discount is 34% for a foreclosure as compared to the prices...
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Source:
Source: Real Estate / South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Get all the latest real estate news from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Can landlord use prepaid rent to pay for tenants' damage?
The damage that the couple left behind was more than the security deposit could cover.
When damages in a rental unit exceed the security deposit, can prepaid rent be used to make up the difference?
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Foreclosures slam Miami metro area
The foreclosure quagmire continues.
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Fort Lauderdale foreclosure lawyer sued
David Stern, whose law firm handles 20 percent of all foreclosure cases against Florida homeowners, is being sued himself
Broward County attorney David J. Stern, whose law firm handles 20 percent of all foreclosure cases against Florida homeowners, is being sued himself.
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Allstate subsidiaries grilled about proposed rate hikes
Officials from Allstate's Florida subsidiaries spent two hours Tuesday fielding questions at an Office of Insurance Regulation hearing in Tallahassee on their request to raise statewide rates by an average of 33 percent and 18 percent. The Allstate Floridian insurance companies, which changed their names to Castle Key last year, have about 250,000 policies, making them Florida's third-largest private home insurer. Nearly three-fourths of those policies are with Castle Key Insurance, which is proposing the higher increase and the rest are with Castle Key Indemnity. The Insurance Consumer Advocate's office recommends a rate hike of 15.4 percent for the insurance company and rate decreases for the indemnity company. Deputy Insurance Commissioner Belinda Miller said regulators will weigh Castle Key's proposal and testimony at the hearing "very carefully" to see if the rate need is justified. "With this rate change, our customers can have greater confidence that we will have the...funds to pay all their claims," said Bonnie Gill, a vice president for the companies, adding that their premiums haven't kept pace with expenses since 2007. The average proposed increase for Castle Key Insurance works out to $412, or $34 a month, for policyholders and the average increase for Castle Key Indemnity works out to an extra $243, or $20 a month, according to the company. Bob Lee, an OIR actuary, grilled Castle Key representatives on several points: Why didn't the companies include information on how they calculated estimates included in its rating filing? This issue came up with several parts of the rate proposal. After Lee's questions about the companies' profit margin, for instance, he said every part of the proposed rates should be backed up. "When you make a rate filing in Florida, you certify all material information is in the filing and it's all there, which means yours expectations and assumptions...are not very relevant," he said. Estimates can't just be "picked out of the air," Lee said during another part of the hearing. Why don't the companies' projected losses reflect that its claims payouts for sinkhole damage could decrease and that its discounts will be smaller? About a year ago, the companies started dropping coverage for minor damage such as cracks from sinkholes unless a policyholder requested the coverage. So only 4.5 percent of its policyholders now have the coverage as opposed to 100 percent before the change. Gill said the impact on projected losses is not clear enough yet because there are still some policies that have only been without the coverage for a few months. "Certainly the frequency has dropped off," she added. Later in the hearing, Steve Alexander an actuary for the Insurance Consumer Advocate's office noted a similar issue. He said the companies' projections of its losses rely too much on a trend from 2007 to 2009 where premiums dropped dramatically. He said he thinks that's a result of the state's move during that time to double discounts for homeowners who fortify their homes against hurricanes. But insurers are rethinking the size of the discount now so Alexander said premiums should rise. Did the companies use the risk provision models required under state law? "It was our understanding that we could use a method other than the prescribed Florida method as long as sufficient support was provided," said Shantelle Thomas, an actuary for Castle Key. "It's not likely we'll consider this part of the filing as it is," Lee said. Does the proposed 8.8 percent profit margin factor in that so much of the companies' potential catastrophic risk is transferred to reinsurance companies, which sell insurance to insurers? A company's potential profit typically reflects the amount of risk it takes on. "Most entities don't have a large transfer of risk" through a mechanism like reinsurance, Lee said, adding that Castle Key proposes directly passing the reinsurance expenses to customers through rates. Robin Haworth, a technical actuary for Allstate, said the parent company takes a "holistic" approach to its profit and aims to earn a 10 percent profit overall. "We don't adjust those by business unit," he said. But if it did, he said he would think the Florida companies would be riskier, so the profit would be higher. "I don't think that's extravagant for Florida homeowners," he said, adding that the reinsurance is considered in that the company would need more of it if it had less cash. Why did the companies include an annual rate of return on investment from 2008 instead of more recent information? "Wasn't 2008 pretty much the height of the financial crisis?" Lee said. "We used information that was most recent at the time we were working on the filing," Haworth said, adding that the 2009 information is similar. Why are the companies' costs of advertising and agent commissions so high given one isn't selling new policies? "It's been a long time since [Castle Key Insurance] has written any new business," Lee said. "So you're allocating a cost to acquire business at the same level as a company not acquiring new business?" he said, asking why the larger company's policyholders should pay for advertising and other costs related to getting new business. Gill said a large part of the so-called acquisition costs are also used to continue helping existing customers, who come up for renewal every year. Some advertising is "meant to remind our customers of the strength of the company, the value that they're getting with the policy," she added.
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Luxury condos, brought to you by Toll Brothers
Luxury condominiums aren't exactly a hot ticket these days. Nevertheless, Toll Brothers has opened models for Ocean's Edge at Singer Island in Riviera Beach.
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What to do when your board accuses you of violating a rule?
Homeowners' case, over the use of water-conserving techniques in her yard, spotlights conflicts between HOA laws and owners' choices.
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FTC bans 8 mortgage-relief marketers
Firms settle charges that they used false advertising to deceive homeowners facing foreclosure.
Federal regulators have banned eight individuals and companies from selling mortgage-relief services, settling charges that they used false advertising to deceive homeowners facing foreclosure.
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Housing still a challenge even as prices rise
South Florida home prices held up in May, but analysts still aren't predicting a housing recovery anytime soon.
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Amid insurance hikes, some condo premiums fall
Home and condo unit owners have reported spikes in property insurance costs. Subsidiaries of Allstate, the third largest private home insurer in Florida, will defend their proposed 33 percent and 18 percent rate hike requests at an Office of Insurance Regulation hearing today. And in the coming weeks, regulators will weigh rate hikes by Royal Palm Insurance, which is among the state's top ten private home insurers, and Citizens Property Insurance, the state-backed insurer that is Florida's largest. But there is one area where premiums may be decreasing this year: condominium master policies, which cover the exterior and structure of condo buildings. Sean Virtue, an insurance agent at Smith Watson Parker Insurance, said the premiums for all of the condominium master policies he handles have decreased every year for the past four years. He's now handling 25 policies. Virtue said that may change next year due to possible increases in reinsurance, or backup coverage, costs. Here are some strategies he said he uses to help condo buildings look for ways to lower their premiums: Look for coverage you may not need. For instance, a Dania Beach condominium he handles lowered the liability portion of its coverage, which helped it offset an increase in a fee for the state's Florida Insurance Guaranty Association. Another condominium in Pompano Beach dropped coverage for terrorist attacks. "What are the chances a South Florida Association would be under attack from a terrorist organization?" Virtue said he pointed out to the association. Check to see if your condo unit has coverage that could overlap with what's offered in the master policy. For instance, he said condo unit owners' policies are required to have $2,000 of coverage to cover a condo association assessments for catastrophe damage. So if virtually all residents in a condo have the coverage, the building might decide to increase its deductible or drop the part of its master policy that covers upgrades required by new building codes. If the condo board does that and a major hurricane strikes and a special assessment is required to either cover the deductible or the building code upgrades, the condo unit owners' policies would at least cover $2,000, Virtue said. The Pompano Beach condo also dropped its coverage for the building code upgrades. Virtue said it's a risk but the building was struggling with $200,000 in unpaid homeowners association fees so bare-bones coverage made financial sense in that case. Get a new appraisal done to see if the rebuilding cost of your condo building has dropped. In many cases, they have due to lower construction and gas costs, Virtue said. State law requires new appraisals every three years.
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Questionable timeshare resellers cited
Hundreds of consumer complaints have been filed in Florida claiming they were taken in
Florida regulators are stepping up efforts against questionable timeshare resale operations for deceptive trade practices.
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