Category Archives: Real Estate
Are Portable Mortgages a Thing?
Even though Canada is right on the other side of the border, we in the United States tend not to think about it much, but there is a lot to admire about our northern neighbor. For example, Toronto has a vast network of underground walkways where you can stay warm when you don’t feel… Read More »
Cheaply Renovated Properties Are a Trojan Horse
Of all the picturesque animal-related metaphors to emanate from inside the Beltway, “herding cats” is one of them. Anyone who has tried to get two or more children ready for school at the same time knows the feeling, even though here in D.C. we tend to use the metaphor in a workplace context. We… Read More »
The ROAD to Housing Act
The biggest challenge regarding affordable housing is that someone else must bear the cost of the discounts that the landlords offer to tenants and that real estate developers offer to homebuyers, and there are only so many resources to go around. Tax incentives by local governments offset the costs, but only enough for developers… Read More »
Disputes Over Joint Homeownership
Money can cause conflict even between people whose temperaments are compatible under almost any other circumstances. Friendships have ended when the friends started a business venture together, but the business project fell apart before it got off the ground. Spouses who were each other’s strongest supporters when times were tough have turned against each… Read More »
Positive Rent Reporting
Resentment can quickly form between landlords and tenants, but it does not have to be that way. In many rental properties, especially those owned by small-time landlords, there simply isn’t enough money to go around, and each party blames the other. Even when the rent is more than a third of the tenant’s income,… Read More »
Why Do Sellers Back Out of Real Estate Deals?
Trying to sell a real estate property is as stressful as trying to buy one. Only a small percentage of deals that make it to the stage where the buyer makes an offer result in a final sale, with the property changing hands. In most cases, the buyer is the one who backs out… Read More »
Taking a House Off the Market Can Be a Strategic Move
Browsing real estate listings can be fun when you are just daydreaming about buying a house or when you are confident that you will be able to finalize a real estate deal. One of the pieces of information that most real estate listings include is how many days the house has been on the… Read More »
The Housing Assistance Apocalypse
Rental assistance programs in their current state are a nightmare for everyone who deals with them, landlords and tenants alike. Once you are approved for benefits, it is an uphill battle to get them. More than a quarter of tenants approved for rental assistance never get to use it because they cannot find a… Read More »
Twilight of the Starter Homes
This charade of Baby Boomers freaking out about the indifference of Millennials toward the various trappings of adulthood that Boomers once held dear has gone on for long enough. It isn’t about “kids these days” anymore, since the oldest millennials are fast approaching the horizon of the AARP mailing list. Every generation grows up… Read More »
Stuck: A Housing Affordability Crisis Story
No one likes to move from one apartment to another, but when people stay in their same apartments, they usually have plenty of complaints about their housing situation. Even rent-controlled apartments become unaffordable after a while. Under the current rent control laws in the District of Columbia, landlords can raise rents by up to… Read More »
