The Department of Housing and Urban Development has allocated $330 million in grants to clean up lead-based paint and other health and safety hazards in low-income housing. The grants will be provided through HUD’s Lead Hazard Reduction and Healthy Homes Production for Tribal Housing grant programs.“Your home is a haven from the outside world,” says HUD Secretary Ben Carson. “You shouldn’t be worried about the hidden
Generation Z, the youngest potential home buyers, who are beginning to enter the housing market, show a preference for buying homes in culturally diverse neighborhoods, according to a new survey from Homes.com. It's the first generation in American history to show such a strong diversity preference, Homes.com says. The real estate website surveyed more than 1,000 young adults ages 18 to 24 years old to examine their homebuying preferences.Fifty-e
New rent control laws in New York are being blamed for eating away at landlords’ profits and putting many in a financial bind. Some real estate professionals and investors told The Wall Street Journal that the laws could cause rent-stabilized apartment buildings to drop 20% to 45% in value. That could put the building owners at risk of default. “It’s all over,” Lazer Sternhell, a real estate investor and broker of rent-regulated
Falling prey to a wire fraud scheme, he lost the down payment that took his family years to save. Now he’s helping real estate pros protect their clients against cyber scams. After a yearlong search, Aaron Cole and his family finally found their dream home in Canby, Ore., in December 2018. The seller accepted Cole’s $440,000 offer, and with a down payment of $123,000, he and his wife were ready to move in just in time to celebrate Christmas a
In the nation’s priciest areas, you’ll need to be in the top 20% to 30% of household earners to afford a median-priced home, according to a new study by Zoocasa, a real estate website.Researchers evaluated how much income households need to qualify for a mortgage on a median-priced home in 35 of the largest cities in the U.S. They factored in a 20% down payment, a mortgage rate of 4.5%, and a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.The top three most acc
The equity of homeowners ages 62 and older has reached an all-time high, according to the latest index reading from the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association report. Seniors saw their housing wealth grow by 2.7% or $104 billion in the first quarter of this year, reaching a $7.14 trillion record.The increase in elderly homeowners’ wealth was mostly attributed to an estimated 2.4%, or $110 billion, increase in senior home values.As older
The living room is one of the most popular and central areas in a home. And a few easy updates can instantly transform it into an inviting space.Apartment Therapy recently interviewed interior designers to learn some of the latest trends in living room design. Here are a few trends they noted:1. Offer up a more relaxed vibe.The living room is getting less formal in its design, moving away from some of the modern straight edges that have been
1. Planting trees too close to the home.Homeowners may not realize how big a tree will grow as it matures and plant it too near the property. “Plant them several feet away from your home so their limbs won’t rub against your home,” Melissa Okabe, a real estate professional at Alta Properties in Los Angeles, told Apartment Therapy. “Overhanging limbs can also damage the roof, and spreading roots might damage the foundation.”2. Failing at
While housing affordability has been getting a hand from lower mortgage rates, it wasn’t enough to lift new-home sales last month.Sales of newly built single-family homes underperformed in what is traditionally the busiest time of year in the housing sector. New-home sales dropped 7.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 626,000 units in May, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Tuesday. The number represents signed contracts, not closings
Government officials in some cities want to make it easier and less expensive to raise homes near coastal areas that suffer from repeated flood threats.Flooding is a threat to low-lying coastal communities. Federal flood insurance premiums are rising, and many believe they will continue to do so over future years.“The seas are rising … The flood maps continue to get updated, and more homes are in coastal high hazard areas,” Brandi Gabbard,
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