Baltimore City leaders are set to begin what could become one of the most significant tax debates in decades: whether Maryland’s largest city should pursue the state’s first split-rate property tax system in an effort to combat vacant properties, discourage speculation and spur investment.

A bill introduced Monday by City Councilman Zac ...Read more

Landlords across Washington state can raise rents by up to 10% next year.

The Washington State Department of Commerce announced the annual cap Wednesday, the latest reflection of persistently high inflation in the Seattle area.

The cap stems from a state law passed last year limiting rent hikes at many properties to 7% plus inflation, up to a ...Read more

To modern eyes, some old household routines seem almost astonishing. Grandmothers washed walls, beat rugs, aired bedding, scrubbed front steps and polished furniture on schedules that could rival a military operation.

These chores were not necessarily signs that earlier generations enjoyed cleaning more. They reflected the homes, fuels, fabrics...Read more

For generations, people have treated house shoes as a basic necessity. Slippers wait beside the bed. Foam clogs sit near the kitchen. Indoor sneakers promise cushioning, support and protection from the supposed dangers of an ordinary floor.

For most healthy adults, however, shoes are not needed inside the home. In fact, going barefoot indoors ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Television City, one of the most famous studios in the entertainment industry where generations of TV shows have been created, is expected to hit the market again as its owner grapples with debt.

It's the latest sign of distress in Hollywood as the film and TV industry struggles from a sharp falloff in production activity across...Read more

The fast-rising costs of owning a home have some young Americans questioning whether buying a house is still a good investment.

Take Tony Zhang, 34, who bought a $950,000 townhouse in Irvine, California, in 2021 and says he now regrets it. The supply-chain manager says investing his down payment of roughly 30% in the stock market instead would...Read more

SEATTLE Jorge Aranda and Mattie Gottbrath are at a crossroads. The couple want to have children one day, but to do so they may have to leave the city they love.

“We constantly ask ourselves whether we can live in Seattle long term, let alone with a kid,” said Aranda, 29.

The couple moved from St. Louis, Missouri, to Seattle in early 2023, ...Read more

BALTIMORE — A Baltimore judge has ordered Westminster Management, the property management arm of Kushner Companies, to pay more than $4.17 million to thousands of Maryland tenants after finding the company illegally charged excessive late-payment and court-related fees for years.

In a ruling issued Tuesday, Baltimore City Circuit Judge Paul J...Read more

Polymarket is seeking regulatory approval to offer margin trading in the US, a move that would let users bet on events with less capital upfront and help the prediction market platform attract more sophisticated traders.

The company filed an application to operate as a futures commission merchant through its affiliate, Coming Home GBA LLC, ...Read more

Downtown Seattle may be sending strong “we’re back” vibes during its World Cup star turn. But downtown's economic engine is still stuck on the sidelines.

Nearly 37% of the downtown Seattle office space is vacant — the most of any major U.S. downtown, according to real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield.

Iconic office towers like the ...Read more

Inside a factory alongside Interstate 5 in the San Joaquin Valley, a forklift delivered a stack of precut lumber to two waiting carpenters.

Consulting a design on a computer screen, the workers arranged the numbered pieces — from 14 inches to 12 feet long — into a grid on an oversize worktable and attached them with rapid nail gun blasts. ...Read more

AI-focused tech firms are stepping up searches for office space, and New York and San Francisco won’t be the only cities to benefit from their fast expansion.

Building tours by prospective AI tenants in the U.S. jumped 85% in the year through May, according to commercial-property data provider VTS. Searches are highly concentrated in ...Read more

San Jose is home to the first accessory dwelling unit sold as a separately owned condo in California, city officials said, setting a potential template for a more affordable path to homeownership. But a lengthy rollout raises questions about whether the model can become a scalable solution to the state’s housing crisis — the sale comes more ...Read more

Christopher Bejnar has spent the last couple of months combing through the fine print of exchange-traded funds, emailing financial advisers and moving money into European stocks — all to keep SpaceX out of his $1 million portfolio.

As Elon Musk’s newest public company heads into Nasdaq’s stock indexes this week, the 46-year-old software ...Read more