LOS ANGELES – One way to understand Shawna Christian's joyful aesthetic is to think of her plant shop Tansy as organized chaos.

The Burbank store, with its colorful fair trade garlands, plants, metal bells, mobiles, pom-poms and suncatchers, may be eclectic, but her skill at mixing colors, patterns and prints is the reason why so many ...Read more

Spending more on teachers lifts home prices, a new report finds. New buildings don’t matter. A study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) adds to the potential research that education-savvy families may want to do before choosing a home or a school.

Many have focused on overall district spending per pupil, a widely ...Read more

So you just got a text from Social Security and the guy even tried to reassure you that he's the real deal by texting you a picture of his badge. Should you feel that things are on the up-and-up and respond?

The scammers who are out to steal your Social Security number and your money now have a new game going. They're not just spoofing phone ...Read more

Mortgage rates rose above 3% for the first time in seven months, raising concerns that higher borrowing costs will derail the pandemic housing rally.

The average for a 30-year, fixed loan was 3.02%, up from 2.97% last week and the highest since July 9, Freddie Mac data showed Thursday. Rates have surged from a record low of 2.65% in early ...Read more

Q: I am buying a condo unit. My lender just told me they found a reference in the community documents to a “rec lease.” The association told them it was paid off, but the bank wanted more proof and denied my loan. I found a local bank that will give me a loan if the association states in writing that the rec lease was paid off. Should I be ...Read more

Spend too much time on your phone, doom scrolling and looking at social media? Do family members complain?

If your smartphone activities include stock trading apps, you could also be setting yourself up for money-losing trades. Recent research that looks at actual trading activity of tens of thousands of brokerage app users finds a pattern of ...Read more

Opendoor Technologies Inc., pioneer of an algorithm-driven method of flipping homes, is embracing a new way to wield its software: helping buyers make cash offers.

With inventory scarce across U.S. housing markets, the company is working with prospective buyers to make no-contingency offers that often win out over similarly priced bids. In the ...Read more

If you're a renter, the odds are good that you don't know the name of your landlord.

Today, anonymous shell companies own 18 million out of 48 million rental units nationwide, nearly 40% of the market. The proliferation of hidden ownership, not surprisingly, makes it easier to hide illicit activities.

The growing use of shell entities, like ...Read more

The financial industry loves to sell complicated — and expensive — products, but simple is quite often the smart choice.

You know all about the value of diversification. The simplest approach to diversification is to own a mix of stocks and bonds. At the other extreme is a portfolio that owns a dozen or more types of asset classes, such as ...Read more

As investors fled almost every fixed-income asset from the safest government bonds to the highest-yielding securities last week, one market stood out as a haven.

Funds poured $671 million into exchange-traded funds tracking yuan bonds last week, taking inflows so far this year to $2.2 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show. In contrast, they ...Read more

As efforts build to vaccinate more seniors and others against COVID-19, consumer watchdogs are aggressively getting the word out about scammers who will soon pivot their messaging around whatever dominates the news.

The latest warnings: Watch out for the next text or robocall that asks you to pay money up front to get on a list to receive a ...Read more

After years without comprehensive health insurance, a 64-year-old woman in Media, Pa., was thrilled to learn that based on her 2019 income she qualified for a tax credit that would entirely cover the premiums for a solid 2020 plan on the state insurance marketplace.

But then the pandemic hit. In an unexpected twist, her 2020 income soared to ...Read more

Q: What should you say to someone who doesn’t plan on getting the coronavirus vaccine?

A: We don’t worry much about measles these days, or polio, rubella or diphtheria — all diseases that have had a devastating effect on the United States in years past. And the reason? Nearly everyone has been immunized for these diseases; they can no ...Read more

Whether it’s heroic resolve or epic naiveté, stock investors are giving no indication that they are troubled by the worst volatility to land on the bond market in a year.

In a week when a spike in Treasury yields pressured prices across the equity spectrum, U.S. exchange-traded funds consistently saw inflows — including $2.7 billion at the...Read more

How accurate are Zestimates?

Spot on, says Zillow. The company is now so confident in its ability to estimate the value of a home without ever setting foot inside, it will make a cash offer on select houses.

The company announced the initiative this week — 15 years after first posting its Zestimates, the oft-watched home-value estimates that...Read more

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s eviction moratorium was blocked by a Texas judge who said the federal government overstepped its authority in stopping landlords from throwing out tenants.

U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker, who was nominated by President Donald Trump, said that while states have the authority to regulate ...Read more

Late last year, Congress gave Michigan more than half a billion dollars to protect renters in the state from eviction. There was just one catch: State leaders had to sign off on distributing the money.

Nearly two months later, the funding—along with the rest of the federal aid given to Michigan for schools, vaccine distribution and business ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — Even on a foggy San Francisco morning, the view from Scott Simmons’ 25th-floor apartment stretches from downtown to Golden Gate Park. The home of the 42-year-old tech worker is also spacious for a one-bedroom, featuring hardwood floors, new appliances and granite countertops.

A year ago, when he was sharing a two-bedroom ...Read more