A new study by the real-estate firm Zillow found that nearly 20% of Black mortgage applications nationwide were denied in 2020, nearly twice the rate of white applications.

Nationwide, the study found that Black mortgage applicants were turned down 84% more than white applicants, up from 74% in 2019.

While 20.5% of Black mortgage applications ...Read more

Many parents might be looking for money from the child tax credit payment this January but they're not going to see it arrive Jan. 15 or shortly afterwards.

What's more likely to show up is a tax letter from the Internal Revenue Service related to the child tax credit. Don't pitch it.

You might not be expecting to see a notice from the IRS but...Read more

Vanguard CEO Mortimer "Tim" Buckley and two top strategists at the firm said investors should expect the stock market to post far more modest returns over the coming decade compared with recent years while offering a guarded but positive outlook for the global economic recovery.

Over the next decade, investors should expect 2% to 4% U.S. equity...Read more

Senate Democrats on Thursday pressed Sandra Thompson, the president’s nominee to run the Federal Housing Finance Agency, on how to leverage the agency to close the racial gap in homeownership.

Senate Banking Chairman Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said Thompson would have a major role to play in closing the gap, as well as preserving affordable ...Read more

Q: My father had a deed recorded that makes him and his friend co-own a house as joint tenants with rights of survivorship. He named me as the executor of his will. The property has a mortgage that is only in my father’s name. If there is still money owed on the mortgage when he dies, and his friend gets the house, will his estate get stuck ...Read more

As swelling homeless encampments continue to overwhelm California, one big city mayor has a bold idea: A legal mandate that would force governments to house each and every one of their residents.

Mayor Darrell Steinberg is pushing a “right to housing” ordinance in Sacramento that he hopes will spark similar measures throughout California. ...Read more

Wichita is the most affordable U.S. city for a single person to rent an apartment, an analysis of 1.2 million studio apartment listings has concluded.

The RentHop Singles Index ranks cities based on the median cost of a studio apartment relative to the average salary of single people who live there.

Researchers for the apartment rental service...Read more

Federal COVID-19 relief dollars have already helped more than 140,000 California renters pay the debt they accrued to their landlords during the pandemic.

Now, the state is offering similar relief to qualified homeowners who’ve fallen behind on their mortgages. The new California Mortgage Relief program will pay up to $80,000 worth of ...Read more

Do-it-yourself types who are looking for a deal for online tax preparation are seeing plenty of promotions.

It's a marketing battle of the free online tax deals among some big names. But you're going to need to review the restrictions and rules to figure out just what deal actually saves you money and what doesn't.

Gig workers or self-employed...Read more

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Nearly 30 years after purchasing a modest two-bedroom, one-bathroom house in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Santa Monica, California, Michael Solomon and Naomi Lieberman turned their attention to their backyard, where they hoped to add a guesthouse that would accommodate their family and friends.

In what seems ...Read more

Money management, according to billionaire hedge-fund managers and other high-paid practitioners, is a complex science and art. But does it really have to be?

Big state pension funds in states like Pennsylvania or California spend many hundreds of millions of dollars a year hiring many sophisticated advisers to bet on arcane strategies — ...Read more

Early tax filers will get a chance now to e-file their 2021 tax returns as soon as Jan. 24.

The Internal Revenue Service announced Monday that it will begin accepting and processing tax returns in two weeks.

That's earlier than the delayed start of Feb. 12 last year when the IRS needed extra time for many pandemic-related reasons, including ...Read more

Luis Alberto and his wife made an offer on a home in Miami they were hoping to buy, only to have another buyer beat them by offering cash. Over the next five months, they would lose out on three other homes, some because they were competing with buyers who could throw cash at the deal.

The Albertos are among many South Florida buyers relying on...Read more

When it comes to things that make consumers anxious, the threat of higher prices is edging out the fear of losing a paycheck.

Asked whether inflation or unemployment was the more serious problem facing the nation, 75% of consumers picked inflation, according to the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers in December.

And 27% of households ...Read more

Add swim diapers to the list of issues that can get turned into a federal case.

A Florida family is suing their condo board over what they say is a rule barring children from using the community pool while wearing swim diapers.

Swim diapers are a snug-fitting lightweight alternative to disposable or cloth diapers, which become heavy like ...Read more

Bonita Harrison’s goal has always been to own 200 units of property. As a residential developer, her mission was to create noticeable change to a South Side neighborhood when it comes to affordable housing for and by people of color.

She was well on her way with her firm Sunshine Management, which had 68 units before the pandemic. Now, she ...Read more

TurboTax — which has been criticized for some sketchy tactics when it came to providing online access free of charge through the IRS site — is now shocking taxpayers by informing them that the big brand name has exited the Free File program.

The news officially was released in July, which frankly is a fantastic time to sneak in a tax change...Read more