A dearth of new apartments and a swell of new jobs have pushed Bay Area rents higher in recent months, keeping the region's title as the most expensive place in the country for renters.

Median rents rose 4.2% in San Jose, year-over-year, in the second quarter of 2019. In the Oakland and San Francisco metro area, monthly apartment payments grew ...Read more

Q: Our landlord sold the home we have rented for many years. The new landlord wants us to make a new security deposit. We told him that we still have the one from when we moved in. He feels that is the prior owner's problem and is withholding repairs to the home until we make another deposit. Can he do this? -- Tina

A: No. When your landlord ...Read more

DETROIT -- A new study challenges the notion that Detroit is rapidly gentrifying and even that gentrification is as harmful as many believe.

Indeed, the analysis by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia is one of several lately that see more positives than negatives in the changing nature of many urban neighborhoods.

The ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Rare is the real estate listing that really means it when characterizing a home as "truly, one of a kind."

But there is no other place like 3311 Waverly Drive in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles.

Robert Giambalvo, the Redfin listing agent, described the property over the phone in perfectly formulated servings of real-estate ...Read more

Few people would consider a door handle a hazardous part of a building. Those folks haven't encountered the Everbilt Stainless Steel Door Pull, of which Home Depot recalled 70,200 recently.

The problem, as stated in the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recall notice: "The door pulls can have sharp edges on the back, posing a laceration ...Read more

Get a robocall lately from Jonathon or someone else saying that your student loans have been flagged for a student loan forgiveness program?

"If you owe more than $10,000 and are not currently enrolled in school, you could qualify for a reduced monthly payment and a large portion of your balance to be forgiven," one caller said.

"To redeem ...Read more

After cutting the cable cord a few years ago, I opted to go with Netflix and Amazon Prime accounts to stream movies and TV shows.

But the monthly and yearly membership fees keep creeping upward. I pay $119 a year for Amazon, which offers many benefits including Prime Video. I also fork over $155 a year for Netflix. The company recently ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Driven by steadily increasing rents, apartment dwellers are far more likely to seek housing on the other side of the bay, creating a huge game of musical chairs, according a recent survey.

The study this month by Apartment List describes a curious ping-pong-like phenomenon where renters, often forced to move by rising rents,...Read more

Are you a worker worried you won't have enough money to retire?

Are you an employer who doesn't offer either a pension or a 401(k) to your workers?

If so, CalSavers is aimed at you.

On July 1, California launched an ambitious state-sponsored retirement program for the private sector. All employers with five or more workers will be required to...Read more

No doubt, it's tempting to sign up for a "quick fix" to clean up your credit. Who wouldn't want to instantly find a way to add 100 or more points to a credit score to qualify for a rewards-packed credit card? Or maybe, finally, qualify for a great deal on a car loan?

But the Federal Trade Commission and others are warning that any company that ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Half a decade is plenty for Pete Wentz, who has put his Encino home of five years on the market for $2.395 million.

The house has been a hot spot for musicians over the years; Wentz bought it from R&B singer-songwriter Eric Benet for $1.965 million in 2014, records show. That was around the same time Wentz sold his old place in ...Read more

As of this week, landlords of Los Angeles rent-controlled buildings can raise rent by 4%, the first time in a decade the annual cap isn't 3%.

The larger increase reflects higher inflation levels and comes as rising rents have been blamed for crimping household budgets and driving people into homelessness. Across Los Angeles and Orange counties,...Read more

Homeownership may be famed for its headaches, from bidding wars to get in the door to the constant drumbeat of repairs around the house, but renters don't have it easy either. In fact, renters are the ones with more regrets, according to a recent Zillow Housing Aspirations Report.

One of their biggest regrets is being a renter in the first ...Read more

Q: I rented a condo and moved out early because I bought a condo of my own. The lease stated that if I moved out early, I would be responsible for three months rent. The owner is now demanding that I pay him the three months. I know he rented the place out two weeks after I left. Do I need to pay him? -- John

A: You owe him some money, but not ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Coastal towns may be better off buying out beachfront property owners than spending years trying to protect those homes from floods, erosion and shifting sands, a study of North Topsail Beach, N.C., concludes.

The Western Carolina University Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines, in a study released Sunday, found that ...Read more

With the cost of college rising each year, we did the math to see if it's possible for students to pay their own way through school.

In Pennsylvania, the worst state for affordability, students have to work 120 hours a week to cover in-state tuition and housing, according to price data from College Tuition Compare and labor/wage data from the ...Read more