Consumer
/Home & Leisure
Should owners of vacant second homes be heavily taxed? San Diego voters get to decide
For years, vacant homes in large U.S. cities have conjured up images of derelict, abandoned properties in need of loving attention and a full-time resident. In San Diego, a June ballot measure is taking aim at a very different kind of vacant dwelling by proposing to heavily tax second homes — from the coast to the suburbs — that all share ...Read more
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Six Tips to Keep Your Home Tidy and Cozy
For many people, the ideal home is not a spotless showroom or a perfectly curated social media backdrop. It is something softer and more practical: a place that feels calm, welcoming and lived in without becoming cluttered or chaotic.
Professional organizers and interior designers say maintaining a tidy and cozy home is less about constant deep...Read more
World's tallest thermometer, between Las Vegas and LA, is for sale
The giant roadside thermometer between Las Vegas and Los Angeles — a towering sight for legions of highway drivers — is for sale.
A spread of real estate in Baker, California, along Interstate 15 roughly 90 miles southwest of the Las Vegas Strip, recently went on the market for $1.85 million, listing sites show.
The 4.3-acre tract includes...Read more
Buying a condo just got harder for many, thanks to Fannie Mae policies
Buying a condo in some parts of the U.S. has become harder due to recent changes in Fannie Mae’s condo policies, according to local real estate experts.
The government-sponsored mortgage enterprise recently increased the required due diligence for condo loans, and that could make some purchases harder to close in the months ahead, Las Vegas-...Read more
Seattle-area renters need to pay more than double housing costs to own a home
Many Seattle area residents feel like the bar to owning a home just keeps getting higher, and they're not imagining things.
The cost of a monthly mortgage payment is now well beyond double the cost of median rent here — among the largest gaps in the country.
While the typical renter who recently moved is spending an already eye-watering $2,...Read more
Real estate Q&A: Should we walk away from buying home where inspection found issues?
Q: We just got our home inspection report back, and it is much worse than we expected. There are issues with the roof, the air conditioning and “possible electrical problems.” We love the house, but we are starting to feel like we are buying somebody else’s problem. Can we get them to fix things, or can we walk away without losing our ...Read more
Home buyers hammered as war-fueled bond rout drives rates higher
Najimah Roberson, a lifelong renter, spent the past two years searching around Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for a home she could afford — getting outbid nearly 30 times along the way.
The ordeal had the 42-year-old daycare business owner “in tears for weeks” before she finally found a five-bedroom fixer-upper for $340,000. It has an ...Read more
SEC chief Atkins pumps the brakes on prediction-market funds
The top U.S. securities regulator is delaying the launch of a wave of novel exchange-traded funds that would let investors wager on events such as elections and economic data as the agency weighs how far the $15 trillion ETF wrapper can stretch.
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins said Wednesday that he has instructed staff ...Read more
This law aims to prevent investors from flipping distressed homes. They're managing to anyway -- and going unpunished
The home on Bottlebrush Court was built in the early 1980s. The Oceanside property features four bedrooms, two baths and almost 1,600 square feet of living space on a 6,100-square-foot lot just south of the San Luis Rey River.
When it was put up for public foreclosure auction under a trustee sale in late 2022, county property records show the ...Read more
SEC to ready plan for trading crypto versions of stocks
The Trump administration is poised to roll out a plan for trading digital versions of securities that could reshape the landscape of the American stock market as it continues to loosen the rules for free-wheeling crypto markets.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to release its so-called innovation exemption for tokenized ...Read more
With gold near $5,000 an ounce, Americans empty their attics, and buyers hire to keep up
Gold doubled in price over the past two years, briefly topping $5,000 a troy ounce on Jan. 28. Since then, it’s stayed close to that price, a record high even after discounting inflation.
Around the same time, silver topped $100 an ounce for the first time, and the price has been bouncing since, from $70 to $90.
Precious metals buyers say ...Read more
Ford City Mall to shut down over safety concerns, ending 60-year run on Chicago's Southwest Side
The main building at Chicago’s Ford City Mall will shut down permanently in about five weeks due to what city attorneys have described as unsafe conditions, ending its more than 60-year run as a top retail destination for the Southwest Side.
“The main mall will be shuttered June 22 at noon,” Assistant Corporation Counsel Greg Janes said ...Read more
Rocket Mortgage sues rival UWM for $100M
Detroit-based home lender Rocket Mortgage filed a lawsuit Thursday against local archrival United Wholesale Mortgage for alleged breach of contract.
The suit marks the latest escalation in a bitter personal and business feud between Rocket Companies Chairman Dan Gilbert and UWM CEO Mat Ishbia.
The filing from Rocket to the New York state ...Read more
Real estate Q&A: Am I responsible for mortgage after signing quit-claim deed?
Q: My ex and I divorced last year, and she kept the house. I signed a quit-claim deed transferring my interest in the property to her. I thought I was done with it. Now I am trying to buy a small place of my own, and my lender says I still appear to be responsible for the mortgage on the old house. How can that be? I do not even own it anymore. ...Read more
Taylor Swift, lawsuits and quirky exemptions: How empty homes tax works in other cities
SAN DIEGO — If Measure A passes on June 2, San Diego would join a group of cities in the U.S., Canada and abroad that tax second homes or properties that are unoccupied for most of the year.
San Diego’s “non-primary home” tax, as it is being called, would impose an initial annual levy of $8,000 on more than 5,000 homes that are vacant ...Read more
