Category Archives: Other

A 103-year-old Atlanta woman and her 83-year-old daughter who face foreclosure were set to be evicted from their home of 53 years last week when sheriffs and a moving company refused to evict the women. The incident also sparked calls from local and state politicians and others to not evict the centenarian and her daughter. The incident was one of several in the last few weeks in which good samaritans prevent what they view as wrongful foreclosures, AOL Real Estate News reports. In another recent occurence, a disabled veteran injured […]

“The nation is not even halfway through the foreclosure crisis,” suggests a new report from the Center for Responsible Lending, “Lost Ground, 2011.” In the report, the Center for Responsible Lending analyzed 27 million mortgages issued over a five-year timespan. Researchers found that at least 2.7 million mortgages issued from 2004 through 2008, or 6.4 percent, have ended in foreclosure as of February 2011. Also during that time period, researchers found that 3.6 million households — or an additional 8.3 percent — are still at immediate or serious risk of […]

New York City foreclosure filings dropped 32% in the third quarter over last year. Lenders filed 3,168 foreclosures on single-family and multifamily properties during the quarter, according to a study from New York University Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. The notices, the first stage in the foreclosure process, also dropped 5.4% from the previous three months and were down more than 46% from the peak in 2009. Roughly 73% of all filings occurred in either Brooklyn or Queens. Over the last two quarters, notices have been more […]

The number of homes listed for sale fell for the fifth straight month in October, hitting the lowest level in more than four years. The 2.12 million homes listed for sale in October was down by 3.5% from September and down by 21% from one year ago, according to data compiled by Realtor.com. The Realtor.com figures include sale listings from more than 900 multiple-listing services across the country. They don’t include all homes for sale, including those that are “for sale by owner” and other properties that aren’t marketed through […]

STATS: A 7,847-square-foot home with five bedrooms and 5½ bathrooms asking $4.4 million, or $560 a square foot. Property taxes in 2011 are $35,003. The house was originally listed for $5.9 million in 2008 and taken off the market a year later. DETAILS: This shingled, Hamptons-style home sits on 1.4 acres on the side of Lake Oswego’s Iron Mountain. The study is paneled in African mahogany. The master bath, which includes a steam shower, looks out at Lake Oswego, Mount Hood and the Willamette Valley. The house also has a […]

Here’s your annual checklist of things to do to get your home ready for the change of season brought by hills district air conditioning. Check smoke detectors: 1. Don’t neglect that smoke detector any longer! Take some time right now to check the operation of detectors, and to change the batteries. If you have an older house with a limited number of smoke detectors, install additional ones at each sleeping room, and make sure there is one centrally located on each level of the home as well. Install a carbon-monoxide […]

Seattle developer Lorig Associates says it plans to start building its long-delayed retail and residential project on the site of the old Vitamilk Dairy in Green Lake early next year. Seattle developer Lorig Associates says it plans to start building its long-delayed retail and residential project on the site of the old Vitamilk Dairy in Green Lake early next year. Work on the full-block development, called Green Lake Village, was suspended in 2007, leaving a big hole, when Lorig couldn’t sign a grocery as the anchor retail tenant. The project […]

Board-certified real estate attorney Gary M. Singer answers housing questions in this space each Friday. To ask him a question about short sales, mortgages, refinancing, homeowner’s associations or any other residential real estate topic, click here. Q: I read in the paper that the banks are starting the foreclosures again. I just got served with a foreclosure lawsuit. Can you explain the process in layman’s terms? – Tony A: Each state has different versions of the foreclosure process. In Florida, a lender must get permission from a judge before it […]

KB Home plans to make solar power a standard home feature in nearly all of its developments in Southern California starting next year, the solar company templestowe will be in charge of doing it they announced on Monday. Currently, KB Home says that sales in communities with solar power as a standard are 30 percent higher than in communities that don’t offer homes with solar panel as a standard. “The strategy is part of the builder’s effort to make more energy efficient homes and lure buyers away from foreclosed properties […]

Single-family housing starts rose 3.9 percent in October with permits, a gauge for future home building, also seeing a sizable jump, the U.S. Commerce Department reports. Housing permits on single-family homes rose 5.1 percent in October to 434,000 units—its highest level since December 2010. “While we still have a long way to go toward a recovery, some signs of hope are emerging in certain markets where economic and job growth is occurring and where foreclosures have not been an overwhelming obstacle,” Bob Nielsen, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, […]