Category: General

Know Your Condo Insurance Condo insurance is a necessity. As a condo buyer, you’ll get a condo insurance policy, and the payments will likely be pulled from the escrow account established for your mortgage account. This way, the value of the real estate (and your lender’s stake in it) asset is covered against damage. Your…

Amid unexpected challenges, technology has found ways to help us get things done. Some tech advancements, barely imaginable a few years ago, are making themselves indispensable. And while pre-pandemic homebuying was filled with in-person meetings and tours, apps and gadgets are folding much of the process into digital experiences. For professionals in the field, repetitive…

Five Trends and Themes to Watch in 2022 Rental demand is high. It’s expected to keep rising in 2022. If you’re thinking of investing in real estate now, you’re coming in at a propitious time — yet you’ll have a lot on your radar. Here are five big topics for investor-owners now.

Planning for the Unthinkable Kindness is magic, it’s said. And one of the most important examples of kindness is demonstrated by the person who backs someone else’s mortgage with no expectation of personal benefit. No one wants to imagine the death of a hero. But it’s important to look ahead and prepare for the most…

Avoid Common Real Estate Document Mistakes Creating a legal document? Congratulations! And don’t hurry. Attention to punctuation, grammar, and formatting can make a serious difference, both in asset ownership and in estate planning. Checking a legal instrument carefully is essential.

And What’s All This Talk About Rate Hikes? In a Wall Street Journal article titled Millennials Are Supercharging the Housing Market, millennials — many of whom are just now jumping into the market — account for more than half of all mortgage applications. Super. A good deal of the future demand for homes hinges on…

Do Condo Owners Give Up Freedom of Expression? Covenants and restrictions keep condominium properties safe, neat and tidy. But sometimes they irritate HOA members or potential buyers. Sometimes they even chill freedom of expression. The matter of chilling came up for an Amherst, Massachusetts condo property, after the board took note of a nearby case…

From Habitat for Humanity to Lennar A Virginia resident has moved into a new, 3D-printed home. It’s a milestone for Habitat for Humanity in the United States. The company Alquist 3D built April Stringfield’s home on behalf of Habitat for Humanity’s Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg branch. Once the work was complete, in December 2021, Stringfield…

Anti-Money Laundering Update The U.S. Treasury Department is gearing up to expand oversight of real estate deals for cash. The Treasury Department has issued notice, through its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), of a proposed rule to deal with money laundering. A specific target of the Biden administration’s anti-corruption drive is the purchase of real estate…

Should sites like Redfin.com, Realtor.com, and Trulia.com have crime figures on their websites for home shoppers? Here are the arguments now being made on either side of the question. We start with a brief rundown of specific real estate sites that are formulating new policy.

The U.S. housing market lifted sale prices to new highs in 2021. Remote work, which surged in 2020, really settled into accepted custom in 2021. Our new way of working became central to the way we choose our homes and the way live in them, and the results were unreal. Other factors that made 2021…

Will 2022 Be Better for Buyers? Home sellers did very well in 2021. There was just one rub. Most people who sell also want to buy. And homes were very expensive. Some boomers who would normally be downsizing now, and putting their houses into the market, have not. They’ve stayed put, waiting for somewhere to…

When Strangers Divide Inherited Land An Asheville Watchdog investigation, as reported by the Citizen Times, painted a very grim picture of partition law in North Carolina this year. Also known as the forced sale, the partition law in most states can be seized on by shrewd investors who know how to grab land from struggling…

A Trend Whose Time Has Come The way we use energy at home can increase or limit greenhouse gases. As climate disruption is a pressing issue for everyone, “green” buildings and habits aren’t just nice to have—they’ve become essentials. Green home innovations are enabling homeowners to turn natural forces into heating, air conditioning, and electricity…

There’s an App for That Responsible home flippers do things right. Today, they’re assisted by technology. Some investors rely on internet connections and real estate apps the whole way through. In recent times, doing business at a distance has generally proven as effective as working on-site, and the home flipping arena is just one of…