By Inman News, Tuesday, October 5, 2004.
By Carol Lloyd, Tuesday, October 5, 2004. When Shakespeare declared that "all the world's a stage," he couldn't have known the dark forces that would seize on his bit of metaphoric brilliance and turn it into the operative phrase for an expanding niche of the real estate industry three and a half centuries later. But now that theater has taken a permanent back seat to real estate as our most popular live spectacle, it's houses–not plays–that are getting staged. more...
By Inman News, Tuesday, October 5, 2004. The Congressional Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, chaired by Rep. Robert Ney (R-Ohio) will meet tomorrow for a hearing on mortgage fraud and its impact on mortgage lenders. Members are expected to hear testimony on how mortgage lenders and ultimately the market are affected by fraud schemes. On Sept. 17, the FBI reported the largest nationwide operation in its history directed at individuals engaged in various real estate fraud schemes. more...
By Robert Bruss, Tuesday, October 5, 2004.
In 1996, Congregation Etz Chaim began holding worship services, without a proper city permit, in a single-family house in a residential area. After neighbors objected, the city denied requests for zoning variances and a conditional-use permit. The congregation appealed, but the city council denied the applications. Purchase Bob Bruss reports online. more...
By Bill and Kevin Burnett, Tuesday, October 5, 2004.
Q: We are about to put a new roof on, and I'm wondering if there is a certain type of roofing material (or something else) that would discourage animals from walking on our roof? I'm not sure what gets up there, but you can hear it racing across the roof at various times of the day. It may be a raccoon, a skunk, a cat, a bird or a rat. Our existing roof is wood shingle and is about 20 years old. more...
By Robert Bruss, Tuesday, October 5, 2004.
DEAR BOB: You recently advised a condo owner who could not get any satisfaction from his homeowner's association board of directors to sell and move on. I highly disagree. We had a similar situation where we live. Our condo board of directors was as corrupt as you can imagine. Finally, several of my neighbors and I decided (instead of selling our condos) to do something about it. We ran as a "team" for the condo board of directors. The incumbents were shocked. We contacted every condo owner, even the absentee owners. more...
By Tom Kelly, Tuesday, October 5, 2004.
The nation's largest reverse mortgage lender recently rolled out the latest wrinkle in enabling seniors to tap the equity in high value homes – a "jumbo" reverse with no upfront fees. Irvine, Calif.-based Financial Freedom, recently purchased six weeks ago by IndyMac Bank from Lehman Brothers FSB, now is offering a "Simply Zero Cash Account" reverse mortgage in an effort to reduce the expensive perception of reverse loans. Simply Zero features no origination fee and no closing costs. more...
By Inman News, Tuesday, October 5, 2004. The median price of a single-family home in California is expected to rise 15 percent next year to $522,930, on the heels of a 22 percent rise in the median price from 2003 to 2004, the California Association of Realtors announced today. And housing affordability is expected to reach a record low in the state next year. "Home buyers next year will face slightly higher mortgage interest rates, approaching 7 percent by year's end, which will make it more difficult for many families in California to be able to afford a home," said Ann Pettijohn, association president. more...
By Inman News, Tuesday, October 5, 2004. On a campaign swing to the battleground state of Ohio, President George W. Bush visited the National Association of Home Builders' Board of Directors in Columbus on Oct. 2, to thank the housing industry for helping to lead the economic recovery and to discuss the ongoing efforts of his Administration to increase housing opportunities for the workforce, minorities and others. more...
By Inman News, Tuesday, October 5, 2004. Standard Pacific Corp., a major U.S. homebuilder, announced that its third-quarter home new-home orders were up 15 percent over the third quarter of last year. Total preliminary new-home orders for the third quarter reached 2,474 this year, compared with 2,148 in the third quarter of 2003. In Northern California, new-home orders continued to reflect healthy demand for new housing and were up slightly over the year earlier period on the same number of active selling communities. more...
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