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Real estate biz won't survive on referrals alone Premium Content

By Bernice Ross, Thursday, June 22, 2006.

(This is Part 1 of a two-part series. See Part 2.)

Is your business built exclusively on referrals?  more...

Patience, Manhattan real estate and 'Little House on the Prairie'

By Alison Rogers, Thursday, June 22, 2006.

For my first wedding anniversary, I went back to a children's story.

When I was a kid, I loved the "Little House on the Prairie" books, so I thought it would be kind of fun to re-read "The First Four Years," which is the last of them. It's the story of the writer Laura Ingalls Wilder and her husband Almanzo's first years of marriage.

The story, which is pretty romanticized, is full of new wedding dishes and spring pony rides and the birth of their first baby.  more...

Could nomadic dwellings be next development trend?

By Arrol Gellner, Thursday, June 22, 2006.

Hardly a day goes by that I don't get a news release from some public relations firm touting their client's latest ersatz Tuscan villas, or some decadent new cook stove for people with too much money. Nowadays these promotions arrive by the Internet instead of by mail, which no doubt saves those PR folks lots of money.  more...

New products make building outdoor decks easier

By Paul Bianchina, Thursday, June 22, 2006.

Thanks to the ever-growing popularity of outdoor decks, which are in many ways an ideal do-it-yourself project, a wide variety of products and services have made their way into the marketplace to help you build that deck faster, easier and sturdier, with more professional results.

Deck Kits: If your plans are for something fairly basic, most of the larger lumberyards and home centers can provide you with a complete deck-building kit in several standard sizes and configurations.  more...

How to steal your neighbor's property and avoid jail

By Robert Bruss, Thursday, June 22, 2006.

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's property" is part of the Ten Commandments. But real estate law in every state says it is all right to steal your neighbor's land without going to jail if you comply with state law.

That news may be shocking. However, it's true. In fact, statutes in every state encourage the theft of your neighbor's unused property.  more...

Housing market may not tank economy

By Lou Barnes, Thursday, June 22, 2006.

The all-important 10-year T-note is crawling toward 5.25 percent, the level of the Fed hike due next Thursday. Mortgages are following in slow motion, although 30-year rates are still below 7 percent.

There were no economic data of note. Bonds generally followed stocks, as they have for weeks. When stocks fell apart two weeks ago, bonds assumed that the crater marked the long-awaited economic slowdown, a Fed stop and perhaps a retreat. As global equity markets have rebounded since, bonds have priced an indefinitely deferred slowdown.  more...