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Seeking happiness? An Australian researcher finds that making payments on a mortgage is a good way to feel better. Professor Bob Cummins of Deakin University told the Sydney Morning Herald that his studies of well-being have found that homeowners are more content than renters at all levels of income. Renters tend to be more footloose, […]
Charlotte County home sellers may have finally learned that the boom market is over — at least for now.
Supply and demand seem to be finding a new equilibrium in the Punta Gorda metropolitan statistical area, which also includes all of unincorporated Charlotte County, according to October existing-home sales figures released Tuesday by the Florida Association […]
Cities are struggling to adequately meet the housing needs of lower-income working families, those with disabilities, people in transition, and immigrant families. At the same time, three-fourths of local housing officials report that the spiraling cost of housing is significantly limiting the opportunities for homeownership for lower-income people and younger families. These findings are part […]
Brevard County’s housing market continued to be in the doldrums in November, according to the latest statistics from the Home Builders & Contractors Association of Brevard.
The number of housing construction permits issued countywide in November was 235, down from 613 permits in November 2005 and down from a short-lived increase of 512 permits in October […]
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Buyers and sellers are waiting for the other to blink: The housing slowdown isn’t giving buyers the big bargains that they might have hoped; and where there are discounts, buyers aren’t leaping to grab them, says Karl E. Case, an economics professor at Wellesley College, who specializes in real estate. Case says the most recent […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. December 22nd, 2006 — A new tax deduction will make homes more affordable next year by allowing many American home buyers to write-off premiums for private and government mortgage insurance.
The deduction, which will help families who can’t afford the traditional 20 percent down payment for a home mortgage, will be effective for the […]
It ends with a whimper: The 2006 hurricane season concludes today with nary a single hurricane making landfall, a feat not repeated since 2001 and only the 11th time on record. Most forecasters offered explanations on why their forecasts fell short since most predicted an above-average hurricane season last spring; at the same time, they’re […]
Ah, prognostication. It’s a time-honored profession and one that’s hard to beat in terms of job security. In what other profession can you get it wrong half the time and still be considered pretty good at what you do? If “Bob in accounting” had that kind of track record, he’d be out on the street […]
As real estate cooled this year, teardowns plummeted by at least 20 percent nationally, roughly corresponding to the drop in housing starts, says Stephen Melman of the National Association of Home Builders.
That news was greeted with delight by preservationists, but few believe it will last.
The potential profits of teardowns simply are too attractive to dissuade […]
A new study by the Consumer Federation of America found that in 2005 about one third of women took out mortgages with interest rates over 7.66 percent (above the average prime mortgage rate of 5.87 percent) compared with about a quarter of men. The study, which examined 4.4 million mortgage originations throughout the country, also […]
Homeowners who pay less than 20 percent down must many times pay for private mortgage insurance (PMI), but a law recently passed by Congress makes that cost fully deductible on income taxes starting in 2007. It applies to new loans for households making less than $100,000 per year.
The change also applies to mortgage insurance issued […]
A slowdown in one industry can provide a big boost for another.
There are so many homes for sale nationwide that the Bradenton-based company that makes the front-door lockboxes used to gain access to houses is working around the clock to keep up with demand.
One local real estate group even ran out of its supply after […]
Once you’ve hit the big time, there are certain perks you become entitled to enjoy: first-class travel, better bottles of wine, a garage full of expensive cars, and a vacation home. But all too often this last luxury takes the shape of a seasonal ski lodge or beach house, usually a good distance from your […]