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Trump, Pulte threats fuel $19.5 billion homebuilders rout

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

President Donald Trump and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte are fueling a deeper selloff in already struggling homebuilder stocks.

A series of social media posts, from the US president over the weekend and then from the FHFA director and real estate scion Pulte on Wednesday, contributed to a four-day losing streak for an S&P ...Read more

Real estate Q&A: How can I get my neighbor to keep it down during 5 a.m. workouts?

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Q: I live in an apartment, and my upstairs neighbor gets up to work out every day at 5 a.m. He’s often loud, dropping the weights and waking me up. I’m kind of at my wits’ end. I really don’t want to have to report him to the community, but I also need to get some sleep. What can I do? — Adrian

A: Living in an apartment comes with its...Read more

Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Almost no one is building new apartments in Los Angeles. Here's why

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Los Angeles developer Cliff Goldstein just completed a plush new apartment complex on the Westside, but that's the last one he's going to build for the foreseeable future.

Even though demand for housing in the region is red hot, many people who build apartments for a living have paused putting shovels in the ground because, they say, it's just ...Read more

Glen Stubbe/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Minneapolis Fed's Neel Kashkari: Fed cuts might not lead to lower mortgage rates

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

American consumers are waiting for the Federal Reserve to cut rates so they can buy or sell their homes, but Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said Tuesday that the long-awaited mortgage rate drop might not materialize.

There’s only so much money to go around, Kashkari said, and the amount of cash flowing into AI — though it’s ...Read more

Nathan Howard/Getty Images North America/TNS

Why fears of a trillion-dollar AI bubble are growing

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

For almost as long as the artificial intelligence boom has been in full swing, there have been warnings of a speculative bubble that could rival the dot-com craze of the late 1990s that ended in a spectacular crash and a wave of bankruptcies.

Tech firms are spending hundreds of billions of dollars on advanced chips and data centers, not just ...Read more

Hannah Wiley/Los Angeles Times/TNS

This bill has been hailed a 'landmark' victory for California YIMBYs. But it only narrowly escaped defeat

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

This year, San Francisco Senator Scott Wiener passed a bill that will allow mid-rise housing to be built near transit stops, a win for the pro-housing lawmaker who’d seen two previous attempts collapse before even reaching the Senate floor, blocked by lawmakers concerned about state interference in local land-use decisions.

On multiple ...Read more

Real estate Q&A: Who pays to replace hurricane windows removed during condo restoration?

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Q: My condo apartment’s back lanai has been undergoing concrete restoration for a year, and my unit was the first completed. There is an ongoing debate between the association and engineers about what to do with the hurricane windows and shutters on the lanai edge. Meanwhile, the association and contractors removed my hurricane windows due to ...Read more

Tim Henderson/Stateline/TNS

Home sales drop in Las Vegas, rise in Houston as market heads for worst year since 1995

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Home sales closings dropped in August and remain well below pre-pandemic levels as high prices and interest rates weighed on the market, according to an analysis this week by the Calculated Risk blog.

Home sales are on track for the worst year in decades, matching the 4 million annual sales in 1995, according to a separate realtor.com report ...Read more

Phillip Molnar/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

'Bidding wars are in the rear view': San Diego home prices fall in US rankings

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

SAN DIEGO — San Diego home prices were down annually for a second month as the region fell in a closely watched real estate index.

The San Diego metropolitan area’s home price decreased 0.66% annually in July, according to the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Indices report released this week. Prices were down year-over-year by 0.61% the previous ...Read more

Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group/TNS

San Jose to buy downtown site once proposed for major tech campus as it eyes the creation of a sports and entertainment district

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

SAN JOSE, Calif. — San Jose has elected to purchase a prime downtown property once slated for a major tech campus, which could potentially aid the city’s vision of expanding its convention center and developing a sports and entertainment district.

The City Council has approved the $13.5 million acquisition of 447 S. Almaden Blvd – a 3.56-...Read more

Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times/TNS

Why Seattle-area homeowners keep vacant rooms instead of renting out

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

In the midst of the Seattle-area housing shortage, hundreds of thousands of vacant rooms in big houses sit untapped as many homeowners are either reluctant to have a housemate or unsure about how to go about it.

Larry Crites is a longtime rental property owner living in Seattle.

He used to rent out the upstairs section of his first house. But ...Read more

Nick Wagner/The Seattle Times/TNS

Seattle-area owners of big houses stay put as downsizing costs rise

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Brenda Beeson loves her house. It’s where she woke up next to her husband each morning and rushed her daughter out to school. She never thought the house in South King County, Washington, once so full of life, could feel as empty as it does now.

Ever since her husband unexpectedly died in 2018 and her daughter moved out, four of the home’s ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

FTC sues Zillow and Redfin over rental listing deal

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

The Federal Trade Commission is suing Zillow and Redfin for allegedly conspiring to eliminate competition for rental housing listings.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the FTC claims the real estate giants violated federal antitrust laws by entering into an illegal agreement to...Read more

Scott S. Hamrick/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Vanguard weighs allowing trading of crypto ETFs

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Vanguard Group Inc. is weighing whether to allow trading of cryptocurrency-focused exchange-traded funds on its platform, a move that would mark a major easing of its restrictive stance toward the popular but volatile asset class.

Should the switch go through, it would open the door for Vanguard’s more than 50 million investors — with some ...Read more

DREAMSTIME/TNS

Seminole Tribe sues Lennar over 552 'defective' new houses across Florida

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Hundreds of homes built by the Miami-based Lennar Corporation on tribal land over the last five years are in such shoddy condition that no one can safely live in them, according to a lawsuit against the construction company filed by the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

The lawsuit was filed in March, but efforts to resolve the dispute between the ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

10 of the biggest changes to retirement accounts due to new 401(k) and IRA rules

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Congress has shaken up retirement plans once again, and the changes benefit a wide swath of Americans saving for their golden years through IRAs or employer plans such as 401(k)s.

The SECURE Act 2.0 became law in the last days of 2022, and the new rules provide assistance for retirement savers, small businesses and many others. In fact, the ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Ordinary annuity vs. annuity due: The small difference that affects its value

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

An annuity is a financial product that provides a stream of income over a set period. Annuities are often used in retirement planning as a way to generate income from a lump sum investment.

However, there are different ways these payments can be structured, including ordinary annuities and annuities due. While the concept may seem ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Rule of 72: What it is and how to use it

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

You don’t need a finance degree to figure out how long it’ll take to double your money as an investor. The Rule of 72 offers a quick shortcut to estimate growth based on interest rates or, on the flip side, the erosion of buying power from inflation. It’s not perfect, but it’s useful for spotting how time and compounding work in your ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Car crash kills 3 members of 'Meet the Putmans' reality family; 5 hospitalized

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

The family at the center of TLC reality show “Meet the Putmans” was torn apart Saturday after a deadly car crash killed three relatives and left five others hospitalized.

The Putmans announced on Saturday that patriarch Bill “Papa” Putman, his wife Barb, better known as “Neenee,” and Aunt Megan had all died “in a tragic car ...Read more

Christina House/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Fire victims get one year of mortgage relief under new California law

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Legislation that allows victims of the Jan. 7 fire storms to receive up to a year of mortgage relief was signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom as an urgency measure that takes effect immediately.

Assembly Bill 238 enables borrowers to put a stop to their mortgage payments for up to 12 months with no late fees or penalties, by attesting without...Read more