8 reasons to invest in your home
Not long ago, you could have your big remodeling project and get your money back too. Owners recouped an average of 87% of home improvement costs at resale in 2005, according to Remodeling magazine.
Home prices: ‘Calling for double dip’
November home prices continued their latest slump, falling 1% compared with October, according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index of 20 metro markets.
12 cities: Where to rent vs. buy
Cities like Las Vegas and Miami boast killer buying opportunities, but you’re better off renting in New York and Seattle, according to Trulia’s quarterly Rent vs. Buy index.
A luxury suite at the W Hotel in Dallas is as good a place as any to conquer the world. At least it seemed that way in 2007 when Tobechi Onwuhara got the crew together. They’d meet there often, seven or eight of them. Some had nicknames from the Ian Fleming lexicon: C, Q, and E. Others were called Mookie, Orji, Uche. They would spread out on designer sofas and at the wet bar, open three-ring binders, and fire up laptops with hard-to-trace wireless cards. On a nearby table there’d be prepaid cellphones with area codes taped to them. A phone for Southern California. A phone for Northern Virginia. A phone for any place Onwuhara had found the “good money.”
America’s most overvalued cities
Can a housing market simultaneously be the most undervalued in the nation and one of the worst housing buys? It can if it’s Las Vegas.
You’ve heard of McMansions, but what about Frankenhouses?
Sales of existing homes jumped in December, marking the fifth month of gains in the past six months, based on an industry report released Thursday.
Shadow inventory threatens housing recovery
There is a growing glut of foreclosed homes threatening to hit the market over the next couple of years, potentially delaying any recovery.
Bet the farm: Cropland prices soar 20%
The Corn Belt was the real estate place to be in 2010.
1 million homes repossessed in 2010
Foreclosures were at a record high in 2010, and more than 1 million people lost their homes, even as notices started leveling off during the end year.
Ski out your front door: 9 homes
Many skiers hitting the slopes this winter are also hitting the local real estate offices. Here’s what’s they’ll find for sale at resorts around the country.
Banks get ‘beat-down’ over foreclosures
The Massachusetts high court ruled on Friday that two foreclosures are invalid because the banks could not prove they had the proper paperwork to foreclose.
Vegas home prices: On skids until 2032
Move over, Cleveland. Make room, Detroit. Beat it, Buffalo. There are some competitors for the title of America’s most depressed real estate market.
Amy Merrick is a floral designer, writer and stylist living in Brooklyn, N.Y. A version of this essay first appeared on Bundle.com , where she documents her creative pursuits and how they intersect with money.
Rent vs. own ratio to flip in 2011?
Many Americans are content to rent after witnessing the housing market crumble. But with rents on the rise and home prices continuing to fall, a reversal is in sight.
