Housing
Metro Phoenix housing market’s turnaround creates new issues
“More than 100,000 houses stood vacant across metro Phoenix barely three years ago — roughly one of every 10. Today, it’s more like one out of every 100. Where have all the empty houses gone?“
Read More$45 cost one woman her home
“In part three of Homes for the Taking, The Washington Post’s Debbie Cenziper, Mike Sallah and Steven Rich found the District’s tax office has risked 1,900 houses to foreclosure by mistakenly counting property owners as delinquent even after they paid their taxes, forcing them to fight for their homes in grueling legal battles that persisted…
Read MoreLeft With Nothing
“This man owed $134 in property taxes. The District sold the lien to an investor who foreclosed on his $197,000house and sold it. He and many other homeowners like him were left with nothing.”
Read MoreAfter paying $600,000 to ‘Hoe’ Brown, Hillsborough changes homeless program
“Managers of Homeless Recovery said they do not have the staff to inspect properties where the agency pays to house its clients. Brown is one of dozens of landlords they deal with. The managers said the agency does not refer clients to specific properties, and they’ve never gotten a complaint about Brown’s property. Neither is…
Read MoreOff-campus houses a long-standing problem for Naval Academy
“Last week’s hearing on sexual assault allegations against three U.S. Naval Academy football players highlighted a little-known problem at the school: off-campus rental houses that violate academy regulations but have been the scene of alcohol-and sex-fueled parties for years. The Sun found that the houses, nestled in quiet suburban neighborhoods, have been the focus of…
Read MoreVictims’ Dilemma: 911 Calls Can Bring Eviction
“Aiming to save neighborhoods from blight and to ease burdens on the police, municipalities have adopted ordinances requiring landlords to weed out disruptive tenants,” The New York Times reports.
Read MoreUsing Outdated Data, FEMA Is Wrongly Placing Homeowners in Flood Zones
“From Maine to Oregon, local floodplain managers say FEMA’s recent flood maps — which dictate the premiums that 5.5 million Americans pay for flood insurance — have often been built using outdated, inaccurate data. Homeowners, in turn, have to bear the cost of fixing FEMA’s mistakes,” according to a ProPublica report.
Read MoreDespite mortgage schemes, real estate agents keep license
“Despite Minnesota’s crackdown on ‘deceptive and dishonest’ loan modification schemes, the state Commerce Department has allowed many of those involved to retain their real estate licenses a Star Tribune report has found.” “Since 2010, the department has taken enforcement action against 36 individuals for violating mortgage modification laws. Ten of them held some kind of…
Read MoreBeyond Payday Loans
“Sutton ended up with a series of installment loans from World — renewed one after the other — that dragged her ever-deeper into debt, and made getting her bills paid and getting back on her feet a whole lot harder. It is a repeated pattern for low-income borrowers with low or no credit, which an investigation by…
Read MoreNew program to curb hospital return visits may burden smaller ones in poorer areas
“Eight California hospitals — including four in the Los Angeles area — are among the institutions paying the maximum fine under a new Medicare program designed to reduce high patient readmission rates. Under the 2010 federal Affordable Care Act, the federal government has started fining hospitals with high readmissions rates as much as 1 percent of the…
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