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Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Big Oakland hotel is seized by lender as Bay Area lodging market fades

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

OAKLAND, California — A lender has taken ownership of Oakland’s biggest hotel through a foreclosure that underscores the ailments and price nosedives that plague the Bay Area’s sickly lodging market.

The Oakland Marriott City Center hotel was taken back by its lender, which bought the property for just under $70.2 million through the ...Read more

Real estate Q&A: Can country club board decide who is on new owner's deed?

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Q: A lady I know recently purchased a country club property together with her stepfather. The club’s board decided they couldn’t be members because the stepfather was married to her mother, which would automatically make the mother the second member. They were told the mother had to be included, even though she wasn’t on the property deed,...Read more

Seattle sued over its mandatory housing affordability program -- again

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

A small construction company and two homeowners in Seattle are suing the city over its mandatory affordable housing program that requires developers either build or help pay for below-market-rate homes.

The lawsuit, brought by the libertarian-minded Institute for Justice, alleges the program fails to establish a nexus between new residential ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: Knowing Your Cleaning Products Is Good for Your Health and Wealth

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

Two women. Different locations. Same accident. Both were using an ordinary commercial toilet bowl cleaner containing ammonia and were not satisfied with the way it was removing stains. Each added household chlorine bleach to that commercial product and stirred with a brush. One died quickly; the other spent a long time in the hospital.

Here's ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: With Meal Planning, Think Cost Per Serving, Not Price Per Pound

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

Pop quiz: Which is the better buy? Pork tenderloin for $2.97 per pound or boneless pork chops at $3.47 per pound -- taken from my local supermarket's weekly ad? If you answered the tenderloin, you're in good company. Most of us would, but we'd be wrong. Price per pound can be misleading because not all cuts of meat and poultry yield the same ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: Widen the Gap with Homemade Bread

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

If you've read my book, "7 Money Rules for Life," you know that rule No. 1 is so simple it would be easy to overlook it as being too elementary. Here it is: Spend less than you earn.

Now, let's think about this. "Spend less than you earn" is not the same as "Don't spend more than you earn." That implies it would be OK to spend all that you earn...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Does it make sense to buy an annuity in your 40s?

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Annuities are often associated with retirees looking for a steady income stream later in life. But does it make sense to lock in guaranteed income in your 40s, potentially decades before retirement?

On the surface, the idea of guaranteed income sounds appealing. But annuities are complicated financial products, and buying one too early can tie ...Read more

Haven't made a will yet? startup has new AI tool to help

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

In 2017, Cody Barbo told a room of investors that he was getting married in a month. His friend asked him this question: “Hey man, you’re getting married. Do you have a will?” Barbo froze, threw out a mild swear word and answered, “I should probably have one.”

Barbo is the CEO of Trust & Will, a San Diego company that simplifies the ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

The 7 mistakes I made when refinancing my mortgage

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

When my husband and I refinanced our mortgage in 2009, we felt confident we were making the right move. Since both of us had exceptional credit, we knew we could reduce our mortgage rate by one percentage point or more, as is considered de rigueur when refinancing. A no-brainer, right?

In retrospect, I wonder. We should have considered other ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: Grill on a Budget: Backyard BBQs Without the Burn

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

You know it's officially summer when the scent of grilled hot dogs hits you before your neighbor even says hello. Backyard BBQ season is one of life's simple pleasures -- until you're standing at the checkout line wondering how three packs of hamburger patties and a watermelon somehow added up to $87. And that's before you even hit the condiment...Read more

Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group/TNS

California's former insurance commissioner wants oil and gas companies to pay for the home insurance crisis

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

As destructive wildfires have ravaged California over the past decade, the insurance industry has dropped hundreds of thousands of homeowners statewide, raised their premiums, and, in some cases, stopped writing new home policies anywhere in the state.

Few understand the crisis better than Dave Jones, the former California insurance ...Read more

Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

10,000 acres of prime land sitting vacant in Las Vegas Valley: report

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Approximately 10,000 acres of prime land that could be developed are sitting vacant in Southern Nevada, according to a new study.

A total of 31,650 tax lots, encompassing 78,285 undeveloped or underutilized acres, with 10,000 of those acres considered prime for residential and commercial development potential are available in the region, ...Read more

Ricardo Torres-Cortez/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

Las Vegas short-term rental group challenges enforcement of rules

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

A group of Clark County, Nevada, property owners has filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the county and state challenging the government’s ability to enforce restrictions on providing short-term rentals to visitors to Southern Nevada.

The Greater Las Vegas Short-Term Rental Association and several of its individual members ...Read more

Allison Mawn/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

I just graduated college. Will I be able to buy a house like my parents did?

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Since graduating college in May, I’ve been thinking about my future a lot. One question has stood out: Am I going to be able to buy a home like my parents did less than 30 years ago?

Pretty much everywhere, home prices have climbed in recent years. The median price for metro Atlanta, which spans multiple counties, grew from $190,634 in April ...Read more

Real estate Q&A: Does HOA's definition of commercial vehicle override state law?

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Q: Our community does not allow “commercial vehicles” to remain overnight. However, the association documents define what a commercial vehicle is differently from our city, and the state has yet another definition. The Board is attempting to have the homeowner remove his “commercial vehicle,” as defined in our documents; however, ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: How to Have a Successful Garage Sale

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

Whether your goal is to purge your home of stuff you no longer need, or you want to raise some cash -- or both -- you have options.

You can sell your items on an auction website like eBay.com, list them in the classified in a local newspaper or on craigslist.org. You can unload unwanted clutter on social platforms like Nextdoor and Facebook ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: 3 Ways to Clean a Bathtub That Are Easy on the Back and Knees

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

Cleaning the bathtub is one of those housekeeping chores that's more pain than pleasure for those with health issues that make bending and kneeling difficult. So hard on the back and knees that it just doesn't get cleaned well. Here to the rescue are three very effective and efficient ways to keep any bathtub sparkling clean -- even a tub that ...Read more

Dreamstime/TNS/TNS

Rocket Companies completes purchase of Redfin

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Rocket Companies announced Tuesday that it has closed on its previously announced $1.75 billion deal for real estate brokerage Redfin, a deal that combines Redfin’s home search platform with Detroit-based Rocket’s mortgage lending.

“I’ve used Redfin every day for the last 20 years. It helped me find and fall in love with my first home, ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: Values are More Often Caught Than Taught

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

Bents, characteristics, abilities and tendencies are the conduits through which you can pass your values to your kids. But how exactly do you make the pass? It's though your life, the way you live.

Kids learn most effectively through observation and imitation. It's the witness of our lives -- more than anything we say -- that is taken in slowly...Read more

Seattle dropped key NIMBY rules. Why aren't developers swarming?

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Say farewell to single-family zoning as you've known it, Seattle.

As of Monday, developers can build up to four homes on city lots that today are dominated by individual houses, the result of a state law meant to add smaller and more affordable homes to the vast majority of land reserved for pricey single-family homes.

But despite the yes in ...Read more

 

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