IRVINE, California — Four years before the Palisades and Eaton fires ravaged Los Angeles, Irvine braced for a blaze of its own.

A bone-dry summer left the landscape parched and primed to ignite as Santa Ana winds roared through the region at 80 mph. On the morning of Oct. 26, 2020, the Silverado fire erupted.

Firefighters deployed. The city ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Housing counselor Kenya Dow-Hill is good at striking deals.

Through Philadelphia’s Eviction Diversion Program, she was paired with a tenant living in a cold and leaky home who faced eviction after withholding rent for two months to try to force the landlord to make repairs.

During a mediation session last month, the landlord...Read more

As the flames plunged down Eaton Canyon on Jan. 7, Todd Smoyer fled his Altadena, California, home in tears knowing it would be the last time he’d see it.

His neighbor confirmed the next morning that the Midcentury ranch was a heap of ash.

The devastating news kicked off a manic January for Smoyer and his husband, who joined thousands of ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to use $125 million in settlement funds from the 2008 mortgage crisis to pay for people who have lost their homes in recent wildfires and face the threat of foreclosure.

Newsom announced Wednesday that he was proposing the creation of a new program within the California Housing Finance Agency to ...Read more

The future of the federal government’s footprint in Chicago is uncertain as the Trump administration embarks on a plan to shed up to half of all government office space across the nation, while also shrinking the federal workforce.

The federal government owns 19 properties in Chicago, including the John C. Kluczynski Federal Building and the ...Read more

If you’re changing jobs or have been laid off, chances are that your 401(k) account is the last thing on your mind. But it pays to include that money in your moving plans — even if you don’t deal with it right away.

Fortunately, these workplace retirement accounts are designed to be portable. However, moving your 401(k) and choosing when...Read more

SAN DIEGO — A proposed 224-unit housing development that’s been called an ideal way to add mid-rise homes to mostly single-family neighborhoods is facing a new hurdle: a lawsuit over its potential impact on traffic and wildfire risk.

The project has been called ideal by city officials because it’s proposed for the edge of an existing ...Read more

Early retirement isn’t exclusively for the rich. Many people, particularly followers of the FIRE movement — short for Financial Independence, Retire Early — use a couple of key calculations to determine how much money they need to sustain an extended stay in retirement, which can begin years or even decades earlier than the standard ...Read more

President Donald Trump’s administration has shuttered the headquarters of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and ordered the watchdog agency to stop nearly all of its work. On Saturday, CFPB chief Russell Vought sent the directive to the agency’s staff, the Associated Press reported.

In the notification, Vought ordered agency ...Read more

Few things in modern life are built to last. But one area where longevity really matters is in your investment portfolio.

A “forever portfolio” is designed to generate wealth consistently, so you can live comfortably without running out of money later in life. It takes the stress and guesswork out of investing by focusing on long-term ...Read more

Mortgage rates could go up because of a trade war between the United States and Canada, Mexico and China, according to real estate experts.

Tariffs also could potentially increase prices on building materials, and more, and inflation invariably means mortgage rates will go up.

Nicholas Irwin, research director for UNLV’s Lied Center for Real...Read more

The first major office-to-residential conversion of the post-pandemic era in Philadelphia is set to be completed this spring.

Alterra Property Group is on schedule to finish the conversion of 1701 Market St. from an office building to apartments by Memorial Day. Units will begin leasing in March.

For all the talk of transforming empty offices ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- As an urban planner, Marina Martos Dabel was dreaming about adding an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, long before she and her husband, Dr. Pascal Dabel, purchased their Silver Lake home in 2016.

“I always wanted to get my hands on a backyard rec room or ADU project,” Marina says. When it came to the stylish addition the ...Read more

Today's housing market mostly operates out in the open — in one place, buyers surfing Zillow or Redfin can see nearly every home listed for sale.

But in recent months, one of the industry's largest brokerages, Compass, has been pushing for more sellers to list their homes "privately" — meaning they can only be viewed by buyers represented ...Read more

As interest rates stay elevated and inflation remains stubbornly high, many Americans appear to be finding it tougher to access the financing they need — and it’s posing challenges for both their finances and their aspirations.

Nearly half of Americans (45%) said they have applied for a loan or financial product in the past 12 months since...Read more