Child support guidelines change in Massachusetts
The Massachusetts child support guidelines have been thoroughly revised for 2009. That means that anyone who gets divorced in 2009 or after will have the amount of their child support payments calculated under new rules. If you have a child support order from a divorce that occurred before 2009, your payments won’t change. And you […]
Real estate slump may help with estate planning
Real estate prices are in a slump in most places, but this can be good news if you want to transfer real estate assets to your children as a means of estate planning. Often, a good way to reduce estate taxes is to give your heirs an interest in your assets now, while retaining control […]
Average rents for offices and apartments decline
The average rent for a residential apartment fell in the fourth quarter of 2008. Although the average decline was small – only 0.4 percent – the drop was significant because this was the first time rents have fallen overall since 2003. The average vacancy rate was 6.6 percent, up from 5.7 percent a year earlier, […]
Can a city be sued for rezoning a property?
Can a landowner who planned to build a shopping plaza sue a city for changing the land’s zoning to “residential”? Maybe … but only if the rezoning almost totally destroyed the land’s value. That’s the result of a decision by a New York appeals court. Parviz Noghrey wanted to build a shopping center in Brookhaven, […]
Shopping mall must allow protest against tenant
A shopping mall cannot prevent a union from leafleting in front of a tenant’s store to urge a boycott of the store, according to the California Supreme Court. The union in this case represented employees of a San Diego newspaper. Union members wanted to protest outside a department store in the mall, urging shoppers not […]
Fannie Mae stops evicting tenants of foreclosed homes
Fannie Mae has announced a national policy under which it will no longer immediately evict tenants from homes on which it forecloses. Under the policy, the mortgage giant will in effect become a landlord or property manager for many homes where there is a foreclosure. Renters often face a difficult situation when a property is […]
New rules for mortgage appraisals
Starting May 1, 2009, new rules will apply to most appraisals of single-family homes requested by banks as part of the mortgage process. Lenders will have to comply with these rules in order to have their mortgages purchased by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The new rules are part of an effort to keep appraisals […]
Get an $8,000 tax bonus if you buy a home by November 30, 2009
The recent economic stimulus law contains a big tax break for first-time homebuyers: If you buy a home by November 30, 2009, you can claim an $8,000 tax credit. Congress had previously approved a similar credit, but it had required homebuyers to pay back the money over time. In effect, it was an interest-free loan. […]
USDA program helps many people afford a home
A little-known mortgage program operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture – that’s right, the same agency that inspects and approves the meat in grocery stores – is enabling many people to afford a home even if they can’t come up with a traditional down payment because of the economic downturn. The program is designed […]
Credit card companies make it harder to get a mortgage
Some people are finding it harder to get a mortgage these days … because of their credit card company. Why? Because credit card companies have reacted to the recent economic downturn by reducing many cardholders’ credit limits and cancelling inactive cards. The companies’ goal is to reduce the risk of non-payment. The problem is that […]