Free Republic

As Colorado lawmakers debate over how to confront rapidly increasing housing costs, more than a dozen city and town councils on the Western Slope have voted to support allowing local taxes on vacant homes and short-term rentals. The concepts, pitched by the Colorado Association of Ski Towns, or CAST, would have to be passed by the Colorado legislature and approved by local voters before they could take effect anywhere. “The lack of available and attainable housing for employees in Colorado mountain resort communities has reached a crisis level,” CAST wrote in the legislative policy statement approved by the towns. “The...

The FBI raided the homes of two of the top members of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ (D) administration on Wednesday morning, Politico revealed. Several sources told the outlet that NYC First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright’s Manhattan townhome and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks’ Queens single-family residence were both searched as part of an investigation into Adams’ 2021 campaign. The mayor himself was served a grand jury subpoena in July after law enforcement seized his electronic devices in November 2023 over allegations that he colluded with foreign governments, including the government of Turkey, Politico reported. Banks and...

The program gives first-time homebuyers, regardless of immigration status, loan assistance of up to 20 percent of a property’s value with a cap of $150,000.Former Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi celebrated a bill that would allow illegal immigrants to buy homes with taxpayer loans in her home state of California.“Making the American dream of homeownership available to all people is something we have to do,” the Bay Area congresswoman said in a Friday interview with Bill Maher. Pelosi was responding to a question about state lawmakers passing a bill last week to expand eligibility for a government program which offers...

Hundreds of homes in the coastal Los Angeles suburb of Rancho Palos Verdes have lost power due to a slow landslide that has resulted in several houses being deemed unsafe for occupancy. NBC Los Angeles reported: Power was shut off to an additional 105 homes Monday night due to accelerating landslides in a Rancho Palos Verdes neighborhood. The latest round of shutoffs occurred at 7 p.m. Monday in the Seaview area of the Los Angeles County seaside community overlooking the Pacific. On Sunday, power was shut off in 140 homes in the Portuguese Bend area. Those residents also remain under...

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” House Speaker Emerita Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said that while she’s not familiar with the details of California’s legislation to allow illegal immigrants to get taxpayer assistance for buying homes, “making the American Dream of home ownership available to all people is something we have to do for people who are here now” and she wants to move illegal immigrants “to documented.” But ultimately, the issue is up to the states. Host Bill Maher asked, “The California lawmakers just passed a law — it hasn’t been signed by Gov. Newsom (D) — but...

California Dems want to help undocumented immigrants buy homes – during presidential raceA first-in-the-nation California proposal could make undocumented immigrants [illegal aliens] eligible for up to $150,000 in state-supported home loans just as immigration has become an incendiary topic in the presidential election.The measure is likely to pass the California Legislature this week where Democrats enjoy a supermajority and in a state that has the largest share of undocumented immigrants [illegal aliens] in the country.Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, a top surrogate for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, declined to say whether he would sign the measure if...

American housing prices continue their upward trajectory, with a Redfin report revealing a record number of homes priced at $1 million or more in over 100 towns across the United States. The report indicates that one in every ten homes is now valued at $1 million or above. Yahoo Finance housing reporter Dani Romero analyzes this trend and how it impacts the broader housing market.

Vice President Kamala Harris promised Friday that she would build 3 million new homes in four years if she were elected, but she and President Joe Biden barely managed to build eight EV charging stations in two-and-a-half years. Harris said at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina: There’s a serious housing shortage in many places. It’s too difficult to build and it’s driving prices up. As president, I will work in partnership with industry to build the housing. We need both to rent and to buy. We will take down barriers and cut red tape including at the state and...

States that have permissive policies on squatting—a growing phenomenon in the United States—need to make the practice a criminal offense, the writers of a new report from Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) say.Squatting is occupying an unoccupied or abandoned area of land or a building without having legal permission to use it. Although squatters don’t pay rent and sometimes damage the properties they take over, evicting them can be difficult and costly.Most states are reluctant to allow criminal prosecution of squatters as trespassers and prefer treating incidents as landlord and tenant disputes. Police who wish to avoid potentially violent confrontations often...

Voters in Wisconsin have revealed how crippling house prices have become a key issue for those living in the battleground state. Prices in Wisconsin are now $333,200, with more than half selling for above listing price in June, according to Redfin. The cost of a home has soared by eight percent in the last year, making it the largest increase in any of the swing states.

During an interview on Tuesday for Wednesday’s BET News interview special “Black America Votes: The Biden Interview,” President Joe Biden said that his economic policies haven’t resonated with people “because the Republican Party and the MAGA Republicans have been opposed to it, and they’ve been beating up on it.” And because “it’s just taking time for people to see it. And the other thing is, there’s not been a very good job done about saying, this new billion-dollar bridge going over there is brought to you by Joe Biden.” But some of his policy agenda has “resonated for those who...

Housing prices are growing more unaffordable in the U.S., as high mortgage rates and rising home prices put ownership out of reach for millions of Americans. That's according to a new report published by real estate data provider ATTOM, which examined 572 U.S. counties and determined that median-priced homes in about 80% of those areas are out of reach for the average income earner, who makes about $71,214 annually. [cut] Affordability is worsening across the country, thanks to a second-quarter spike in both home prices and mortgage rates. Combined, the two have helped to push the typical portion of average...

We're sure this is fine. Let's keep doing Bidenomics and not trying anything else. The typical salary required nationwide for homeownership is now $106,500 — a 61% increase from the $59,000 required just four years ago, according to Zillow. — unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) June 25, 2024 A Community Note points out that's not a 61%, but 80.5%. Even better. We're literally screwed pic.twitter.com/BecnnCa8jE — Pumponomics (@ClownPeasant) June 25, 2024 Very screwed. High home prices are due to rampant inflation on literally everything, combined with lockdown-induced supply chain disruptions, massive insurance and utility spikes and, of course, historically high property taxes. All...

As sea levels rise and storms intensify, coastal real estate is seeing flooding and erosion like never before. From Dana Point, California, to Long Island, New York, and Nantucket, Massachusetts, some of the nation’s priciest coastal real estate is in an increasingly precarious position due to climate change. This year’s hurricane season is already underway, and the forecast is for “above-normal” activity, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It predicts up to 13 hurricanes, with four to seven categorized as “major” storms. Various risk models have shown myriad projections for falling real estate values, but the effects...

Homebuyers willing to brave today’s high mortgage rates might at least be delighted to find that they have plenty of homes to consider. In the latest monthly housing report from Realtor.com®, the overall number of homes for sale in May marks seven months of growth. “The biggest eye-catcher for me is the fact that inventory is rising sharply,” says Realtor.com senior economist Ralph McLaughlin. “There are 35.2% more homes on the market than this time last year, an incredible trend in the direction of normality.” “While the housing market is still in the seller’s territory, it is expected to shift...

The Supreme Court has issued a conditional order calling on the Environmental Protection Ministry, Public Security Ministry, and Health Ministry to take action on the issue of environmental disturbances caused by a person smoking in his home, when the smoke enters the neighbors' homes, Israel Hayom reported. The court has instructed the ministries to enact guidelines on the matter, or enforce the matter of cigarette smoke pollution entering other apartments in a different manner. The government now has 60 days to respond to the order. The Supreme Court's decision follows an appeal submitted by the Avir Naki organization and six...

British lawmakers have called on the government to open up a bespoke visa programme that could potentially allow hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to come into the UK in a similar manner to the scheme for Ukrainian refugees. Following a petition demanding the government “create a Palestinian Family Visa Scheme for Palestinian people affected by war,” the House of Commons debated the motion, with left-wing and even some Tory MPs backing the notion of opening up a specific scheme for Palestinians to come to Britain amid the military conflict between Israel and Islamist Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Baby boomers are refusing to downsize in their golden years, according to a Redfin study, which found that the generation born between 1946 and 1964 owns nearly three in 10 (28.2 percent) large homes in the nation—nearly twice as many as millennial households with kids (14 percent). This is happening despite boomers' kids having long left the nest and their households having shrunk to one or two people. Instead of selling their large properties and moving to a smaller place, boomers are turning the extra bedrooms into hobby rooms and guest rooms for visiting family members. Read more: What Is...

Home sales saw their biggest month-on-month decline since November 2022 in March, dropping by 4.3 percent compared to February. Meanwhile, the average 30-year fixed mortgage surged to 7.1 percent — its highest since the end of last year. Average monthly new mortgage payments are 38 percent higher than average apartment rent, with this double-digit disparity persisting for a two-year period. This is discouraging Americans from buying their own homes, with sales down 3.7 percent year-on-year.

Housing starts fell to 1.32 million. The numbers: Construction of new homes fell 14.7% in March, as home builders scaled back new projects. The pace of construction slowed as builders contended with higher mortgage rates sapping demand. Housing starts fell to a 1.32 million annual pace from 1.55 million in February,