Free Republic

After decades of mass illegal immigration into the United States, untold millions of illegal aliens have settled throughout the country, competing with Americans for government benefits, jobs, and now, for homes. For most illegal aliens, obtaining a mortgage from a traditional bank — without a social security number or a credit score — is nearly impossible. But as millions of illegal aliens flooded the country, a new industry has cropped up to capitalize on the new customer base, selling financing catered to the illegal population. One entity at the forefront of this industry, a Daily Wire investigation has revealed, is...

-snip- Short of bringing up politics, it seems there's no surer way to start a fight than to take a stance on real estate as an investment. There are diehard believers on either side of the argument. Many people fervently believe that real estate is not just a good investment, but the best investment an average person can make. Meanwhile, many others point out that real estate is an illiquid asset that typically requires taking on a massive debt load to acquire — and between inflation and housing markets that can boom or bust at any time, earning a return...

Blue cities sure love their taxes, and they collect them like Daffy Duck clambering up the side of the pile of gold in Aladdin's Cave, screaming 'MINE, MINE, MINE!' What's yours is theirs, theirs, theirs. And they tax it all - everything they can - even if you're only there for an outing. God forbid you actually own property or live in a city like, say, Michelle Wu's Boston.Beege ADDS: I'd just like to encourage everyone to take a close look at the taxes on this receipt.They are all the same taxes for the same day, which is confusing until...

A Chicago man says he did the unthinkable when he discovered alleged squatters in his property: He decided to move in with them. Marco Velazquez is the owner of a South Side property, which is on the market to be sold. He says his Realtor came by with a potential buyer, but there were already people inside. "I couldn't believe it. It was like a nightmare," Velazquez said. Velazquez says a woman named Shermaine and her boyfriend, Codarro, moved in, claiming they recently purchased the property. He says the couple showed police a mortgage document, but Cook County confirmed that...

Housing activity for new residential construction climbed in March, spurred by a greater supply of houses during a crucial spring period. Sales of new homes rose 7.4% in March to a seasonally adjusted rate of 724,000 units, up from February's rate of 676,000, according to the Census Bureau data released on Wednesday. The reading came in well above Bloomberg's consensus forecast of 685,000. Inventory also ticked up, with 503,000 homes for sale at the end of March, a 0.6% increase from the prior month and the highest level since 2007, according to Bloomberg. Regionally, sales in the South jumped at...

I've often written about how real estate prices have affected members of my own family. Of our four kids, two live in Colorado and can only afford to live in a nice, peaceful town well outside the troubled Denver area because they combine not two but three incomes. Our other two live in deep-red Iowa, in the same small town, where they are easily able to afford nice homes. They have a lot of company. Realtor.com has just released its latest Affordability and Homebuilding report cards, and I should note that, while Colorado comes in at #27 with a grade...

It’s been obvious for years that China has a Potemkin economy, kept alive by slave labor, market bubbles, and government underwriting. it can’t last forever. The latest grim forecast about the economy comes from Peter St Onge, an economist with a much deeper fund of knowledge about and understanding of the Chinese economy than I could have in a thousand lifetimes.The biggest hint that the Chinese economy was in trouble was the demise of Evergrande, a massive property developer in China. The bankruptcy was huge, with the company’s assets valued at a probably inflated $245 billion and debts of $300...

Shares in China Evergrande, the massively indebted property developer, fell back to all-time lows on reports that its chairman and founder has been arrested. Hui Ka Yan, who started the company in 1996, was taken away by police earlier this month and is being monitored at a designated location, Bloomberg reported.

Higher mortgage rates and concern over the broader economy are making for a weak start to the all-important spring housing market. Sales of previously owned homes in March fell 5.9% from February to 4.02 million units on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, according to the National Association of Realtors. That’s the slowest March sales pace since 2009. Sales were 2.4% lower than in March 2024 and slumped across all regions month to month. They fell hardest in the West, the priciest region of the country, down more than 9%. The West, however, was the only region to see a year-over-year...

Once again, Zillow has downgraded its 12-month forecast for national home prices. On Wednesday, Zillow economists published their updated forecast model, projecting that U.S. home prices, as measured by the Zillow Home Value Index, will fall 1.7% between March 2025 and March 2026. Back in March, Zillow downgraded its 12-month outlook for U.S. home prices to +0.8%. In February, Zillow downgraded its 12-month outlook to +1.1%. And at the start of the year in January, Zillow’s 12-month national home price forecast was +2.9%. Why does Zillow keep downgrading its national home price outlook? | Fast Company Newsletters “The rise in...

When Jill Langen decided to list her Clarkston, Michigan, home of 25 years for sale last month, she did it without the help of a real estate agent. Seven days later, she had an agreement signed with a buyer and her home was off the market. Langen’s decision to go it alone isn’t typical among America’s home sellers. Just 6% of home sales last year were for-sale-by-owner (FSBO), an all-time low, according to an annual report by the National Association of Realtors, the trade organization that represents over 1.5 million real estate professionals. However, some homebuyers and sellers may be...

The man who set the Pennsylvania Governor’s residence on fire on Sunday morning has been identified. Police arrested a suspect on Sunday. His name is Cody Balmer, he’s 38 years-old and he lives near the governor’s mansion. Balmer torched the governor’s residence during Passover. Shapiro is Jewish. Times Now reported: During a news conference, police confirmed that Balmer scaled fences, evaded state troopers, and ignited the fire. He was arrested in the Harrisburg area shortly after Governor Shapiro and his family were safely evacuated. Dauphin County District Attorney Francis Chardo stated that forthcoming charges will include attempted murder, terrorism, attempted...

The more I dig into this story, the more astounded I am: Letitia James can’t really be this stupid, can she? We’re talking about Letitia “No one is above the law” James, a poster child for the weaponized justice system that tried to sandbag and impoverish Donald Trump and put him away for the rest of his life. As they say, if you’re going to take a shot at the king, you better not miss. Or, in this case, you better not have an apparent pattern of fraudulent real estate transactions.Let’s begin. First, let me state that all of these...

Letitia James famously campaigned for the office of New York Attorney General on a platform of sticking it to Orange Man Bad. New York being what it is these days, the TDS attack dog won the election and became the Historic™ first black female NY AG, if you care about such things. And now, it looks like she may also have the distinction of becoming the first black female NY AG to earn herself fraud charges. As you may recall, James filed civil lawsuit against Donald Trump in 2023, when he was between presidencies. She accused Trump and his family...

I'm looking for someone that can teach me to do a real estate title search in Texas. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

The Washington DC housing market is in a standstill as federal employees' cushy salaries are still under threat by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts. More than 25,000 rental properties and 9,800 homes are listed in the DC Metro area, with nearly 10,000 rentals and 500 homes just in the District of Columbia alone as of early April, according to Zillow. And although Spring is always a hot time on the market for sellers, buyers are hesitant to snap up homes as their federal and federally-adjacent jobs are still under the threat of massive layoffs as Musk worked...

He wants lawmakers to issue $1,000 for each of about 5.1 million homesteaded properties in the state. The rebates would be issued in December, covering state-mandated school property taxes, which he says would prevent a loss in funding for districts. “We need to focus on our Florida residents and to focus on in this case, Florida homeowners, particularly our homesteaded homeowners and we need to focus our relief there.” The second-term Republican governor and former presidential candidate said he wants a ballot initiative aimed at lower property taxes on the 2026 ballot that he says will provide “robust protections” for...

New York Attorney General Letitia James has made a name for herself prosecuting landlords and real estate fraudsters. Yet our investigation reveals troubling discrepancies in her own property filings—irregularities that would likely result in stiff penalties for most New Yorkers.Documents from the NYC Department of Buildings show a pattern of inconsistencies about a Brooklyn property James owns—inconsistencies that mysteriously received special treatment when reported.The Discrepancy: Official Records vs. James’ FilingsNote: Links to NYC Department of Buildings records may load slowly due to system capacity limitations. Please be patient as they connect to the city’s database.At the heart of the issue...

It is simply wrong to let the government take one person’s property away in order to hand it to another private owner with more political power.’ An often-criticized precedent from the Supreme Court 20 years ago that gives local governments permission to literally confiscate a landowner’s property and give it to someone else who may have more political influence could be overturned through a new case pending before the justices. It is the Institute for Justice that has been fighting on behalf of Bryan Bowers, a New York landowner whose property was “seized” by a local government agency. It was...

WASHINGTON - Just last week Florida Sen. Marco Rubio announced that he would seek re-election after a long presidential primary battle that saw him finish third to Donald Trump. Now it seems with the August GOP primary coming fast it seems that his biggest challenge on paper, could be someone who looks lot like Donald Trump. We know that there is no love lost between Rubio and the presumptive Republican 2016 presidential nominee. Now enter billionaire Carlos Beruff, who has endorsed Trump, he's espoused some of the same controversial beliefs, and may even have the backing of Florida Gov. Rick...