What Is Eminent Domain?

Eminent domain is a law that gives the federal, state, county, and municipal governments in the United States the legal right to "condemn" property and then seize it to allow its use for development. Eminent domain is supposed to be used by the government at the various levels to do things for the public benefit, such as to build new roads or construct new public schools. Compensation Under Eminent Domain Seizure The government cannot take property without compensating the owner for its market value. Disputes that lead to lawsuits arise when the property owner and the government have a serious disagreement about the value of the property. Imagine an acre of…
Read More

The Community Reinvestment Act Explained In Simple Terms

The federal government adopted the Housing and Community Development Act in 1977, and the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) portion was designed to prompt lending institutions to provide mortgages for low- and moderate-income Americans. The underlying reasoning for the CRA was to discourage discriminatory lending practices that inhibited low-income communities and neighborhoods. Over the years, its regulations have been revised to improve effectiveness. During the early 1990s, upwards of five changes were made and more following the 2007 financial crisis. With the country currently in the midst of an economic comeback, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced that it favored making changes to the rules that govern lending under…
Read More

What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week – July 29th, 2019

Last week's economic reports included readings on sales of new and pre-owned homes and weekly reports on mortgage rates and first-time jobless claims. Realtors® Report Sales of Pre-Owned Homes Fall in June Sales of previously-owned homes fell last month according to real estate pros. 5.27 million homes would be sold in 2019 if the current pace of sales was unchanged for all of 2019. Analysts expected a reading of 5.33 million sales based on May's reading of 5.38 million sales. Analysts said that sales of pre-owned homes fell despite lower mortgage rates and the seasonal peak home-buying season. Sales of pre-owned homes rose 1.60 percent in the Northeast and were 1.60…
Read More

Innovative Home Security Technology

For market value and the comfort of a home's occupants, home security is just as important as energy-efficiency. Innovation in smart home technology focuses on both of these areas. Here are some tips about things a homeowner can do to make a home more secure and a few pitfalls to look out for, which may not be obvious. Smart View Doorbell No matter how reinforced the front door of a home is, it is not secure if it is opened by someone inside without first knowing who is there. Additionally, smart doorbells allow the homeowner to view the front of their home using a smartphone application, even when they are not…
Read More

The Monopoly Technique – How To Build Value By Acquiring Adjacent Properties

Have you ever played the classic board game called Monopoly? The object of the game is to collect all the properties until one winner bankrupts all the other players. The other part of the game is that accumulating properties adjacent to each other increases the value of the individual properties. When a player acquires all the properties of the same color (two or three), then the rents go up and property development can begin. The Monopoly Game In Real Life The same basic principles sometimes work in real life. Owning a property and then buying the one next door creates a value-added possibility of the combined properties being worth more than…
Read More

What’s The Value Of Water?

When investing in real estate, few people think about water as a high priority. All of us have become used to water being readily available and rarely give it a second thought. Most would think that water is only a consideration for farmers who need it to irrigate agriculture. However, due to climate change and population growth, the world is experiencing large impacted areas and major cities that are running out of water. Will Water Run Out? Las Vegas expects to run out of water by 2030. Lake Mead near Las Vegas is the water supply for more than two million people. Its level has been declining steadily for decades. Las…
Read More