Apartment Choice

Coast to coast, the housing industry currently favors the home seller as prices are rising, sales surging and inventories dwindling -- which leave the residences on the market more valuable. Take Seattle as a caffeinated example. The northwest city of 3. 5 million people boasts the hottest housing market in the country since last fall, according to the Case- Shiller home price index and reported this summer in the Seattle Times. The typical single-family house in metro Seattle cost 12 .9 percent more in April than a year ago, the report notes. Other fast-rising markets are Portland, Oregon; Dallas; Denver; and Detroit, up 9.3 to 7.4 percent respectively. Those totals compare with a 5. 5 percent national price growth rate . What's good for owners and well-off buyers can be doubly troubling for at least one group: lower income property shoppers including first-time homebuyers who can't afford average and midpoint home prices or apartment rents . According to studies, the na...

Ann Arbor-based real estate firm McKinley Inc . recently added another apartment complex to its extensive portfolio: Ironwood Place Apartments on Leslie Circle in Ann Arbor. McKinley purchased the 100-unit complex -- which is located off Huron Parkway on the city’s north side -- and now plans to integrate it with the neighboring 210-unit Traver Ridge Apartments . Among the plans: Operate both complexes under the Traver Ridge name, integrate the communities via walking trails and serve the residents of both complexes out of the Ironwood community center . McKinley Inc. is the new owner of Ironwood Place Apartments in Ann Arbor. Photo from mynewplace.com Both complexes have one-, two- and three- bedroom units. Rent ranges from $899 per month for a one-bedroom to $1,470 per month for a three-bedroom. McKinley CEO Albert Berriz said the occupancy levels at Ironwood are already “very strong” at upwards of 90 percent. He said because the complex is less than 10 years old, McKinley won’...

Opponents have organized against an effort to rein in rent increases in Maine’s largest city. A group calling itself Say No To Rent Control announced its formal opposition Tuesday to Fair Rent Portland ‘s initiative to adopt a rent stabilization ordinance by referendum in November. The announcement sets the stage for a vigorous fall campaign , which comes as longtime residents and low- wage renters worry that a steep rise in rents and the influx of luxury housing is leading to gentrification and a growing affordability gap between incomes and housing costs. The new group is casting the referendum effort as a rent control ordinance that would harm the city’s housing market, although the supporters say the plan meets the definition of modern rent stabilization efforts that have been successful in other states. Among other things, Fair Rent Portland ’s initiative would limit rent increases to the rate of inflation for landlords who own five or more apartments and establish a Rent...

Damien Bash owns a four-bedroom home, built in 1898, in Philadelphia's historic Germantown section . It features intricate stonework , hardwood floors and 19th century architectural details . Bash is offering the place to visitors attending Pope Francis ' first U.S. visit — for the weeklong World Meeting of Families gathering in downtown Philadelphia in September. His asking price? $15,000 for the week, or $2,142 a night for seven nights. How did he arrive at that figure? "I saw what everybody else was asking," he said. Opportunism seems to have gripped the Philadelphia area, where some residents are asking up to $30,000 a week to rent their homes and apartments to papal visitors. Through ads on Craigslist and Airbnb, they're betting that 1.5 million to 2 million people flooding a city of 1.5 million will produce a lucrative real-estate payday. I'm not being greedy -- I'll listen to anyone who offers me a price that's affordable for them. — Jackie S...