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...

Welcome back to The Six-Digit Club , in which we take a look at a newish-to- market listing priced under $1 million, because nice things sometimes come in small packages. Send nominations to the tipline . When the Cobble Hill Towers complex was built in the 19th century, it was intended to be affordable housing—proving, as the New York Times noted back in 2011, “that housing for the poor could be both humane and economically feasible.” Those days, of course, are long gone; in 2010, the building’s owners decided to turn the formerly affordable rental into a condo building, and now, its apartments command prices that are often at or close to the median home price for the borough. (That would be around $800,000, according to the last batch of market reports.) This quirky one-bedroom fits that bill: the 667-square-foot pad, which was recently renovated, is asking $675,000. It’s got a bit of an oddly angular floorplan , which impacts the size and shape of the bedroom (though not to a te...

Among the filthy rich billionaires who gave money to the CAA, but lost in the battle against rent control in Richmond and Mountain View includes Berkshire Hathaway Home Services owned by Warren Buffet, Equity Residential owned by Sam Zell, and Prometheus Real Estate Group owned by Jackie Diller Salfier and the Diller family. California Apartment Association suspends legal challenges against Richmond rent control California Apartment Association suspends legal challenges against rent control in Richmond and Mountain View By Lynda Carson - May 6, 2017 On May 5, 2017, the The California Apartment Association (CAA), announced that it is suspending its legal challenges in court against the City of Richmond and Mountain View, and the renter protection ordinances known as Measure L and Measure V, that were passed into law by the voters last November. After a long hard fought struggle against greedy landlords involved in price gouging and eviction for profit schemes supported by ...

The 155- unit Ann Arbor City Apartments is under construction on West Washington and South First streets in downtown Ann Arbor . Daniel Brenner | AnnArbor.com Editor's note: The number of parking spaces to be held by Village Green has been corrected. Related story: Rent comparison : What can you get for $2,500 a month around Ann Arbor? Luxury apartments in downtown Ann Arbor are no longer just for students. The under-construction Ann Arbor City Apartments on the southeast corner of West Washington and South First streets is the first luxury apartment project built downtown in years that doesn’t cater to students. It’s designed for young professional renters as well as corporate relocation. "It's midway between the YMCA and the core of downtown where U-M jobs are," said Susan Pollay , executive director of Ann Arbor's Downtown Development Authority . "I think it feels like, from what I saw, exactly one of the things needed in this marketplace." ...

Grand Prairie is a city in Dallas County, Tarrant County, and Ellis County, Texas. It is part of the Mid-Cities region in the DallasFort Worth metroplex . Meeting new people and forming new friendships is easy in Grand Prairie as there are some great options for nighttime entertainment. If you are into the arts, you're in luck with the number of venues such as music halls, performing arts spots and cinemas here displaying ever-changing exhibits and productions. Jump start your fun here here after work and on weekends thanks to the wide variety of activities that you can partake in such as skating, playing at the park and swimming. All of the restaurants in this city feature a house specialty that is a must-try and with so many around, such as Vietnamese, fish & chips and fast food, you will have a hard time choosing which one to eat at first. Research data indicates that this vicinity is usually not dangerous, as the crime rate is low. If you're young in spirit or age, yo...

Orlando will soon have a new community down near Disney — the Four Seasons Private Residences — where home prices start around $5 million. Bully for all our new neighbors ... and the $24,514 in homeowner’s association fees they’ll pay each year. Ironically, though, many of the people who already live here — the ones who work full-time in the tourist industry that attracts the Four Seasons folks — can’t afford homes of their own. Heck, they can’t even cover the HOA dues. Central Florida , you see, is in the midst of an all-out housing crisis . Our affordable- housing shortage is so severe that the National Low Income Housing Coalition recently found just 18 rental units available for every 100 low- income families — one of the lowest rates in America. As a result, we have families living in cheap motels and relying on government subsidies. And with rents rising, it’s only getting worse. This isn’t exactly the kind of thing our chambers of commerce or visitors bureaus like to promo...