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Archive for December, 2006

A Piece of History Saved by a Flood

Enalee Bounds has filled 20 guest books with the names of national and international visitors to the antique and gift shop she has owned for 44 years in Ellicott City’s historic district, defying predictions by local banks and area business owners that her country store would never last. Read More…

Sea Change In Insurers’ Coastal Coverage

Major insurance companies are throwing cold water on America’s new passion for living near the ocean and by the bay. Read More…

The Ranch, an Architectural Archetype Forged on the Frontier

If asked to name America’s most important contribution to residential architecture, most people would probably suggest Abraham Lincoln’s log cabin, a Southern plantation mansion like Scarlett O’Hara’s Tara (even though it was only a movie set) or George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Read More…

Trend Spotting for 2007

At the end of each year, some people look back, while others look to the future. There’s nothing we can do to change 2006, so let’s look forward. Read More…

Split the Mortgage,?Get Tax Benefits?

Q: DEAR BOB: I sold my principal residence in January with a capital gain of about $400,000. The same day, I bought another house using the profit as a down payment. I was single until April. Mine was the only name on the title to the house that was sold. Read More…

Split the Mortgage, Get Tax Benefits?

Q: DEAR BOB: I sold my principal residence in January with a capital gain of about $400,000. The same day, I bought another house using the profit as a down payment. I was single until April. Mine was the only name on the title to the house that was sold. Read More…

Too Many Realtors

Whether the housing market is stabilizing or not, it seems pretty clear that there are still too many people in the U.S. trying to make a living selling houses. The housing boom sucked in all kinds of people who used…n Read More…

Is The End Of The End Of The Housing Bubble Near?

Is it the end of the end of the housing bubble? The nNational Association of Realtors (NAR) seemed to think so as it issued nits November report on the sales of existing houses, the second month in na row when sales showed slight improvement over the previous month. nn Read More Nownn Read More…

REITs Generate Many Happy Returns - Pushing 34% (Investor’s Business Daily)

Investor’s Business Daily - Major stock market indexes are on the verge of posting weighty returns this year, but won’t come close to the performance of real estate investment trusts — again. Read More…

Existing home sales, consumer confidence up (Reuters)

Reuters - U.S. existing home sales rose in nNovember for a second straight month and consumer confidence nhit an eight-month high in December, according to reports on nThursday showing the economy ending the year on a solid note. Read More…