Salon.com > Real estate

“The Unwinding”: What’s gone wrong with America

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:00:00 +0000

Think of George Packer's new book, "The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America" as the un-Internet take on the transformation this country has undergone in the past 35 years. It's wide ranging, deeply reported, historically grounded and ideologically restrained. To write "The Unwinding", Packer clearly had to spend a lot of time out of his own habitat and in the company of other people, listening more than talking, and largely keeping his opinions to himself. Imagine that! It's called journalism.

Packer's inspiration, as he explains in the book's afternotes, was the "U.S.A." trilogy by John Dos Passos, three novels that use a third-person choral method to portray American life in the early 20th century. "The Unwinding," while nonfiction, is narrative rather than polemical or analytic. Each chapter is a story, or an installment in a story, about a person or place. Some of the subjects are famous (Newt Gingrich, Oprah Winfrey, Colin Powell, Alice Waters) because such people, Packer writes, now "occupy the personal place of household gods, and they offer themselves as answers to the riddle of how to live a good or better life." But the key figures, the ones whose trajectories arc through the entire book like ribs or rafters, are unknowns: an African-American factory worker turned organizer in Ohio, a disillusioned lawyer who drifts from public service to finance and back again, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist with extreme libertarian beliefs and a scion of North Carolina tobacco farmers trying to make it as an entrepreneur. In the book's most bravura chapters, the city of Tampa, Fla. serves as yet another character.

Bank stole your house? Have 10 pitchforks’ worth of compensation

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 21:15:00 +0000

First as tragedy, then as farce. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced Tuesday details of how much money the banks will pay homeowners who were found to be wrongfully foreclosed on, or who suffered financial harm at the hands of the banks. Just as a sampling, individuals who had loan modifications approved by banks but were still foreclosed upon will receive a paltry $300. Six hundred seventy-nine people were faced with foreclosure even though they were never once in default; they will be compensated $5,000.

Former Wall Street V.P. and current Occupy Wall Street activist and member of Strike Debt Alexis Goldstein took it upon herself Tuesday to put the payouts in a little context. She created a site detailing "What You Can Buy for Having Your House Stolen," on which she lists a varied taxonomy of items the compensation can afford wrongfully foreclosed individuals -- all the items that are not your house back. Goldstein told Salon via email, "I'm hoping to (1) draw attention to the OCC, one of the lesser-known banking regulators who are completely captured by the banks. (2) point out how egregiously low these settlement numbers are."

We thought we'd pick out some of Goldstein's choice examples to drive the message home in the following slideshow. (All slideshow text from Goldstein's forhavingmyhousestolen.tumblr.com)

[slide_show id=13266186]

Defeating useless rich people

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 14:00:00 +0000

In two previous columns, I argued that left and right alike are confused by a failure to distinguish productive businesses that sell innovative goods and services from “rentier” interests — landlords, lenders, copyright holders and others — which use their natural or artificial monopoly power to extract excessive tolls, fees and other recurrent payments from the rest of society, including productive businesses. The fees or rents extracted by these interests constitute a kind of “private taxation” which — rather than public taxation — is the greatest threat facing America’s productive economy.

Today America’s powerful rentier interests, particularly those in the FIRE (finance, insurance and real estate) sector, are mobilizing campaign contributions and paid propaganda to promote what I called the Rentier Agenda: low taxes on those whose income is derived from capital gains; the privatization of public infrastructure and the deregulation of regulated private utilities, to generate windfall profits for investors in privatized or deregulated agencies; and a macroeconomic policy that serves the interests of creditors, at the expense of slow growth and mass unemployment, rather than productive businesses and workers. Similar observations have been made by many on the left and some mavericks on the right.

Must-see morning clip: A Doomsday scenario for China’s real estate market

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 15:00:00 +0000

China's economy, has become the second largest in the world. On "60 Minutes," J Capital analyst Anne Stevenson-Yang talked with Lesley Stahl about one of the effects of rapid growth-- the housing bubble. "There's a range of possibilities," says Stevenson-Yang regarding the affect of the real estate market boom. "But the worst scenario is that everybody wakes up one day and finds that their money is gone and their apartments are worthless."

My sister’s husband screwed us!

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Dear Cary,

About 10 years ago, not too long after 9/11, and suffering a serious health problem, I decided to move my family from the West Coast where I had lived for 25 years, to the East Coast where I was born. My wealthy, older sister had just purchased a "fixer" home along with a two-bedroom cottage in a toney town. The idea was that we would rent out the cottage while I recovered, our children would attend wonderful local schools, and the cousins could get to know each other a little better.

At first, the situation was ideal. My sister and I would often cook together and share meals, while her workaholic husband worked his typical 18-hour days. Because my husband and I were paying a below-market rental rate for the cottage, we agreed to fix it up, to make up the difference. After work, my husband and I put in a new kitchen, a new bathroom, and flooring in the cottage, and I landscaped the property. After two years, however, and just shortly after all the renovations had been completed, my brother-in-law announced that he was putting the property up for sale. Unknown to us at the time, he had shrewdly predicted the housing bubble crash, and so it had been his intention all along to sell. Needless to say we were shocked. When the property sold one month later, we scrambled to find another place to live, but all the rents in the toney town proved to be too expensive. We tried to find something cheaper farther out, but the places that we could afford turned out to be little more than slums, with schools that were truly awful. Eventually, we decided to settle in the South, close to a well-known IT corridor, where we reasoned my husband would be able to find work in his field, and the homes were affordable. What a mistake! After living here for seven years, we have absolutely no social life. Our neighbors, after discovering that we were from California and don't go to church, totally ignore us. I have had some of the worst experiences I have ever had here, so much so, that I no longer work, and rarely leave home. In the meantime, my formerly uptight, and patrician New England, sister has moved to the West Coast, has had several cosmetic surgeries, has dyed her hair blond, has gotten green contact lenses, and calls herself an "artist." I might add that although I have never had a face-lift, I do have blond hair and green eyes, and used to (before I moved to the South) enjoy creating artwork. On a weekly basis, my sister tells me about all her new friends, how much fun she is having, and how "Southern" I have become, which is so not true. She also tells me all about California, and tells me I don't understand West Coast culture, even though I lived there for 25 years and am still married to a laid-back California guy!

My roommate ruined my life

Sun, 25 Nov 2012 22:00:00 +0000

My Craigslist write-up was sprinkled with the usual hooks: Female professional, early thirties, seeks temporary roommate. In the heart of the West Village, this beautiful pre-war apartment is fully renovated with high ceilings, exposed brick walls, and incredible light and views!

When my husband, Niklas, proofed the ad, he burst out laughing. “Early 30s?” he said. “What’s that about?”

“A few years ago I was in my early 30s,” I said. He still questioned whether the white lie was necessary. But a friend told me that in order to get a good roommate past the age of 35, you simply had to lie. Like online dating.

I don’t care about age, I explained to Niklas, but sadly, not everyone is as open-minded as I am and we are living in a world of ageism directed specifically toward women. Niklas had never lived in New York. It was four months before he could join me in our two-bedroom railroad, which is why I needed the temporary roommate in the first place. “This is the big city, baby,” I said. “And you’re going to have to buck up and learn to play the game to get ahead in this town, let me tell you.”

N.Y. board: “Slumlord” ad against GOPer is accurate

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 17:36:00 +0000

The Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee ruled against a state Senate candidate in New York who objected to an ad labeling him a "slumlord," because, the board said, he is essentially a slumlord.

Democrats had sent out a mailer calling Republican state Senate candidate Bob Cohen a "slumlord," which Cohen unsurprisingly objected to.

“Based upon the totality of the information and documentation submitted, the Committee felt that there is sufficient documentation for the use of the word ‘slumlord,’” the ruling said.

From Gannett's Albany Bureau:

North Dakota Senate race: Rick Berg’s shady real estate ties get shadier

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 21:26:00 +0000

On a Wednesday night two weeks ago, North Dakota Rep. Rick Berg boarded a plane in Washington bound for Fargo in order to defend his Senate bid, which has become surprising vulnerable in recent weeks, despite Republican hopes for a slam dunk. The next morning, his Democratic opponent, former Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp, was going up with a new radio ad attacking the business practices of a real estate management company closely tied to Berg. The company, Goldmark Property Management, had earned a bad reputation in the state, along with tenant complaints, citations for alleged fire safety violations, and a C- rating from the Better business Bureau.

Obama boosted by upbeat housing reports, new polls

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 13:44:00 +0000

Fresh signs of a national housing rebound and growing support in public opinion polls boosted President Barack Obama's bid for a new term in the White House on Wednesday as Republican rival Mitt Romney struggled to quell his video controversy.

The challenger's attempts to get his campaign back on track ran into new difficulty in the form of criticism from rank-and-file Republicans concerned about their own election prospects in the fall.

"I have a very different view of the world," said appointed Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada, taking issue with Romney's dismissive comments about the 47 percent of all Americans who pay no income taxes. Separately, Senate GOP leaders avoided answering questions about their presidential candidate at a news conference in the Capitol.

After days of virtually nonstop political damage control on issues foreign and domestic, Romney assured an audience at a Miami forum that "my campaign is about the 100 percent in America."

Earlier in the day, at an Atlanta fundraiser, Romney said: "The question of this campaign is not who cares about the poor and the middle class. I do. He (Obama) does. The question is who can help the poor and the middle class. I can. He can't."

Investor buys Muhammad Ali’s childhood home

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 17:09:00 +0000

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A fan of Muhammad Ali has acquired an important piece of memorabilia: the boxing legend's boyhood home.

Louisville Realtor Dave Lambrechts told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Las Vegas real estate investor Jared Weiss closed on the property the day before. He said Weiss paid $70,000 for the small white house with a sagging front porch overhang in a western Louisville neighborhood made up of mostly neat, modest homes.

"The guy's a huge Ali fan, and that's what kind of spurred this," Lambrechts said.

The home already has a state historical marker out front recognizing the residence as the home of Ali when he was a boy named Cassius Clay. The marker says Ali lived in the mostly black neighborhood with his parents and brother and attended local public schools.

It was at the home where the future boxing champion's "values were instilled," the marker says.

"Ali's childhood home is really symbolic for the area," Lambrechts said.

European castles for sale

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 14:55:00 +0000

European real estate markets have gone on a roller-coaster ride since the global financial crisis began in 2008.

Home prices in Ireland took a vertical plunge and languish at around half the levels they reached during the mid-2000s boom. They've tumbled almost 20 percent in Spain and Greece during the past five years, while Serbia, Austria and Norway have seen prices rise.

Amid the chaos, there are opportunities aplenty for canny buyers on the lookout for bargain basement investments or knockdown vacation homes. Here are some of them.

Castles in Italy

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti is speeding up the sale of state properties as part of his struggle to slash the national debt. Venetian palazzos, hilltop castles and historic army barracks are due to come under the hammer.

Plumb locations already put up for offer include a Napoleonic fortress in Liguria and an abandoned mining village on the Mediterranean island of Elba.