Category: Real Estate
Hartford Courant Risks Losing Foreclosure Ads Unless It Cuts Rates, Judge Says
Connecticut judicial officials are preparing to pressure The Courant into providing lower rates for foreclosure advertisements or face the loss of more than $1 million a year in advertising revenue.
Hartford County Superior Court Judge Julia Aurigemma said in a telephone interview today that she believes that The Courant’s minimum of $1,431 for two Sunday foreclosure [...]
Hartford Courant Makes Millions From Mandatory Foreclosure Advertising
Victims of foreclosure in Central Connecticut are required to pay The Hartford Courant at least twice as much for foreclosure ads as what real estate agents are charged for similarly sized ads.
Real estate attorneys who handle foreclosures told me this week that homeowners or banks pay $1,441.20 to $2,600 for each foreclosure ad that is [...]
Condo Owner Protection Legislation Proposed by Conn AG
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, in testimony submitted today to the state General Law Committee, urged creating a state Office of Condominium Ombudsman after his office received hundreds of complaints from condominium owners over the past year involving disputes with condominium associations.
The legislation would create a self-funded state commission — with no financial burden to [...]
Tenants In Foreclosed Property Get Help From Conn AG
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced today a new initiative to aid tenants of foreclosed properties — including cease-and-desist letters urging law firms, real estate companies and banks and loan servicers to stop abrupt and illegal evictions.
Blumenthal’s office has received complaints from tenants hastily and illegally forced out of rental homes after their landlords’ properties [...]
Housing & Mortgage Guru: Ken Harney
If you want to learn the ins and outs of housing and mortgage issues, the person you have to read is Washington Post Syndicated Columnist Kenneth Harney.
He is one of my favorite features in Sunday’s Courant, its too bad that its buried in the Sunday real estate section.
His latest column analyses the newest federal rules [...]
Contractor Gets Jail Time, 11 Homeowners Reimbursed
Eleven homeowners who lost money to a Canterbury home improvement contractor will get some of their money back, while the contractor is heading to jail, Consumer Protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell, Jr. said today.
Daniel Carpenter of 11 Willowbrook Lane in Canterbury was sentenced in Danielson Superior Court on Tuesday for entering into home improvement contracts and not [...]
CtWatchdog’s Personal Finance Series: Tip 1 – Borrow NOW – Refinance Or Purchase A First Home
One thing I have learned that whenever I needed to borrow money it was always difficult and costly. But when I didn’t need the money, banks and credit card companies did their best to get me to borrow.
So if one combines that fact of life with the bet that interest rates and borrowing costs will more than likely rise in the next 12 to 36 months, you may want to think about borrowing money that you don’t need now.
One way to do it is to refinance your home if you are paying six percent or higher on your mortgage. It only makes sense to do that if you had your mortgage just for a few years, plan to live there at least five more years, and have more than 20 percent equity in your home.
Renting? Time To Seriously Consider Buying Your Own Home
While there are no guarantees in life, I don’t know of a better time to buy a first home.
With mortgage rates slightly over 5 percent, huge unsold inventory of houses and condos, and thousands of dollars from the federal government, this could be your last chance to buy a home on the cheap.
The federal incentives run [...]
Tibetan stoneworkers: expert builders and artists now in Northampton
Many New Englanders know about Northampton, Mass., because of its great restaurants, stores, colleges and arts communities.
We can add another category to the list: Tibetan stoneworkers.
Laura, my wife, has been after me for a couple of years to have our crumbling stone walls rebuilt and to deal with the pond-sized pools that form in our [...]
Home Improvement Contractor Off to Jail
Four homeowners who lost money to an Ansonia home improvement contractor will get some of their money back, while the contractor is heading to jail, Consumer Protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell, Jr. said today.
John Hunt III of Ansonia was convicted last week on two criminal counts of working as an unregistered home improvement contractor and sentenced by Judge Burton Kaplan to concurrently serve 6 months in jail for each count. Further, in a stipulated agreement he signed with the Department of Consumer Protection, Hunt agreed to never again apply for a home improvement contractor registration.
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