Tag Archives: Realtor.com

Free or Treed?

Posted on by

photo by Dazdncnfuzd333

Realtor.com quoted me in Woman Can’t Live in Her Treehouse Even Though It’s Quite Posh (Take a Look!). It opens,

Most people live in houses, but Shawnee Chasser prefers her tree. In fact, the 65-year-old has been living in her custom-made abode between the forked trunks of an oak and fig tree on her late son’s half-acre property in Biscayne Gardens, FL, for the past 24 years. Hey, if it makes her happy, who cares, right?

Well, it turns out county officials do care, since they’ve deemed the treehouse to be unsafe. They’ve told Chasser to tear the structure down, but she’s flat-out refused—sparking a flurry of commentary nationwide about a controversial topic: How much control do we really have over where and how we live, anyway?

Chasser, at least, believes she has a right to stay put in her treetop chateau—a surprisingly spacious two-story place with a double bed and kitchenette complete with a tiny oven and sink. There’s even a small couch often occupied by Coonie, her pet raccoon.

“I’m not taking anything down,” Chasser told the Miami Herald. “I’ll chain myself to that tree house.” (But what about Coonie?)

Part of a land trust run by Chasser’s daughter, the property also has a cottage and minicamper, but Chasser prefers to rent those out. She also lets people pitch tents on the land to make extra cash to supplement her organic popcorn business.

About a year ago, someone called 311 to complain that Chasser was running the property like a hippie apartment complex. That’s when county code enforcement swung by and issued her a citation for illegally renting out the land, as well as living in a treehouse.

County officials concede that if the treehouse had been built with the proper permits and safety standards, there would be no problem. But, well, it wasn’t. And in an area prone to hurricanes, Chasser is endangering her own life, as well as her guests, officials claim.

As a result, Chasser has paid $3,000 in fines and could face an additional $7,000 in liens. She says she doesn’t have the money to hire engineers to rebuild or retrofit her treehouse to get it up to code, and has filed an appeal.

Although she has plenty of sympathizers, real estate experts are split over the treehouse tumult.

“The government has broad authority to regulate our daily lives in order to protect the health and safety of the people living under it,” insists David Reiss, research director at the Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship at Brooklyn Law School. “The fact that someone has been able to operate under the radar does not give them a pass once the government has identified a violation of zoning and building codes.”

Alternative Living Arrangements

Posted on by

photo by Nabokov

Realtor.com quoted me in Can You Live in a Storage Unit or Van? How Legal These ‘Homes’ Really Are. It opens,

Yes, we know: Finding affordable housing can be tough. Tougher than tough. And that has led people to push the boundaries of what “home” is—living in vans, boxes, and a slew of other stopgap solutions. Call them creative, call them desperate. But can you call them legal?

Well, that all depends on the specifics. Check out this list of alternative living arrangements people have tried to see what leg you can stand on if the cops show up at your door.

Can you live in a storage unit?

At face value, it would seem like this one could work, especially for the types of storage units that are more freestanding as opposed to those housed in multifloor buildings. And, more than a few homeless people have tried it. But, owing to ordinances and a lack of amenities, this one is considered a straight no-go.

“Most of the time, building codes are there for your protection, and storage units aren’t built for human habitation: There won’t be two means of egress, plumbing, or electricity, and ventilation may be an issue,” says attorney Robert Pellegrini, whose law firm, PK Boston, assists its clients with residential zoning and permitting. There’s also no kitchen, bathroom, or windows.

Bottom line: It’s illegal and possibly dangerous.

Can you live in a van?

A house on wheels? Yes, living in your car or van has become a bit of a thing in pricey-but-young areas like Silicon Valley. But doing so requires some fancy maneuvering.

“There are certainly modifications that you’d want to make to a typical van. But if you don’t run up against vagrancy regulations, there are plenty of Wal-Mart parking lots around for you to call home,” says Pellegrini. “I’d suggest a safe deposit box and better-than-average auto security, but this is definitely doable—just ask all the baby boomers driving around the country in their RVs.”

The trick is to find venues that don’t consider van living illegal.

“Many jurisdictions do not allow people to sleep in public, and this has sometimes been interpreted to include sleeping in a vehicle,” says David Reiss, academic program director for Brooklyn Law School’s Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship.

For example, in Beaverton, OR, you can’t park a vehicular residence in a commercial lot overnight, but in Boise, ID, you can as long as you have permission from the owner.

To check the status of where you are, do an internet search for “public sleeping + [your current location]” and see what comes up, or look at this report from the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (there is a list of places where it’s OK to sleep in public starting on Page 165).

*     *     *

Can you live in a box?

Could you build a wooden box in the living room of a friend’s apartment—like in the recent case of an illustrator in San Francisco, CA, who did just that? It became a national story when the city’s chief housing inspector got wind of the box abode and put up a fuss.

“In the San Francisco case, it doesn’t seem that this artist’s box violated local laws,” says Reiss. “Safety investigators are going to be less interested in how people choose to live within their own legal apartments than in how landlords might choose to split up an apartment to jam more and more people in it.”

In other words, if you put one more roommate in your apartment in a wooden box, OK. But if you were to put 10 of those boxes in an apartment and try to rent them out? Well, safety investigators might balk.

Still, it’s not completely unlikely someone might try that.

“Now, more than ever, people are looking for ways to offset the skyrocketing costs of living,” says Pellegrini. “I predict that people’s resourcefulness and practicality will stretch the definition of ‘home’ in order to make ends meet.”

What Is Constructive Eviction?

Posted on by

broken-window-960188_1280

Realtor.com quoted me in What Is a Constructive Eviction? A Rental Gone Very, Very Wrong. It opens,

Most renters have certainly heard of eviction—the dreaded process in which a landlord kicks out a tenant for not paying rent or some other major infraction. But what is a constructive eviction?

That’s a whole different ballgame, where a landlord essentially “evicts” a tenant by not fixing an uninhabitable rental. And while “constructive” may sound like a positive word, it’s not. It means the landlord is failing to fulfill his legal duty.

Constructive eviction is rare, but tenants who face this dire scenario should know their rights, and how to fight back.

How Constructive Evictions Work

“A common way landlords attempt to force out tenants would be by failing to provide heat in the winter,” says Brooklyn Law School professor David Reiss. Other ways a landlord could run into constructive eviction territory include turning off the water supply or failing to clean up flaking lead paint or toxic mold.

Constructive evictions are uncommon, because most landlords will usually help tenants with an issue. Or, if they are reluctant at first, they’ll eventually reach a compromise with a tenant through the court system, says Boston attorney Robert Pellegrini.

As such, tenants should attempt to work through any problems with the landlord first. That said, if a property owner won’t budge and the living environment puts a renter in harm’s way, a tenant can pursue a constructive eviction claim.

How To File A Constructive Eviction Claim

Unfortunately, tenants can’t file a constructive eviction claim if their floors creak or if their walls are painted a hideous shade of avocado green.

“More minor conditions like peeling (nonlead) paint, stuck windows, and drafty doors would be weak bases for a claim,” says Reiss.

Pellegrini agrees, adding, “The standards are very high for this, because you’re basically asking the court to conclude that the landlord essentially evicted you when he hasn’t.”

Here are five things a tenant must demonstrate to an attorney to prove a constructive eviction:

  1. Your landlord owed you (the tenant) a duty, such as providing heat in the winter or a residence free from toxic mold.
  2. The landlord neglected the duty.
  3. The apartment became uninhabitable as a result of the neglect.
  4. You gave the landlord notice of the neglect and time to take care of it.
  5. You left the apartment within a reasonable amount of time after the landlord’s failure to fix the issue.

No Mortgages for New Moms

Posted on by

photo by tipstimes.com/pregnancy

Realtor.com quoted me in Mom on Maternity Leave Denied a Mortgage: Could It Happen to You? It opens,

Hopeful home buyers can be denied loans for all kinds of reasons, from a poor credit score to low income. It sucks, but it makes sense: Lenders prefer giving cash to people who can pay them back. (Can you blame them?) Yet, sometimes people are turned away for dumb reasons. Take, for instance, the recent case of a Philadelphia mom who was denied a mortgage because she was on maternity leave. It was even paid maternity leave, with a firm date to return to her job. What’s up with that?

According to the Washington Post, the mom in question (who remains anonymous) had applied for financing with her husband to fund renovations on a house in Philadelphia. But due to her maternity leave, her pay stubs showed she was on “short-term disability,” which prompted the loan’s underwriter to surmise she might not resume working full time—even though her employer was happy to submit a letter indicating the day she’d return to the office.

And this mom is hardly alone: Over the past six years, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has documented over 200 cases alleging maternity-related discrimination against women seeking mortgages. In one case, a lender in Arkansas allegedly told the applicant that she’d have to be back at work before her loan could close!

And this is a shame, because housing discrimination—based on gender, familial status, disability, race, and other factors—has been illegal since the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Yet apparently it still exists even at prominent mortgage companies, as evidenced by the cases against Wells Fargo, Bank of America, PNC Mortgage, and others.

As for why this happens, experts surmise it’s because some lenders have outdated notions of women in the workplace, presuming most will bail or scale back on their jobs once kids enter the picture, permanently reducing the family’s income and eligibility for a loan. But it’s hardly the norm: Census data suggest that more than half of first-time mothers return to work within three months. Another study by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Maternal and Child Health Bureau found that the average maternity leave lasted a mere 10 weeks.

Bottom line: These days, many moms return to the office—yet some mortgage companies have missed that memo. But luckily, some moms are fighting back—like the Philadelphia woman above, who has recently reached a “conciliation agreement” with the lender, Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. Although the company denied discriminating against her, it also agreed to conduct fair lending training sessions with staff.

And more should follow, Shanna Smith, president and chief executive of the National Fair Housing Alliance, told the Post: “There needs to be much better training for [lenders] about how to deal with interrupted income for loan closings when a woman is pregnant and [on] paid maternity leave.

All of which may have women everywhere wondering: If they hope to buy a home, might maternity leave get in their way? And if so, what should they do? Probably the first step is just knowing that it’s wrong: Maternity leave—paid or unpaid—is not a legitimate reason to refuse a loan.

“It always helps when you know your rights,” says David Reiss, research director at the Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship at Brooklyn Law School. “If your lender appears to be violating fair lending laws, you may want to raise the issue directly with your banker and ask to speak to the supervisor to ask the bank to clarify its policy. If your lender continues to enforce a discriminatory policy, you can reach out to the relevant regulators, including HUD and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.”

What Is an HOA?

Posted on by

photo by Clotee Allochuku

Realtor.com quoted me in What Is an HOA? Homeowners Associations—Explained. It opens,

If you’re buying a condo, townhouse, or freestanding home in a neighborhood with shared common areas—such as a swimming pool, parking garage, or even just the security gates and sidewalks in front of each residence—odds are these areas are maintained by a homeowners association, or HOA.

So what is an HOA, and how will it affect your life?

HOAs help ensure that your community looks its best and functions smoothly, says David Reiss, research director at the Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship at Brooklyn Law School. For instance, if the pump in the community swimming pool stops working, someone has to take care of it before the water turns green and toxic, right? Rather than expect any one individual in the neighborhood to volunteer their time and money to fix the problem, HOAs are responsible for getting the job done. And the number of Americans living in HOAs is on the rise, growing from a mere 1% in 1970 to 1 in 4 today, according to the Foundation for Community Association Research. So, it’s wise to know exactly how they work.

How much are HOA fees?

To cover these maintenance expenses, HOAs collect fees (monthly or yearly) from all community members. For a typical single-family home, HOA fees will cost homeowners around the $200 to $300 per month, although they can be lower or much higher depending on the size of your unit and the services provided. The larger the home, the higher the HOA fee—which makes sense, because the family of four in a three-bedroom condo is probably going to be using the common facilities more than a single woman living in a studio.

In addition, most HOAs charge their members a little more than monthly expenses require, so that they can build up a reserve to pay for emergencies and big-ticket items like repairing the roof and water heaters, or acquiring new carpeting, paint, and lights for the hallways.

If the HOA doesn’t have enough money in reserve to cover necessary expenses, it can issue a special “assessment,” or an extra fee, in addition to your monthly dues, so that the repairs can be made. For example, if the elevator in your condo building goes out and it’s going to cost $15,000 to replace it—but the HOA reserve account holds only $12,000—you and the rest of the residents are going to have to pony up at least an additional $3,000, divided among you, to make up the difference.

And yes, you would still have to contribute your share even if you live on the first floor.

HOA rules: What to expect

All HOAs have boards, made up of homeowners in the complex who are typically elected by all homeowners. These board members will set up regular meetings where owners can gather and discuss major decisions and issues with their community. For major expenditures, all members of the HOA usually vote.

In addition to maintaining the common areas, HOAs are also responsible for seeing that its community members follow certain rules. Homeowners receive a copy of these rules, knowns as “covenants, conditions, and restrictions” (CC&Rs), when they move in, and they’re required to sign a contract saying that they’ll abide by them.

CC&Rs can cover everything from your type of mailbox to the size and breed of your dog. Some HOAs require you to purchase extra homeowners insurance if you own a pit bull, for example; others prohibit certain breeds entirely. An HOA may even regulate what color you paint your house, and what kind of curtains you can hang if your unit faces the street. Its goal is not to meddle—it’s merely to maintain a neighborhood aesthetic. However, if you don’t like being told what to do with your home, an HOA may not be for you.

Building a Wall

Posted on by

photo by I, Xauxa

Realtor.com quoted me in Mark Zuckerberg Annoys His Neighbors by Building a Big Wall. It opens,

They say good fences make good neighbors, but that’s definitely not the case for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Word has it he’s been building a 6-foot wall around his 700-acre property in Kilauea, Kauai—and this construction has sparked an outcry among his neighbors, who say the wall obstructs the gorgeous ocean view.

“It’s immense,” longtime resident Gy Hall told West Hawaii Today. “It’s really sad that somebody would come in and buy a huge piece of land, and the first thing they do is cut off this view that’s been available and appreciated by the community here for years.”

To make their annoyance known, neighbors have resorted to posting messages on Zuckerberg’s wall—the real wall, not the virtual one on his Facebook profile—asking (mostly) politely for him to take it down. But the signs get removed soon after they appear (most likely by the tech giant’s henchmen).

Granted, it does seem to be a bit of a travesty when a billionaire swoops in and builds a wall that blocks ocean vistas that have been enjoyed by Hawaiians for centuries. So, what are the rules, exactly, on building walls or fences on your property? Can you build whatever you want, or might he have overstepped his bounds?

“Fence and wall limits are generally set by local laws, and residential properties generally have a maximum allowable height,” says David Reiss, research director at the Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship at Brooklyn Law School. “Common limits are 6 feet for backyard fences and 4 feet for front-yard fences.”

That said, in relatively unpopulated areas like Kauai, it’s certainly possible that no laws exist at all.

Who are Fannie and Freddie?

Posted on by

photo by Mark Warner

Realtor.com quoted me in What Is Fannie Mae? And Freddie Mac, for That Matter? It opens,

Whether you are shopping for a mortgage or just occasionally read financial news stories, you’ve probably heard of Fannie Mae. But what is Fannie Mae, anyway? And for that matter, what about her buddy Freddie Mac? While they may sound like a Nashville singer and standup comic, respectively, they aren’t actual people. Rather, they’re oddly cute nicknames for major forces in the mortgage market.

Fannie Mae stands for the Federal National Mortgage Association, or FNMA (FNMA becomes Fannie Mae, get it?). Fannie’s brother organization is Freddie Mac, aka the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, or FHLMC. In a nutshell, these two government-sponsored enterprises—hybrids of government agencies and private corporations—help thousands of Americans get loans for homes, so it pays to familiarize yourself with what they do in more detail.

How Fannie and Freddie help homeowners

Fannie Mae was born in 1938, during the height of the Great Depression, when about 25% of Americans were defaulting on their mortgages. As part of the New Deal, the federal government created Fannie (followed by Freddie in 1970) to stimulate the housing market by making mortgages more accessible to lower-income borrowers who might not qualify otherwise. So how do they do that, exactly?

For starters, Fannie and Freddie don’t actually make loans—which is why you may have only heard about them in vague terms, since you wouldn’t approach them directly for a mortgage. Instead, these organizations purchase other lenders’ loans on the secondary market, package them (into mortgage-backed securities), and sell them to investors such as hedge funds.

By buying up banks’ loans, Fannie and Freddie essentially flood those companies with cash, which they can then turn around and lend to more home buyers. This, in turn, helps more buyers get homes who might not qualify otherwise.

“They are the behemoths of the housing finance sector, owning or guaranteeing nearly half of all the residential mortgages in the United States,” says David Reiss, professor of law and academic program director at the Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship at Brooklyn Law School.