John Cox

Blogs · @wyome

Tagged real estate · everything

www.cnbc.com

Chattanooga is the 'all-around best city' to retire in the South

Southern Living and Investopedia ranked the best Southern towns and cities for retirees based on cost of living, home values, hospital access, and continuing education opportunities. Chattanooga, Tennessee emerged as the top overall choice, offering no state income tax, affordable homes averaging $295,930, and proximity to major cities and natural attractions, while the list also includes specialized recommendations like Beaufort, North Carolina for healthy living and Ocean Springs, Mississippi for home affordability with tax-friendly retirement income policies.

Permalink retirementreal estatetraveltennessee

Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®

'The Game Is Over': Sellers Are Facing Reality on Pricing and Backing Off Unrealistic Demands

After a year of stubbornly holding prices high in a changed market, home sellers are finally pricing realistically and meeting buyer expectations, resulting in lower initial asking prices, faster contract signings, and fewer frustrated delistings. Sellers who price competitively from the start—sometimes even slightly below market—are winning by attracting more offers and avoiding the stigma of extended time on market, while those using strategies like rate buydowns or strategic price drops are seeing better results than simply listing high and hoping for offers.

Permalink real estatepricing2020smarketing

www.reonomy.com

How To Find Land For Sale - Off-Market & With Listings | Reonomy Resources

This guide distinguishes between finding land through active listings on platforms like LoopNet, LandWatch, and Lands of America versus sourcing off-market parcels using ownership and parcel data to identify unmotivated sellers unlikely to list publicly. It reviews 12+ listing platforms organized by land type (commercial, rural, agricultural) and explains how to use property records and ownership tenure analysis to find vacant land, wholesale opportunities, and unlisted parcels, then contact owners directly. The article emphasizes that off-market searching is more powerful for repeat investors or sourcing scarce properties, since most U.S. parcels—especially those held long-term by estates, LLCs, or family owners—never appear on listing sites.

Permalink real estate

www.veteransbenefitskb.com

States with Property Tax Exemptions for Veterans — Veterans Benefits Knowledge Base

This comprehensive reference guide catalogues property tax exemptions available to veterans across all U.S. states, territories, and the District of Columbia, with exemptions varying by disability rating, service-connected conditions, and residency requirements. Most exemptions apply only to primary residences and range from modest reductions (like New Jersey's $250 deduction) to substantial ones (Minnesota's $300,000 exemption for totally disabled veterans), with many states offering full exemptions for veterans rated 100% disabled or with total disability/individual unemployability status. The guide excludes exemptions based solely on age or income and those with outdated provisions, noting that individual counties may levy additional taxes and readers should verify details with local assessors.

Permalink real estatepersonal financeveteransva

www.fool.com

Amex Cardholders Can Now Save $2,000 or More on a Mortgage Loan

American Express has partnered with Better Mortgage and Rocket Mortgage to offer cardholders statement credits of $2,000 for conforming loans or $6,000 for jumbo loans when financing or refinancing a home through these lenders. The offer applies to all personal American Express cards (excluding corporate, business, or prepaid variants) with specific application and closing deadlines depending on the lender, and the primary cardholder must be a borrower or co-borrower on the loan.

Permalink real estatecredit cardspersonal financeamerican express

www.cnbc.com

These Americans bought abandoned homes in Italy for as little as $1 and spent thousands renovating: Was it worth it?

Italian towns have revitalized declining populations by selling abandoned houses for as little as 1 euro, attracting foreign buyers who invest tens of thousands in renovations over required timeframes, with mixed results ranging from successful dream homes to abandoned projects. The scheme has boosted local economies through construction jobs, tourism, and new residents, though it's also driven up real estate prices and raised concerns about gentrification and investment speculation rather than genuine community integration. Success depends on buyer commitment and town management—some programs actively pace sales to preserve community character, while others risk becoming vacation rental portfolios that undermine the original revival goals.

Permalink italyreal estatetravelrenovation

www.nytimes.com

The Hidden Costs of Downsizing

Claire Wolters' article examines the financial and emotional trade-offs older homeowners face when downsizing, showing how sellers who move from long-held family homes often encounter unexpected expenses, renovation demands and market realities. Using examples from [[Philadelphia suburbs]] residents who accepted fixer townhouses and a couple who rented between sales in [[Radnor, Pa.]] and [[Malvern, Pa.]], the piece explores how agents at [[Compass]] advise targeted, cost-effective upgrades, staging and photography to attract younger buyers. It discusses demographic and market data from the [[National Association of Realtors]] and commentary from a [[University of New Haven]] economist to explain why higher interest rates, limited inventory and generational preferences for move-in-ready properties can erode downsizers’ gains and force delayed or complex transitions. Agents recommend early planning, modest updates and staging to preserve value effectively.

Permalink real estatepersonal financeaginghousing

www.nytimes.com

Untitled (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/buy-rent-calculator.html?smid=tw-nytimes)

The New York Times presents an interactive calculator that determines whether buying or renting a home makes financial sense by comparing the total cost of ownership against rental expenses over a specified period. The tool accounts for numerous variables including mortgage details, property taxes, maintenance costs, closing fees, future price appreciation, and investment returns on money that could be invested instead of used for a down payment. The calculator converts all these factors into an "equivalent rent" figure, showing the monthly rental price at which buying and renting would be financially equivalent.

Permalink real estatepersonal financetools

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Boing Boing

Unsealed court-settlement documents reveal banks stole $trillions' worth of houses - Boing Boing

Unsealed court documents reveal the full scope of bank fraud during the 2008 mortgage crisis: major lenders committed felonies by forging ownership documents to foreclose on homes they didn't legally own, after bungling the title transfers required when mortgages were securitized into bonds. The $95 million settlement paid by the banks was less than one percent of the trillions in stolen property value, and the legal system's failure to prosecute has allowed banks to continue foreclosing with fraudulent documents, leaving millions of homes with clouded titles that some cannot even be sold.

Permalink real estateeconomicsinvestigation

Marginal REVOLUTION

Eminent domain and the decline of Detroit

Detroit's decades of aggressive use of eminent domain for "economic development"—most infamously the 1981 Poletown case, where 4,000 residents were displaced to build a General Motors factory—ultimately destroyed more development than it created and contributed to the city's eventual bankruptcy. Justice James Ryan's dissent presciently warned that the project would fail to deliver promised growth and that constitutional protections had been sacrificed to corporate interests, a prediction borne out by subsequent events.

Permalink real estateeconomics

Marginal REVOLUTION

Marginal Revolution: Japanese claims about China

This piece argues that China's most pressing financial vulnerability is not its residential property bubble but rather the debt accumulated through local government "loan platforms"—financial vehicles created after tax centralization left local governments revenue-starved and forced to borrow commercially to fund infrastructure mandates. By mid-2010, these 8,221 platforms had accumulated 7.7 trillion yuan in loans, with 20-25 percent classified as problematic by regulators, creating systemic risk that could potentially trigger yuan depreciation if defaults cascaded. The author treats the scenario as speculative but worth serious consideration rather than dismissal.

Permalink real estateeconomics

www.calculatedriskblog.com

Calculated Risk: Negative News Flow

Calculated Risk warned in August 2010 that incoming economic data would reveal deteriorating conditions across multiple indicators: collapsing home sales, rising inventory months-of-supply, falling house prices, and a downward revision to Q2 GDP growth due to weaker construction spending and inventory contributions. The post anticipated these negative reports would arrive over the following weeks, signaling a concerning turn in the economic recovery following the 2008 financial crisis.

Permalink real estatenewseconomyhousing