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Anthony Souffle/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

You don't need to be a real estate mogul to start a property investment portfolio

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Many people have dreams of a HGTV, house-flipping fairytale to earn big profits, but not everyone wants to renovate a fixer-upper or be a landlord.

Luckily, there’s a host of investment options that can be less hands-on so even the most novice wannabe real estate mogul can succeed. Investing several thousand in real estate funds, putting down...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: Important Papers to Grab in a Disaster

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

Dear Cheapskate: In light of recent fires in across many states in the U.S., do you have a list of paperwork one should keep in a travel case or fireproof box? -- Cyndi, Ohio

Dear Cyndi: At the top of the list should be insurance policies and visual inventory (DVD or video) of your home and its contents. Follow that with photo IDs, health cards...Read more

Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

After outcry, Greyhound plans to stay at its Chicago station at least a little longer

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

After pushback at the prospect of Chicago’s Greyhound bus station closing, the company that owns the intercity bus line says it plans to stay at the site a little bit longer.

Greyhound’s lease at the station on Harrison Street near downtown was set to expire Sunday, sparking months of efforts to find a suitable alternate site to serve bus ...Read more

Madeline Carter/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Madeline Carter

Here's where the next Sphere is going to be built

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Within a few years, the Las Vegas Sphere won’t be the only Sphere in the world.

New York-based Sphere Entertainment Co. announced Tuesday that an agreement has been reached by the company with the Department of Culture and Tourism-Abu Dhabi, known as DCT Abu Dhabi, that a second Sphere will be built in the United Arab Emirates.

The company ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: Teacher Gifts Are Thoughtful Presents That Make a Lasting Impact

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

As a parent, I've gained insights over the years into what teachers truly appreciate as gifts, not just during the holiday season but at any time of the year. Instead of the typical "Teachers Have Class!" coffee mugs, let's focus more on practical items that enhance the classroom experience.

Wanting to know how they really feel about gifts, I ...Read more

Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Wedbush Securities joins downtown LA exodus, opting for smaller, more flexible office in Pasadena

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

One of downtown Los Angeles' familiar tenants is pulling up stakes as the office rental market continues to contract from shrinking occupancy stoked by the pandemic.

Financial services firm Wedbush Securities has begun its move from a prominent office tower to Pasadena, where it will occupy much smaller offices meant to accommodate employees...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: Frozen Assets, Stand-Up Chicken and More Great Reader Tips

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

I am always entertained and often educated by the tips readers mail in. Today is no exception. I'm pretty sure you will agree with me.

SAFELY FROZEN: I am on a waiting list to get a safe deposit box at my bank. While I wait, I am keeping my important papers in a heavy freezer bag in the deep freeze. I hear that, in a fire, the inside of the ...Read more

Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Bay Area exodus: Poll finds nearly half of residents want to leave region's challenges behind

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

While growing up in the Bay Area, Michelle Hailey never imagined leaving it. But these days, as the West Oakland property manager grapples with increases in taxes and living expenses, and passes homeless encampments almost daily, she feels differently.

“I sometimes have dreams of the moving truck pulling up to get me out of here,” said ...Read more

Prudencio Alvarez/Dreamstime/TNS

Commentary: Reality bytes -- Kids confuse the real world with the screen world

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Doesn’t it feel like summer break just began? Yet here we are again. Fall’s arrival means kids have settled into a new school year with new teachers, new clothes and a new “attitude” for parents and kids alike, to start on the right foot.

Yet it’s hard for any of us to find footing in an increasingly polarized and isolated world. The ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: Your Slow Cooker Is a Great Holiday Helper

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

Got a hunk of meat that feels like it could double as a doorstop? The slow cooker says, "Challenge accepted!" Toss in that tough cut, add a splash of broth and the magical ingredients, and by dinnertime, you'll have something that's practically falling apart in deliciousness. Expensive cuts? Who needs 'em when your slow cooker can turn a $5 ...Read more

Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS

A wildfire charred their LA yard -- but it let them create a lush native plant landscape

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

LOS ANGELES -- It was 12:30 a.m. on Oct. 10, 2019, and Phil Hinch was in his bed, "dead to the world," when he heard someone pounding on the door of his Porter Ranch home. His wife, Margaret, was on a business trip in New York; their two young children were in their rooms, fast asleep.

The porch was empty when he groggily opened his front door,...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Atlanta ranked as best US city for Black homebuyers

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

New research published Thursday found Atlanta is the best city for Black people who want to get on the housing ladder. But it also reinforced findings on the gulf between white and Black homeownership in the US.

The report published by Columbia, Miss.-based Mortgage Research Center suggests the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta area is the most ...Read more

Alejandro A. Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Does your deed say Black, Jewish, or Polish people can't live in your home? In Pa., there's a new way to address old discriminatory language

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

In 1927, 44 homeowners living on West Penn Street in Germantown, Pennsylvania, got together to write a rule for who could and couldn’t buy or rent their properties. They excluded everyone “other than those of the Caucasian race.”

And then they went even further.

If anyone of any other race occupied any of the properties, the covenant ...Read more

Martha Asencio-Rhine/Tampa Bay Times/TNS

Real estate Q&A: What should we do if our house is damaged by a hurricane?

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Q: We are new to Florida and dealing with our first major storm. Many people are telling us how to prepare, but not the realities of dealing with damage to our new home, should it occur. What do we do if something happens? — Justin

A: Natural disasters can occur no matter where someone lives. For some people, it could be a hurricane; for ...Read more

George Avalos/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Office vacancy levels soar to record highs in biggest Bay Area markets

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

SAN JOSE, California — The Bay Area’s three primary office markets, haunted by empty buildings, have reached forbidding new milestones of record-high vacancy levels, according to a grim new report.

Silicon Valley, which roughly equates to Santa Clara County; downtown Oakland; and San Francisco all hit record-high office vacancy rates in the...Read more

Miamians are the most rent-burdened people in America -- and they're stressed about it

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Their budgets strained, Miami metro residents are distressed about life in their increasingly unaffordable community.

More than three-quarters of South Floridians report difficulty paying for usual household expenses, according to the Census Bureau’s newest Household Pulse Survey released on Thursday.

That makes greater Miami — which ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: Purr-spective Needed, Help Me Find the Best Budget-Friendly Cat Food and Litter

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

Dear Cheapskate: With all the suggestions you have made for the "best inexpensive" products in your blog EverydayCheapskate.com (which I get in my email box every weekday and love it), I don't believe I have ever seen a recommendation for dry cat food, canned cat food or cat litter. Or even pet products, for that matter. That's where I really ...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: 10-10-10: The Tool That Saved Me From Making a Bad Decision (And Running Out of Gas)

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

Experts tell us, and I can concur wholeheartedly from my own experience, that when people admit to the worst financial decisions they've made in their lives, they often recall choices made in the grip of visceral emotions like anger, lust, anxiety and greed.

Imagine how our lives might be different if we had a couple dozen "undo" buttons to use...Read more

Everyday Cheapskate: Organized Chaos or My Intended Journey to a Clutter-Free 2025

Consumer / Everyday Cheapskate /

I won't try to kid you into thinking I'm some kind of organizational expert. I am the most disorganized person ever. My professional office is a mess. My home, remarkably, appears to be orderly, as long as you don't open a cupboard, drawer or closet.

Being disorganized steals my time, energy and money. I buy things I have already because I can'...Read more

Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Some California homesellers are letting buyers who can't get insured pull out of deals

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

To protect themselves from entering into a deal that could come back to bite them, homebuyers are advised to write contingencies into an offer, so they can pull out of a deal or renegotiate the price if an inspection or appraisal surfaces new issues.

But what if a buyer can’t find insurance?

This summer, the California Association of ...Read more

 

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