The Fair Housing Act was signed into law 42 years ago this month and is a powerful reminder of the past as well as the challenges of the present and future. President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act in April 1968 after a heated debate in Congress. The law came into effect shortly after the Rev. Martin Luther King was assassinated. It protects anyone in the United States from...

The Obama administration has launched a new set of initiatives to help struggling homeowners keep their homes and avoid bankruptcy. If successful, more homeowners would be able to stay in their homes, property values would stabilize and the country's deepening foreclosure crisis would bottom out. The administration's first efforts, launched last year, lowered interest rates in order to reduce monthly...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has recently issued a ruling that any charges in addition to a real estate agent's commission are illegal if no extra services are provided. In recent years, some real estate agents and brokers have been adding extra fees to their commissions to generate more revenue. In most cases, no extra work or services were provided, and these fees were called a...

Struggling homeowners who are late on their payments and don't answer the door or their phones are a sadly familiar situation for lenders who genuinely wish to help them keep their homes. Despite many attempts to help them refinance their mortgages, many homeowners are unable to act due to fear and/or embarrassment and other factors. Some lenders are going well out of their way to help homeowners keep...

The loss of one's home to foreclosure can be devastating, and millions of Americans are intimately familiar with this kind of financial and emotional trauma. A Southern California couple is facing their third foreclosure in the past year. The couple, who lost two homes to foreclosure in March 2010, has been forced to declare bankruptcy, and is fighting to stay in their current home. The nation's...

The federal government has created more programs to help struggling homeowners keep their homes. The government has to walk a tightrope of sorts to help homeowners having problems making their mortgage payments while ensuring that homeowners who are struggling but continue to make their mortgage payments on time don't become angry. The new programs are designed to help the more than seven million...

It comes much too late for many people who have lost their homes in foreclosure, but is welcome news for many homeowners struggling to hold onto their homes. Bank of America announced recently that it has started to forgive some mortgage debt to help stressed homeowners keep their homes and avoid bankruptcy. If Bank of America is your mortgage lender, don't pick up the phone yet because participation in...

Homeowners who have lost their jobs or are suffering other types of economic distress may be thinking foreclosure is the only option. However, short sales have become hot over the last year or so, and there is every indication that they will become even hotter in the coming months when the federal government begins providing incentives to lenders to close short sales. "Banks have ramped up short sale...

Time is running out on folks who want to take advantage of the government's first-time homebuyer tax credit program. First-time homebuyers can qualify for up to $8,000 in tax credits while current homeowners who wish to purchase a larger home can qualify for up to $6,500. In order to qualify, homebuyers have to sign a sales contract by the end of April 2010 and close on the home before the first of July....

Staging your home for sale is an art form. There are several reasons why people should consider staging their homes when they are going on the market to be sold. A staged home looks bigger. It looks cleaner. In addition, you're providing a neutral, cheerful feel to the home that suits all potential buyers. If you're looking to sell, learn more about how staging homes in Louisville can help sell your home...