It’s become an annual ritual to burn off calories. Our “morning after Thanksgiving” walk started at 8:30 am last Friday. It was sunny, clear, and cold when I met three of my brothers and the wife of one of them at the public library in Riverside, Ill. Riverside is the Chicago suburb where we (the …
Some years ago, I started writing a novel called “Bandit Signs.” It was to be about real estate agents and investors and all the sleazy, unethical things they do to get ahead. As a second time novelist I had no great skills in mapping out a plot or developing characters. I had a situation in …
At a time of devastating property damage due to storms and hurricanes, another menace has emerged from all the wild weather happening nationwide. It’s a financial menace that prevents lenders from lending, buyers from borrowing, and owners of attached homes from selling their units in certain Homeowners Associations. I’m calling it UCHID—the Unintended Consequence of …
Cue the orchestra. This month’s E-Tom Award goes to…criminal gangs from Venezuela, for allegedly taking over entire apartment buildings in Aurora. If you missed it, this has been a very big story, especially on social media, for a few weeks now. The hysteria has died down to more like, well, a twitter. The word was …
My 50th high school reunion is happening this month. A flock of once-cool kids will gather at a local watering hole in Chicago to drink and laugh and reminisce. I can already hear the demented cackling of one kid I used to hang with. He and I ran in the same circles for a while. …
My friend works in a federal research facility. Last week, a holiday week, the on-site workforce was thinning by Tuesday. Wednesday, nearly no one was at work. Thursday was the Fourth of July and the place was closed. Friday it was open but it was a ghost town. For most people, a Thursday holiday means …
Obviously this is my side of the story. The TFH might have a differing account. It started in February. A long-time tenant in my three-unit “triplex” apartment building announced his family’s impending departure. I was sorry to see them go. The unit was vacated, cleaned, and posted for rent on Zillow. The response rate was …
Sure, you can go it alone. Absolutely. You’re out cruising the hood and you spot a sweet 4BR brick ranch with a Geller Williams sign in the yard. It is July 2024 and the rules have changed. Lot of home buyers are now paying their own realtors. Or relying on the seller’s agent to handle …
My next listing will hit the market this week, on Thursday, April 11. It’s a 3BR/2BA condo in the Bowling Green HOA community in east Denver. Listed at $310,000, it’ll be near the low end of greater Denver’s residential real estate price range. Not only is it my listing. It is my property—an investment “flip” project I’ve done …
Co-op Commissions: Putting Money Where Our Mouth Is Read More »
For their role in stoking the Great Recession of the early 2000’s, subprime mortgage lenders and other bad actors on Wall Street were said to deserve “Old Testament justice.” More on their misdeeds in a moment. First, exactly what is that brand of justice? I went straight to the source—to the Book of Genesis in …
An Ox for an Ox: Chapter and Verse on Subprime Lenders Read More »
