Fort Lauderdale Blog

10 Money-Wasting Habits You Can Ditch

10 Money-Wasting Habits You Can Ditch

By Barbara Pronin

Whether it’s a latte you could have done without, or a cute pair of shoes you didn’t need, even the most frugal folks among us waste a little money now and then. But penny-pinchers seem to make it a habit not to make it a habit.

Smart Money blogger Emily Co talked to a group of determined savers. Here are the top money-wasters they identified. How many of them can you cut out?

Major Improvement: 6.4 Million U.S. Properties End 2015 Underwater

Major Improvement: 6.4 Million U.S. Properties End 2015 Underwater

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

 As of the end of 2015, there were 6.4 million (6,436,381) U.S. properties seriously underwater — where the combined loan amount secured by the property is at least 25 percent higher than the property’s estimated market value — representing 11.5 percent of all properties with a mortgage, according to the RealtyTrac® Year-End 2015 U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report.

The report is based on publicly recorded mortgage and deed of trust data collected and licensed by RealtyTrac nationwide along with an industry standard automated valuation model (AVM) updated monthly on RealtyTrac’s entire database of more than 140 million U.S. properties (see full methodology below).

FHA to Cut Insurance Rates on Multifamily Mortgage

FHA to Cut Insurance Rates on Multifamily Mortgages

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

In an effort to help preserve and increase the amount of affordable, quality rental housing across the country, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) recently announced a multifamily insurance rate reduction designed to encourage capital financing of affordable and energy-efficient apartments. The rate reductions announced will take effect on April 1, 2016, and will directly impact FHA’s Multifamily Housing Programs and properties housing low- and moderate-income families and/or developments installing energy-efficient systems or building within federal energy guidelines.

How Many Subs Will It Take to Build Your New Home?

How Many Subs Will It Take to Build Your New Home?

By John Voket

While many folks planning for building a new home deal directly with their primary contractor, I was intrigued to learn about how much of responsibility - and project costs - are shifted to subcontractors on a typical new home project.

A recent report from the National Association of Home Builders (nahbclassic.org) sought to remind the public of how much the construction of a typical home relies on subcontracting.