I have a good friend and comrade, Gary Delgado, who used to quip about “being too old to doorknock and too young to die.” As we age, I hear none of that. Furthermore, it’s funny, but it’s just not true! In fact, I’ve seldom felt more alive than in recent months when I’ve had the […]
The 44-year-old father of two had rented a single-family house from a company called HavenBrook Homes, which is controlled by one of the world’s biggest money managers, Pacific Investment Management Co. Here in Fulton County, Georgia, such large institutional investors are up to twice as likely to file eviction notices as smaller owners, according to a […]
Detroit isn’t the only old industrial city attracting rental landlords at a record clip. Last year, investors accounted for 75 percent of sales in Flint, Michigan, 68 percent in Gary, Indiana, and 51 percent in Memphis, Tennessee. Other cities with comparable rates are vacation communities such as Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (69 percent) and Honolulu (54 percent). With investors […]
Contract for What? A contract is shorthand for “contract for deed,” also advertised as “rent to buy,” “seller financing,” or “installment land contracts.” These are not inherently predatory, as any northern Midwesterner will tell you. Land contracts are common ways to finance real estate, especially in rural areas without many banks. In 2009, the last […]
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court, includes 17 plaintiffs, who say they were misled by Harbour Portfolio and associated companies into thinking they were becoming owners when they signed agreements that effectively made them renters. Harbour targeted black areas with the deals, known as “contracts for deed” or “land contracts,” which gave the plaintiffs […]
“The companies make it difficult for aspiring homeowners to ever achieve the goal of ownership, which is what they think they are doing,” she told the AJC. “None of the people in this lawsuit understood. They believed they were becoming homeowners and they later found out they were functionally renters. Source: Lawsuit: Texas Real […]
“Across the country, people like Mr. Williams have found themselves in similar predicaments. Unable to obtain a traditional mortgage, they have signed a high-interest, seller-financed deal known as a contract for deed that works like an installment plan for housing. For many, these deals can quickly turn into money traps. The deals also have added […]
In a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, an Indianapolis housing rights group challenges a local realty company’s rent-to-own practices, alleging predatory lending and civil rights violations. Source: Rent-to-own contracts challenged in federal court
“The nation’s top consumer regulatory agency is seeking to hold a South Carolina housing finance company in contempt for moving too slowly to respond to a judge’s order that it turn over documents and audio recordings. A federal judge on Tuesday referred the matter to a United States magistrate judge for a hearing. The unusual […]
Great list of policy recommendations! http://www.nclc.org/images/pdf/foreclosure_mortgage/predatory_mortgage_lending/ib-land-contracts-policy-recs.pdf