homeowners

Save A Lot Solar contractors install LG Electronics solar panels on a home in Hayward, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022.David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesThe California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday passed a proposal that will reduce compensation provided to households for the surplus electricity their rooftop solar panels contribute to the electric grid.Utilities and consumer groups have argued the incentive payments have unfairly favored wealthier consumers and harmed poor and low-income…

Surging mortgage interest rates threatened to squash Michael and Christine Hawkins’ dream of home ownership. But this fall when the couple saw a Canoga Park condo languish on the market, they devised a plan. They’d submit a “low ball” offer they could stomach if they cut back on vacations, shopping and eating out. In a year — when interest rates hopefully had dropped — they could refinance and free up their budget. Last month, amid a decline in overall home values, the Hawkinses, both in their 30s, closed on the…

Solar panels can make homes a lot greener. But they can also make them look a lot less attractive.In one survey conducted by the environmental-news publisher EcoWatch, a big reason homeowners didn’t install solar panels—second only to cost—was that they didn’t like how they looked. Now researchers and private companies are working on new designs that could change the look of residential solar—and lure more people into trying the technology. They are testing everything from solar cells so thin they can be spread like…

A home awaits sale at a reduced asking price in Glendale, California.David McNew | Getty ImagesThe historic run-up in home prices during the first two years of the pandemic gave homeowners record amounts of new home equity.Since May, however, about $1.5 trillion of that has vanished, according to Black Knight, a mortgage software and analytics company. The average borrower has lost $30,000 in equity.Homeowner equity peaked at $11.5 trillion collectively last May, after home prices jumped 45% since the start of the…

Litigation is looming for home insurers in Florida as cash-strapped, underinsured homeowners—paired with an aggressive plaintiffs’ bar—are expected to turn to the court system to try to force payments for flood damage that the carriers say they aren’t legally obligated to cover.Fewer than one-third to just over 40% of the Florida homes in the two coastal counties hardest hit by Hurricane Ian are covered by flood policies, although standard homeowners’ policies in the U.S. for decades have excluded flood damage. In some of…

A "For Sale" sign outside a house in Albany, California, on Tuesday, May 31, 2022.David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesSome homeowners are losing wealth as high mortgage rates weigh on home values, at least on paper, as the once red-hot housing market cools quickly.Sales have been slowing down for several months, with mortgage rates now double what they were at the start of this year.related investing newsDon't expect the S&P 500 to make much progress with rates this highHome prices, likewise, dropped 0.77%…

Colorado homeowners who are tapping their home equity this year aren’t holding back, borrowing about 50% more on average than consumers in other states. “People are chomping at the bit to get home equity loans,” said Jacob Channel, a senior economist with LendingTree, which studied how much people are borrowing against their home equity on its online lending platform. Nowhere are they chomping more than in Colorado. It is rare to see home equity loans above $150,000 or even $100,000 and the U.S. average this year is…

In 2021, a Louisville couple bought $419,000 worth of insurance coverage for their home, based on their agent’s recommendation. Now, that policy payout is only providing about half of what they need to rebuild the house they lost in the Marshall fire. In a lawsuit filed this summer, the couple blamed their agent, their insurer and the company that built the software their agent used to tell them how much coverage they needed. They’re not alone in finding fault with the software. Industry watchdogs, including Colorado…

A probabilistic floodplain map for Proctor Creek in Atlanta, an urban watershed used for modeling by the researchers. Credit: University of Georgia Flooding in urban areas cost Americans more than $106 billion between 1960 and 2016, damaging property, disrupting businesses and claiming lives in the process. Determining which areas are most likely to flood amid ever-changing land use and shifting rainfall and climate patterns…

A scheme set in motion two decades ago by Vail Resorts has unjustly taken millions of dollars from Eagle County homeowners and put them on the hook for millions of dollars more, those homeowners alleged in a Broomfield court last week. In a lawsuit filed May 23, the Red Sky Ranch Metropolitan District asked a Broomfield judge to nullify the allegedly unscrupulous arrangement. The metro district is controlled by homeowners in Red Sky Ranch, a community of 87 houses and two golf courses over 780 acres in the tiny town of…