Car loans Americans’ top bill-paying priority
It used to be that Americans would pay their home loans first, then their credit card and car loans. After all, homes have been most people's most valuable possession for decades, one that nobody...
The one thing
Assertiveness gets a bad rap when people equate it with being pushy and annoying. But that shouldn't stop you from learning to apply it productively (that is-in service to your strengths). More harm is...
Credit due
Most leaders know not to act like the boss in the FedEx ad. But few think carefully enough about all the ways in which credit (an extremely powerful motivator) and blame (a potential motivation...
Post-financial crisis, a new generation’s views on money
In 2008, adult conversations shifted. After nearly a decade of headlines on terrorism and the resultant wars, suddenly signs of financial trouble demanded top attention. Within months, the global financial crisis, considered by many...
The power of an authentic smile
Because we view complaints as acts of self-assertion rather than the requests for help that they indeed are, we often fail to utilize the most effective tool we have for eliciting help in complaint...
Building a strong foundation for a housing recovery
The federal government, which now owns or guarantees some 37 million mortgages because of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailouts, is forced to take possession of properties at huge expense to the taxpayer....
Cheaper by the dozen
In mid-January, the apartment REIT announced the exercise of an option to purchase the 80 percent interest not currently owned by Camden in 12 related joint ventures for $99.5 million. Camden originally owned 100 percent...
Sam Miller is why this industry is amazing
At present, he is co-chairman emeritus of Forest City Enterprises, Inc., headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. With nearly $12 billion in assets, the National Multi Housing Council's (NMHC) Top 50 Owners list ranks Miller's company...
Gays/lesbians inch toward becoming protected class
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has introduced a new rule intended to ensure equal access to the department's core housing programs for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. HUD...
Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts fastest-growing jobs
Assuming a full-employment economy with an unemployment rate of 5.2 percent by 2020, the BLS expects total U.S. employment to rise 14.3 percent over the current decade, resulting in 20.5 million new jobs. The...
Fire the customer
Obviously, any business would like to be "better" according to its customers' preferences. And eventually, someone inevitably says: "Why don't we just ask the customers what they want?" But the idea that customer input...
Are you learning as fast as the world is changing?
What goes for novelists goes for leaders searching to craft a novel strategy for their company, a new product for their customers, or a better way to organize their employees. In a world that...
What then, after the darkness?
After several Websites, including Wikipedia, protested by going dark, both pieces of legislation were shelved. Meanwhile, proponents of the two bills—News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch among them—rallied in support. But the core issues addressed in...
Is multifamily ready for big data?
The amount of information being gathered, stored, and now mined, for commercial use can be confounding to the the human mind. Compound this with the fact that all of this data is unique, though...
Gas prices to rise again
Prices could spike another 60 cents or more by May. "I think it's going to be a chaotic spring, with huge price increases in some places," says Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information...
