Congress: Remember apartments
DeWitt testified in March on behalf of the National Multi Housing Council (NMHC) and the National Apartment Association (NAA) before the U.S. House of Representatives' Financial Services Committee during a hearing on housing finance...
The misery index worsens
Interest rates went up across the board at the end of April, likely reflecting a combination of four factors: a strengthening economy; a growing deficit caused by geometric growth in government spending, which, in...
How to talk to someone you can’t stand
Matthew's boss was inept and utterly irritating. As a way of starting conversations, the guy would ask if something he had just requested was finished yet. Then he'd laugh. Making matters worse, Matthew, a...
What does the health care bill mean to you?
The following are some of the ways the Patient Protection Act will affect individuals and businesses. The bill will cost $940 billion over 10 years and reduce the U.S. deficit by $143 billion over...
Is a poorly functioning health care system to blame for low life expectancy in...
The coincidence of these two facts has led some policy makers and health analysts to wonder if a highly inefficient U.S. health care system is to blame for poor health outcomes. This is the...
Health care reform: not ready for discharge
"The fat lady hasn't even come on stage yet," says legal studies and health care management professor Arnold. J. Rosoff. "The current legislation is going to be in play for a good long time." Rosoff...
Trulia.com launches rental search engine
Trulia.com recently launched an advanced search tool for rental listings. Trulia users can now take advantage of its smart search engine to find the perfect home to rent or buy. In addition to more...
The Great Recession began with great deception
A new term describing how Lehman converted securities and other assets into cash has entered the financial vocabulary: "Repo 105." While Lehman's huge indebtedness and other mistakes have been well documented, the $30 million study...
Rev up the work engine
We all have days when we just don't feel energetic and with it. But when you've got work to do—whether in your job, building your own business or around the house—you can't simply go...
Revving a career while in neutral
"You don't have to be stuck," says Dory Hollander, a workplace psychologist and founder of WiseWorkplaces, a career coaching and executive-development firm based in Arlington, Va. "You can be an active player in shaping...
Working our way out
The inability of developers to access traditional capital markets remains a significant issue. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) estimates that the current historically-low level of multifamily starts—less than a third of the...
Is housing headed for another bust or boom?
Let's start with a quick history lesson. From 1978 until the end of 2007, the annual housing starts nationwide (single-family and multifamily units) averaged about 1,544,000 annually. In 2008, housing starts dropped below a...
Dangerous trends
The real precedent was set with the 1998 multi-state tobacco settlement of $365.5 billion. Tobacco is a legal substance. In the mafia, this is called a shake down. If the government can attack one...
Safe harbor
The mainly bi-coastal apartment REIT broke ground for two new apartment projects in Q4 2009. The 219-unit, $36 million second phase of Avalon Northborough, in a suburb about 22 miles west of Boston got...
Waiting to exhale
Yet, Congress has been consumed over the past year with those things at the bottom of Americans' priority list: reducing health care costs (57 percent), providing health insurance to the uninsured (49 percent) and...
