Home inspections help assure buyers

Home inspections can help buyers decide whether they’ll walk away from a deal or head to closing.In some markets across the country, inspections also serve as key negotiation tools. In Philadelphia, for example, inspection results more frequently are providing leverage for buyers as they attempt to whittle down price or get the seller to complete …

Alex Pollock: On Housing, There Will Be More Lean Years Ahead

It is nearly five years since the peak of the housing bubble, and that highly leveraged sector, with its $11 trillion in residential mortgage debt, continues to struggle. Home values just posted their biggest quarterly decline since late 2008, largely due to a steady stream of foreclosures. But if we consider that the housing bubble …

Foreclosures: How one Broward development is fighting through foreclosures

The ad for Pompano Beach Highlands hit Life magazine in October 1955. It was paid for by the builder, who pitched retirees on the perks of owning a home in Florida. “On U.S.1, halfway between Miami and Palm Beach, with Ft. Lauderdale minutes away, Pompano Beach Highlands offers a richer, fuller life at much less …

Is the Condo Revival in Miami the Real Thing?

A few years after losing $1 billion in the real-estate crash, Jorge Pérez and his Related Group of Florida are planting seeds for new projects near the felled stumps of the old. In the Journal earlier this week, we profiled Mr. Pérez , the “condo king of Miami” who, despite losing two of his trophy …

Don King, Mel Gibson and the ‘Home Alone’ House

Boxing promoter Don King has relisted his more than three-acre oceanfront property in Manalapan, Fla., south of Palm Beach, for $20 million. The gated estate, which contains two homes, was originally offered in early 2009 for $27.5 million. Mr. King took it off the market last summer. The larger of the two homes has nine …

Letter from home column: lenders are tough even on the rich

How hard is it to get a mortgage? Hard enough that even millionaires are throwing up their hands in frustration and disgust. Patrick DiPinto, a Coldwell Banker agent on Longboat Key, says just two of his past 30 deals have involved buyers who sought mortgages to make the purchase. But one of those cases illustrates …