Discrimination in housing is becoming a cat-and-mouse game of covert activity as African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians learn about disproportionately fewer housing opportunities than equally qualified whites.

The federal government holds more than 1.7 million properties considered “shadow inventory” properties that many fear could disrupt the housing market if they were suddenly unleashed on the market. To the contrary, tn today’s inventory starved market, the opposite could be true. The shadow inventory could level the playing field for buyers.

Movoto reports brown, tarred, chemical residues of third-hand smoke can send 29 percent of the value of your home up in smoke. Smoking in a home worth $200,000 can shave off $58,000, reducing the value to $142,000. That’s a lot of money to blow.

As a kid, Marc Belll’s mom and pop carpeted the living room in white and banned their rugrat from the pristine area. He didn’t get angry. He got revenge. As an adult, he transformed much of his home into the mother-of-all-man-caves.

Decks need regular inspection as well as solid initial engineering to keep them safe and in usable working order, according to Rich Bergman, editor of Ideas For Deck Designs. He offers a load capacity calculator on a web site chock full of safe deck building information.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) rose to 3.98 percent, with an average 0.7 point, the week ending June 13, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey. The 30-year FRM has been rising every week for the past month, and has increased more than half a percentage point since then.

Basements aren’t considered as glamorous as a hi-tech gourmet kitchen, gleaming custom bathrooms or well-manicured landscaping, but, because of their location and use, they need an even greater level of inspection scrutiny.

Multiple offers, pocket listings, flash sales and rising prices, in the recovering housing market, are luring sellers into the FSBO mode, but they may be overlooking the big picture that comes with real estate agent skills.

News about the housing recovery is blindingly bright, here in Silicon Valley and throughout much of the nation. Bolstered by burgeoning consumer confidence, rising stock prices and interest rates that remain near historic lows, national property values jumped nearly 11 …

A short sale occurs, as an alternative to foreclosure, when a homeowner sells the property for less than the balance on the mortgage, provided the lender will accept the deal. Scammers try to squeeze in on the action, at your expense.