Tag: Real Estate and Mortgages

Housing costs take a big bite out of most Americans’ budgets, especially consumers looking for a suitable place to live during a fluctuating rental market. That’s why the FTC has particular concerns...

Section 607(b) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires consumer reporting agencies to follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of consumer report information concerning the...

Advertising keywords are the carnival barkers of the internet. Their job is to shout, “Me, me, me, me, me!” to people searching online for a product or service. If successful, they’ll get prospective...

As a landlord – or property manager or other housing provider – you may run background checks on prospective tenants. These reports can include rental and eviction history, credit history, criminal...

Millions of people in the U.S. rent their home. Their landlord could be a small mom-and-pop property owner, a large property management company, a public housing agency, or some other kind of...

Many people – including older consumers – find themselves tied to pricey timeshares that no longer meet their needs. They were sold on the idea of idyllic getaways, but now need to get away from those...

As the old adage goes, the three rules of real estate are “location, location, location.” But according to the FTC, online real estate company Opendoor Labs pitched its services to home sellers with...

According to a recent CFPB report , the pandemic has left more than 8.8 million consumers behind on their rent. Tenants at risk of homelessness are disproportionately people of color, primarily Black...

Moon Unit Zappa’s 1982 song “Valley Girl” popularized the phrase “gag me with a spoon.” We doubt the lyric “gag me with a form contract clause” would have been a hit, but it’s among the tactics...

Based on the promoters’ promises, it sounded like a tropical paradise: a luxury enclave called Sanctuary Belize featuring a championship golf course, a new airport with direct flights to the U.S., and...

When people are looking to rent a house or apartment, the most important “screening” isn’t on the windows of the prospective new place. It’s the tenant background screening that goes on behind the...

As the song goes, “A house is not a home.” And as alleged in an FTC lawsuit against the operators of rental listing websites , sometimes an apartment isn’t an apartment. Steven Shayan, Kevin Shayan...

More than ten years ago, the FTC and the Department of Justice published a joint report outlining some concerns about impediments to competition in the residential real estate industry. At an upcoming...

Like calling an NFL lineman “Tiny,” we appreciate an ironic name as much as the next person. But it’s different when a company calls itself – among other things – Consumer Defense, Preferred Law, and...

As the name suggests, Green Tree Servicing was supposed to service homeowners’ mortgages by collecting and crediting monthly payments. But according to a $63 million settlement announced by the FTC...