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Survey: 72% of people are concerned they won't see promised Social Security benefits, upon retirement age

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Social Security has been an important safety net for Americans for nearly 90 years, and today, the majority of Americans expect to rely on it when they retire. However, a new Bankrate survey shows many people are concerned they won’t receive those benefits once they reach retirement age.

More than half (53%) of Americans who haven’t retired...Read more

Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times/TNS

An affordable housing complex for Hollywood workers grapples with tenant complaints

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Dozens of tenants at an affordable housing complex for arts and entertainment workers are in rebellion amid a dispute over a rent increase and other alleged issues at the Hollywood property.

A group of residents at the Hollywood Arts Collective released a statement Thursday accusing Thomas Safran & Associates, the property management company, ...Read more

Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Google unveils unique and eco-friendly mass timber office

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

SUNNYVALE, California — Google unveiled Wednesday its first mass timber office building, a cutting-edge and eco-friendly structure in Sunnyvale the search giant hopes will be a productive and healthy workspace.

Over time, the five-story structure — built on the site of the one-time headquarters of video games pioneer Atari — is expected ...Read more

Jim Watson/Getty Images North America/TNS

How the second Trump administration could affect the housing market

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Across Southern California, and for that matter much of the country, housing is unaffordable for many, whether someone is trying to buy a house or rent an apartment.

Voter concern over the nation's cost of living, including housing, appears to have played a big role in returning Donald Trump to the White House.

Now, can he fix it?

During the ...Read more

Real estate Q&A: My partner wants to cash out of rental we both own. What are my options?

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Q: A while back, I bought a property with a partner, and we each paid part of the purchase price. Since then, I have been taking care of it and paying the taxes and insurance. We have been splitting the profit from renting it. Now, my partner wants to quit the partnership and cash out. How would this work? — Anonymous

A: When people own ...Read more

Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS

She couldn't afford a bigger house in LA. So she built a stylish ADU for $230,000

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

LOS ANGELES -- When Kille Knobel and her then-husband bought a Midcentury ranch house in Glendale for their family of five, the thought of updating the home, which was in a good school district but had been flipped on the cheap by an investor, didn’t even cross their minds.

Knobel, an Emmy-nominated lighting designer who has worked with acts ...Read more

Minnesota homeowners say they were hit with huge hidden fees when going solar

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

It was an interest rate so low that John Ahnemann felt he couldn’t turn it down.

So Ahnemann, a real estate agent living in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood, signed the paperwork last year for a $46,500 loan at 3.49% interest to put 17 solar panels on his house and garage.

“I have no idea how they’re able to do this,” he said, ...Read more

Tero Vesalainen/Dreamstime/TNS

J.D. Power: More than one quarter of bank customers experienced fraud

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Having fraudulent transactions on your bank account can be a scary and frustrating experience, even traumatic. But if you have a bank and financial institution — be it a bank or credit union — that cares about the security of your money, resolving the issue well could give you a lasting peace of mind.

That’s likely why 92% of bank ...Read more

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images North America/TNS

The world's 10 richest people: The wealthiest have $100 billion or more

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

The world’s wealthiest people have several things in common, but one of the most prominent is that the 10 richest have more than $100 billion to their name. The very top have more than $200 billion. These amounts don’t consist of cash sitting in a bank but are mainly investments, often of some of the largest publicly traded companies, which ...Read more

Andrei Dodonov/Dreamstime/TNS

Top 9 benefits of 529 education savings plans

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

A 529 plan gives consumers a tax-advantaged way to pay for education, and that’s a boon for parents and other family members who want to save for a child’s schooling. A 529 plan offers several other benefits, including the ability to invest with potentially high-return assets such as stock funds, instead of being limited to low-return bank ...Read more

Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump built his brand on real estate. How does the industry view his win?

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Many in the real estate industry look back fondly on Donald Trump’s first administration, including big corporate tax cuts and a developer-friendly tax incentive to induce investment in low-income areas.

Trump’s second presidency could see a renewal of his signature tax cuts. He’s pledged to reduce regulations, and the billionaire real ...Read more

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'A Real Pain' review: Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg are cousins in a disarming 2024 film highlight

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Everyone’s entitled to their opinions unless of course they’re dumb ones. Speaking of which, I never understood the dismissiveness when it came to Jesse Eisenberg.

The actor he grew into, with his Oscar-nominated turn in “The Social Network,” has so little regard for artifice that it’s an affront to many viewers’ needs in the ...Read more

Searchlight Pictures/Searchlight Pictures/TNS

'A Real Pain' review: Jesse Eisenberg's gently beautiful odd-couple comedy

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

David and Benji Kaplan, the 40-ish cousins who make up the central duo of “A Real Pain,” are the sort of odd-couple opposites in which movies specialize. David (Jesse Eisenberg), tense and fast-talking, is the settled one; he has a wife, a toddler, a nice Brooklyn apartment and a steady tech job, yet he struggles with anxiety. Benji (a ...Read more

Karen Ducey/The Seattle Times/TNS

Seattle-area homebuyers, trying to go agent-free, face hurdles

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Ballard, Washington, renters Anurag Kamasamudram and Mayuri Gupta started their home search casually this fall. They hoped to get a feel for the market, “window shopping” before they hired an agent and started searching more seriously in the spring.

But the couple quickly ran into problems. Agents representing home sellers seemed hesitant ...Read more

Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS

'It's a tremendous opportunity.' Closure of Phillips 66 refinery in LA County has developers salivating

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

The South Bay region of Los Angeles County is in for a large-scale transformation near the Port of Los Angeles as Phillips 66 shuts down its sprawling refineries and makes way for developers to reimagine the prime real estate.

Potential replacements for the century-old refinery complex covering 650 acres include housing and last-mile ...Read more

TOM GRALISH/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

One-third of Philadelphia-area rentals offered free rent or other perks in October

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Folks who are looking to rent a home now have more negotiating power, especially heading into the end of the year.

The rental market is typically slower in the fall, but it has slowed beyond what’s expected. An influx of new apartments in Philadelphia and across the country has controlled rent increases and forced landlords to work harder to ...Read more

Real estate Q&A: Do I need my ex's signature to sell house I kept in divorce?

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Q: When I divorced my first husband more than a decade ago, we agreed that I would keep the house. Now, I want to sell it, and I am being told that he must also sign the deed. The problem is that I have not spoken with him in years and have no idea how to get in touch. What can I do? — Janet

A: There is a distinction between agreeing to do ...Read more

Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune/TNS

More people embracing leaves: 'What falls in my yard stays in my yard'

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

CHICAGO -- Fall leaves get a warm welcome from Christie Hunt.

The River Forest, Illinois, resident rakes them into her flower beds, where they decay, providing fertilizer and valuable winter habitat for bees, moths, butterflies and fireflies.

She also piles leaves around her fig tree, where they provide protection against the cold.

And when ...Read more

Evgeny Dissx/Dreamstime/TNS

Bitcoin nears $90,000 as crypto market exceeds pandemic-era peak

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Bitcoin’s record-breaking rally took the digital asset close to $90,000 for the first time and lifted the overall value of the crypto market above its pandemic-era peak as traders bet on a boom under President-elect Donald Trump.

The largest token has jumped about 32% since the U.S. election on Nov. 5, hitting an all-time high of $89,599 on ...Read more

Searchlight Pictures/Searchlight Pictures/TNS

'A Real Pain' review: Eisenberg delivers thoughtful study of 2 hurting men

Consumer / Home and Consumer News /

Hearing the title “A Real Pain,” you can’t help but imagine a multi-camera sitcom or, perhaps, a disposable laugher starring Adam Sandler.

In reality, this second directorial feature from Jesse Eisenberg — who also wrote and co-stars in the film — is a thoughtful study of two characters dealing with sadness and depression in their own...Read more