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I’ve never really told you why I started a blog called SecondShelters. Truth is, I wanted to call it SecondHomes, but the URL was already taken. I like the word “shelter” because that is the purpose a home serves — it is really a shelter from the elements, from the big, bad world. As a…
Read MoreI think I could live with just about every single suggestion this bipartisan deficit panel has made, at least, those that I have read, except the home mortgage deduction limitations and eliminating the mortgage deduction on second homes. Homeowners can now deduct mortgage interest on mortgages up to one million dollars. But would a second…
Read MoreThe Presidential, bi-partisian committee scrutinizing ways to cut our huge budget deficit brought on by the housing market collapse, Wall Street firms going under, and the biggest government bail out in the history of the world, may end the U.S. home mortgage¬† deduction. It could certainly end the mortgage interest deduction of second home properties.…
Read MoreI know, Case-Shiller says sales and housing prices are down in Dallas-Fort Worth. It was a pretty sucky report. The only places where sales are up — San Francisco, San Diego and Washington D.C., where all the government jobs are bringing in YPs by the bushels sporting $100 to $300K jobs, all seeking housing. But…
Read MoreI have been cheating on my house by lusting after this estate property for years. YEARS! And now, she is on the market, available. Be still, my beating heart. Listed with Douglas Newby, this home is on the same little lake where police went full S.C.U.B.A. this summer to find the murder evidence that nailed…
Read MoreThanksgiving is over and for most of us, those turkeys from last Thursday are going to make excellent sandwiches for a few days. But the inspiration for this post truly came from an article I came across on the BBC: is squirrel the perfect austerity food? I mean, we are trying to make ends meat…
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