Suggested Housing-Related Literature
Accessibility
Peter A. Stratton
Michael J. Crosbie (Editor)
The Federal government is stepping up its enforcement of the Fair Housing Act Accessibility Guidelines, and failure to comply with these guidelines can result in a complaint for discriminatory housing practice. A Basic Guide to Fair Housing Accessibility enables building professionals to avoid these charges with clear, concise interpretations of the Guidelines and descriptive illustrations of proper conformance. Inspired by the author’s HUD-sponsored review of nearly 400 built projects, this compact yet comprehensive guide reviews the guidelines for conformance with the seven basic design and construction requirements of the Fair Housing Amendments Act, from accessible building entrances to usable kitchens, and points out common conformance errors made by architects, builders, and developers. This practical, easy-to-follow handbook: - Demystifies accessibility guidelines and reduces the risk of litigation - Explains which buildings and units are covered by the law - Provides a compliance checklist for multifamily housing design and construction Featuring only the facts and technical guidance needed to help ensure conformance with the Guidelines, A Basic Guide to Fair Housing Accessibility is an indispensable resource for architects, builders, contractors, site engineers, and developers who need to know that their work is in conformance with Federal guidelines.
Accessible Housing Design File
Barrier Free Environments, Inc.
Staff Barrier Free Environments
Architecture: The Accessible Housing Design File Barrier Free Environments, Inc. “… an invaluable resource to everyone involved with the design, construction, and management of housing for older and disabled individuals. The amount of information on each topics is the most extensive I have ever seen.…” —Elaine Ostroff, Adaptive Environments Center Boston, Massachusetts New legislation on accessibility has made it tough for designers and builders to create environments that are both aesthetically pleasing and accommodate people with disabilities The Accessible Housing Design File helps you comply with the latest accessibility standards and keep up with the increasing demand for more universal housing. Responding to the accessibility standards established by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA), this guide covers the special design and construction considerations of environments for people with mobility impairments. It also contains some design solutions to access problems for people with visual and hearing impairments. Both interior and exterior environments are addressed in chapters that take you from site planning through selection of door hardware. Site designs, room layouts, floor plans, jargon-free explanations, and 300 detailed illustrations convey whole settings and provide you with fully dimensioned solutions to tough design problems. These design solutions will help you to create new housing as well as renovate existing single- and multi-family residences to increase accessibility. The Accessible Housing Design File emphasizes both universally usable and marketable environments that have excellent resale value. It covers the full gamut of accessible design and construction options for:* Vehicular transportation and parking—Accessible vans, carports, and garages* Site design and entrances—House placement, sloping sites, walks, crossings, bridges, lifts, ramps, and handrails* Doors and doorways—Handles, locks, power openers, hallways, floor space, screen and storm doors, door widening, and door swings* Windows—Forward reach and side reach windows, power operators, and windows as exits* Kitchens—Knee and turnaround space, adjustable-height cabinets and counters, appliance citing, and control and handle placement* Bathrooms—Grab bars, hydraulic seats, portable boom lifts, overhead track lifts, removable tub seats, tub controls, transfer and roll-in showers, and lavatory design* Bedrooms—Maneuvering space and clearances, transfers at beds, lifts, communications and control systems, emergency exits, and equipment storage. As the percentage of elderly in our population increases and the civil rights of America’s 43 million disabled citizens become better recognized, the need to create versatile environments that meet the needs of all potential users will continue to grow. This guide helps meet that need, making it essential reading for professional housing designers, specialists in aging and rehabilitation, and others involved in the design, manufacture, and construction of housing.
Codes Guidebook for Interiors
Sharon Koomen Harmon, Katerine E. Kennon
Whether you are planning a new building or making changes to an existing space, The Codes Guidebook for Interiors, Third Edition will save you hours of research time-and dramatically reduce the potential for costly planning oversights. The only guide devoted exclusively to codes applicable to interiors, this acclaimed resource features jargon-free explanations of all the major codes, standards, and federal regulations pertaining to the construction, alteration, and maintenance of commercial and residential interiors of all sizes. The easy-to-navigate format leads you step-by-step through the codes relevant at each stage in the design process, so you’ll quickly find the information you need on everything from occupancy classifications and fire protection systems to plumbing requirements and finish/furniture selection. Dozens of examples and a greatly enhanced set of illustrations, including sample floor plans, show clearly how codes apply to actual interior projects. Thoroughly revised, updated, and expanded to account for the many recent code changes, the Third Edition of this popular text provides: In-depth coverage of the newest ICC codes, including the International Building Code, Complete explanations of the NFPA codes and standards, including the Life Safety Code and the new NFPA 5000, New information on fire codes, performance codes, electrical and energy codes, and sustainability issues Comparison of ADAAG and ICC/ANSI accessibility requirements in relation to the codes and standards The most current code tables, design examples, diagrams, and project checklists A thorough review for interior designers and architects taking the NCIDQ and ARE exams, The Codes Guidebook for Interiors, Third Edition is an essential reference for architects, interior designers, and engineers, as well as facilities managers, construction managers, and developers.
Fair Housing Act Design Manual: A Manual to Assist Designers and Builders in Meeting the Accessibility Requirements of the Fair Housing Act
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Provides clear and helpful guidance about ways to design and construct housing which complies with the Fair Housing Act. The manual explains the accessibility requirements of the Act, which must be incorporated into the design and construction of multifamily housing covered by the Act. A clear statement of HUD’s interpretation of the accessibility requirements of the Act is included so that readers may know what actions will provide them with a “safe harbor.” Recommendations are made which, although not binding, meet the Department’s obligation to provide technical assistance on alternative accessibility approaches that are, at least minimally, in compliance with the Act. The latter information allows housing providers to choose among alternatives and provides persons with disabilities with information on accessible design approaches.
Fair Lending & Mortgages
Dan Immergluck
“Credit to the Community provides an examination of community reinvestment and fair lending problems and policies currently available. It outlines the history of lending discrimination and redlining in U.S. mortgage and small business lending markets and documents the persistence of such problems even today. The author explains the role that government has played in developing banking and credit markets in the United States, from the creation of Alexander Hamilton’s First Bank of United States to the ongoing support government provides through the subsidization of secondary markets and the maintenance of critical regulatory infrastructure.” Dan Immergluck takes issue with those calling for deregulation of financial services - especially in the arena of fair lending and consumer protection - and gives a new voice to rationales for such social contract policies as the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). He also provides a long-term analysis on the failure of federal bank regulators to enforce the CRA and shows how successful periods of increased community activism and media attention have led to sporadic periods of stronger CRA enforcement. Finally, he recommends a number of policy changes that are needed to modernize the nation’s fair lending and community reinvestment laws and make them more relevant for the twenty-first century.
Mortgages 101: Quick Answers to Over 250 Critical Questions About Your Home Loan
David Reed
Big banks and mortgage companies try to tell you how easy it is to apply for and get a mortgage. But the bottom line is: If you don’t ask the right questions and seek the right information, you’re not going to get the best deal. You might not even get a mortgage at all. Mortgages 101 tells you absolutely everything you need to know about finding and securing the best loan. Plus, you’ll get complete definitions and examples to help you understand industry jargon like ARMs and hybrids — and tips for navigating all that fine print. Accessible and practical, Mortgages 101 gives you up-to-date lending formulas, as well as important information on lending requirements and application procedures. If you think you already know everything about mortgages, this book is for you. And if you don’t know anything at all about mortgages, Mortgages 101 is the place to start.
Jack Guttentag
A one-stop reference for in-depth explanations of mortgage topics With the creation of so many new, complex mortgage programs, it’s difficult for consumers —not to mention real estate agents, attorneys, closing agents, and mortgage brokers—to keep track of them all. Written by nationally syndicated real estate columnist Jack Guttentag, The Mortgage Encyclopedia helps readers understand the various mortgage terms, features, and options by offering clear, precise explanations. The alphabetical organization of terms makes it easy to quickly find information on any topic, from FHA, Investor, and No-PMI Loans to Origination Fee and Rate Float. Each entry includes not just a description of the term, but also relevant advice for consumers, such as answers to the questions “Is this loan right for me?” and “Can I negotiate this fee?” - Guides readers through the bewildering array of new mortgage programs - Features definitions and explanations of common mortgage, escrow, and closing fees and arcane mortgage terminology.
The Color of Credit: Mortgage Discrimination, Research Methodology, and Fair-Lending Enforcement
Stephen L. Ross, John Yinger
In 2000, homeownership in the United States stood at an all-time high of 67.4 percent, but the homeownership rate was more than 50 percent higher for non-Hispanic whites than for blacks or Hispanics. Homeownership is the most common method for wealth accumulation and is viewed as critical for access to the most desirable communities and most comprehensive public services. Homeownership and mortgage lending are linked, of course, as the vast majority of home purchases are made with the help of a mortgage loan. Barriers to obtaining a mortgage represent obstacles to attaining the American dream of owning one’s own home. These barriers take on added urgency when they are related to race or ethnicity.
In this book Stephen Ross and John Yinger discuss what has been learned about mortgage-lending discrimination in recent years. They re-analyze existing loan-approval and loan-performance data and devise new tests for detecting discrimination in contemporary mortgage markets. They provide an in-depth review of the 1996 Boston Fed Study and its critics, along with new evidence that the minority-white loan-approval disparities in the Boston data represent discrimination, not variation in underwriting standards that can be justified on business grounds. Their analysis also reveals several major weaknesses in the current fair-lending enforcement system, namely, that it entirely overlooks one of the two main types of discrimination (disparate impact), misses many cases of the other main type (disparate treatment), and insulates some discriminating lenders from investigation. Ross and Yinger devise new procedures to overcome these weaknesses and show how the procedures can also be applied to discrimination in loan-pricing and credit-scoring.
Housing and Public Policy
This Land: The Battle over Sprawl and the Future of America
Anthony Flint
Americans love their cars and loathe cities, and developers and politicians scramble to give them what they want. But what we are getting, argues Anthony Flint, is runaway sprawl: car-choked highways leading to a numbing sameness of subdivisions, strip malls, and office parks. We cling to the notion of a suburban utopia of bigger houses, safer neighborhoods, and better schools. Even as we decry interminable commutes and absurd gas prices, we resettle in “boom-burbs,” new developments built at the outer reaches of established suburbs and a world away from city centers.
In This Land, Flint explores the economic, cultural, and political forces that make it difficult for sensible growth to gain a foothold in the United States. The anti-sprawl movement — which includes smart growth, New Urbanism, and green building — has gained some support over the past decade. But most attempts by smart growth activists to change the rules of the development game have been smacked down by politicians, builders, and lobbyists. Sensible growth measures from Oregon to Maryland have been crippled or entirely dismantled. Critics, including property rights groups and libertarians, have branded smart growth everything from elitist to socialist. A veteran journalist who covered planning, development, and housing for the Boston Globe, Flint brings the land battle to life through the stories of its most notorious soldiers.
Flint offers citizens and policy makers six common-sense tips for healthy growth: Let developers build in urban areas that already have infrastructure; Throw out arcane and illogical zoning laws and start over; Consider: Is the 4,000-square-foot home really worth the two-hour commute?; Consider living in older suburbs or in cities; Get involved in schools, parks, and civic organizations; Demand a better discourse: from politicians, civic organizations, and the media. Engaging, provocative, and occasionally startling, This Land gets to the heart of our national addiction to sprawl and offers realistic alternatives and real choices for how we live.
Housing and Public Policy: Citizenship, Choice, and Control
Alex Marsh (Editor), David Mullins
This book is designed for readers who require an up-to-date and relevant account of housing policy and are interested in the relationship between housing policy and wider social change. Recent policy changes are described, drawing on leading-edge research by the authors, and interpreted using an innovative framework incorporating the concepts of citizenship, choice and control. This approach allows housing studies to be linked with broader issues, and to adopt a questioning approach to distinguish rhetoric from reality in the policy process. While individual chapters provide accessible accounts of change occurring in the specific tenures (owner occupation, private renting, local authorities and registered social landlords), the book as a whole provides a broader overall picture in which these changes can be understood. In particular the authors trace the development and impact of contested ideas of social rights and citizenship on access to and control of housing. The focus on housing policy in Britain in the 1980s and 1990s is widened by considering examples of the different ways citizenship has been constructed in other societies and over a longer period.
Zoned Out: Regulation, Markets, and Choices in Transportation and Metropolitan Land-Use
Jonathan Levine
Researchers have responded to urban sprawl, congestion, and pollution by assessing alternatives such as smart growth, new urbanism, and transit-oriented development. Underlying this has been the presumption that, for these options to be given serious consideration as part of policy reform, science has to prove that they will reduce auto use and increase transit, walking, and other physical activity. Zoned Out forcefully argues that the debate about transportation and land-use planning in the United States has been distorted by a myth-the myth that urban sprawl is the result of a free market. According to this myth, low-density, auto-dependent development dominates U.S. metropolitan areas because that is what Americans prefer.
Alison Ravetz
Here is a retrospective and history of this particular type of housing. It makes clear the importance of council housing to modern life and culture, both at a personal and a societal level. Council housing is germane to issues of crucial importance to today’s world: how a society should regard and treat its poor; the perennial problem of the individual’s relationship to the state, the alleged obsolescence of socialism; and the relevance, place and purpose of utopian thought and practice in modern society. This is a definitive text on council housing, which will be essential for students of housing, planning, social policy and geography.
Housing and Social Services
Linking Housing and Services for Older Adults
Jon Pynoos (Editor), Penny Hollander Feldman, Joann Ahrens
The population of older adults is expected to explode in the coming years. Linking Housing and Services for Older Adults: Obstacles, Options, and Opportunities examines a crucial, complex, and often overlooked issue for policymakers and the public at large: older adults’ mounting needs for housing and supportive long-term care services. Respected experts gather to discuss in-depth the answers to difficult questions about meeting the housing and support service needs of aging adults. This important source presents insightful analysis of the issues and clear identification of the challenges to progress as well as offering specific recommendations to effectively offer housing with vital long-term care services for older adults.
Ian Shaw (Editor), Susan Lambert (Editor), David Clapham (Editor)
Drawing out the implications for policy and practice from the latest research in housing and social work, this volume illustrates the lack of communication between practitioners that is hindering service provision, and provides suggestions for improving current practice. The contributors examine the relationship of such factors as youth, gender, race, education, poverty, health, social exclusion and housing developments to the provision of housing for those in need. Social Work and Housing argues that social workers must look beyond their immediate attempts to find resources to meet special needs, and connect the problems of service users to broader structural issues such as unemployment. The book also supports greater collaboration with housing providers and explores how this can be achieved.
Jane Addams
Jane Addams’s narrative of life in an immigrant urban neighborhood provides students with an introduction to the issues of the Progressive era and the tenets of social activism. This new teaching edition reduces Addams’s original text by about 35 percent, trimming illustrative detail to focus on the ideological underpinnings of the original work. The author sketches a brief biographical portrait of Addams, outlines the decisions and convictions that led her to found Hull-House, and includes a vivid picture of turn-of-the-century Chicago. Related documents include a description of life at Hull-House from the perspective of an immigrant who frequented it, an early review of Hull-House, and perspectives from other reformers.
Predatory Lending
American Nightmare: Predatory Lending and the Foreclosure of the American Dream
Richard Lord, Manufactured by Common Courage Press
Homeowners who can’t borrow from banks have long turned to the subprime lending industry for mortgages. Increasingly, that industry has turned on them by charging outrageous fees and usurious interest, and then taking their homes through foreclosure. Richard Lord explores the spread of predatory lending practices. It tells the stories of borrowers who’ve been taken, contractors and brokers who’ve been co-opted, lenders who’ve cheated-and the world’s biggest financial titans, who’ve cashed in. A battle is taking shape that could determine whether home ownership for working people will be an achievable dream or an American nightmare. Richard Lord is a writer for the Pittsburgh City Paper whose work on subprime lending has won numerous awards.
Why the Poor Pay More: How to Stop Predatory Lending
Gregory D. Squires
The proverbial American dream of owning a home has become an all-too-real nightmare for a growing number of families. The most vulnerable segments of our society—including minorities, the elderly, and working families—are being victimized by financiers who lure them into commitments they cannot fulfill. Collectively known as “predatory lending,” these practices include offering higher interest rates than can be justified by the risk, high pre-payment penalties that lock families into exploitative loans, and monstrous balloon payments that often result in default and the loss of the home. The net result can be disastrous: damage to one’s credit rating, bankruptcy, and even the loss of lifelong savings. Why the Poor Pay More is an incisive exposure of these practices—how they have evolved, why they have become so prevalent in recent years, and how their negative effects can be quantified—and showcases community efforts to combat them along with outlining active roles that individuals, advocacy groups, financial and legal service providers, and policymakers can play in reversing this destructive trend.
Property
Cases and Materials on American Property Law
Sheldon Kurtz, Herbert Hovenkamp
This law school casebook provides updated and revised materials on property rights. Included are materials on human embryos and human body parts, updated materials on gifts, including gifts of engagement rings, as well as updated materials on tenancy by the entirety. Readers will also find completely revised and updated coverage of the law of takings and zoning, including all Supreme Court decisions through 2002, and expanded and updated coverage of the law of housing discrimination, with increased attention to state and local law issues, as well as handicapped and age discrimination under the federal Fair Housing Act.
Property 6E (The Emanuel Law Outlines Series)
Steven L. Emanuel
Focusing on real property and tangible personal property, this supplemental text for law students reviews the origins of federal and state law, and outlines the current rules governing freehold estates, marital estates, landlords and tenants, easements, zoning, land sale contracts, and the title recording system. The sixth edition is keyed to Property, 5th ed. published by Aspen in 2002 and Cases and materials on property, 8th ed. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.
James E. Krier
This path-breaking casebook retains the qualities that have earned it such a loyal following —— excellent organization, stimulating text, distinctive sense of humor and human interest, and adaptability to a wide range of courses —— while it incorporates the latest developments in the field.
Property, Fourth Edition, once again offers comprehensive coverage of the full range of property issues, including outstanding treatments of two of the most difficult topics: Estates and Future Interests in combination of text, problems, and carefully—chosen leading cases keeps this discussion both readable and interesting. Servitudes —— This clear explication is based on historical development up to the present with full treatment of the Restatement, Third, of Servitude. Fully updated PROPERTY includes timely material on: developments in fair housing; property rights of same—sex couples; trends in common interest developments; zoning; a rewritten chapter now emphasizes planning goals.
Property, Fourth Edition, takes an exciting and contemporary approach to this essential subject. From the introductory chapter on what can be considered property and why we have private property to the concluding examination of eminent domain and the problem of regulatory takings, Dukeminier and Krier supply clear explanations, lucid analyses, and compelling illustrations to bring students to a deep and meaningful understanding of the law.
Known for its excellent case selection, Property gives instructors the flexibility to tailor use to individual course needs and teaching methods. The thoroughly revised Teacher’s Manual —— long regarded as one of the best in any subject Ñ answers every problem and analyzes every case in the book.
Steve Berges
The Complete Guide to Real Estate Finance for Investment Properties covers every aspect of financial analysis as it applies to real estate. Written with novice investors in mind, it covers such topics as the three traditional valuation methodologies used to determine value; understanding finance concepts such as ROR and ROI; and cash flow analysis as it applies to income producing properties.
SparkNotes Editors
SparkCharts™ - created by Harvard students for students everywhere - serve as study companions and reference tools that cover a wide range of high school, college, and graduate school subjects, including math, business, history, computer programming, medicine, law, foreign language, humanities, and science. Titles like Spanish Vocabulary, Microsoft Excel, Study Tactics, the Bible, Algebra I, Chemistry, and Literary Terms give you what it takes to find success in school and beyond. Outlines and summaries cover key points, while diagrams and tables make difficult concepts easier to digest.
This four-page chart covers:
- Estates in land
- Future interests
- The Rule Against Perpetuities
- Concurrent estates
- Marital property
- Landlord/tenant law
- Servitudes
- Adverse possession
- Land conveyance
Property (The Examples and Explanations Series)
Barlow Burke, Joseph Snoe
Singer
Estates in Land and Future Interests: Problems and Answers
John Makdisi, Daniel B. Bogart
Estates in Land and Future Interests: Problems and Answers, Fourth Edition, uses hypothetical situations to put essential concepts of this intricate area of law within reach of first-year students.
Practical Approach to Landlord and Tenant
Simon Garner, Alexandra Frith
The sheer bulk of legislation applying to the landlord and tenant relationship can appear impenetrable and fragmented. A Practical Approach to Landlord and Tenant provides a systematic and readable guide through the principles of landlord and tenant law. It also includes an analysis of the various statutory codes applying to both residential and business tenancies. This third edition has been comprehensively updated to cover all recent developments in the law, including the Civil Procedure Rules, the Human Rights Act and the introduction of common hold and leasehold reform. It has been expanded to include agricultural tenancies and also revised to provide procedural advice for the practitioner, including checklists, precedents and forms. Very much a practical guide, A Practical Approach to Landlord and Tenant makes frequent use of examples and checklists to assist the practitioner and provides valuable context for the student coming to the subject for the first time.
Real Estate
Charles J. Jacobus
Emphasizing the basic concepts and principles of real estate, this textbook provides an overview of the industry as it exists today. Chapters cover topics like: recordation, abstracts, and title insurance; contract law; sales contracts; mortgage and note; deed of trust; lending practices; the loan and the consumer; sources of financing; types of financing; taxes and assessments; title closing and escrow; leases; appraisal; licensing laws and professional affiliation; the principal-broker relationship; fair housing, ADA, equal credit, and community reinvestment; condominiums, cooperatives, PUDs, and timeshares; property insurance; land-use control; real estate and the economy; and investing. Jacobus is a lawyer specializing in residential and commercial real estate law.
Real Estate Principles and Practices
Arlyne Geschwender
Written in a friendly tone and easy reading level, this book takes a less academic approach than its competitors. It is responsible for generating great interest in rural areas and states with requirements under 90 hours. Uniquely organized and following the natural sequence of events in a real estate transaction, the book’s coverage is divided into three parts—basic real estate concepts, the orderly process of a sale, and other aspects of real estate. Topics include real estate and the economy; land: its characteristics and acquisition; land descriptions; estates, interest, deeds, and title; contracts and business law; agency law and representation; listing the property; marketing and selling real estate; lending institutions and loans; financing; closing statements; condominiums and cooperatives; leases; property management; investment and tax aspects of ownership; the appraisal process; land use controls; fair housing law; license law; and real estate math. For those interested in real estate principles and practices, including real estate salespersons, real estate lawyers, and other real estate/mortgage professionals.
Dictionary of Real Estate Terms
Jack P. Friedman, Jack C. Harris, J. Bruce Lindeman
About 2,500 alphabetical entries, some illustrated with line drawings and graphs, cover all manner of real estate topics for home buyers, sellers, brokers, students, investors, and attorneys. The pocket-size reference covers terms of financing, brokerage law, investment, appraisal, planning, architecture, and construction. The latest edition incorporates words that have come into use with new ways of financing property, changes in tax laws, and developments in urban growth. Its authors are a real estate consultant, a research economist (Texas A&M U.), and a professor of real estate (U. of Arkansas at Little Rock). Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.
Raymond J. Werner, Robert Kratovil
This text contains 45 chapters providing a summary and analysis of the many aspects of real estate law, with abundant examples and citations. Topics addressed include land and its elements, real estate brokers, co-ownership, many aspects of real estate finance, homeowners’ associations, condominiums, mobile homes, basic landlord and tenant law, and discrimination in real estate. Many revisions may be found in this edition, including legal changes and their impact, newly adopted standards and ways of doing business, US Supreme Court cases dealing with land use regulation, and current trends in land development regulation and discrimination laws. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.
Real Estate Transactions: Examples & Explanations
Barlow Burke
This thoroughly new edition offers: new coverage of Limited Liability Companies, reflecting the many recently adopted state statutes; more material on significant current environmental considerations relevant to real estate law, particularly CERCLA; additional information on “workouts”; and increased emphasis on buyer brokerage.
Real Estate Transactions: Cases and materials on Land Transfer, Development and Finance
Paul Goldstein, Gerald Korngold
George Lefcoe
Agency, Partnerships, and LLCs (The Examples and Explanations Series)
Daniel S. Kleinberger
This short, self—teaching paperback is a superb way to give your students substantive foundation covering all agency and partnership issues. Use it to efficiently manage class time in your Corporations, Business Associations, or Agency and Partnership courses by allowing students to learn key concepts on their own. As part of the Little, Brown Examples and Explanations Series, AGENCY AND PARTNERSHIP: Examples and Explanations combines clear, accessible text with analytical problems and explanations to allow students to test their understanding of the material.
The author devotes the first six chapters to coverage of agency and the latter five to partnership. Each chapter progresses from simple to more detailed problem to reinforce learning and give students practice with more complex issues.
Other helpful features include:
- diagrams that enhance textual discussion
- thumbnail lists of key issues regarding RUPA
- clear readable format
Segregation, Discrimination, Racism, Integration, Revitalization & Gentrification
Waiting for Gautreaux: A Story of Segregation, Housing, and the Black Ghetto
Alexander Polikoff
“It was on his thirty-ninth birthday, in 1966, that Alexander Polikoff, a volunteer ACLU attorney and a partner in a Chicago law firm, met three friends to discuss a pro bono case. Over lunch, they talked about the Chicago Housing Authority construction program. All the new public housing, it seemed, was going into black neighborhoods. If discrimination was prohibited in public schools, wasn’t it also prohibited in public housing?” And so began Gautreaux v. CHA and HUD, a case that would roll on year after year, decade after decade, carrying Polikoff and his intrepid colleagues to the nation’s Supreme Court (to face then-solicitor general Robert Bork). Despite legal roadblocks and political constraints, the case would set the stage for a nationwide experiment aimed at ending the concentration - and racialization - of poverty through public housing. The story of Gautreaux as told by its principle lawyer moves with ease through local and national civil rights history. Both the memoir of a dedicated advocate and the narrative of a tenacious pursuit of equality, this story - itself a critical, still-unfolding chapter in recent American history - proposes a creative new step toward ending racial inequality, which Alexis de Tocqueville prophetically named America’s “most formidable evil.”
Housing Segregation in Suburban America since 1960: Presidential and Judicial Politics
Charles M. Lamb
This book examines national fair housing policy from 1960 through 2000 in the context of the American presidency and America’s segregated suburban housing market. It argues that a major reason for suburban housing segregation lies in Richard Nixon’s 1971 fair housing policy, which directed federal agencies not to pressure suburbs to accept low-income housing. After exploring the role played by Lyndon Johnson in the initiation and passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, the book contrasts Nixon’s politics of suburban segregation with the politics of suburban integration espoused by his Housing and Urban Development secretary, George Romney. Nixon’s fair housing legacy is then traced from the Ford administration through the Clinton presidency and in the decisions of Nixon’s federal court appointees.
Unfair Housing: How National Policy Shapes Community Action
Mara S. Sidney
It is difficult to ignore the fact that, even as the United States becomes much more racially and ethnically diverse, our neighborhoods remain largely segregated. The 1968 Fair Housing Act and 1977 Community Reinvestment Act promised to end discrimination, yet for millions of Americans housing options remain far removed from the American Dream. Why do most neighborhoods in American cities continue to be racially divided? The problem, suggests Mara Sidney, lies with the policies themselves. She contends that to understand why discrimination persists, we need to understand the political challenges faced by advocacy groups who implement them. In Unfair Housing she offers a new explanation for the persistent color lines in our cities by showing how weak national policy has silenced and splintered grassroots activists. Sidney explains how political compromise among national lawmakers with divergent interests resulted in housing legislation that influenced how community activists defined discrimination, what actions they took, and which political relationships they cultivated. As a result, local governments became less likely to include housing discrimination on their agendas, existing laws went un-enforced, and racial segregation continued. A former undercover investigator for a fair housing advocacy group, Sidney takes readers into the neighborhoods of Minneapolis and Denver to show how federal housing policy actually works. She examines how these laws played out in these cities and reveals how they eroded activists’ capability to force more sweeping reform in housing policy. Sidney also shows how activist groups can cultivate community resources to overcome these difficulties, looking across levels of government to analyze how national policies interact with local politics. In the first book to apply policy design theories of Anne Schneider and Helen Ingram to an empirical case, Sidney illuminates overlooked impacts of fair housing and community reinvestment policies and extends their theories to the study of local politics and nonprofit organizations. Sidney argues forcefully that under-standing the link between national policy and local groups sheds light on our failure to reduce discrimination and segregation. As battles over fair housing continue, her book helps us understand the shape of the battlefield and the prospects for victory. This book is part of the Studies in Government and Public Policy series. $35.00 HB, $16.95 PB, B&N.
The Slaughterhouse Cases: Regulation, Reconstruction, and the Fourteenth Amendment
Ronald M. Labbe, Jonathan Lurie
The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1868, sought to protect the rights of the newly freed slaves; but its first important test did not arise until five years later. When it did, it centered on a vitriolic dispute among the white butchers of mid-Reconstruction New Orleans. The rough-and-tumble world of nineteenth-century New Orleans was a sanitation nightmare, with the city’s slaughterhouses dumping animal remains into neighboring backwaters. When Louisiana authorized a monopoly slaughterhouse to bring about sanitation reform, many butchers felt disenfranchised. Framing their case as an infringement of rights protected by the new amendment, they flooded the lower courts with nearly 300 suits. The surviving cases that reached the U.S. Supreme Court pitted the butchers’ right-to-labor against the state’s “police power” to regulate public health. The result was a controversial decision that for the first time addressed the meaning and import of the Fourteenth Amendment. Speaking for the slim majority in the Court’s 5-4 decision, Justice Samuel F. Miller upheld the state’s actions as a fair use of its “police power.” Of much greater import, however, was Miller’s finding that the Fourteenth Amendment was intended exclusively as a means of protecting and redressing the suffering of former slaves. The result was a very restricted interpretation of the “privileges and immunities,” “due process,” and “equal protection” clauses of the new amendment. The Court refused to allow the broad terms of a single amendment to alter the existing balance of power between the states and the federal government. In striking contrast, the minority, led by Justice Stephen Field, claimed that the Fourteenth Amendment had been intended to apply to all Americans, not just former slaves. In particular, it guaranteed the New Orleans butchers a right to equal treatment in the exercise of the police power. Engagingly written and insightfully argued, the book provides the most complete analysis yet of this controversial Supreme Court decision, fills a major gap in American history, law, and politics, and sets the standard for all future discussions on the subject.
David Levinson
This encyclopedia is suitable for high school and beginning undergraduates as well as general readers. Issues addressed include causes of homelessness and solutions, history, research strategies, gender, aging, laws, and advocacy groups worldwide. Entries for individual cities, particularly of the US and the UK, and for some countries, treat the history, present status, and specific local conditions and issues. Other entry topics include HIV/AIDS, fair housing laws, shelters, abeyance theory, foster care, food programs, harm reduction, public opinion, and veterans. All contain a list of references. Contributions are from academics, public workers, and researchers working in a broadly international array of institutions. Appendices comprise a bibliography of autobiographical and fictional accounts, a filmography, directory of street newspapers, documentary history, and comprehensive bibliography. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Desegregating the City: Ghettos, Enclaves, and Inequality
David P. Varady
Desegregating the City takes a global, multidisciplinary look at segregation and the strengths and weaknesses of different anti-segregation strategies in the United States and other developed countries. In contrast to previous works focusing exclusively on racial ghettos (products of coercion), this book also discusses ethnic enclaves (products of choice) in cities like Belfast, Toronto, Amsterdam, and New York. Since 9/11 the ghetto enclave distinction has become blurred as crime and disorder have emanated from both European immigrant ethnic enclaves and America’s ghettos. The contributors offer a variety of tools for addressing the problems of racial and income segregation, including school integration, area based “fair share” housing requirements, place based mixed income housing development, and expanded demand side residential subsidy options such as housing vouchers. By exploring these alternatives and their consequences, “Desegregating the City” provides the basis for a combination of flexible anti-segregation strategies.
Closed Doors, Opportunities Lost: The Continuing Cost of Housing Discrimination
John Milton Yinger
Nearly three decades after the passage of the Fair Housing Act, illegal housing discrimination against blacks and Hispanics remains rampant in the United States. “Closed Doors, Opportunities Lost,” reports on a landmark nationwide investigation of real estate brokers and landlords, comparing their treatment of equally qualified white, black, and Hispanic customers. The study reveals pervasive discrimination. Economist John Yinger provides a lucid account of these disturbing facts and shows how deeply housing discrimination can affect the living conditions, education, and employment of black and Hispanic Americans. Closed Doors, Opportunities Lost provides a history of fair housing and fair lending enforcement and joins the intense debate about integration policy. Yinger proposes a bold, comprehensive program that aims not only to enforce laws against discrimination in housing and mortgage markets but also to address the underlying causes of discrimination by attacking racial and ethnic disparities and supporting community efforts to promote integration. He urges reforms to strengthen the enforcement powers of HUD and other agencies, provide funding for poor and integrated schools, encourage local housing and race-counseling programs, and shift income tax breaks toward low-income home-buyers. This volume speaks directly to the ongoing debate about the nature and causes of poverty and the underclass, civil rights policy, and the plight of our nation’s cities.
Geography of Opportunity: Race and Housing Choice in Metropolitan America
Xavier de Souza Briggs (Editor), Foreword by William Julius Wilson
Many Americans think of their country as a welcoming “nation of immigrants,” yet our communities have a long history of ambivalence toward new arrivals and racial minorities. This is often expressed through segregation by race and income. In this book, some of the nation’s leading analysts and advocates show shy segregation persists and how it undermines education, job prospects, and even health and safety for millions of minorities and low-income families. Calling housing “the most important invisible social policy issue in America,” the book outlines and agenda to expand the geography of opportunity and assesses the political promise-and limits-of the movement for regional solutions. This project was sponsored by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University in collaboration with Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program.
New Urban Frontier: Gentrification and the Revanchist City
Neil Smith
This book challenges conventional wisdom, which holds gentrification to be the simple outcome of new middle-class tastes and a demand for urban living. It reveals gentrification as part of a much larger shift in the political economy and culture of the late twentieth century. Documenting in gritty detail the conflicts that gentrification brings to the new urban “frontiers”, the author explores the interconnections of urban policy, patterns of investment, eviction, and homelessness. The failure of liberal urban policy and the end of the 1980s’ financial boom have made the end-of-the-century city a darker and more dangerous place. Public policy and the private market are conspiring against minorities, working people, the poor, and homeless people as never before. In the emerging revanchist city, gentrification has become part of this policy of revenge.
John F. Bauman (Editor), Roger Biles (Editor), Kristin M. Szylvian (Editor)
This book explores the history of US efforts to shape housing policy. Looks at issues such as tenement design, community building, public versus private intervention, policy versus ideology, and housing and race, with examination taking place within the framework of a changing urban-industrial economy, the Great Depression, post-WWII deindustrialization, and the urban-suburban sprawl and edge cities of the 20th century. Overall themes are the persistence of the Lockean tradition, the failure of US policy, and the state’s role in fostering urban residential decentralization. Includes b&w historical photos. The editor is visiting research professor in community planning and development at the University of Southern Maine. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.
There Goes the Hood: Views of Gentrification from the Ground Up
Lance Freeman
In this revealing book, Lance Freeman sets out to answer a seemingly simple question: how does gentrification actually affect residents of neighborhoods in transition? To find out, Freeman does what no scholar before him has done. He interviews the indigenous residents of two predominantly black neighborhoods that are in the process of gentrification: Harlem and Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. By listening closely to what people tell him, he creates a more nuanced picture of the impacts of gentrification on the perceptions, attitudes and behaviors of the people who stay in their neighborhoods.
Freeman describes the theoretical and planning/policy implications of his findings, both for New York City and for any gentrifying urban area. There Goes the ‘Hood provides a more complete, and complicated, understanding of the gentrification process, highlighting the reactions of long-term residents. It suggests new ways of limiting gentrification’s negative effects and of creating more positive experiences for newcomers and natives alike.
City Politics: The Political Economy of Urban America
Dennis R. Judd, Todd Swanstorm
City Politics is a comprehensive text organized around the theme of political economy. Using a historical approach to reveal enduring patterns in urban politics, the text goes beyond an explanation of government structures and examines the complex interaction between public and private interests. Dennis R. Judd and Todd Swanstrom have completely updated and reorganized City Politics. The second edition continues to approach urban politics comparatively and includes a new chapter on urban governance that examines the prospects for urban liberalism, conservatism, and populism; new material on tourism as an economic development strategy; the politics of community development; and President Clinton’s urban policy.
The Death and Live of Great American Cities
Jane Jacobs
This is the classic work that set a new agenda for urban planning.
Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream
Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Jeff Speck
A manifesto by America’s most controversial and celebrated town planners, proposing an alternative model for community design.
There is a growing movement in North America to put an end to suburban sprawl and to replace the automobile-based settlement patterns of the past fifty years with a return to more traditional planning principles. This movement stems not only from the realization that sprawl is ecologically and economically unsustainable but also from a growing awareness of sprawl’s many victims: children, utterly dependent on parental transportation if they wish to escape the cul-de-sac; the elderly, warehoused in institutions once they lose their driver’s licenses; the middle class, stuck in traffic for two or more hours each day.
Founders of the Congress for the New Urbanism, Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk are at the forefront of this movement, and in Suburban Nation they assess sprawl’s costs to society, be they ecological, economic, aesthetic, or social. It is a lively, thorough, critical lament, and an entertaining lesson on the distinctions between postwar suburbia-characterized by housing clusters, strip shopping centers, office parks, and parking lots-and the traditional neighborhoods that were built as a matter of course until mid-century. It is an indictment of the entire development community, including governments, for the fact that America no longer builds towns. Most important, though, it is that rare book that also offers solutions.
How Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl, and the Roads Not Taken
Alex Marshall
Marshall argues that urban life has broken down because of our basic ignorance of the real forces that shape cities-transportation systems, industry and business, and political decision making. He explores how these forces have built four very different urban environments-the decentralized sprawl of California’s Silicon Valley, the crowded streets of New York City’s Jackson Heights neighborhood, the controlled growth of Portland, Oregon, and the stage-set facades of Disney’s planned community, Celebration, Florida.
To build better cities, Marshall asserts, we must understand and intelligently direct the forces that shape them. Without prescribing any one solution, he defines the key issues facing all concerned citizens who are trying to control urban sprawl and build real communities. His timely book will be important reading for a wide public and professional audience.
A recent Loeb Fellow at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Alex Marshall is a freelance journalist in Norfolk, Virginia, who has written about urban design for the Washington Post, George, Metropolis, Planning, and other national publications.
Resisting Gentrification and Displacement: Voices of Puerto Rican Women of the Barrio
Vickie Muniz
This study provides insights into the importance of sociocultural factors in contemporary urban development. By injecting gender, culture, and race into our understanding of community choice and resistance to economic pressure, the author enhances our understanding of the contemporary social geography in cities with large ethnic/racial populations.
The focus of this study is on Puerto Rican women who resist gentrification and displacement in a New York City neighborhood. The study highlights the cultural importance puertorrique-as attach to their neighborhood and the threat to their cultural identities in the wake of displacement. The author documents the struggle of barrio residents against gentrification in the context of the neighborhood and the local housing court. She captures the women’s voices as they challenge husbands, landlords, and government agencies, interact with other class/ethnic groups, and construct strategies for resisting displacement as well as new identities for themselves.
Urban Sprawl and Public Health: Designing, Planning, and Building for Healthy Communities
Howard Frumkin, Richard Jackson, Lawrence D. Frank
In Urban Sprawl and Public Health, three of the nation’s leading public health and urban planning experts take a comprehensive look at the interface of urban planning, architecture, transportation, community design, and public health. They summarize the evidence linking adverse health outcomes with sprawling development, and outline the complex challenges of developing policy that promotes and protects public health. This book is essential reading for anyone concerned with issues of public health, urban planning, transportation, architecture, or the environment.
Listening to Harlem: Gentrification, Community, and Business
David Maurrasse
David J. Maurrasse is an assistant professor in the Department of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He is the author of Beyond the campus: How Colleges and Universities Form Partnerships with their Communities. Routledge, 2001. His research interests are in social movements, nonprofit organizations, community building, and partnerships between major institutions and communities. His latest solo book, Listening to Harlem, which is about the state of economic development in the neighborhood, will be released in 2004. He has also edited a book, A Future for Everyone, which focuses on the social responsibility of various major institutions and industries.
Barrio Dreams: Puerto Ricans, Latinos, and the Neoliberal City
Arlene M. Davila
Arlene Davila considers the cultural politics of urban space in this lively exploration of Puerto Rican and Latino experience in New York, the global center of culture and consumption where Latinos are now the biggest minority group. Analyzing the simultaneous gentrification and Latinization of what is known as El Barrio or Spanish Harlem, Barrio Dreams makes a compelling case that — despite neoliberalism’s race- and ethnicity-free tenets — dreams of economic empowerment are never devoid of distinct racial and ethnic considerations.
London Calling: The Middle Classes and the Re-making of Inner London
Tim Butler, Garry Robson
Symbolizing both commerce and culture, London has always been a magnet for the ambitions of the middle classes. However, the past three decades have witnessed a dramatic fragmentation in inner-city London’s social map. New and highly distinctive middle-class neighbourhoods have sprung up where embattled workers seek to combat the deleterious effects of long working hours, travel, and stress on traditional family values.
This book is the first to explore the powerful impact of globalization on London’s economy and those who are caught up in it. More and more people are responding to the negative effects of working life as well as the lack of structure in their lives and particularly those of their children. The gentrification of certain areas and the differences among them directly reflects this desire to impose cultural values and structure on urban surroundings. How do these areas reflect middle-class values, ideologies, lifestyles, social backgrounds and occupational choices, and how have old neighbourhoods been refashioned and made amenable to middle-class life? In what ways has family life been affected by this new emphasis on values, structure and security, and what does the future hold?
New Middle Class and the Remaking of the Central City
David Ley
What factors lie behind the rehabilitation of central city districts across the world? Set against the context of international transformations in a post-industrial postmodern society, this book examines the creation and self-creation of a new middle class of professional and managerial workers associated with the process of gentrification. These are amongst the privileged members in the growing polarization of urban society. The book examines their impact on central housing markets, retailing and leisure spaces in the inner city as well as their effects on urban planning and urban policies. Taking as its focus six large Canadian cities, the author identifies a distinctive cultural new class of urbane social and cultural professionals inspired in part by the critical youth movements of the 1960s for whom old inner city neighbourhoods served as oppositional sites to assail the bourgeois suburbs. The study looks at their close links with reform movements, neighbourhood activism and a welfare state that often provided their employment, in a progressive aesthetization of central city spaces since the 1980s. The New Middle Class and the Remaking of the Central City offers the first detailed and comparative study of gentrification which locates the phenomenon in broader historical and theoretical contexts.
Unsettling the City: Urban Land and the Politics of Property
Nicholas K. Blomley
The capitalist city is a site for rampant gentrification, socio-spatial stratification, and racial inequality. In Unsettling the City, Nicholas Blomley demonstrates how the legal concept of property helps to generate and underwrite these pervasive urban processes. Showing how conflicting concepts of property are implicated in various power struggles in the contemporary city, Blomley explains how gentrification and colonialism have produced an urban landscape in which neo-liberal, nonsocial notions of property clash with a more egalitarian and collective understanding of land. While practices and conceptions of property can be used to dispossess the poor, women, and native peoples, property also emerges as a crucial basis for political claim-making and creative opposition. Unsettling the City is an expansive and original analysis of the spatial politics of urban property that will be of interest to scholars in geography, urban studies, and law.
Russell Leigh Sharman
Rich with the textures and rhythms of street life, The Tenants of East Harlem is an absorbing and unconventional biography of a neighborhood told through the life stories of seven residents whose experiences there span nearly a century. Modeled on the ethnic distinctions that divide the community, the book portrays the old guard of East Harlem: Pete, one of the last Italian holdouts; José, a Puerto Rican; and Lucille, an African American. Side by side with these representatives of a century of ethnic succession are the newcomers: Maria, an undocumented Mexican; Mohamed, a West African entrepreneur; Si Zhi, a Chinese immigrant and landlord; and, finally, the author himself, a reluctant beneficiary of urban renewal. Russell Leigh Sharman deftly weaves these oral histories together with fine-grained ethnographic observations and urban history to examine the ways that immigration, housing, ethnic change, gentrification, race, class, and gender have affected the neighborhood over time. Providing unique access to the nuances of inner-city life, The Tenants of East Harlem shows how roots sink so quickly in a community that has always hosted the transient, how new immigrants are challenging the claims of the old, and how that cycle is threatened as never before by the specter of gentrification.
Homeowner Resources
Neighbor Law: Fences, Trees, Boundaries and Noise
Cora Jordan
Comprehensive and easy to understand, this step by step guide helps homeowners protect their rights while maintaining good relationships with their neighbors.
Privatopia: Homeowner Associations and the Rise of Residential Private Government
Evan McKenzie
This book is the first comprehensive study of the political and social issues posed by the rise of common-interest housing developments and their private governments. Tracing the history of this type of housing from the nineteenth century to the present, McKenzie highlights the important but little-understood role public policy has played in advancing this large-scale “privatization for the few,” and he concludes by considering the implications for civil liberties and for politics at all levels of government.
Landlord & Tenant Resources
The Landlord’s Troubleshooter: A Survival Guide for New Landlords
by Robert Irwin
You’ve likely heard stories about people who have made lots of money becoming a landlord, and since then you have wanted to do the same. The biggest obstacle for most people is lack of good information. The solution to that barrier is The Landlord’s Troubleshooter. In this newly updated, third edition, renowned real estate investor and landlord Bob Irwin has used lessons learned in his 30-year real estate career to teach you everything you ever wanted to know about becoming a landlord. Filled with sample letters and forms typically used in property management, The Landlord’s Troubleshooter is the only book you’ll need to solve almost every situation you’ll face in your new career as a landlord.
Marcia Stewart, Ralph Warner, Janet Portman
The guide is a comprehensive look at state and federal laws governing landlord-tenant relations. The guide also covers how to comply with laws concerning tenancy, termination, security deposits, discrimination and much more.
The Weekend landlord: From Credit Checks and leases and Everything in Between
James Landon
This book provides an overview of basic principles of residential landlord/tenant law in a format that is easy to read. It covers a wide range of topics including: Tenancy applications; Eviction notifications; Rental agreements; Security deposits; Landlord’s duties; Tenant’s rights & remedies regarding leasing issues; Specific state-by-state laws The title includes more than 50 forms with step-by-step instructions for completion. Each of these forms is included in the text as tear-out, blank forms, as well as on an easy-to-use, PC/MAC-compatible CD-ROM. All forms can be completed on a computer and downloaded for immediate use. In addition, many of the forms are also used as examples within the text, giving the reader another form of information.
Author Biography: James A. Landon is a 1996 graduate of the University of Arizona School of Law. He has practiced law in Tucson since 1996, and has successfully handled thousands of landlord/tenant-related cases.
Every Landlord’s Guide to Finding Great Tenants
by Janet Portman
Landlords face many challenges, but choosing new tenants has the greatest potential to affect your bottom line. The book will guide you through the process of attracting, screening and choosing the best renters possible. It covers: effective advertising; phone screening; presenting the unit; evaluating applications; examining credit reports; checking references; discrimination basics; making a rental offer; rejecting applicants; and more. This guide provides dozens of forms and checklists for every step, with easy instructions to fill them out.
Jeffrey Taylor
The Landlord’s Survival Guide by best-selling author Jeffrey Taylor is for real estate investors just like you who want full-time profits from their rental properties but only want to deal with them part-time. Taylor, also known as “Mr. Landlord”, shows you a new way of managing properties in this competitive and ever-changing marketplace. Today’s renters want things “their way” and this guide shows you how to give residents what they want while giving you what you want-maximum profits. Complete with all the action steps needed to help you implement Mr. Landlord’s money-making management system, The Landlord’s Survival Guide is a must-read for landlording newbies and veterans who want bigger profits.
Jeffrey Taylor, Foreword by Troy Titus
Ready to use forms, letters, and notices to increase profits, take control, and eliminate the hassles of property management.
Effective communication is the key to fostering good relationships between landlords and tenants, says Jeffrey Taylor, a.k.a. “Mr. Landlord”. For the first time ever, he shares more than 100 forms, letters, and notices developed during his two plus decades as owner and manager of residential properties. His book, The Landlord’s Kit, is a mini training manual for landlords who want to fill vacancies faster, keep residents longer, generate more rental profits, foster greater resident cooperation, and begin and end relationships positively. The ready to use tools eliminate hassles for landlords while increasing the likelihood of achieving stellar financial success in the rental real estate business.
Eric Cumley
Vacant apartments mean income lost—for property management companies, investment property owners, landlords, and anyone else who relies on rental income to pay the bills. In 7 Secrets to Successful Apartment Leasing, Eric Cumley provides seven proven industry secrets to building the relationships that achieve and maintain high occupancy levels. From “Stop Qualifying Prospects and Start Interviewing Them,” to “Follow-Up is the Extra Mile,” Cumley provides examples, tips, to-do lists, sample scripts, and more that will help you responsible for filling vacancies do so, quickly and effectively.
Steven D. Strauss
Know your legal rights without spending a fortune in legal fees; get the advice of an expert for the cost of a book. It happens to everyone. You need legal help, but you have no idea what you’re getting into or where to begin. The thought of hiring a personal attorney—and shelling out outrageous amounts of money in hourly legal fees—makes you cringe. Isn’t there a better way? The Ask a Lawyer series arms you with practical, usable advice about common legal situations, answering your questions and familiarizing you with legal procedure before you ever set foot in a lawyer’s office. Each book walks you through simple explanations of the law, legal definitions, tips, and sample scenarios, describing what will happen and what your options are. In some cases, these books can keep you from spending money on a lawyer you really never needed.
Whether you ultimately decide to handle the matter by yourself or use an attorney’s assistance for the completion of your plans, these books can easily save you thousands of dollars in the process. Do you feel harassed by your landlord? Does your tenant never pay the rent on time? The problems that can arise in a landlord-tenant relationship may end up costing serious money if not handled properly and sensibly. This book covers the rights, responsibilities, and duties of both parties; the best ways of dealing with your landlord or tenant and coming up with reasonable solutions; what a tenant should look for in an apartment and a lease; how to evict a tenant or avoid eviction; and how to get out of a lease.
Janet Portman, Marcia Stewart
The essential all-in-one book for anyone paying rent! Every Tenant’s Legal Guide gives you the legal and practical information you need to deal with your landlord and other tenants, and protect your rights when things go wrong. Written in plain English, it shows you how to:
- inspect a place before you move in;
- negotiate a lease or rental agreement;
- put roommate relationships on a sound legal footing;
- understand key rules on rent increases and rent control;
- get needed repairs and maintenance;
- protect your privacy;
- fight illegal discrimination;
- break a lease with minimum financial liability;
- get your security deposit back; and
- understand and prepare for eviction proceedings.
The updated 4th edition of Every Tenant’s Legal Guide comes complete with tear-out forms, as well as charts that help you figure out the latest laws of your state.
Janet Portman, Marcia Stewart
Is it next to impossible to get the rent out of your roommate each month? Or is your landlord forgetting about the clogged drain he said he’d repair weeks ago? Then it’s time to assert your renters’ rights! Aimed at everyone from the new renter on the block to more seasoned tenants who just want to know the basics, this new Legal Basics book is packed with the critical legal and practical information that every renter needs. Written in plain English, the book covers important concerns like:
- leases and rental agreements
- discrimination
- rent
- security deposits
- privacy
- roommates
- repairs and maintenance
- and much more
Co-authored by two experts in tenants’ rights, this book is as indispensable as a friend with a pickup truck and a free weekend. The 4th edition is completely updated and revised to reflect the latest landlord-tenant laws of your state.
Essential Guide to Real Estate Leases
Mark Warda
Written by a lawyer in simple, non-technical language, this guide explains the typical clauses used in real estate leasing, so realtors and landlords understand their rights. Also, included is information on storage space leases.
Marcia Stewart, Ralph Warner, Janet Portman
Here’s a quick and easy way for landlords to create the key documents necessary for owning or managing rental property, including a legally valid lease and rental agreement. With this bestselling guide, you’ll learn how to:
- Prepare a month-to-month rental agreement or lease tailored to meet your business needs and state laws;
- Make legally required disclosures;
- Comply with laws covering key issues such as security deposits, privacy rules, discrimination and more;
- Conduct a thorough check of tenant references and credit;
- Get the tenant moved in and inspect the condition of the rental unit; and
- Modify a signed rental agreement or lease.
Leases & Rental Agreements includes tear-out forms (plus step-by-step instructions to fill them out), including a rental agreement, lease, rental application and more. The 5th edition provides updated 50-state legal charts on security deposits, rent rules, access to rental property and more.