Property is Power! How the Housing Crisis is Affecting Black Homeownership
The current housing market is being called a crisis for good reason. Home prices remain historically high; interest rates are elevated compared to the past decade and inventory the number of available homes is near record lows. For the African American community, where the homeownership rate lags nearly 30 percentage points behind white households, this crisis carries a deeper and more urgent meaning. It not only makes it harder...
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Matters of Life and Death: Do You Know Lady Bird?
While everyone needs an estate plan, that does not mean everyone’s plan will look the same. Your estate plan is very personal. What makes it different from your neighbor’s or a good friend’s is your unique financial situation, wishes and family. Every plan does not require a thick binder filled with hundreds of pages of documents. In some cases, the main asset to protect is the home someone is...
Read moreMatters of Life and Death: Who Gets the Final Say?
By Jehan Gibson-Crump For most people, conversations about death are not easy to have. That uneasiness leads to a failure to plan. That failure to plan becomes a one-way ticket to probate. “Probate” generally refers to the process through which a deceased person’s property is distributed. Property can mean a home, a vehicle, a business, financial accounts and more. Probate is necessary when someone passes away with property in...
Read moreMatters of Life and Death: The Power Is In Your Hands
By Jehan Gibson-Crump A common misconception is that estate planning only applies to death. This could not be further from the truth. A proper estate plan determines what will happen with your assets if you pass away and who will be responsible for carrying out those wishes. It also puts measures in place to determine who will manage your affairs if you are unable, whether it is on a...
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