Real Estate Industry News

With property taxes up but home values down, even the rich are asking questions and looking for a little relief. Property tax - Tax - United States - Accounting - Business

It’s always been known as a difficult neighborhood, plagued by foreclosures and the severe neglect of the properties that line its streets. But now, thanks to a program led by Lawrence Community Works, four buildings in the city’s North Common neighborhood are being renovated to serve as affordable housing for working families. Affordable housing - Real estate - Foreclosure - Business - Residential

This is not your father’s Jimmy’s Harborside. With walls of glass, exotic woods, and sharply drawn angles, the new Liberty Wharf complex on the South Boston Waterfront is everything its predecessor was not: sleek, open and inviting. South Boston - Shopping - United States - Massachusetts - Greater Boston

A new Treasury Department program to give people without bank accounts faster access to their tax refunds will help some avoid costly short-term loans. But careless consumers could end up racking up fees and padding bank profits. Bank account - Tax refund - Business - United States Department of the Treasury - Financial services

Q: In 2008, I retired at age 60 with a government pension. My agency offered the option of buying extra years of service. After weighing the advantages, I shifted about $116,000 from a tax-deferred account to buy five extra years of service credit toward retirement. The “multiplier’’ for retirement was 3 percent, which gave me an immediate additional income of ... Retirement - Pension - Business - Deferred tax - People