Hope Leitner, Realtor®, CRS

Leaving boxes by the curb alongside the trash lets burglars know you've got new toys inside. You come home to an open front door, a ransacked house, and missing valuables. How did a burglar know you’d be gone? How did they get in? In these 10 thank-you notes, your friendly neighborhood burglars share advice on how to stop lending them a helping hand. 1. Thanks for the ladder! Call me a social climber if you will, but I did discover a ladder in your back yard. Thank you for leaving it where I could lean it against your home and easily reach a second-story window. I really love it when upper story openings aren’t wired to a home security system! So, if you want to keep me out, store your ladder in the basement or a locked garage. And call your security company to wire upper-story windows into your alarm system. Vertically yours, A rising star 2. Loved your trash Can’t tell you how much fun I have driving around neighborhoods on trash day (especially after big gift ho...

The recent housing crisis has prompted questions over whether home ownership is still a viable way toward greater wealth in this country. Confidence in home ownership was shaken, and many have had to turn to renting (the number of renters has increased nearly 25 percent since the housing crisis). The home ownership rate, in turn, has fallen from a peak of nearly 70 percent in 2004 to a two-decade low of 64.3 percent more recently. Still, researchers continue to find evidence that home ownership contributes to individual wealth. One example: The Center for Responsible Lending of Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Consumer Finances recently found that median net worth of home owners in 2013 was $195,400, while at the same time the median net worth for renters was only $5,400. “Home ownership long has been central to Americans’ ability to amass wealth; even with the substantial decline in wealth after the housing bust, the net worth of home owners over time has significantly outpa...