In the third quarter of 2012, 21 percent of the residential properties with a mortgage in the Providence-New Bedford-Fall River area were underwater, CoreLogic said Thursday. more

With all the depressing reports about the “fiscal cliff” and potential rollbacks in tax benefits for homeowners, you might have missed some of the positive trends under way for real estate. more

You’ve probably seen the reverse-mortgage pitchmen at work on your TV screen – former Sen. Fred Thompson and actors Robert Wagner and Henry “Fonzie” Winkler prominent among them – urging seniors to pull cash out of their homes through a loan program guaranteed by the federal government. more

The end of 2012 was hectic for David Godden, director of “distinctive home” sales at Randall Realtors in Westerly, and traffic at the shopping malls wasn’t the issue. more

There are, by varying estimations, some 400 to 700 chronically homeless people in Rhode Island who cost the state and its taxpayers an average of more than $30,000 each per year in service program, incarceration and medical costs. more

Patrick Boris, a banquet chef in Las Vegas, is inching closer to his own “fiscal cliff,” 2,100 miles away from the political brinksmanship under way on Capitol Hill. If Congress and the White House allow the country to go over the cliff, Boris figures he could owe federal income taxes on more than $100,000 in forgiven mortgage debt following the short sale of his two-bedroom townhome next year – a personal financial “disaster,” in his words. more

Since bringing the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling program to Rhode Island in 2007, the HelpCenter at Rhode Island Housing has provided foreclosure prevention counseling to more than 14,000 Rhode Islanders, the organization announced Thursday. more

Employees at Embrace Home Loans in Newport again continued the company’s tradition of assembling Thanksgiving baskets for those in need during the holiday. more

Patrick Boris, a banquet chef in Las Vegas, is inching closer to his own “fiscal cliff,” 2,100 miles away from the political brinksmanship under way on Capitol Hill. If Congress and the White House allow the country to go over the cliff later this month, Boris figures he could owe federal income taxes on more than $100,000 in forgiven mortgage debt following the short sale of his two-bedroom townhome next year – a personal financial “disaster,” in his words. more

Urban chicken-keeping in Rhode Island appeared to cross from the fringe into the mainstream two years ago when Providence legalized small, backyard flocks, followed by Warren and exclusive Barrington last year. more