(RECAP: A starter home is “smaller, it’s cheaper and in an area that might not be in an area where you eventually want to settle down,” says Dr. Issi Romem, chief economist for BuildZoom, a real estate construction marketplace. But these days, first-time buyers aren’t choosing starter homes. Rather than buying a starter home and plotting to upgrade in five years or so, first-time homeowners are buying and staying place, according to research conducted by the National Association of Realtors. “When they do buy, they’re plotting on living there longer than buyers that we’ve seen in the past,” says Jessica Lautz, NAR’s managing director of survey research. “They’re expecting to live there 10 years.” That trend is borne out in another survey, fielded by Bank of America in early 2016. The research found that 75% of first-time buyers would prefer to skip the starter home stage and find a house that meets their present and future needs. And more than one-third of those surveyed (35%) said they intended to be “one and done” — really plotting to retire in their first home.)

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(RECAP: A nonprofit developer has bought a hotel most recently known as a Quality Inn for a redevelopment project in the rapidly changing Scott’s Addition area of Richmond.
In a competitive bidding process, the Better Housing Coalition plans to invest a minimum of $30 million to transform the six-tale building at 3200 W. Broad St. and the entire block into a mixed-income apartment complex for families — with commercial space on the first floor fronting Broad Street. The Better Housing Coalition plans to turn the hotel into a family property and offer one-, two- and three-bedroom units, unlike many of the efficiency apartments that have opened in recent years in Scott’s Addition.)

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(RECAP: HUD has issued a final rule that makes liability for housing providers for occurrences of “quid pro quo harassment” or “hostile environment harassment.” The new rule, “Quid Pro Quo and Hostile Environment Harassment and Liability for Discriminatory Housing Practices Under the Honest Housing Act,” takes effect on October 14, 2016. Perhaps the most significant impact of the new rule is the imposition of direct liability for the conduct of third parties—housing providers could be liable for behavior among tenants. This liability hinges on whether the housing provider “knew or should have known of the discriminatory conduct and had the power to right it.” The rule neither defines what steps a housing provider must take nor how far it must go in mediating tenant-on-tenant harassment disputes.)

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