If you want to buy a house with minimal cash by using an FHA-insured mortgage, here’s some sobering news: Thanks to an ongoing series of fee increases and underwriting tweaks – the most recent of which were announced Jan. 31 – FHA is getting steadily more expensive, and may not work for you. more

Rebecca “Becky” Moniz, an agent with Weichert, Realtors – Cress & Co., is the recent recipient of the Kent Washington Association of Realtors Good Neighbor Award. The award honors her efforts, and those of her strategic partners, in supporting Rhode Island’s military community. During the past several years, Moniz has served on the Rhode Island Association of Realtors Realtor Troop Support Tast Force, assisting in raising funds to bring the Military Childhood Education Coalition to Rhode Island, coordinating a partnership with the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program to educate deploying military-service members on home ownership and providing advice and home-buying seminars for veterans. Moniz has been with Cress & Co. since 2009 and is the former broker/owner of Young Realty Inc. more

Many Rhode Island communities have fought the state’s Low and Moderate Income Housing Act for limiting their ability to stop development projects. more

Born and raised along Bungay Lake in Mansfield, Scott Freerksen has a deep appreciation for and understanding of the green benefits and challenges and the emotional attachments that come with lakefront living. more

When it comes to energy efficiency and green features in homes, there’s a large disconnect in the marketplace among consumers, real estate appraisers and the nation’s realty sales system. more

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is giving its wealthiest clients the chance to invest in the single-family rental market after other investments linked to the U.S. housing recovery jumped in value. more

Americans signed fewer contracts to buy previously owned homes in February, indicating a pause in momentum for an industry that is helping power the economy. more

Home equity is back! And it’s growing fast: According to the latest data from the Federal Reserve, Americans’ net equity holdings in their houses jumped by nearly half a trillion dollars during the last three months of 2012, and have increased by $1.7 trillion since the spring of 2011. more

In the contentious debate over whether to reduce or eliminate the home-mortgage interest tax deduction – or leave it alone – one fact has been virtually unchallenged: The popular write-off used by millions of American owners costs the government massive amounts of revenue, somewhere in the range of $100 billion a year. more

Even as U.S. housing rebounds from its worst downturn since the 1930s, production bottlenecks are pushing up building-materials costs, land prices are rising and skilled labor ready to begin work is hard to find. more