Money
How a deal is settled and paid, from contract to keys.
Singapore scam figures and the audit checks a property agency can run
What the Singapore Police Force scam briefs for 2025 and mid-2026 count, which categories touch a property deal, what CEA enforces, and the written checks an agency can test.
South Australia agent commission: the 90-day sales agency agreement
How a South Australian sales agency agreement sets an agent's commission, what it must disclose on fees, expenses and rebates, and when the commission cannot be claimed.
South Australia home settlement: conveyancer, duty and transfer fees
How a home sale settles in South Australia: the timetable, the conveyancer's tasks, adjustments, duty through RevenueSA Online, the 2026-27 transfer fee scale and the keys.
Texas and Florida property tax: exemptions, caps, appeals and bills
How a homeowner's property tax is valued, reduced, capped, challenged and paid in Texas and in Florida, and what a sale does to the assessed value, as the two states publish it.
Texas: who can legally be paid a real estate commission
Texas law lets a broker share a commission only with licence holders. How sales agents are paid, when a rebate is allowed, the US$50 gift line and when a broker can sue.
UAE property tax: VAT on sales and rents, corporate tax on income
How the UAE's two federal taxes apply to property: when a sale or a rent carries 5% VAT, and when rental income or a sale profit falls under the 9% corporate tax.
Closing day on a US home purchase: papers, wires and what follows
What federal rules and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau say about closing day in the United States: who attends, what is signed, wire warnings, rescission and servicing notices.
USA: 2026 conforming loan limits, jumbo loans and cancelling PMI
The 2026 conforming loan limit is US$832,750 for a one-unit home. How the figure is set, when a mortgage becomes a jumbo loan, and the points at which private mortgage insurance ends.
US mortgage escrow accounts: the cushion, shortages and waivers
What a US mortgage escrow account pays, how much Regulation X lets a servicer hold, how shortages and surpluses are settled, and when the account is required or can be dropped.
Mortgage fraud in the United States: red flags and where to report
How Fannie Mae defines mortgage fraud, the schemes and red flags it publishes, the two federal statutes with 30-year maximum terms, and the bodies that take a report in the United States.
How US real estate agents' commission income is taxed by the IRS
A US agent paid by commission is usually self-employed for federal tax. How the IRS rule works, from Form 1099-NEC to self-employment tax, estimated payments and the QBI deduction.
Seller impersonation on US vacant land: warning signs and checks
How the FBI and state regulators describe sales of US land by people posing as the owner, the checks they list for agents and closing offices, and what a real owner can do.
US: TransUnion and Equifax let mortgage lenders buy scores later
Two of the three US credit bureaus launched tools on 8 October that let a mortgage lender pull a credit file first and add a score later. Equifax prices a 24-hour repull at US$1.
Victorian Labor pledges to restore the A$300,000 land tax threshold
Victorian Labor says it will lift the land tax threshold from A$50,000 back to A$300,000 by 2033/34 if re-elected. The schedule, the cost and the other parties' plans.
Western Australia: from offer and acceptance to settlement day
How a home sale runs in Western Australia once an offer is signed: the O & A and its general conditions, the deposit, finance, the settlement agent, transfer duty and settlement day.
Western Australia: transfer duty and land tax on a home, with examples
What a home costs in state tax in Western Australia: the transfer duty scale, the off-the-plan concession, the foreign rate, and the yearly land tax and metropolitan levy, with worked examples.
Australia's big four banks pass on the cash rate rise from 9 October
Variable home loan rates at Westpac, NAB, CBA and ANZ rise by 0.25 points on 9 October, as a Victorian mortgage stress service reports the greatest demand it has seen.
Why Australia fixes so few home loans, and how the US and Korea differ
An ABC report of 9 October sets Australia's variable-rate mortgage market beside the United States, Japan and South Korea. Reserve Bank papers explain the gap.
New York City moves pied-à-terre exemption deadline to 13 October
The Department of Finance has given second-home owners one more week to claim an exemption from the new surcharge, its third extension, while three lawsuits run.
New South Wales transfer duty: 2026-27 rates and first home relief
How Revenue NSW works out transfer duty in 2026-27, when the buyer has to pay it, and what the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme takes off the bill for a first home.