Family Economic Security   

Wisconsin

Tenant Resource Center
Promotes "positive relations between rental housing consumers and providers throughout Wisconsin. By providing information about rental rights and responsibilities, and access to conflict resolution, we empower the community to obtain and maintain quality affordable housing."

Tenants Rights in Wisconsin
What you should know before you rent, while renting, when terminating a tenancy, and what to do if a problem develops. Summary by the West Bend, WI Police Department.

Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA)
Provides "creative financing resources and information to stimulate and preserve affordable housing, small business, and agribusiness." Has inventory of assisted housing.

WI Landlord-Tenant Factsheets
Includes Tenants rights (in English or Spanish), Don't Rent Trouble (Advice on Checking Out Apartments), and Landlord/Tenant complaint form.

WISCAP Housing
WI affordable housing advocate site. Has extensive housing and poverty links under Housing links.

Wisconsin Law Page: Landlord/Tenant Law
Includes a consumer information overview and link to Section 704 WI Statutes.

Wisconsin Law Page: Real Estate Law
Divided into Buying a Home and Selling a Home. Designed for consumers by lawyers.

Wisconsin State Law Library - Legal Topics: Real Estate
Links to WI Administrative Code and US Code on Fair Housing, several WI Statutes related to real estate, and more.

General

American Housing Survey
"Largest, regular national housing sample survey in the United States." "It gives you data on apartments, single-family homes, mobile homes, vacant homes, family composition, income, housing and neighborhood quality, housing costs, equipment, fuels, size of housing unit, and recent movers." By US Census Bureau for HUD.

Fannie Mae's Homebuyers: Homepath
Becoming a Homeowner, Finding a Mortgage, Home Improvement, and Reverse Mortgages information. Has mortgage calculators, checklists and tips.

Federal Trade Commission: Consumer Protection
Credit, and At Home, link to housing related publications.

Housing Publications
Multiple language publications from Consumer Action on topics such as home equity loans, housing discrimination, and buying a house.

HUD: U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development
Buying, selling, and renting a home information, as well as advice on making home improvements. Also how to work with HUD, including how to apply and receive grants and other funding.

Librarians Index to the Internet: Home &Housing
Choose Home &Housing or search site for either Housing, Mortgages or Real Estate to get an annotated list of some of the best sites on the web.

MoversGuide.com
U.S. Postal Service's guide on how to plan, move and settle in a new home. Allows you to create a customized checklist and timeline of things you need to do and when you need to do them during your move.

National Low Income Housing Coalition
Frequently Asked Questions about Housing has useful links.

Buying

Fannie Mae Foundation: Home Buying Guides
Credit, Home-Buying, Mortgage, and Borrowing Basics guides are downloadable in various languages or there's an 800 number for ordering print resources.

Money Mechanics: Buying a House
Renting vs buying, how much house can you afford, down payments, questions to ask when looking for loans, and financing alternatives. From Iowa Cooperative Extension.

Selecting Home Buying Professionals
How to work with real estate professionals, home inspectors, surveyors, appraisers,and mortgage lenders when buying a home. From North Carolina Cooperative Extension.

Ten Biggest Home-buying Mistakes
Based on 25 years of home-building experience for 30,000 people, Weekley offers these 10 biggest mistakes in home buying.

Predatory Lending

Abusive Lending
Federal Trade Commission publications on topics such as home equity loans and scams, home equity credit lines, and section 32 mortgages.

Anti-Predatory Lending
Programs from Freddie Mac andinformation on anti-predatory lending.

HUD: Predatory Lending
Links to federal agencies you can contact if you feel you're a victim of predatory lending. Has Curbing Predatory Home Mortgage Lending, the "joint HUD-Treasury report detailing recommendations on legislative, regulatory, and other steps to curb the increasing occurrence of predatory mortgage lending."

Predatory Lending Information
From the State of Illinois Office of Banks and Real Estate.

Renting

Rent a Home
"Discusses advantages and disadvantages of renting; factors to consider in selecting rental housing,
including apartments; and leases, costs and relationships with the landlord." From University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension.

Rental Housing Online
Guest subject areas include topics Affordable Housing, FAQs from tenants, FAQs from landlords, Eviction Information and more.