Equity

A proposal to expand equal-pay protections for female workers sponsored by Sen. Barbara A. Mikulskifailed to clear a procedural vote in the Senate on Tuesday, ending the measure's chances but opening a potential Democratic attack line in this year's election. The Paycheck Fairness Act, which would have expanded the 1963 Equal Pay Act by prohibiting employers from firing workers who discuss their salary with their colleagues, fell seven votes shy of the 60 needed to bring the legislation to the Senate floor.

Wings stood off to one side. The propeller lay in a carton. But the main part of Carl Kesselring's pet project was clearly recognizable as an airplane in progress. "I don't have fear of getting in an airplane," he said, standing in a hangar in Suburban Airport in Laurel surrounded by tools, parts and the remains of a bird's nest that fell through a hole in the roof. "I have confidence in my ability to make it work properly. " Kesselring's daring hobby is increasingly shared by other enthusiasts as the number of amateur-built airplanes grows every year, according to the Experimental Aircraft Association.

It must seem like a cruel juxtaposition to some public officials in Howard that just as the county faces the challenges of funding the construction of new, well-stocked schools, it is also at last being forced to confront the disparity between the school system's new and older facilities.Equity is the catchword, but that may be neither an accurate description nor a necessary result. Fairness is the essential ingredient, coupled with commitment and consistency.The quest for "technology equity," the title given the effort to put more computers in older schools, has become the newest sacrificial lamb of the annual budget battle between county government and the school system.

It's hard to know where to begin when responding to Trey Kovacs' recent op-ed ("Unions do their business on taxpayers' dime," April 18), which is riddled with inaccuracies and misrepresentations. So instead of talking about what recently passed Fair Share legislation isn't, as his article did, let's talk about what the legislation actually is. Fair Share is a common-sense way to protect equity and individual rights for Maryland's educators. It simply makes sure that all educators contribute to the negotiated benefits and legally required representation that they all enjoy.

Dear Mr. Azrael:I'd like to know if there's any way that I can purchase a house using my own home as equity without having to make any significant down payment. I presently owe about $13,000 on a $160,000 home. Thank you.Curt GlobalFallstonDear Mr. Global:Your home has substantial equity. Equity is the difference between the value of your home and the amount owed on it. Assuming you have good credit, you easily should be able to borrow 60 percent to 80 percent of the equity in your home. This borrowing power could be used to provide a down payment for purchasing a second home or investment property.

Q: I have a single-family home in which I lived for nine years before converting it into a rental. The house has a $50,000 mortgage on it, but is worth $200,000. I would like to refinance the mortgage and take equity out of the house.Can I still get a tax deduction on the new mortgage? What is the maximum tax-deductible mortgage allowed on a rental house?A: Because this home is neither your first nor second residence, if your newly refinanced mortgage exceeds $50,000, the critical issue is not its actual amount but the use to which you put the proceeds.

REMEMBER when your home was simply your castle? That was nearly two decades ago, before Congress changed the federal tax code to make home equity your built-in bank vault - the new centerpiece of millions of Americans' financial affairs. An astounding 1 out of 3 home-owning households now has some form of tax-deductible home-equity access account, up from 1 out of 5 just a few years ago and barely 1 out of 20 in the 1980s, according to banking industry estimates. Last year, nearly $350 billion in new home-equity lines were opened, plus $90 billion in fixed-term home-equity installment loans.

As home equity loans have gained popularity among Americans, the National Home Equity Mortgage Association has offered a number of guidelines for borrowers to follow. They include: Borrow within your income and budget: A home equity loan is a major financial undertaking. Borrow for necessities or to take advantage of lower interest rates: NHEMA does not recommend taking a home equity loan to finance a luxury item or trip. Don't refinance too frequently: Refinancing a home loan can mean additional closing costs and fees.

Fifty-nine percent of homeowners who refinanced their mortgage in 1999 borrowed some of the equity in their homes, trading the old mortgage for a new one that was at least 5 percent greater than the original loan. According to Freddie Mac's annual refinance review, the 1999 number was higher than the 48 percent of homeowners who refinanced in 1998 for an amount at least 5 percent higher. In the fourth quarter of 1999, 77 percent of those homeowners refinancing borrowed on housing equity as opposed to 45 percent in the fourth quarter of 1998.

Most homeowners refinance their mortgages to lower the interest rate and reduce their payments or to convert a portion of their equity to cash. Some do so to trade the uncertainty of adjustable-rate mortgages for the stability of fixed-rate financing.But a mortgage consultant suggests there's another good reason to refinance: to speed equity buildup.By refinancing for a shorter term at a lower interest rate, asserts John J. Cunningham, a Denver-based mortgage consultant, a homeowner can build equity faster, save tens of thousands of dollars in interest, and pay off the mortgage sooner.

The top executives of T. Rowe Price Group Inc. saw their compensation rise last year, the Baltimore-based investment firm reported. CEO James A.C. Kennedy earned $8.4 million in total compensation last year, a 7 percent increase over 2011 and Brian C. Rogers, Price's chairman and chief investment officer, earned $8.3 million in total compensation, an 8 percent increase from 2011, the company reported in a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and...

A division of the World Bank Group announced Wednesday that it has invested $150 million in Laureate Education Inc., giving the international development organization a small stake in the Baltimore-based global higher education company. "It's an incredibly strong endorsement for the company," said Douglas L. Becker, Laureate's chairman and CEO, of the investment by the International Finance Corp. and its affiliate, the IFC African, Latin American and Caribbean Fund. With annual revenue of about $4 billion, Laureate does not need the money but is eager to have the backing of an investor led by members of international governments, he said.

Calvert School, the private, pre-kindergarten through eighth grade day school in North Baltimore, announced Wednesday that it has sold its more than 100-year-old distance learning business to a private equity firm. The terms of the sale of Calvert Education Services to an investment group led by the Baltimore-based Camden Partners Holdings LLC were not disclosed. "It has a wonderful reputation as a real leader in both home schooling and online education," said David Warnock, Camden Partners' chairman.

Paging Mr. Fezziwig. One might get the notion that Charles Dickens' good-hearted fictional employer was back in business after the announcement this week by a private equity firm, Cerberus Capital Management, that it intends to sell Freedom Group Inc., the company that manufactured the Bushmaster rifle used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. Was this a sudden case of moral conviction? Meanwhile, Dick's Sporting Goods has suspended sales of semiautomatic rifles at its stores.

The purpose of this letter is to express my strong objection to Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz's proposal to float a $250 million Pension Obligation Bond (POB). Words make it difficult to accurately express my opposition. I believe that it is a fiscally irresponsible and risky proposal to fix a problem. In my opinion, it represents an extreme amount of risk for the taxpayers of Baltimore County. You cannot borrow your way out of debt! Supporters of this financial gimmick generally hype the proposed benefits and rarely take into consideration the risk/reward consequences.

Three years after the official end of the longest recession since World War II, nearly one in five mortgaged homes in the Baltimore metro area was still underwater, according to r eal estate data firm  CoreLogic. In the second quarter of this year, 18.3 percent of Baltimore-area residences with a mortgage -   116,301  properties - were worth less than what their owners owed, the firm announced this month. Still, that's an improvement. In the first quarter of 2012, 19.7 percent of homes in and around Baltimore were upside-down, the number-crunching company said.

NEW YORK -- Home-equity lines of credit, whose popularity soared in recent years, are entering an era of sharply reduced growth because of weak economic conditions in many regions, a new study found.Home-equity lines outstanding at banks, thrifts and other institutions will grow by an average of 11.1 percent a year from this year through 1992, down from a 26.9 percent average for the previous three years, the study said.The report by Regional Financial Associates in West Chester, Pa., predicted growth will be weakest in New England and strongest in the Pacific Northwest.

Improbable as it sounds at a time when American homeowners have lost billions in equity holdings, a new industry is taking shape to help them tap portions of their equity wealth without incurring traditional mortgage debt or making interest payments. Three companies with sophisticated capital market backers - REX & Co., Equity Key and Grander Financial - are offering cash to owners who agree to cut them into some of the future appreciation growth of their properties. The cash typically represents a fraction of the current market value of the home, and rises with the percentage of future appreciation the owner is willing to share.

One of the latest tech startups to get a footing in Baltimore is Foodem , a website started by a University of Maryland College Park grad a few years ago that aims to build a transparent marketplace for commercial food buyers and distributors. Kash Rehman, the founder of Foodem, has been on both sides of the equation in the food industry: he's worked for a small food distributor in Maryland and he's also run his own restaurant in College Park. Here's what Rehman, 35, learned along the way. As a restaurant buyer, he needed to spend an hour by phone comparing wholesale prices for food (think chicken tenders)

One in four Maryland borrowers owed more on his or her home than it was worth at the start of this year, according to CoreLogic's newest estimates -- a lot of people, but not quite as many as the company thinks were underwater last year. The real estate data firm put the tally at just over 335,000, down from 365,000 in the final three months of last year and the lowest figure since the summer of 2010. Maryland ranked 9th among states with the highest levels of negative equity.