Nicole Friedman

Sales of existing homes rose in November, notching the biggest year-over-year gain in more than three years after a bigger supply of homes for sale gave buyers more opportunities.

These ballooning expenses are rewriting the math of homeownership.

Soaring costs for home insurance and property taxes are busting homeowners' budgets.

Soaring costs for home insurance and property taxes are busting homeowners’ budgets.

Soaring costs for home insurance and property taxes are busting homeowners’ budgets.

Fire destroyed Pacific Palisades Bowl Mobile Estates, a mobile-home park that offered a middle-class beachfront life in the heart of a wealthy Los Angeles enclave.

It was a sliver of paradise that people could actually afford, hidden along a coveted stretch of Southern California coastline.

Many of L.A.’s middle-class homeowners bought properties years ago, before prices exploded. Now, they’re figuring out what to do next, as fires accelerate the city’s crushing housing crunch.

Many of L.A.'s middle-class homeowners bought properties years ago, before prices exploded. Now, they're figuring out what to do next, as fires accelerate the city's crushing housing crunch.

Sylvia Sweeney and her husband, Bob Honeychurch, bought their three-bedroom home nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel Valley for $780,000 in 2009