Men, Women Lust Over Homes Differently

Men, Women Lust Over Homes Differently. Image courtesy of imagerymajestic / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Sixty-nine percent of consumers recently admitting to having a “home crush”—a property they liked so much they were drawn back to looking at it more than once online or in person, according to a new realtor.com® survey of 1,000 consumers. But men and women respond quite differently to these crushes, according to the survey.

For example, the survey found that women are more likely than men to have a crush on a home that was out of their financial league. Forty-one percent of women revealed their home crush is out of their price range, compared to only 30 percent of men who said the same.

Men were more likely than women to move from one home crush to another. Thirty-six percent of men surveyed say they find a new house crush weekly, compared to 29 percent of women.

But when it comes to true love, the sexes agreed on one thing that makes them most fall in love with a home: outdoor living space. Both men and women identified this feature as the top attribute in a home.  Women’s hearts tended to be set a-flutter by open floor plans, great curb appeal, and appliances and fixtures, while men said they swooned over good garage space, curb appeal, and open floor plans.

“Whether it’s love or real estate, having a short list of deal breakers is critical for finding ‘the one’ to help buyers weed through the crushes to find the home of their dreams,” says Leslie Piper, consumer housing specialist at realtor.com®.

Source: “Realtor.com Survey: Men, Women Dig on Digs Differently,” realtor.com® (Feb. 6, 2014)

CFPB Debuts New Online Mortgage Tool

CFPB Debuts New Online Mortgage Tool. Image courtesy of cuteimage / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has released a new online mortgage tool sifting through Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, allowing the public to learn more about residential mortgage trends with certain loan products and gather a better understanding of borrowers’ access to credit. But CFPB views this tool as only the first step in requiring lenders to disclose even more information that could be helpful to consumers and housing agencies under the HMDA.

“Better public HMDA data would help us improve upon an important resource that already allows regulators, government agencies, housing groups, and consumer rights groups to study and monitor the single most important consumer financial product in the United States: the mortgage loan,” says Richard Cordray, director of the CFPB.

HMDA, enacted in 1975, requires lenders to disclose information about home mortgage loans. The information is used by financial regulators to monitor whether lenders are serving the housing needs of the public, and to help determine the level of access to residential mortgage credit. The information that lenders currently report includes:

• name of the lender
• type and general location of the property
• race, ethnicity, and sex of the applicant
• loan amount
• whether the loan is for purchasing a home, refinancing an existing mortgage, or home improvement

But CFPB wants to expand what lenders must report under the law, and it’s seeking feedback to determine new data points to create for future reporting.

“We are considering asking financial institutions to include more underwriting and pricing information, such as an applicant’s debt-to-income ratio, the interest rate, the total origination charges, and the total discount points of the loan,” says Cordray. “This will help regulators spot troublesome trends in mortgage markets around the country.”

The agency is also weighing having lenders report the borrower’s age and credit score, the term of the loan, and whether the loan meets the qualified mortgage standard.

Source: “Consumer Bureau Introduces New Mortgage Tool,” Credit.com (Feb. 7, 2014) and “CFPB Unveils New Consumer-Friendly HMDA Tool,” National Mortgage Professional Magazine (Feb. 7, 2014)

Web Domain Choices Grow as Digital Real Estate Expands

Web Domain Choices Grow as Digital Real Estate Expands. Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Internet is stretching beyond a mostly dot-com world. New generic top-level Web domain names — everything from .guru, .ventures, .clothing, and more — began rolling out Jan. 29, and about 1,000 more are expected to be unveiled this year. The .REALTOR domain will also be part of this gradual rollout, as more businesses look for new ways to carve out their digital space on the Internet. Soon, your website will have a chance to be JohnDoe.REALTOR, instead of JohnDoe.com.

Until now, Web addresses have mostly ended with .com or .net. About 112 million Web addresses currently end with .com, compared to 15.2 million that end in .net and 10.4 million with .org, according to Internet research firm ZookNic Inc. In 2011, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a nonprofit in charge of domain names, opened the doors to expand that arena in 2014 with new generic top-level domains.

Now, the World Wide Web is widening, giving businesses the opportunity to choose distinct new Web addresses that more closely define their business, possibly making it easier for Internet users to find what they’re looking for, technology experts say.

“It introduces creativity back into the domain space,” says James Cole, a spokesman for ICANN.

After all, nearly every popular and easy-to-remember name has basically been taken on .com and .org domains, and the Internet is running out of space, some tech experts say. The new domains will possibly give more businesses and people the opportunity to pick a more fitting domain that reflects their business.

The National Association of REALTORS® will receive a license from ICANN to operate the .REALTOR domain. But NAR has not yet received the license, so a launch date for the .REALTOR domain has not yet been announced. NAR has applied for the .REALTOR domain only for NAR members (agents and brokers); local and state REALTOR® associations; association Multiple Listing Services; affiliated institutes, societies, and councils; and other NAR-approved licensees.

NAR had given members a Jan. 31 deadline to sign up to receive priority notification of the release of the new .REALTOR domain. According to NAR, about 72,000 members signed up. But if you missed the deadline for early notification, that doesn’t mean you can’t secure a .REALTOR domain.

NAR has said that it will provide the first 500,000 members who register a .REALTOR domain after its release with a free license for the first year on the first domain they register. (Pricing for additional domains is still being determined.) NAR plans to make several announcements as the .REALTOR domain becomes available, when the timing for sign-ups begins, and when packages and pricing to secure a .REALTOR domain are finalized. NAR members can check realtor.org/domain for continued updates.

Source: “Sell Bikes? There’s a Web Domain for That,” The Wall Street Journal (Jan. 22, 2014); “Dot-Specific Domain Names on Way to the Web,” The Boston Globe (Jan. 28, 2014); and “7 Things to Think About Before You Register That Domain,” Forbes.com (Jan. 30, 2014)

Target Data Breach May Hamper Home Sales

Target Data Breach May Hamper Home Sales. Image courtesy of stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The recent massive data breach of up to 70 million customers’ credit and debit cards at Target could have a spill-over effect that might derail real estate transactions. Victims may face damaged credit files and lower credit scores in the coming months that could disqualify them from a mortgage – at least until they are able to fully document the problem, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Even more customers are at risk too, with recent data breaches reported at Neiman Marcus affecting 1.1 million customers, and at least six other retailers also reporting breaches.

Target and Neiman Marcus are offering their customers free credit-monitoring services. But credit experts say many people have not yet taken advantage of it, possibly because they’re not aware of the offer.

The data thefts could put some consumers at risk for identity theft. While victims won’t likely be held liable for any unauthorized debts made on their credit cards, their credit reports and credit scores can be damaged for weeks or even much longer if they fall victim to identity theft.

These data thefts have the potential to create “havoc on credit files for as long as it takes for the consumer to document [that] the accounts are due to identity theft and get them removed from the file,” says Terry Clemans, executive director of the National Consumer Reporting Association, a trade group that represents independent credit-reporting companies that serve the mortgage industry. “The impact on credit scores, although short term, is devastating because they are current defaults and [trigger] a big hit to the score. With the sizes of the breaches, this could be painful for a long time.”

Credit experts say that home sales could be derailed by the sudden appearance of new debts on buyers’ credit reports. Even if borrowers say they are a victim of identity theft, they may still find the transaction put on hold as bureaus attempt to repair and verify the reports. That could cause buyers to miss contractual deadlines with the home seller, and possibly even prevent the transaction from going through, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Source: “Target Data Breach Could Affect Real Estate Transactions,” Los Angeles Times (Feb. 2, 2014)

New Way to Sell a Home: Arrange a Sleepover

New Way to Sell a Home: Arrange a Sleepover. Image courtesy of marin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Some home buyers are making an unusual request: They’re asking to spend the night at a home before they make an offer on it.

HGTV’s “Sleep On It,” which follows potential buyers as they stay overnight in two homes with the sellers’ approval before deciding which one to buy, hasn’t seemed to spark a national trend. But it has prompted such proposals to surface more often, real estate professionals say.

The sleepovers can help buyers gain a better perspective on what it actually would feel like to live at the home, whether the kitchen is the right size, the noisy neighbors are too distracting, or the water pressure just isn’t right.

Corlie Ohl, a real estate professional at Citi Habitats in New York City, recalls a client who requested to take a shower in an $865,000 apartment he was considering to buy. He wanted to make sure the place had adequate water pressure.

“It’s the strangest request I’ve ever experienced in my life for someone who wanted to purchase an apartment,” Ohl says. “The seller said, ‘Yeah, I guess, as long as he brings his own towel.’”

Nick Jabbour, a real estate agent in New York City, says that in 10 years of business, he’s only had three clients request sleepovers in listings. One buyer paid $1,000 so that the owner could stay in a hotel, as well as a $1,000 security deposit in order to test out the home for one night. He was concerned about possible nearby noise, but after one night there, he ended up buying the $2.5 million Wall Street apartment.

Contracts are a good idea for any buyer sleepovers to protect both parties from liabilities, such as loss of personal belongings, say real estate professionals. A couple in Boulder, Colo., were staying at a condo when they decided to check out the condo’s parking area at night. But, “as they exited the elevator, they were abruptly confronted by two police officers, weapons drawn,” says real estate professional Bob Gordon. The neighbors had thought they were burglars.

But the incident prompted the couple to put in an offer immediately on the home, “knowing the neighbors would be concerned enough to call police,” Gordon says.

Source: “When Homebuyers Insist on Staying the Night,” U.S. News (Feb. 3, 2014)

If You Want to Flip, Do It Now

If You Want to Flip, Do It Now. Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

In 2013, home flips snagged sellers a tidy profit. But the trend may not continue.

RealtyTrac’s Home Flipping Report for the fourth quarter of 2013  showed single-family home flips were up 16 percent from 2012 and up 114 percent from 2011. The average gross profit for a home flip—defined as a home being purchased and subsequently sold again within six months—was $58,081 for all U.S. homes flipped in 2013, up from an average gross profit of $45,759 in 2012. The average gross profit for homes flipped in the fourth quarter was even greater, at $62,761.

But while profits are strong in flipping right now, according to Housingwire, “the market may be peaking.” Flips accounted for 3.8 percent of all sales in the fourth quarter, down slightly from the third quarter and down from 7.1 percent year-over-year. Housingwire reports that the diminishing availability of foreclosures may make it difficult for investors to find properties to flip in the coming year.

Major markets with big year-over-year decreases in home flipping included Philadelphia (down 43 percent) and Phoenix (down 32 percent).

Source: “Flip now if you plan to flip that house at all,” Housingwire (Jan. 30, 2014)