Feb 19
Not Just the Weather That’s Frozen Sales? Many industry analysts have pointed to the frigid temperatures and harsh winter weather this season as the culprit behind the drop in new- and existing-home sales in both November and December. But some experts are saying that Old Man Winter is getting an undue amount of blame for …
Feb 18
New Home Owners Targeted in Deed Scams Scammers are approaching new home owners and trying to trick them into paying $83 for unnecessary property records — including deeds that are available for a few bucks at county government offices or are already supplied at the end of a real estate transaction, the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal …
Feb 17
Tax Tips for You and Your Clients This coming Tuesday, Feb. 18, is the deadline for financial institutions to send their customers the documents they’ll need to file taxes if they received capital gains, interest dividends, or profits from real estate sales. Finally, you’ll have all the paperwork – including forms 1099 – you …
Feb 14
3 Hot Web Design Trends for 2014 Does your website need an update? Forbes.com recently highlighted three leading trends in Web design for this year. Which trend will you choose as the basis to lead your Web design forward in 2014? Responsive design: A website that is optimized for multiple screens — smartphones, tablets, …
Feb 12
Helping Unmarried Home Buyers Navigate the Purchase More couples these days are purchasing homes together before they marry, and some do not intend to marry at all. Unwed twosomes need to determine how to hold the title: whether the home will transfer to the surviving partner if the other dies, as joint tenants with …
Feb 11
Men, Women Lust Over Homes Differently 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 …
Feb 10
CFPB Debuts New Online Mortgage Tool 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 …
Feb 07
Web Domain Choices Grow as Digital Real Estate Expands 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 …
Feb 06
Target Data Breach May Hamper Home Sales 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 …
Feb 05
New Way to Sell a Home: Arrange a Sleepover 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 …
Feb 04
If You Want to Flip, Do It Now 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 …
Feb 03
Frigid Weather, Rising Prices Cooling Sales Contracts The record-low weather temperatures freezing parts of the country the past month are hampering pending home sales. “Unusually disruptive weather across large stretches of the country in December forced people indoors and prevented some buyers from looking at homes and making offers,” says Lawrence Yun, chief economist …
