Home Inspections: Understanding Your Legal Protections. Home inspection reports are a summary of the health of a home on the day the inspection is made, but many buyers move through the home-buying process as if it is some type of guarantee. Home inspectors do a visual inspection of the home and will identify major defects …
Category: News
Feb 29
Being a seller in today’s market can present its share of challenges
Should I Accept This Offer? Being a seller in today’s market can present its share of challenges. How do you know when to accept an offer and when to hold out for something better? Is the current offer a low ball offer or are you simply hesitating over attachment to the home? This is the …
Feb 28
Your Jetsons home is almost here
Your Jetsons home is almost here. BARCELONA, Spain (CNNMoney) — In the classic 1960s animated sitcom The Jetsons, everything in the space-age family’s home could be controlled by the press of a button on a remote control. Fifty years later, that futuristic vision is finally becoming reality. At Mobile World Congress this week, the wireless …
Feb 28
Why the Federal Reserve can’t fix housing
Why the Federal Reserve can’t fix housing. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Housing is still one of the biggest drags on U.S. economic growth, but don’t look to the Federal Reserve for help. The central bank may have few tools left to fix it. That’s the basic hypothesis of a paper top economists presented to a …
Feb 27
Rising rental costs may drive home sales up
Rising rental costs may drive home sales up. Home sales could turn out sunnier than expected this spring based on data coming out of the rental market, according to economists at the Mortgage Bankers Association. Jay Brinkmann, the trade group’s chief economist, said Thursday that apartment owners have raised their rates, in particular large investment …
Feb 24
Insurance To Consider When You’re Single And Starting Out
Insurance To Consider When You’re Single And Starting Out. The right insurance can help keep you and your possessions protected from unexpected events, but when you’re on your own for the first time it can be hard to know what coverage you need and what you don’t. The Insurance Information Institute (III) suggests looking at …
Feb 23
Incase it ever snows… Help Protect Your Home!
Help Protect Your Home: Clear Your Roof of Snow. Plenty of homeowners in the United States live with the harsh realities of winter. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, residents in Rochester, New York, receive about 8 feet of snow each winter. Homeowners in cities such as Cleveland, Minneapolis and Denver typically can …
Feb 23
Mortgage Bills May Soon Be Simpler to Grasp
Mortgage Bills May Soon Be Simpler to Grasp. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed a standardized mortgage statement that sets out to make it easier to understand the information about your loan on one page. The proposed mortgage statement, released last week, includes a breakdown of such items as the amount paid from the …
Feb 22
Property sales up in the US
Property sales up in the US and building sector confidence increases. Residential property sales in the United States edged upwards for the seventh month in a row in January, according to the latest RE/MAX national housing report. It shows that real estate sales are now 3.4% above levels seen a year earlier in the 53 …
Feb 21
Bernanke: Low Rates Will Help Banks
Bernanke: Low Rates Will Help Banks. Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, says keeping interest rates low will spur loan demand and eventually help improve banks’ profitability in the long run, The Wall Street Journal reports. The Fed has made a rare vow to keep key rates “exceptionally low” until late 2014. But banks have …
Feb 21
Agents: Attracting Business
Agents: Attracting Business to You Every Time You Leave the House. Most real estate prospecting strategies focus on the pursuit of business, or going out there and actively looking for targets to prospect. Fair enough. But you can also generate a significant amount of business for yourself using attraction-based strategies that don’t require you to …
Feb 20
Housing Affordability Reaches New Records
Housing Affordability Reaches New Records. Housing affordability rose to a record high during the fourth quarter of 2011, which means a home buyer’s purchasing power is greater than it ever has been before, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index. The index showed that 75.9 percent of all new and …
