Category: Real Estate Tips

Don’t Let Sellers Get Overconfident

Don’t Let Sellers Get Overconfident A severe inventory shortage may be allowing your clients to believe selling their homes will be quick and easy. That can lead to sellers who believe that they can do less to prep their homes for the market and that buyers will still be willing to pay top dollar. But …

Continue reading

A Sign That More Housing Inventory Is Coming

A Sign That More Housing Inventory Is Coming Homeowners who have decided to stay put in their current properties may soon be ready for a move, helping to relieve stubbornly tight housing inventory. The evidence is in Fannie Mae’s latest Home Purchase Sentiment Index, in which the number of consumers who say now is a …

Continue reading

Zero-Down Mortgage Offered for Doctors

Zero-Down Mortgage Offered for Doctors   Medical professionals may be eligible for a mortgage up to $750,000 without a down payment or private mortgage insurance needed. PhysicianLoans, an Ohio-based mortgage lender, says its “Doctor Loan” is available to medical doctors, dentists, and veterinarians. The company lends in 18 states, including Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, …

Continue reading

Myths Sellers Believe About Pricing Their Home

Myths Sellers Believe About Pricing Their Home   Many home sellers succumb to myths about home pricing that don’t match the reality of the housing market. Realtor.com® recently highlighted several of those common pricing myths, including: You won’t always make money on the sale of a home. Home sellers shouldn’t always assume they’ll walk away …

Continue reading

Hispanic Home ownership Surges

Hispanic Home ownership Surges Hispanics are increasingly making up what’s considered the typical American home buyer, Curbed.com reports. Latinos are expected to make up 52 percent of new home buyers between 2010 and 2030, largely driven by the country’s 14.6 million Latino millennials. Since 2000, the number of Hispanic households has jumped by 6.7 million, …

Continue reading

Homeowners ‘Stuck’ In Starter Homes

Homeowners ‘Stuck’ In Starter Homes Prior to the housing crisis, many consumers were in the mindset of buying a “starter home” to stay in for five or six years and then move on to a larger space as their family grew. But the idea of the starter home has become a fading memory. Homeowners don’t …

Continue reading

Short Supplies Pummel Home Sales

Short Supplies Pummel Home Sales   Contract signing mostly stalled last month as housing shortages across the country continued to hamper home sales, the National Association of REALTORS® reported Thursday. The West was the only major region of the U.S. to see an uptick in pending July home sales. Overall, NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index—a …

Continue reading

Flooded Homes Can Be Fixed

Flooded Homes Can Be Fixed   As Hurricane Harvey moves off the coastline of Texas, it’s leaving massive flooding in its wake that has destroyed homes and businesses. Until the floodwaters recede, cleanup efforts are mostly on hold. But remediation companies say they’re ready to jump into action as soon as they’re able. In preparation …

Continue reading

REALTORS® Promise to Send Help to Texas

REALTORS® Promise to Send Help to Texas   As the rains slowly subside in Texas and the full scale of Hurricane Harvey’s destruction comes into focus, the National Association of REALTORS® is calling on members nationwide to donate funds to the REALTOR® Relief Foundation to support storm victims. The RRF, whose goal is to help …

Continue reading

Fannie Loosens ARM Down Payment Rules

Fannie Loosens ARM Down Payment Rules Fannie Mae is changing the requirement that borrowers pay a higher down payment to qualify for an adjustable-rate mortgage, announcing that it is bringing this type of financing more in line with that of fixed-rate mortgages. Now, borrowers can make as little as a 5 percent down payment on …

Continue reading

Inventory Relief for Desperate Buyers

Inventory Relief for Desperate Buyers If your buyers have been frantically searching for a home as the inventory crunch grows tighter, some relief may be on the way. It’s a challenging environment, with homes in July selling at the fastest pace this year, prompting “desperate buyers to bid up prices and move quickly to close,” …

Continue reading

20 Markets Dominating in August

20 Markets Dominating in August   Half of the 20 hottest housing markets in August were located in California. Vallejo, Calif., held on to its top spot in realtor.com®’s “hot list” this month. Realtor.com® ranks the top 20 medium-to-large metro markets where homes are selling the fastest and where buyers are searching the most on …

Continue reading