May 05
First-Time Buyers Aren’t Afraid of Renovation First-time home buyers are showing a strong desire for taking on remodeling projects. First-time buyer renovators in 2016 spent $33,800, on average, on their projects. That marks a 22 percent increase over 2015, according to the sixth annual Houzz & Home survey of more than 100,000 respondents …
May 04
An Uptick in Housing Starts Matters to Buyers Your home buyers may want to look more closely at the housing starts numbers, even if they don’t intend to buy new. Housing starts, or the number of new homes that builders have begun construction on, tend to follow a seasonal pattern—increasing in the spring, peaking in …
May 03
The Housing Market Is Outperforming The housing market has been off to a roar this spring. In fact, the market is performing so strongly that the National Association of REALTORS® has upgraded its forecast for the year. At the start of the year, home sales were expected to match last year’s pace due to …
May 02
Cities With the Most Cash Sales Cash sales made up about 30 percent of all single-family and condo sales in the first quarter of this year, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ First Quarter 2017 U.S. Home Sales Report. That is well below their peak of 44.7 percent in the first quarter of 2011 but …
May 01
How Trees Benefit Home Values Today is Arbor Day, the perfect time to send clients information on landscaping that can boost their home’s value and reduce energy bills. The U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station says that planting a tree in front of a house increases the home’s sale price by an average of …
Apr 28
Checks to Protect a Home in the Spring The spring season can bring about dangers to a home from strong wind gusts, rains, and fluctuating temperatures. Be sure to take steps to protect your home this season. 1. Check outside faucets and exteriors for flood risks. Inspect your outside hose faucets for any …
Apr 27
Use the Power of Gratitude to Spark Loyalty It’s important to thank your customers for their business, and that couldn’t be easier with the rise of social media as a mass communications method. Gratitude should be at the core of a marketer’s brand, says Bardi Toto Drake, author of “The Power of Asking.” …
Apr 26
3 Tips for Selling a Small Home You just landed a smaller-than-average listing. Now you have to figure out how to capitalize on the square footage to help the house stand out in your marketing. Desare Kohn-Laski, broker-owner of Skye Louis Realty in Coconut Creek, Fla., offers these three ideas that both agents and brokers …
Apr 25
4 Bathroom Fads That Turn Buyers Off For some buyers, the bathroom is a deal breaker. So if your listing includes these fading bathroom trends, you might have a harder time selling it. Realtor.com® notes some fads you may want to suggest your sellers change before putting their home on the market. All-white …
Apr 24
Green Matters in Real Estate, Surveys Show Your clients want to hear more about green real estate and why it matters, surveys show. Whether they’re first-time buyers or existing homeowners, consumers are showing more desire to learn more about environmental matters in housing. Indeed, 61 percent of homeowners have researched energy-efficient improvements, according to the …
Apr 21
The Big Boomer Sell-Off Coming in the 2020s? Arthur C. Nelson, a University of Arizona professor, predicts the “great senior sell-off” will occur in the mid to late 2020s. It’s a few years later than what Nelson had originally predicted in 2013 (he originally said by 2020). He says baby boomers are living in their …
Apr 20
Why Removing That Wall Isn’t Always So Easy Design TV shows make it look so easy: Just remove a wall or two and you have the open floor plan you’ve always wanted. But not so fast. Tearing down a wall could open up a host of other problems—some structural, if not done properly. It …
