Jan 23
Builders Hike Their Prices More builders are reporting they’re raising their prices on new homes. Twenty-four percent of 231 builders recently surveyed say they raised their prices in December, which is an increase over a 19 percent low reported in November, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting Inc. data. The percentage of builders who …
Jan 20
4 Keys Identified for a Full Housing Recovery In order to have a fully recovered housing market and economic recovery, economists point to the need for four positive indicators: 1. A healthy job market with low stable unemployment; 2. Mortgage delinquencies that have returned to historical averages; 3. Home prices consistent with an affordable mortgage …
Jan 17
Is Your Listing Offensive? Real estate ads are getting a big dose of political correctness, as real estate professionals are carefully watching their words in listings so as not to offend anyone. Major home builders in Washington, D.C., reportedly are no longer using the term “master bedroom” in their marketing because, they say, …
Jan 16
Google-Controlled Homes? Search-engine giant Google wants to help make homes smarter and more connected, and took another step at that by by announcing its acquisition of connected device maker Nest Labs. Google announced it will pay $3.2 billion in cash to acquire Nest Labs, a company that develops “smart” home appliances such as thermostats …
Jan 15
4 Short-Sale Myths Dispelled Several myths persist about short sales. Tracy Mooney, senior vice president at Freddie Mac, dispels some of the following common myths on the mortgage giant’s blog, including: Myth 1: “A short sale is not an option for me because I’m current on my mortgage payments.” Freddie Mac Fact: Even if home owners …
Jan 14
White House Still Calling Housing Recovery ‘Fragile’ The latest Housing Scorecard from the Obama Administration shows progress on several fronts—notably home prices—but continues the familiar cautionary language in describing the recovery. The scorecard evaluates housing data from December 2013. The majority of such scorecards provided by the administration this year utilize the word “fragile” to …
Jan 13
New Mortgage Rules Roll Out – What Will Be the Impact? New mortgage rules take effect Friday that set out to protect borrowers against risky lending practices. One of the biggest changes is that borrowers will likely need to show more proof that they can actually afford the mortgage they’re applying for. Here are …
Jan 10
The Most Powerful Person in Real Estate Is… When it comes to influencers in residential real estate, no one was more powerful in 2013 than Realogy CEO Richard A. Smith, according to a new ranking of the 200 most powerful people in real estate by Stefan Swanepoel, who authors the Swanepoel TRENDS Report and Swanepoel …
Jan 08
More Home buyers Willing to Compromise Faced with tight inventories of homes for sale, more buyers are realizing they may have to bend a little in order to get the home they want. According to a new survey by the real estate brokerage Redfin, 35 percent of real estate agents said that buyers are now “willing …
Jan 07
Banks Aim to Clear Foreclosure Backlogs Banks are trying to capitalize on rising home prices by selling seized homes more quickly. States with some of the largest backlogs of foreclosures are seeing an upswing in properties that are moving to auction for quicker sales since last July, according to RealtyTrac. “Lenders know there’s …
Jan 06
Mortgage Rates Edge Higher Entering 2014 Fixed mortgage rates continued an upward climb this week, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage starting the year more than a full percentage point higher than last year at this time, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage survey. “Mortgage rates edged up to begin the year on signs of …
Jan 03
More Than 3 Million Regained Equity in 2013 Home prices rebounded in 2013, helping more than 3 million home owners regain long-lost equity, according to CoreLogic’s latest MarketPulse report. “We’re encouraged by the improvements of the past year and have every reason to be cautiously optimistic about continued progress in 2014. That said, monitoring the …
