Jul 18
Home Builders Haven’t Felt This Upbeat Since 2006 Home Builders continue to feel more optimistic about the direction of the recovery for newly built single-family homes. Home Builders confidence rose six points in July to 57, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. Any number above 50 indicates more builders view conditions …
Jul 17
Century 21 ranks in the top three in Customer Satisfaction Prudential Real Estate ranked the highest in customer satisfaction in three out of four home buyer and seller segments, according to the latest J.D. Power Home Buyer/Seller Satisfaction study of the nation’s largest real estate companies. Rankings for home-buying satisfaction are based on four factors: …
Jul 17
‘Boomerang Home Buyers’ Are Staging a Comeback “Boomerang Home Buyers”—former home owners who have gone through a short sale, foreclosure, or bankruptcy in the past few years and are saving up for a down payment to purchase a home again—are coming back. They’re expected to flood markets in some of the hardest hit areas for …
Jul 16
Selling a home Using Social Media the Right Way With a study by the Home Buying Institute indicating that 40 percent of agents have closed two to five deals as a direct result of their social media marketing, it makes sense for property professionals to have a dedicated social media strategy. Creating such a strategy …
Jul 16
5 Cities Where Salaries Are Rising Most On average, U.S. employees saw a 2.5 percent rise in their wages in the past year. But in some places of the country, workers are seeing even larger increases to their pay. These are the five cities seeing the largest pay hikes: San Francisco: a 4.3 percent pay …
Jul 15
Underwater Home Owners Not Being Held Back, Study Says Underwater home owners are willing to move, despite losing money on their homes, new research shows. In fact, home owners who owe more on their mortgage than their home is currently worth are more willing to move away if a job opportunity arises than even home …
Jul 15
Mortgage Rates Continue to Rise, Fed Eases Fears Mortgage rates moved higher again this week as speculation continued about whether the Federal Reserve will end its future bond purchases, which have kept rates at historical lows, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage market survey. But remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday …
Jul 15
Foreclosures at Lowest Level in 7 Years In June, lenders initiated 57,286 foreclosures — the lowest level for any month in 7.5 years, RealtyTrac Inc. reported Thursday. Foreclosure starts are at an 800,000 pace for this year, down from 1.1 million last year. The housing market continues to pick up nationwide, and the drop in …
Jun 27
New-Home Sales Rise to Fastest Pace Since 2008. For the third consecutive month, sales of new single-family homes posted gains, rising 2.1 percent in May, according to housing data released Tuesday by HUD and the U.S. Census Bureau. “Builders are reporting increased demand for new homes as buyers seek to take advantage of historically low …
Jun 27
Fastest-Growing Suburbs for home sales. By: Daily Real Estate News Not everyone is moving to the city. Suburbs remain popular among home buyers. Coldwell Banker recently released its list of the top booming American suburbs. The brokerage evaluated 1,500 suburbs to find the ones that offered the most employment growth, community safety, proximity to good …
Jun 26
Good News for High-End Home Buyers? Jumbo loans are reportedly becoming easier to obtain, which may be welcome news for high-end home buyers. Jumbo loans are mortgages larger than $417,000 in most parts of the nation and $625,000 in high-cost areas. In the first quarter of 2013, lenders originated $54 billion in jumbo loans, up …
Jun 25
Building Material Shortages Raise Concern. Shortages of key building materials—such as lumber and wall board—are a major barrier to a more robust recovery for the new-home industry, says David Crowe, chief economist of the National Association of Home Builders. Recent surveys by NAHB and the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association show supply constraints …
