The three credit reporting companies are implementing a change Saturday that is expected to raise credit scores for about 6 percent of people with credit profiles, or about 12 million people. Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian will change the way they treat data concerning civil judgments and tax liens on people’s credit reports. These data are among the most likely to be incorrect or incomplete, and people have spent a lot of time and effort tr
We should keep the things that bring us joy and get rid of the restKey Takeaways When moving, most clients throw away or donate unwanted items, but you can advise them of alternatives to trashing junk that could be positive for the environment.I enjoyed contributing to Amber Taufen’s article about helping our clients downsize.She wrote: “It’s harder than ever to get rid of your stuff — and once that lamp, jewelry or antique hutch reaches
Excess heat emanating from computers is usually seen as a bad sign. It’s a good sign, however, for Dutch startup Nerdalize, which plans to use this heat for home energy.In August, Nerdalize plans to heat 42 Dutch homes using excess energy from in-home computer servers. Customers can pay Nerdalize to install a server in their home and use the server’s excess heat to warm the home for free—all while Nerdalize makes money selling server space
Condos located near cart paths in golf course communities sell for lower prices than similar properties in the same communities, according to a new study published in The Appraisal Journal. Such condos are discounted an average 5.1 percent, according to the study. Certain cart paths can have a greater impact on the price of the property: condos near paths by a green are discounted 11.6 percent while those near tee boxes are discounted 8.6 percen
Hispanics are trailing behind whites in homeownership, and they likely won’t catch up until 2035, according to a new report from Freddie Mac. The Hispanic homeownership rate is 26 percentage points less than the homeownership rate for whites as of 2015. The gap has narrowed slowly over the last 20 years, dropping from 29 percentage points in 1995.Freddie Mac researchers note that Hispanics and whites are influenced by similar factors when it co
CoStar, a leading company providing data on commercial real estate, is facing accusations in an antitrust lawsuit that it has formed a monopoly in the commercial space. Xceligent, one of CoStar’s competitors, filed the suit on Wednesday, saying it wants to prevent CoStar from “blocking the commercial real estate industry’s ability to freely share” information with competitors. Industry insiders say the lawsuit has the potential to determi
Home prices are escalating as the real estate industry rolls through its busiest season for buying and selling, according to realtor.com®. The median list price for all housing types pushed above $250,000 for the first time ever in May, according to the National Association of REALTORS®, and realtor.com® predicts it will reach $275,000 by the end of June.“The housing market has now gone 24 months in a row seeing inventory drop on a yearly ba
Walt Disney’s Disneyland presentation map has sold for $708,000 at an auction in Los Angeles.Although it fell short of the $900,000 it was expected to fetch, it’s still believed to be the most expensive Disneyland map ever sold but it’s not been revealed who the buyer is. The highly anticipated Walt Disney’s Disneyland auction was held by Van Eaton Galleries on June 25, 2017.“As we had expected, this extraordinary Disneyland map sold fo
Agents can cater to the trend by using new tech and serving up as much imagery and data as possibleKey Takeaways The proliferation of property information, imagery, neighborhood data and new technology is likely giving buyers more confidence to bid on homes without visiting them in person.With properties selling like hotcakes, one out of three recent homebuyers made an offer on a home without seeing it in person, according to a new survey from hi
Low inventory levels have sidetracked the spring buying season and dampened financial and economic confidenceKey Takeaways May's pending home sales dipped 1.7 percent to 108.5 thanks to inventory shortages and rising home prices.The National Association of Realtors (NAR) Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) is down for the third consecutive month due to continued inventory shortages and surging home prices.May’s PHSI, which is based on contract sign
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