Real Estate, Updates, News & Tips - Deborah Morrison - iPro Real Estate

Shopping for a New Home? The Builders to Watch

The fastest-growing builders in the nation are those who’ve been catering to the lower range of the price spectrum. Their focus on affordability is allowing them to win greater market share and sales volumes, a new study says.Ever year, BUILDER compiles Builder 100 data to see which new-home builders are seeing the biggest sales volume and production.Century Communities was the fastest-growing public builder in unit volume, based on its rate of

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Homeowners’ Top Neighborhood Gripes

Choosing the wrong neighborhood can make for a very unhappy homeowner.A new survey from Porch.com, a home remodeling website, surveyed about 1,000 consumers to find the biggest neighborhood turnoffs. Noise, traffic, and crime were the chief concerns of buyers. Noise topped the list of neighborhood turnoffs, with 41% of respondents citing it as their top gripe, according to the survey. In fact, noise proved to be an even bigger deterrent than a hi

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President Trump, "Real Estate is in my Blood"

From the 20% pass-through tax deduction for independent contractors to the promise of opportunity zones to revitalize struggling communities, President Donald Trump extolled the impact of an array of achievements that have benefited real estate practitioners. He spoke before an enthusiastic crowd of 2,000 REALTORS® Friday who packed a Marriott Wardman Park hotel ballroom in Washington, D.C., during the REALTORS® Legislative Meetings & Trade

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TIP: The Worst Offenses in Virtually Staged Photos

You can make any listing picture-perfect with virtual staging tools, which can do everything from manipulating the appearance of skies in photos to making empty properties look like modern spaces with fancy fixtures. But there is such a thing as going too far—and it could land you in hot water.When virtual staging changes listing photos drastically from their original appearance, it can be misleading and give buyers a false impression of a prop

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TIP: Tenant, Contractor Behavior can get Property Managers Sued

Property managers can be held legally responsible for discrimination and harassment by contractors, such as maintenance workers, and for failing to address a tenant who is infringing on the rights of another tenant, experts said Thursday during the Property Management Forum at the REALTORS® Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo in Washington, D.C.Further, property managers must also address issues of tenants’ visitors harassing other tenants,

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U.S. House Approves Equality Act to Extend LGBT Protections

The U.S. House of Representatives took a step on Friday that sought to stop housing discrimination based on sexual orientation. It’s a move that several housing groups, including the National Association of REALTORS®, have long advocated.The House voted 236–173 on Friday to approve the Equality Act, H.R. 5, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in housing, credit, employment, public educat

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Mortgage Rates moved Slightly Lower this Week

Home buyers saw mortgage rates edge lower again this week, with rates remaining well below year-ago levels. “Modestly weaker consumer spending and manufacturing data, along with continued jitters around trade policy, caused interest rates to decline throughout the yield curve,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “While signals from the financial markets are flashing caution signs, the real economy remains on solid ground wit

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High-Priority Tax Initiatives likely to Stall in Congress

Political divisiveness on Capitol Hill likely will prevent Congress from passing legislation this year addressing important tax initiatives that affect real estate, including the state and local tax (SALT) deduction and an extension of the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, lobbyists for the National Association of REALTORS® said Wednesday.Speaking to the association’s Federal Taxation Committee during the REALTORS® Legislative Meetings &a

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REALTORS: The Best Places to Carve Out a New-Home Niche

Real estate pros may be smart to carve out a new-home niche in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, region. The metro area saw the highest number of new-home construction in the first quarter, according to new data from Metrostudy Inc.Home construction in the metroplex totaled more than 34,500 units on an annualized basis, topping Houston’s 30,206. Central Florida was third in construction, with about 28,000 homes last year.Metrostudy says that housin

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REALTORS: How REALTORS® are leveraging Tech to Reach Clients

As house hunters continue to head online to begin their search, more real estate professionals are upping their tech use to meet them there.REALTORS®’ web presence and use of social media have been increasing in recent years, and they consider it a valuable marketing tool to reach clients and build online communities, according to the 2019 Member Profile, released by the National Association of REALTORS® and reflecting 12,700 member resp

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