Foreclosure activity is on the rise in 15 states, bucking the national trend over the past few years. In October, foreclosure activity rose 55 percent in Florida, 50 percent in Georgia, 28 percent in Texas, and 24 percent in Michigan, among 11 other states experiencing sharp rises from a year ago, reports real estate research firm ATTOM Data Solutions.Further, 84 of 219 metro areas—or 38 percent—posted year-over-year increases in foreclosure
Freddie Mac has announced that it will start financing manufactured housing, which it hopes will help make homes more affordable to buyers. The mortgage financing giant says it will conduct a two-year pilot called CHOICEHome to grant conventional financing for manufactured homes with certain features, such as permanent and pitched roofs. Many of the manufactured homes also have energy-saving features, such as Energy Star Qualified Low-E windows,
Airbnb is moving beyond helping people rent out space in their homes. Now it wants to start providing the actual houses, too. The company has announced plans for a new venture that will design and build homes, called “Backyard.” Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia describes it as “an endeavor to design and prototype new ways of building and sharing homes.”Airbnb officials say they want to combine the use of smart-home tech and sophisticated man
Are you getting few showings for your listing, or do visitors want to leave quickly? Here are a few items that could be turning off potential buyers.Vague property descriptions. Online descriptions of just a few words—or none at all—create a missed opportunity to provide buyers with more details on why they should visit a property. Pictures aren’t always enough. Use the listing description to add details that pictures aren’t able to sh
A typical American household spends $2,060 a year on electricity, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Unfortunately, if a home isn’t efficient, a lot of that energy goes to waste—possibly as much as three-quarters of it, according to Renewable Nation, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit focusing on affordable and clean energy. If your clients are contemplating money and energy-saving updates to a house they’re planning to buy or se
Congress has approved a one-week extension of the National Flood Insurance Program, which was set to expire Friday, preventing a lapse in federally provided insurance critical to homeowners who live in or near flood zones. The House on Thursday night approved the extension in a 350-46 vote. The Senate also passed a seven-day extension by unanimous consent. The legislation is expected to be signed Friday by President Donald Trump, who has signed
New museums and art districts not only prompt new cultural and commercial development in an area—they also have the potential to make nearby real estate values surge. Indeed, property values of homes near new museums can surge between 20 percent to 50 percent over a period of five years, according to a new study from Stephen Sheppard, an economics professor at Williams College in Massachusetts.Sheppard refers to this as the “Bilbao effect,
Mortgage rates mostly held steady this week—and homebuyers responded by rushing to lock in rates. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.81 percent, Freddie Mac reports.“Mortgage rates stabilized the last couple of months as interest rate-sensitive sectors, such as new auto and home sales, have clearly softened the outlook for the economy,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Homebuyers pounced on the stability in rates
Sales of new homes plunged to a more than 2 1/2-year low in October, as all four major regions of the U.S. posted sharp declines, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.Sales of newly built, single-family homes dropped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 544,000 units in October—the lowest pace since March 2016.Higher borrowing costs are pushing homeownership out of reach among more potential buyers, which has been playing out in the sa
If a cooperating broker requests that you verify in writing whether you submitted his or her client’s offer to your seller, you’d better not ignore it. You could be disciplined for not responding.The National Association of REALTORS®’ Board of Directors amended its MLS policyearlier this month to let local associations impose disciplinary action against members who fail to present either written confirmation that an offer was presented or
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