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

Retirees Preferring Dog Parks Over Golf

Generations of retirees are showing a shift in housing priorities. John Burns Real Estate Consulting recently compared nearly 3,000 registered new-home shoppers born in the 1940s to more than 5,200 new-home shoppers born in the 1950s to uncover some of those shifting trends.For one, younger retirees are showing more preference to live near dog parks. The 1950s generation surveyed rated a dog park as their top retiree amenity, which replaces golf

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What Makes Homeowners Tackle a Remodel

The chief reasons homeowners undergo a remodel are because they desire better and newer amenities or they feel compelled to repair or replace old components in their home, according to the National Association of Home Builders’ Remodeling Market Index. These two reasons have tended to drive most remodels in recent years, but other reasons are growing in popularity among homeowners.Notably, three reasons to remodel are on the upswing: a “desir

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Abandoned Homes Still a Drag in Some Cities

The number of vacant homes in the U.S. surged during the Great Recession. Many cities recovered and fewer homes are standing empty, but not everywhere. The number of homes that have been abandoned has risen 2.1 million nationally in recent years, and vacant properties continue to be a drag on former industrial epicenters or the nation’s “legacy” cities, according to a newly released report. These are properties that are sitting unused and a

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Did Buyers Just Miss Their Final Chance for Low Rates?

Mortgage rates are edging noticeably higher this week, and would-be home buyers and refinancing homeowners may have missed out on a chance to lock in a lower rate.Mortgage application volume for refinancings and home purchases dropped 2.7 percent last week on a seasonally adjusted week-to-week basis, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday. Mortgage application volume is 4.5 percent lower than the same week a year ago.Applications for

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REALTORS: Use Blog Comments to Boost Your Web Traffic

One of the most overlooked and underrated ways to promote your blog or website is within the comment section of other websites and blogs, writes Jayson DeMers, an online marketing and SEO expert for business owners, in a column for Forbes.com. Posting comments may actually be a strategic move to help you get more recognition among peers and prospects to generate more traffic to your website and blog.The most effective tend to be comments on blog

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The Recession’s Lingering Impact on Buyers

The Great Recession still has a lasting impact on how many consumers shop for homes today, builders say. Even consumers who did not lose a home to foreclosure during the housing crisis are still shopping for homes more cautiously than they did during the early 2000s and the height of the housing boom.“Buyers became more cautious in the homebuying process,” says Dennis Webb of Fulton Homes. “If they were not directly affected, then they cer

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Startup Turns Buyer Bids Into All-Cash Offers

In a competitive housing market, some buyers are increasingly losing out to those who are willing make an all-cash offer to close the deal. All-cash offers are attractive to sellers since they tend to close quickly and aren’t contingent on any potential hang-ups from a buyer’s financing. Now, a new startup is making headlines with an offer to turn nearly any buyer’s offer into an all-cash one to better compete.The company, Ribbon, is launch

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Negotiating Home Fixtures

Before buyers make an offer, they’ll want to be clear on what stays and what goes with the house, as well as what’s up for negotiation.In general, buyers keep anything permanently attached to the house. However, in some markets, there can be a gray area when it comes to appliances and custom-built pieces.“People usually put riders in the contract to lay out who gets what, and a buyer should make sure their attorney helps with this negotiati

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The Strategic Move Behind a $1 List Price

For years, a real estate professional in Edmond, Okla., has told his sellers that even if you price your home for just a dollar, the market would determine what the sales price would be. “This time, I had some sellers who were bold enough to take me up on trying that theory out,” says Ryan Hukill, the listing agent on a four-bedroom, four-bathroom home that was listed for just $1.In less than a week, the home was under contract and fetched

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REALTORS® Take to the Hill in D.C.

Some 9,000 REALTORS® and state and local association executives are convening in Washington, D.C., this week to promote key policy issues that affect the real estate industry and their markets. At the REALTORS® Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo, which runs from May 14-19, members will meet with lawmakers and Trump administration officials to advance policies on a host of concerns, including housing inventory and affordability, the Nationa

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