By Phil Karp, guest contributor Photo provided by Phil Karp It’s no secret that a properly staged home can sell faster than an empty one. But how far do you need to go to inspire the “chocolate chip cookie effect,” where a buyer walks in the front door and immediately feels right at home? Sellers… Continue Reading The Chocolate Chip Cookie Effect: Home Staging Tips to Spark Love at First Sight
NAR released a summary of pending home sales data showing that July’s pending home sales pace is down 0.8 percent from last month and also down 1.3 percent from a year ago. Pending sales represent homes that have a signed contract to purchase on them but have yet to close. They tend to lead Existing… Continue Reading July 2017 Pending Home Sales
While the majority of contractors are honest professionals, it is still important for homeowners to be aware of possible scammers, frauds or swindlers when hiring a contractor before undergoing a remodel. Consumers should be wary of contractors who ask for money upfront. According to the Better Business Bureau, contractors who say they need a significant… Continue Reading Story Idea – How to NOT Get Scammed by a Contractor
Hurricane(s), chocolate, Shatner, behaviors, electric cars, flavor, language, and Google Drive. Where there were once many available rental units, now not so many. Stay safe! Track Hurricane Irma here. And in case you didn’t know, Hurricane Jose is behind it. Fort George G. Meade Public Affairs Office/flickr/2017 A new kind of chocolate? Why try to… Continue Reading What We’re Reading: September 4-8
A week ago we introduced a new measure of foot traffic, the foot traffic volume index. This week we provide an update on the August trend in traffic. Foot traffic rose on a seasonally adjusted basis for the second consecutive month suggesting an end to the downward trend posted this summer. Foot traffic has a… Continue Reading Foot Traffic Picks Up
Football fans around the country will be gathering in front of a TV this week to catch their favorite team in action for the first time this season. To celebrate the start of the journey to Super Bowl LII, the National Association of Realtors® is throwing an accurate spiral of recent real estate facts with the… Continue Reading The Road to the Big Game: Where 52 Shows Up in Real Estate
Pricing for the iPhone 8 hasn’t been announced, but many expect it to meet or exceed the close-to-$1000 cost of the Galaxy Note 8. This is pretty freaky: the frequency range at which voice assistants such as Siri and Alexa listen for commands is far wider than humans can hear; that means hackers can control… Continue Reading Smart Phones Cost How Much Now? The Answer, And More, In Five For Wednesday
Approximately 60 percent of homebuyers financed their home using a 6 percent – or less – down payment, according to data from the National Association of REALTORS®. With the most recent median existing-home price clocking in at $258,300, a 6 percent down payment is $15,498. Here are some simple suggestions from NAR on how potential… Continue Reading Infographic: A Dollar a Day: Simple Ways to Save For a Down Payment
Not many people possess the language skills of my older brother. I learned early on never to play Scrabble or Balderdash with him, but whenever I didn’t understand the meaning of a word, I could always ask him. And I did. Until I got my first smartphone, and a Master’s degree in Library and Information… Continue Reading Legalese
Chuck Reed The United States has a housing shortage. That’s why home prices are rising faster than what many people can afford. But in California, the housing shortage is a crisis. Many people want to live and work in the state, but developers have little incentive to build housing the average person can afford, especially… Continue Reading We Know We Need Housing and How to Get It. Unfortunately, That’s Where We Stop