What does it cost to make old hardwood floors look new again? Let’s say it costs $3,000. That’s a lot of money, especially for owners who just want to get their house on the market and be done with it. But of all the remodeling projects homeowners can do to increase the resale value of… Continue Reading To Get Higher Sale Price, Client Could Refinish the Floor
The executive order President Trump signed on Oct. 12 to expand association health plans (AHPs) is of interest to REALTORS® because NAR has a longstanding interest in these types of health plans. But it’s important for real estate professionals to know what the executive order does and doesn’t do. First, it doesn’t itself expand association… Continue Reading What Does President Trump’s Association Health Plan Executive Order Do?
On Wednesday, the National Association of Realtors® released a new research report, Choosing a Career in Real Estate: A Perspective on Gender, Race and Ethnicity. The report was developed to discover how and why Realtors® chose real estate as a career and to examine gender, race and ethnicity in real estate. According to the report,… Continue Reading NAR Explores Top Reasons for Choosing a Career in Real Estate
Existing-home sales dropped 1.7 percent in August from one month prior while new home sales declined 3.5 percent. These headline figures are seasonally adjusted figures and are reported in the news. However, for everyday practitioners, simple raw counts of home sales are often more meaningful than the seasonally adjusted figures. The raw count determines income… Continue Reading Raw Count of Home Sales (August 2017)
Manhattan traffic. Four-season weather. Tests of self-driving cars are about to get really real. If you’re the kind of phone owner who cares about the camera on your phone more than any of its other features, you’ll like reading this Battle of the iPhone 8 vs. Pixel 2 cameras. Got some smart home tech and… Continue Reading Self-Driving Cars Take On Manhattan; iPhone8 and Pixel 2 Cameras Battle It Out, and More
The following is NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun’s reaction to this morning’s U.S. Commerce Department release on September housing starts: “The one month fall in new home construction, especially in the South region in light of Hurricane recovery, is understandable. What is frustrating and hard to comprehend is the drop in total permits in the… Continue Reading Instant Reaction: September Housing Starts
At the national level, housing affordability is up from last month but down from a year ago. Mortgage rates increased to 4.19 percent this August, up compared to 3.74 percent a year ago. Housing affordability declined from a year ago in August moving the index down 8.4 percent from 163.7 to 149.9. The median sales… Continue Reading August 2017 Housing Affordability Index
Amid improving macroeconomic conditions, residential lending continued to increase in 2016, based on the recently released 2016 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data. [1] [2] The number of first-lien loan originations for the purchase of one-to-four unit properties intended for owner occupancy rose to 3.46 million in 2016, a 10 percent increase from 3.12 million… Continue Reading Home Purchase Originations Rose by 10 Percent in 2016, But are Still Below Pre-Housing Crash Level
Photo credit: Blinds.com By Katie Laird, guest contributor When staging a home for an open house, you can transform a space from an unimpressive, run-of-the-mill property to one with a “wow” factor. But without a little extra attention to detail, even the most professionally staged homes can leave something to be desired. Don’t let staging… Continue Reading 7 Secrets for Adding a Finishing Touch to Your Staging
Famous locations, social media addiction, financial education, cleaning, energy, pets, internet shopping, names, security, and nail houses. Shut up and take our money. Ugh, look at those crowds! We’d close it off, too. How addicted are you to the “bright dings of social pleasure?” Recently dubbed Nobel Laureate, Richard Thaler, has a bleak outlook on… Continue Reading What We’re Reading: October 9-13