Michael Crist

NAR released a summary of existing-home sales data showing that housing market activity this March is the highest pace in ten years. Home sales this March are up 4.4 percent from last month and improved 5.9 percent from last year. March’s existing-home sales reached the 5.71 million seasonally adjusted annual rate.  The national median existing-home… Continue Reading March 2017 Existing-Home Sales

By Justin M. Riordan, Spade and Archer Design Agency When selling a house, small rooms can lead to big problems. Staging can be the key to making a small room look functional and help entice buyers to put an offer on your property. Living Rooms – Proving your living room can fit a full size… Continue Reading Staging Tips for Small Rooms

WASHINGTON (April 21, 2017) — Existing-home sales took off in March to their highest pace in over 10 years, and severe supply shortages resulted in the typical home coming off the market significantly faster than in February and a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Only the West saw a decline in… Continue Reading Existing-Home Sales Jumped 4.4% in March

An abnormally warm winter, strong consumer confidence and robust underlying demand ended up being the perfect formula to push existing-home sales in March to their highest pace in over 10 years. More notably, despite the fact that supply is extremely tight and buying a home has gotten more expensive, home sales are up convincingly from a… Continue Reading Home Sales Spiked in March…and Sold Fast

Taxes, rideshares, technology, language, architecture, trends, shortcuts, potatoes, Did you get your taxes done in time? Here are some fun tax facts until next year. Access to easy transportation is driving the real estate market in some areas. We previously shared an article about how Chicago storms 50 years ago brought about advanced weather warning… Continue Reading What We’re Reading: April 17-21

CHICAGO (April 20, 2017) – The National Association of Realtors®’ strategic investment arm, Second Century Ventures, unveiled seven organizations chosen for the 2017 class of REach®, a growth technology accelerator program helping launch companies into the real estate, financial services, banking, home services and insurance industries. The program is focused on providing early-to mid-stage companies… Continue Reading Second Century Ventures Announces 2017 REach® Accelerator Class

After surging in the wake of the election, mortgage rate are back on the decline. The average rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage was 3.97 percent for three-day period ending April 19th according a release from Freddie Mac this morning. Lower rates should help consumers currently in the market, but rates are still expected… Continue Reading Rates Moderate, For Now

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) plays a critical role in the housing market by guaranteeing financing to underserved portions of the population and by providing support to the broader housing market during cyclical downturns. In late 2016, a measure of delinquency hinted at budding stress for the FHA, but recent data suggests that conditions have… Continue Reading Turbulence in Lending, Not a Trend

Economic growth numbers for the first quarter will be announced next week, and it looks like it will be a huge miss. The numbers could well be just a hair above the zero growth line. The average growth rate from 1950 to 2000 was 3.7%. President Bush’s term from 2001 to 2008 generated an average… Continue Reading Not a Beautiful First Quarter GDP Growth