SCR News Feed

The housing market has indeed awakened from its summer slumber. Existing-home sales posted a 2 percent monthly gain in October and are now 5.9 percent higher than a year ago. Even more impressive? At a 5.60 million annualized sales pace, October was the strongest month for existing sales since February 2007 (5.79 million). Lawrence Yun, NAR… Continue Reading Existing-Home Sales in October: Highest Pace in Nearly a Decade

This Thanksgiving we look at how recent buyers are choosing their homes, and how their friends and family can influence their decision. While we don’t all get to see our families every day, for many home buyers having the option to do so can impact the home they purchase. Based on data from the recently… Continue Reading Thanksgiving 2016: How family and friends can influence the home purchase

For over three decades, the National Association of REALTORS® has collected data on the size of homes purchased, most notably the square feet of detached single family homes, in its flagship Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers report. Since 1981, the median size of homes purchased has increased rapidly in the first decade and then… Continue Reading Size of Homes: 1980’s was Bigger is Better & 2000-2010’s is Similar and Steady

Sure. Mindset, Method, & Metrics: Winning As A Modern Real Estate Agent (RockPaperStar Press, 2016) is a pragmatic guide to launching a real estate career. GaborfromHungary, Morguefile Yes, it’s written in a breezy, conversational tone that makes for easy consumption. It’s comprehensive, stopping to define common terms such as “sphere of influence” and “sales funnel” for… Continue Reading Now That’s Dedication

Over three decades, the number of homes viewed during buyers’ home search process has decreased while the number of weeks that buyers search has increased. The Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers has collected data since 1987 on the length of the home search process and the number of homes viewed. This year, NAR celebrated… Continue Reading Length of Home Search: Tightened Inventory Means More Time Looking At Fewer Homes

The housing finance market continues to normalize in the way of TRID and Brexit related delays. The average delay in time-to-close (TTC), the time from when a sale goes under contract to settlement, eased from 3.4 days in September to 2.8 days in October. Furthermore, the moderation was driven by a shift from settlements that… Continue Reading Closing Delays Continue to Subside

Technology, nature (bad), nature (good), inventory, toys, information, and Thanksgiving. Some genius devised a new, and much improved, use of drone technology! You might have heard something about the disappearance of bees over the past 10 years or so. Here are steps you can take to help the population.  AJC1/flickr/2011 All those poor fish! This… Continue Reading What We’re Reading: November 14-18

The numbers are in for 2016—selling your home with a REALTOR® could get you $60,000 more on your home sale. From the recently released 35th anniversary edition of the Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers report, homes sold with an agent or broker received a median of $245,000 in 2016 compared to the median selling… Continue Reading Homes Sell For More With A REALTOR® Than If You Sell Solo, Research Says

Three years after the ability to repay (ATR) rule was implemented, the risky mortgage products that became common during the last boom and helped fuel the unsustainable run-up in prices are rare. That is one of the key takeaways from the 12th Survey of Mortgage Originators (SMO) which covers lenders’ insights on trends and policy… Continue Reading Lesson Learned: Few Risky Mortgage Products in the Market