NAR released a summary of existing-home sales data showing that housing market activity this February is down 3.7 percent from last month but improved 5.4 percent from last year. February’s existing-home sales reached the 5.48 million seasonally adjusted annual rate. The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $228,400 in February, up 7.7… Continue Reading February 2017 Existing-Home Sales
Seasons, sales, happiness, moguls, intimidation, sales, signing bonus, and scams. Do you recall Spring being warmer than it ever actually is? Us too. What can you learn about sales from a fifteen year old? A lot. Did you celebrate International Day of Happiness? It’s never too late to be happy! Moyan Brenn/flickr/2014 David Rockefeller passed… Continue Reading What We’re Reading: March 20-24
It’s National Puppy Day, one of the cutest days of the year (I’m looking at you National Kitten Day)! According to the National Association of REALTORS® 2017 report Animal House: Remodeling Impact, homeowners will be one of the largest groups celebrating our best furry friends. A large majority of surveyed animal owners, 83 percent, own… Continue Reading It’s National Puppy Day, and NAR Knows It’s a Dog’s House
Sixteen teams remain as play resumes this week in the men’s and women’s NCAA Basketball Championships. Here’s a sweet assist from the National Association Realtors® on where the number 16 shows up in recent housing survey data: Younger baby boomers (ages 52 to 61) made up 16% of buyers 16% of buyers have two children… Continue Reading NAR Infographic: Housing’s Sweet 16′s
The following Field Guides have recently been updated in the Library: Updated in the Library at Realtor.org: Escrow Accounts/Earnest Money Escrow accounts are funds that a lender collects to pay the monthly mortgage insurance premiums, home owners insurance policy premiums and yearly property taxes. Earnest money, on the other hand, is a good faith sum… Continue Reading New and Updated in the Library – March 2017
WASHINGTON (March 22, 2017) — After starting the year at the fastest pace in almost a decade, existing-home sales slid in February but remained above year ago levels both nationally and in all major regions, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Total existing-home sales 1, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes,… Continue Reading Existing-Home Sales Stumble in February
In late January, the new Trump administration froze a number of policy changes made in the waning days of the Obama Presidency. One such change, a 25 basis point increase in the mortgage insurance premium (MIP) charged by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), was previously analyzed by NAR Research. Here we report local impacts of… Continue Reading Broad Impact of the FHA Fee Freeze
Talk to a Realtor® in much of the country right now and they’ll all echo a similar narrative: homes are selling quickly because there are not enough listings on the market. It’s why existing sales stumbled in February and price growth accelerated to its fastest pace in over a year (7.7 percent). Even more staggering, inventory… Continue Reading Existing-Home Sales Hit Rough Patch in February
Photo courtesy Paint Quality Institute Many do-it-yourself painters spend hours selecting the perfect paint colors, but give far less thought to the sheen they’ll use. That’s short sighted, according to Debbie Zimmer, spokesperson for the Paint Quality Institute. “Paint sheen affects not only the initial appearance of a paint job, but also its long-term performance,” says… Continue Reading How to Select the Right Sheen to Your Paint
Economic activity continued on an upward trend in the last quarter of 2016, but at a slower pace, as the first estimate of real gross domestic product (GDP) from the Bureau of Economic Analysis documented. Preliminary figures indicated that GDP rose at an annual rate of 1.9 percent, on par with the average 1.9 percent… Continue Reading Demand for Apartments Remains Solid in 2017