Many local markets have been red-hot. A home seller might be tempted to wonder what is wrong with their home or REALTOR® if a buyer is not found in a month. Throughout this past summer, nearly half of homes listed found a willing buyer within a month: the median days on market nationally was 34… Continue Reading Seasonal Housing Slowdown
The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit took a hard look at access to credit this week with a hearing titled “Examining Legislative Proposals to Address Consumer Access to Mainstream Banking Services.” Of particular interest to the National Association of Realtors® was discussion of two NAR-backed bills that seek to open… Continue Reading Congressional Committee Puts Credit Hurdles Under Microscope
Consumers across income and education brackets would greatly benefit from increased awareness and financial understanding on downpayment requirements needed to obtain a mortgage. In NAR’s September Housing Opportunities and Market experience (HOME) report, a quarterly index measuring consumer sentiment on the housing market, respondents were asked topical questions regarding downpayments. The report found that 14… Continue Reading Helping Family with A Downpayment For Their Dream Home
In the monthly REALTORS® Confidence Index Survey, the National Association of REALTORS® asks members “For the last house that you closed in the past month, how long was it on the market from listing time to the time the seller accepted the buyer’s offer?” Properties stayed on the market for fewer days in August 2016… Continue Reading Properties Were Typically on the Market for 36 Days in August 2016
Now this is an endorsement that will body slam your competition. The Connecticut REALTORS® association has teamed up with WWE Superstars — a show filmed in Connecticut — in a new campaign to educate home buyers and sellers about the importance of using a REALTOR®. As part of the campaign, the association has released a… Continue Reading WWE Wrestlers: REALTORS® Deliver a KO for Home Shoppers
The following Field Guides have recently been updated in the Library: Credit Scoring Credit scoring has become a serious issue in the lending community and it can affect your ability to obtain or refinance your next mortgage. Credit scoring systems can gauge a mortgage applicant’s credit rating and assign an interest rate and risk value… Continue Reading New and Updated in the Library – September 2016
Photo by Westborough Design Center, Inc. – Discover traditional kitchen design ideas By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR(R) Magazine It’s all about that brass. But don’t expect to see that 1980s super shine. Today’s trendy brass is more of an antique brass, which is being used in light fixtures, mirrors, frames, and even furniture trims.… Continue Reading The ‘New’ Brass Is Back in Home Design
Zoning, paper, paper, HP, Halloween, excess, gas, cancer, brick and mortar, bargains, addiction, and the gender wage gap. Housing prices are displacing lower income families in Silicon Valley. Palo Alto’s tight housing market would have been made even tighter if Palo Alto’s Architectural Review Board had decided to approve Zuckerberg’s plans. What will it take… Continue Reading What We’re Reading: September 19-23
While local conditions vary, the REALTORS® buyer traffic and current conditions confidence indices remained above 50 in August 2016, indicating that more local markets were “strong” rather than “weak,” according to the August 2016 REALTORS® Confidence Index Survey Report.[1] The buyer traffic index, an indicator of homebuying interest, stood at about the same level as… Continue Reading Highlights of the August 2016 REALTORS® Confidence Index Survey
It’s common today for real estate brokerages to have systems in place for sending email alerts whenever there’s new or updated listings that customers might be interested in. it’s not new technology, and in fact the technology is arguably ubiquitous in the industry. Now imagine you get hit with a letter demanding you pay a… Continue Reading Maybe you haven’t tangled with a troll, but this patent victory is for you