At the national level, housing affordability is down from last month and down from a year ago. Mortgage rates increased to 4.15 percent this December, up dramatically from last month’s 3.82 percent, but roughly unchanged compared to 4.14 a year ago. Housing affordability declined from a year ago in December moving the index down 1.4… Continue Reading December 2016 Housing Affordability Index
Meteors, skydiving, perks, libraries, safety, Open Access, dictionaries, and productivity. You don’t see this every day! Pretty sure this would fulfill our dream of flying, though we doubt we’d be as graceful. According to Glassdoor, these are the 20 best work perks out there. Librarian goals: visit this magical special library! Has an outstanding overdue… Continue Reading What We’re Reading: February 6-10
WASHINGTON (February 9, 2017) — The best quarterly sales pace of the year pushed available housing supply to record lows and caused price appreciation to slightly speed up in the final three months of 2016, according to the latest quarterly report by the National Association of Realtors®. The report also revealed that sales prices in… Continue Reading Swift Gains in Fourth Quarter Push Home Prices to Peak Levels in Majority of Metro Areas
Kyle Hiscock By Kyle Hiscock When people ask me what I do for a living, the easiest response is to say I’m a real estate agent. If I really wanted to get into great detail, the answer would be something along the lines of, “I’m a digital marketing company that happens to help buyers and… Continue Reading Creating Shareable Real Estate Graphics
You may have heard that TV manufacturer Vizio has been fined $2.2M for tracking what users were watching and then offering that data to advertisers. No other TV companies have been found to be doing the same, but just in case, here’s what you should do to make sure your viewing habits aren’t being tracked.… Continue Reading Stop Your Smart TV From Spying on You, and More in Five for Wednesday
This blog post was written by Managing Director of Housing Research, Danielle Hale, and Data Analyst, Hua Zhong. Home listings still go up most often on Thursdays and Fridays. Here is the data: As we start the New Year, this is a good time to take a look and recap the year behind us to… Continue Reading EHS in 2016 by the Numbers – Part 3 – Popular Listing Dates
At the International Builders’ Show in Orlando, Fla. last month, I had the chance to sit down with two authors who know a ton about generating customer loyalty. One was Jason Forrest, a sales trainer and coach whom I’ve known as a regular contributor to REALTOR® Magazine over the years. He introduced me to Paul… Continue Reading Sales Doesn’t Equal Service
REALTORS®remain broadly optimistic about housing market conditions over the next six months, according to the December 2016 REALTORS® Confidence Index Survey Report, a monthly survey of REALTORS® about their sales activity and local market conditions.[1] The REALTORS® Confidence Index—Six-Month Outlook indices for all properties have been trending upward since 2012, and on an annual basis, 2016… Continue Reading REALTORS® Remain Broadly Optimistic About Market Conditions in 2017
As tax reform heats up on Captiol Hill, National Association of Realtors® President William E. Brown is working to make sure the Realtor® message is heard. In an op-ed to “The Hill,” Brown said Realtors® are eager for responsible reform. “America’s tax system deserves an overhaul, with an eye toward ensuring individual tax rates are… Continue Reading NAR President: “Tax Reform Must Protect Homeownership”
Anecdotes have increased in recent quarters that there is a growing shortage of appraisers. 55.6 percent of lenders who took part in the most recent Survey of Mortgage Originators indicated some level of issues getting appraisals. However, 11.1 percent indicated that the issue was significant. Respondents indicated that roughly 9.8% of volume was hit with… Continue Reading 2016 Survey of Mortgage Originators, Fourth Quarter