Real Estate - Real Estate, Updates, News & Tips

Best Places to Buy Rental Properties This Winter

The winter off-peak period may be the best time for investors to snag a deal on a single-family rental property.Single-family rental investors paid 6.6 percent less per square foot on the same property during the winter of 2017/2018 than they did during the spring and summer buying season of 2017, according to a new analysis released by HomeUnion, an online real estate investment and management firm.“For the second year in a row, our study fo

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Best, Worst Places for Commuters

Consistent travel times allow commuters less heartache than cities where it’s constantly fluctuating, says Joseph L. Schofer, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northwestern University.“That comes from well-managed road networks, limited congestion, quick incident-clearance times, and [bus and rail] transit [options],” Schofer told realtor.com®.The realtor.com® research team identified the best and worst metros for com

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Some Retirees Still Face Years of Mortgage Payments

Fewer retirees own their home free and clear, as 32 percent of homeowners ages 60 to 70 say it will take them more than another eight years to pay off their mortgage, according to American Financing’s Retirement and Mortgages survey.However, many say they intend to age in place, with 64 percent indicating they plan to remain in their current home. Seventy-one percent say they would prefer to make home renovations rather than move, even if a hea

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Expect Building Delays on Commercial Projects

Many commercial projects may face delays in 2018 due to rising demand, particularly for warehouse and office space. A shortage of skilled construction workers and rising construction costs—two items that are also plaguing the residential market—are expected to push back timetables on many commercial projects in the pipeline, according to the CoStar Group.The labor shortage may mean developers will have to pay more to get their buildings const

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How Much Buyers Put Down on Their Home

The majority of buyers who obtained a mortgage last year made a down payment of less than 20 percent, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ 2017 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. The median down payment in 2017 was 10 percent, according to the report.The bulk of buyers’ down payments came from their personal savings, but a fraction also came from the sales proceeds of a previous residence or assistance from family or friends

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Luxury Sales Slow, High-End Inventory Grows

Luxury homes sold at a slower pace in 2017, as more properties in the high-end market were put up for sale, according to a new realtor.com® report. The number of million-dollar listings grew by an average of 3.9 percent.Luxury properties—defined as those with a sales price in the top 5 percentile—took 5.4 percent longer to sell in 2017 than in 2016, spending an average of 116 days on the market. Prices of luxury homes also increased 5.1 perc

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4 Types of Open House Visitors

Open house visitors generally fall into four main categories: The snooper, the confirmation seeker, the aspirational buyer, and the serious buyer. How can you tell them apart? Here are the characteristics of each type: The snooper: They often live in the neighborhood, and they’re curious about competing properties. The confirmation seeker: They recently purchased a home and are looking for validation that they didn’t make a mistake. The asp

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Most Consumers Want VR Home Tours

Home shoppers are embracing virtual reality, saying they believe the technology will make the buying and selling process simpler and quicker, according to a new Coldwell Banker survey. The survey, which was released Monday—a day before the kickoff of CES 2018, the technology industry’s most prominent tradeshow—also shows that smart-home features are at the top of buyers’ wish lists. Coldwell Banker is sponsoring the Smart Home Marketplace

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Protect Your Devices From New Security Flaws

A pair of CPU flaws known as Meltdown and Spectre can allow hackers to access protected information on your computer’s memory. This could make your passwords, personal photos and email, or anything else you have saved on your computer vulnerable. The flaws could impact phones, PCs, and servers.Apple on Thursday was the latest company to announce that its devices aren’t immune either. Apple said all of its computers, iPhones, and iPads are aff

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REALTORS: 8 Signs of Fake Buyers, Sellers

It’s an unfortunate reality that not all prospective clients you’ll come in contact with are legitimate buyers or sellers. Some are exaggerating their interest in buying a property, perhaps to take advantage of your expertise—or, possibly for more nefarious reasons.REALTOR® Magazine recently asked real estate professionals across the country what they wish they had known before starting their sales careers and learned some of the reasons

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