Real Estate, Updates, News & Tips - Michael Lebeda - iPro Real Estate

These Lenders Dominate the Mortgage Market

Quicken Loans is commanding the largest share of the mortgage market, according to 2016 data recently released by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council. But Wells Fargo boasts the highest origination dollar volume at $126 billion in 2016, compared to Quicken Loans’ $90.6 billion.iEmergent, which compiled the data, calculated the top mortgage lenders by looking at the number of purchase and refinance loans originated. The follow

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REALTORS: Your Listing’s Words Carry Weight

A new study finds that properties that contain certain words in their listing comments tend to sell for higher prices.CoreLogic researchers analyzed more than 1 million single-family transactions that closed in the first half of 2017. Every property analyzed had public remarks and comments from which researchers extracted word pairs. Prices can vary geographically on how much weight certain words may have.But one house feature that stood out was

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One week later, California is still on fire

Real estate community assesses the long road to recoveryKey Takeaways Northern California agents roll up their sleeves and do anything they can to help their community, which may or may not have to do with real estate.It’s been just over a week since thousands of Northern California residents frantically left their homes in the early hours of the morning as fires raged into wine country’s highly populated areas.More than 100,000 people hav

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Real estate brokerages house agents, clients displaced by wildfires

Offices open their doors to the homelessIn times of disaster, real estate offices can turn into second homes for agents and their clients by providing them with a place to rest their head, take a breath and plan for the next step.It happened in hurricane-stricken Puerto Rico and Houston, and last week was no exception during the devastating wildfires that have so far killed at least 40 people and destroyed 5,700 structures in Northern Californi

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Rent or buy? Top cities for owning, renting and sharing

Roommates are changing the numbersKey Takeaways If you live in one of the uber-expensive coastal cities of California and Washington state, then continuing to rent is often the only option. In Detroit, a median priced starter home costs $16,463 — the lowest median home sales price in the nation. Buying is typically cheaper, but that changes when roommates are thrown into the mix.In today’s market, renters and buyers often find themselves in t

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REALTORS: 7 easy ways to stay in touch with your clients this Halloween

Don't let your epitaph read 'forgettable' this Allhallow's eveAny holiday is a great excuse to engage with clients. With Halloween right around the corner, here are seven clever real estate agent “tricks” that’ll “treat” your clients to something fun!1. Pumpkin patch map Door-knock or send a Halloween mailer to your farm with a map of local pumpkin patches in the neighborhood.Make sure to put your face and contact information on the m

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REALTORS: 3 essential tools that will 10X your real estate marketing

Smart landing pages, a synchronized database and automation generate resultsSpraying your message high and wide does not breed online marketing success; rather, standout results emerge when you pair smart, strategic decisions with the right tools.An integrated marketing strategy ensures your message reaches the right audience at the right moment—the marketing holy grail. It also multiplies your results.With your systems and tools aligned, your

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The government pays more to rich homeowners than poor renters

Housing subsidies are going to wealthy homeowners at nearly twice the rate of low income rentersThe United States government spends nearly twice the amount on housing subsidies that favor the rich over the section 8 housing program for low income Americans, a new report finds—$71 billion compared to $29.9 billion in 2015, the report from the website Apartment List found.Credit: Apartment ListAs the country heads towards a likely partisan deba

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58% of people would live with a ghost

Looks like haunted houses don't scare off all buyers, according to realtor.comThis Halloween, consider mentioning any (friendly) ghosts and goblins that may have taken up residence in one of your listings — as it turns out, more than half of buyers are open to living in a haunted house.In September, realtor.com conducted a Haunted Real Estate survey where 1,000 respondents shared their opinions on living in a home with a “few extra guests.”

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REALTORS: 7 tips for writing listing descriptions buyers can’t pass up

Listing descriptions are your opportunity to grab potential buyers’ attention, don’t mess it upKey Takeaways Avoid vagueness, writing in caps, misspellings, grammar mistakes and repetitions. Be brief, use lists and bullets and create a compelling call to action.First impressions are critical in real estate. You only get one shot to impress sellers enough to hire you and one chance to put the home on the market.A crucial aspect of marketing a

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