Mortgage applications to purchase a home and for refinancing barely budged last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday. Economists are blaming the stall in loan demand on rising interest rates and rising home prices.Total mortgage application for refinances and home purchases decreased 0.4 percent last week compared to the previous week on a seasonally adjusted basis, the MBA reported. Volume is now 24 percent lower than a year
Cyber security officials are warning Yahoo users to refresh their account passwords immediately and change their security questions and answers. And don’t do it only on Yahoo but also on all of your other accounts that use information similar to your Yahoo account.A 2013 hack of Yahoo accounts potentially stole the information of up to 3 billion users. That is triple the number of users Yahoo had first reported.The company says scammers are now
REALTORS® who give back are earning kudos by the industry for their charitable efforts within their communities and beyond. REALTOR® Magazine announced Wednesday the five winners to its 2017 Good Neighbors program.“It’s amazing how the passion of this year’s Good Neighbor Award winners spurs a ripple effect of generosity among others,” says William E. Brown, National Association of REALTORS® president. “In addition to devoting thousa
Buyers have become wiser, researching important facts not only about the houses they’re interested in but also about the communities where the homes are located. Desare Kohn-Laski, broker-owner of Skye Louis Realty in Coconut Creek, Fla., says it’s essential that real estate professionals show their value by keenly understanding the factors influencing home values in order to help and influence those research-savvy clients.Study these four
A little pen and paper goes a long wayKey Takeaways Sending handwritten notes starts with the people you already know, and what you know about them.You’ve heard about the power that a handwritten note holds for real estate agents — it’s an excellent way to build relationships and keep in touch with your sphere in a meaningful, personal way. And every time you sit down to start writing one, you feel … stuck. Or impatient.With the prolifera
VHT debuts Virtual Twilight digital editing service for $39 per photoVHT Studios, the nation’s largest real estate photography studio, has added Virtual Twilight to its suite of virtual staging and editing services. With this debut, agents are able to showcase their listings in the very best light possible — literally.As a convenient alternative to traditional twilight photo shoots, the image specialists at VHT take exterior photos shot dur
The Small Business Administration is looking for damage verifiers in the parts of Texas and Florida that were hit by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Damage verifiers are people who use their knowledge of real estate to give the agency their assessment of how much damage a structure sustained in the storm. According to one estimate, almost 150,000 structures were damaged by Harvey. In the Florida Keys alone, at least a quarter of all structures were d
The Crete House, a precast concrete structure designed for the Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon competition in Denver this month, is being touted as a home that is impervious to extreme weather, fires, moisture, mold, and insects. The Solar Decathlon, being held Thursday through Oct. 15, is a biennial competition that challenges teams of college students to design and build full-sized solar-powered homes. Thirteen teams from universities
Sarasota, Fla., was named the best city in the U.S. to spend your golden years. U.S. News & World Report analyzed the 100 largest metro areas to find the top places for retirees. They factored in housing affordability, tax rates, health care quality, and surveys that gauged happiness of local residents. The following cities landed in the top 10 as best places for retirement in 2017: Sarasota, Fla. Lancaster, Pa. San Antonio Grand Rapids, Mi
Andrew Gudmunson, a real estate professional with Century 21 Action, REALTORS®, in Minot, N.D., was among the hundreds of people wounded after a gunman opened fire on a crowd of concert goers in Las Vegas on Sunday night. It was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, leaving 59 people dead and 527 injured, according to news reports.Gudmunson, 30, who was rushed to a Las Vegas hospital with a gunshot wound and underwent emergency sur
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