Finance - Real Estate, Updates, News & Tips

Landlords Find Rents are Stalling

Apartment rents are moving up at a much slower pace, veering from quite a different pattern seen earlier this spring. From March to June, rents rose by 1.3%, the fastest growth over any comparable period since the summer of 2017. However, Apartment List researchers say that a closer look at the data shows that since June, rents have essentially been flat, marking an early end to the summer spike in rent prices.“The robust growth we saw from Mar

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Savings from Solar Largely Depend on Where you Live

Nationally, the average savings for homeowners with solar panels providing power is $1,075 annually. That can offset 67% of the homes’ electric bills, according to a new analysis of solar-powered home data from 1,800 homes nationwide conducted by Sense, a home energy firm.But how much homeowners actually see in savings largely depends on where they live.Sunny areas of the U.S. stand to benefit, as expected. For example, homeowners in Utah and C

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What’s on the Wish List of First-Time Buyers?

Millennials tend to have higher expectations than older homeowners did about their ideal starter home, according to a new survey by Clovered, a home insurance resource. Millennials tend to want larger homes with modern designs.More millennials are entering the housing market for the first time. Clovered recently surveyed more than 1,000 consumers about their first home to learn which features and amenities mattered to them the most.The top factor

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Apple Announces $2.5B Plan to Aid Housing Crisis

Tech companies this year have been committing billions to responding to housing shortages in the Golden State. Apple is the latest, announcing this week that it would allocate $2.5 billion to help address the housing availability and affordability crisis in California.Homeownership in the Bay Area is at a seven-year low. Sixty-three percent of millennials surveyed earlier this year said they were considering moving out of California due to high h

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Mortgage Rates Rise Again this Week

For the third consecutive week, the interest rate for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased. The rise came despite the Federal Reserve cutting its key benchmark rate for the third time this year. The Fed’s interest rate often influences mortgage rates.However, home buyers are still taking advantage of historically low mortgage rates, Freddie Mac reports. “Purchase activity continues to show strength, indicating obvious homebuyer dema

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Buyer Competition to Grow Fiercer in Fall

While low mortgage rates have made it cheaper to buy a home, finding the right property remains a challenge for home buyers, realtor.com® reports in its October 2019 housing report. Would-be buyers are finding that a worsening inventory shortage is heating up competition in the housing market this fall.“Owning a home continues to be a priority for buyers as we head into the cooler months of the year,” says George Ratiu, realtor.com®’s sen

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Texas Broker Shatters World Record—Again

For the second time in as many years, Ben Caballero, broker-owner of HomesUSA.com in Dallas, has broken the Guinness world record for the highest number of home sales in a single year. He sold 5,801 homes in 2018—exceeding $2 billion in sales volume—which translates to an average of more than 100 home sales a week, or nearly 16 every single day of the year.Caballero also won the Guinness title last year after selling 3,556 homes in 2016. He b

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8.3M First-Time Buyers are Coming

A surge in first-time home buyers is expected to hit the housing market over the next three years. About 8.3 million first-time buyers are projected to enter the mortgage market between 2020 and 2022, predicts a new report from TransUnion. That marks a jump from the 7.6 million first-time buyers that were added in the previous three-year period between 2016 and 2018.However, plenty of housing market challenges persist for new buyers, including hi

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Fed Cuts Rate for Third Time this Year

For the third time this year, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter point in an attempt to bolster a slowing economy. The federal funds rate will hover between 1.5% and 1.75%.The Fed’s benchmark rate does not directly affect long-term mortgage rates, but it does often influence them. The latest rate cut has economists torn on the effect it could have.Mortgage rates have been falling for nearly a year. The average 30-year fixed-rat

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‘Zombie’ Foreclosures keep Lurking

More than 1.5 million—or 1.5% of U.S. single-family homes and condos—were vacant in the fourth quarter, shows a newly released report from ATTOM Data Solutions. That marks a vast improvement, but so-called “zombie” foreclosures are still plaguing some housing markets.Despite an ongoing housing shortage, several markets are still dealing with zombie foreclosures. These are homes that have been vacated by the owners and remain vacant while

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