Summer is peak season for climate-related disasters, and an alarming percentage of homeowners may be underinsured to weather a natural disaster. Sixty-four percent of homes are underinsured by an average of 27%, according to the Residential Cost Handbook, published by Marshall & Swift/Boeckh, a consulting firm.Reconstruction costs have risen by 5.6% to 7.6% in some areas over the last year, according to a separate study earlier this year
“Gayborhoods” are getting more expensive, and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community increasingly say they’re getting priced out of the neighborhoods they helped to build.For example, USA Today reports that areas like San Francisco’s Castro district, which has long been known to house many members of the LGBT community, has seen values reach nearly $1.8 million while comparable homes in other neighborhoods av
Mortgage rates are dropping, giving millions of homeowners an opportunity to lower their monthly payments. An estimated 8.2 million borrowers could refinance and potentially lower their monthly payments by at least 75 basis points, estimates Black Knight, a mortgage software and analytics firm. This marks the largest percentage of homeowners who stand to benefit from lower mortgage rates since the end of 2016.Last week, the average
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has allocated $330 million in grants to clean up lead-based paint and other health and safety hazards in low-income housing. The grants will be provided through HUD’s Lead Hazard Reduction and Healthy Homes Production for Tribal Housing grant programs.“Your home is a haven from the outside world,” says HUD Secretary Ben Carson. “You shouldn’t be worried about the hidden
New rent control laws in New York are being blamed for eating away at landlords’ profits and putting many in a financial bind. Some real estate professionals and investors told The Wall Street Journal that the laws could cause rent-stabilized apartment buildings to drop 20% to 45% in value. That could put the building owners at risk of default. “It’s all over,” Lazer Sternhell, a real estate investor and broker of rent-regulated
Pending home sales bounced back in May from a dip the previous month, a sign that home buyers are returning to the market as lower borrowing costs improve affordability. Three of the four major U.S. regions saw an increase in pending home sales last month, the National Association of REALTORS® reported Thursday.NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, rose 1.1% to a reading of 105.4
For the seventh time in the last nine weeks, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped, reaching the lowest average since November 2016, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage market survey.“While the industrial- and trade-related economic data continues to dominate the news, the drop in mortgage rates over the last two months is already being felt in the housing market,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Through late Jun
Home buyers are finding fewer homes for sale that are meeting their price expectations. Half of all home buyers say they’re looking for a home priced under $288,000. But that is 9.1% below—or $27,000 less--than the median list price of currently available homes, a new realtor.com® study finds.“The price difference between what buyers are searching for, closing on, and what’s available on the market demonstrates just how big the gap is fo
Falling prey to a wire fraud scheme, he lost the down payment that took his family years to save. Now he’s helping real estate pros protect their clients against cyber scams. After a yearlong search, Aaron Cole and his family finally found their dream home in Canby, Ore., in December 2018. The seller accepted Cole’s $440,000 offer, and with a down payment of $123,000, he and his wife were ready to move in just in time to celebrate Christmas a
In the nation’s priciest areas, you’ll need to be in the top 20% to 30% of household earners to afford a median-priced home, according to a new study by Zoocasa, a real estate website.Researchers evaluated how much income households need to qualify for a mortgage on a median-priced home in 35 of the largest cities in the U.S. They factored in a 20% down payment, a mortgage rate of 4.5%, and a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.The top three most acc
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