General News - Real Estate, Updates, News & Tips

11 Home Landscaping Rules you Should Never Break

Whether your focus is on natural beauty or outdoor living, by sticking to these rules you can grow your home's curb appeal.Whether you like to admire the garden from your living room window, host regular backyard barbecues or line up a youth soccer practice out front on the weekends, your home’s exterior appearance is important. Planning the right landscaping – purely for aesthetics or utility – is imperative to help you

Read More

Mortgage Rates Barely Budge, Remain Over 7%

The higher rates, combined with high home prices, are creating a housing market of “haves and have-nots,” says NAR’s deputy chief economist.Home buyers are being forced to adjust to what is becoming a new norm: Mortgage rates above 7%. At this week’s average of 7.19% for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, as reported Thursday by Freddie Mac, the typical monthly mortgage payment on a median-priced home of $413,500 would translate to $2,243, sa

Read More

Home Values Fell in 21 of the 50 Largest US Metros in August

Home values are now 11.4% lower in Austin, Texas, than they were in Aug. 2022, Zillow said. Nationally, prices were up slightly from July to August, and there was a small inventory uptick Home values have fallen by more than 10 percent in Austin, Texas, as the nation’s housing market continued cooling down from pandemic-era highs, according to an August market report from Zillow.Nationwide, home values grew 0.2 percent from July to August, 

Read More

Stock Market Drives U.S. Households to Record Wealth

A surging stock market powered U.S. household wealth to a record high of more than $154 trillion in the second quarter, aided by a rebound in property values, Federal Reserve data out on Friday showed.Household net worth rose 3.7% to $154.28 trillion in the period from April through June from $148.79 trillion at the end of the first quarter, the Fed said in its quarterly snapshot of the balance sheets of households, businesses and federal, state

Read More

Apartment Building Construction on Track to Hit Record High

Data: RentCafe; Note: Includes buildings with 50 or more units; New York metro numbers do not include the Bronx or Staten Island; Table: Kavya Beheraj/AxiosNew apartment construction is on track to top a 50-year high, with nearly 461,000 units expected to be built across the U.S. this year, according to a new report.Why it matters: A housing shortage in the U.S. has contributed to the rising cost of both renting and buying.What's

Read More

Generative AI Helps Designers, Architects and Realtors Work Smarter, Not Harder

While artificial intelligence can't replace the human brain, tools like Midjourney are supercharging the home design process.These days, there's no shortage of news about artificial intelligence. Some industries are dominated by praise and excitement for how AI can make life easier, while other professional sectors lament the loss of jobs and human touch. The truth is usually somewhere in the middle, and the world of home design is no exception.S

Read More

Mortgage Rates Dip but Remain Above 7%

“The lack of movement is discouraging to home buyers who are also facing higher home prices,” says NAR economist.Mortgage rates backed away slightly from last week’s two-decade high but remain above 7%. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.18%, Freddie Mac’s latest weekly mortgage indicator shows.“The lack of movement is discouraging to home buyers who are also facing higher home prices,” says Jessica Lautz, deputy chief economi

Read More

Single-Family Rent Growth Slows for the 14th Straight Month

A new report from CoreLogic is the latest to confirm that rent growth is falling back toward historical levels as the market moves on from unprecedented growth during COVID-19Rent for single-family homes was 3.3 percent higher in June compared with a year earlier, according to a new report from property data provider CoreLogic.That was the slowest rate of growth since the fall of 2020, shortly after COVID-19 shocked the rental and for-sale h

Read More

Mortgage Rates Surge to 7.23%

Borrowing costs are the highest they’ve been in more than two decades—and rates may go higher over the next few weeks.Home buyers are facing the highest mortgage rates in 22 years. They’re also up against higher home prices and limited inventory. Add to that this week’s 7.23% average mortgage rate for the 30-year fixed-rate loan, which translates to an average monthly mortgage payment of $2,246 for a typical existing single-family home, s

Read More

Pending Home Sales Climb to 2023 High Following Months of Declines

Pending home sales rose 0.7% from June to July, reversing 7 months of declines. However, rising rates and home prices are poised to stifle sales growth into the fall, Redfin said on Friday After several months of double-digit monthly declines, pending sales finally rebounded in July — albeit by only 0.7 percent.Pending sales reached a 2023-high of 387,000 in July, according to Redfin’s latest housing market report publishe

Read More

This website includes images sourced from third party websites including Adobe, Getty Images, and as otherwise noted.