Keith Strong wasn't about to give up in his battle over a mailbox feud with his neighborhood's homeowners association. It was a battle that took seven years to resolve in court, but he has no regrets. He believes he took a stand for property rights.Strong purchased a $35 wooden mailbox in 2009 for his home, which is in a golf community in the Washington suburbs that features million-dollar homes. But two months after Strong installed the mailbox,
North Dakota is the top family-friendly state for 2017, according to new findings from a WalletHub analysis. WalletHub's research team compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on 40 key indicators, such as housing affordability, the unemployment rate, median family salary, education, health and safety, and more.Here are the states that emerged on top as most family friendly for 2017: North Dakota New Hampshire Vermont Minnesota N
Watch the extensions of the documents you attach in your emails. Google announced it will start blocking Javascript attachments in Gmail starting Feb. 13. That is an expansion of Gmail’s already restricted file attachments, which also includes .exe, .msc, and .bat.Users who try to attach a .js file to an email after Feb. 13 will receive a notification that says the message will be blocked “because its content presents a potential security iss
Good schools pay off in a home sale. Indeed, having a high rating on sites like GreatSchools, which rates public schools based on statewide assessments, can be a boon to a home’s value. Realtor.com® researchers analyzed 1.6 million home listings in the U.S. through the first six months of 2016 and found that houses in public-school districts with GreatSchools' highest ratings, 9 or 10, were priced on average 77 percent higher than homes in nea
Consumers today don’t just want the basics. They what more information, accurate information, and details about your past clients’ experiences — and they’re going to multiple sources to get it.In a recent Adweek webinar, “What Influences Conversions? The Why Before (and After) the Buy,” representatives from YP Marketing Solutions and Thrive Analytics discussed the results of a recent consumer study of 5,418 adults in eight purchasing
Following several weeks of decreases, mortgage rates were back on the rise this week."The 10-year Treasury yield increased more than 10 basis points this week,” says Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “The 30-year mortgage rate moved up as well to 4.19 percent, a 10 basis point jump. This week marks the first increase in the mortgage rate since December 29. The 2.8 percent decline in existing home sales in December is a reminder
The mortgage industry loves jargon and it can quickly confuse a real estate professional and all the moreso a borrower. The Fannie Mae Sellers Guide alone has 91 different acronyms and abbreviations.The National Mortgage News recently offered up a few of the most common acronyms buyers and professionals should know while going through the homebuying process.DTI: Debt to income Underwriters turn to this ratio to determine if a borrower can financi
Developers have expressed concerned that golf courses are losing favor with homeowners in high-end communities, but a new study shows they still boost home values. Researchers at Florida Atlantic University evaluated more than 10,000 home sales in the state's Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties in 2015. They found that property values for homes adjacent to a golf course increased an average of 8 percent to 12 percent."Preliminary result
California homeowners and neighborhood groups are filing lawsuits against the state's major cities, demanding they roll back some of their zoning restrictions to make way for more housing development. While the nation's most populous state, California ranks 49th in the number of housing units per capita — beating only Utah — and has the second-highest rate of overcrowding after Hawaii. Officials say the state's housing supply is so low that i
As society operates more and more online, handwritten notes are becoming a rarity — which is why sending one to your clients could help you stand out from your competition."A thank-you note can stand out from the seemingly dull and impersonal style of digital communications, such as emails and texts," Keller Williams Realty notes on its blog. "With mailing lists and newsletters coming at your clients from nearly every business they visit, a tha
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