Carole VanSickle Ellis
KB Homes Debuts Germ-Free Doors
As flu season continues to wreak havoc and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issuing dire predictions about the number of flu-related deaths likely before the outbreak is over, national homebuilder KB Home has decided to keep up with the times by announcing its standard interior door ...
Think Realty’s 2018 Industry Influencers
In every business sector, there are individuals and groups who affect the conversation about their industry in meaningful ways. Some, like Howard Hughes, the reclusive billionaire who is credited with “removing the mob” from the Las Vegas casino sector, create legacies and legends that far exceed any truth, however grand ...
3 Most and Least Affordable Rental Housing Markets
HomeUnion recently released its annual report on the most and least affordable rental housing markets in the country, and Chicago, Illinois, topped the list. “With its low cost of living, relatively large housing inventory levels, and high affordability, Chicago is an excellent market for residents entering the renting pool,” said HomeUnion’s director ...
The Norris Group: Good Timing Runs in the Family
“The most important thing in the world is timing. I’d have to say that most of the wealth in real estate I have accumulated is because of good timing, and I would have to give credit for that wealth to the fact that I know when to get into a ...
Down Payment Program: Employers to Help Employees
A new program from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will allow borrowers to crowdfund their down payments from multiple sources, including their employers. HomeFundMe was created by mortgage banking firm CMG Financial, and allows employers to contribute directly to employees’ accounts for the express purpose of helping that employee purchase ...
Realtor.com Report: Housing Inventory Ongoing Problem
Late last week, Realtor.com released its “State of the Housing Union,” an annual report published shortly prior to the president’s State of the Union address. The association stated, “The housing market outlook is looking bright on several fronts: strong buyer demand, particularly among first-timers, and a growing U.S. economy urging ...
Amazon’s HQ2 Short List Silenced, for Now
The location of Amazon’s second headquarters will benefit in enormous ways from the influx of jobs and development that will come with HQ2 but cities vying for the position will be keeping quiet about what they’re offering while the contest continues. According to CNBC reports last week, Amazon has requested ...
2018 Hot Market Picks for Real Estate Investors
Every year, real estate analysts, experts, and economists release assorted “top hot markets” lists related to housing. These lists should always be taken with a healthy dose of context. As Svenja Gudell, chief economist at Zillow and January's Think Realty cover story feature says, “Economists, like meteorologists, should be taken ...
3 Markets Might Benefit Most from Amazon’s HQ2
Last week, Amazon announced its 20 finalists for its second headquarters, nicknamed HQ2, and the response was immediate and overwhelming. Cities that made the top 20 were elated and eager to remind everyone exactly why their location looked so good: • “We are excited to learn that Atlanta has been ...
Real estate investing is all about the personal touch, so it’s not surprising that most investors are not too concerned about one of the hottest topics in tech these days: robots replacing humans in many areas of employment, even possibly realtors. However, a startup called Homie is hoping to change ...
Buying Cheaper than Renting in More than Half of Markets
The national housing market is definitely heating up, but it still makes more sense to buy instead of rent in more than half of all housing markets. According to ATTOM Data Solutions, buying a median-priced home is more affordable than renting a three-bedroom property in 54 percent of all U.S ...
Foreclosure Wave Heads for Puerto Rico
When Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in 2017, it was quickly named the worst natural disaster on record to ever hit the region. Maria was the 10th-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record at the time, and the deadliest storm of the 2017 Atlantic Hurricane season. It was also far and ...
Zillow Chief Economist Discusses 2018 Trends
Svenja Gudell started at Zillow in 2011 with her first project of calculating negative equity, and she’s probably one of the few homeowners in the country who would tell you that the topic has “a special spot” in her heart. However, that special spot, such as it is, is one ...
3 Effects Tax Cuts Could Have on Economy & Housing
When President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on December 22, 2017, he accomplished a number of things with a single swipe of a pen. Those things included: Cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent Cutting the top individual tax rate to 37 percent Reducing ...
Luxury Real Estate Lags Behind Mainstream Housing
According to Realtor.com, U.S. luxury housing lagged behind the mainstream real estate market in 2017 and is likely to continue to slow in 2018. Of course, that does not mean that the sector is not still growing. In fact, analysts reported that average sales price in the luxury market, defined ...
Global Economic Rankings Will Affect U.S. Real Estate
When the Center for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) announced in early January that China’s economy would surpass that of the United States “by 2032,” the reaction from the U.S. media was not surprising. The U.S. has been a dominant economic force in the world for a very long time ...
FHA May Refuse to Insure Loans on Energy Efficient Properties
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) recently released new restrictions on the types of mortgages it will insure and eliminated certain energy-efficient homes in the process. In early December 2017, the FHA reversed a policy from the previous presidential administration that allowed the FHA to insure mortgages on homes carrying liens ...
Rents Continue to Rise into 2018
Although rental rate growth slowed over the course of 2017, Zillow reported at the start of 2018 that rates were starting to rise again. Over the past 12 months, median rents nationwide rose about 2.4 percent. This manifested in a median rental price of $1,435 per month, which, Zillow analysts ...
Home Values Record High in 2017
At the end of 2017, the total value of all the homes in the United States reached $31.8 trillion, which is more than one-and-a-half times the gross domestic product (GDP). This is almost $2 trillion more than the value of all U.S. homes at the end of 2016, and a ...
2018 Perfectly Positioned to Bring Buyers Off Fence
2018 will likely bring a number of homebuyers out of the woodwork, to the benefit of real estate investors prepared to work with them. Although many would-be buyers have remained on the sidelines since the housing crash, a number of factors are likely to force their hand in the New ...
Fewer Homeowners Start 2018 Facing Foreclosure
Fewer homeowners are starting the New Year off with a foreclosure this year than did last year, according to a report from CoreLogic. Analysts attributed the decline to “strong job growth and prudent mortgage underwriting.” The decline in foreclosures is not just an indicator of stronger financial health on the ...
Options for Your Buy and Hold Investments
When you hear the words “buy and hold,” you probably subconsciously insert the word “forever” at the end of the phrase. Most real estate investors do. However, there is far more to buy and hold investing than simply purchasing an investment property, making the mortgage payments for decades, and then ...
Phishing Scam Costs First-Time Homebuyer $36k
Any time your real estate agent or other real estate professional sends you an email adjusting the location, amount, or method of transferring money, it might behoove you to take five minutes and verify their identity before you respond. Failing to pick up the phone and double-check the identity of ...
Net Neutrality Rolled Back by FCC
In mid-December, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it would roll back net neutrality rules in a highly controversial decision that has most of the country up in arms on one side or the other of the issue. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) officially rebuked the FCC for ...
First-Time Homebuyers Rushing into Year-End Market
For the first time since just after the turn of the century, first-time homebuyers are rushing into the housing market in droves. According to Genworth Financial’s “First-Time Homebuyer Market Report,” 601,000 first-time homebuyers purchased single-family homes during Q3 2017, up six percent from Q3 2016. This is the highest rate ...
