Carole VanSickle Ellis
Health-Focused Residential Development Gains Interest
For the first time in U.S. history, today’s younger generations have shorter life expectancies than that of their parents, and many architects and urban planners believe the solution lies in health-conscious development ...
HUD Removes Access to Fair Housing Data Tool
HUD has announced it will “withdraw” access to a crucial data-submission tool used in AFFH reporting ...
New York City’s Cheapest Rental Rate at an End
This past March, an 84-year-old actress was struck and killed by a car just a few feet from her home in Greenwich Village, a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City and one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country. When she ...
Top Five “Most Prosperous Cities” in the United States
According to RentCafe, which releases an annual prosperity report naming the top 20 most prosperous cities in the country each year, a metro area needs to be “capable of progress,” active and vital, have momentum to “keep itself on the radar,” and sustain a growing population in order to be ...
Two-Thirds of Americans Believe It’s a Good Time to Buy a Home
Despite the fact that housing prices are hitting record highs in many real estate markets, most U.S. adults believe both that home prices will continue to rise in the next year and that now is a good time to buy a home. According to a new Gallup Poll on the ...
Increase in Multi-Family Interest Spikes Condo Prices in Certain Markets
Thanks to high-income tech jobs, limited housing inventory, and a determination to live in the hottest housing markets in the country, buyers in the Bay Area of California and other similarly hot metro markets are driving up condo prices and driving down the multifamily inventory in that sector. According to ...
3 Best Cities for Cyclists in 2018
Redfin’s Walk Score released its list of most bike-friendly cities for cyclists in the country in 2018 this week, and metro areas that protect their cyclists and improve their navigational options are reaping the rewards. According to the study, which evaluated cities based on bike lanes, hills, destinations, rode connectivity, ...
Nevada Population “Most Likely to Move” in 2018
Today, ATTOM Data released its Q1 2018 Pre-Mover Housing Index, which measures the volume of the population in a housing market most likely to move within the next quarter. Those pre-movers display certain “flags,” as ATTOM Data researchers refer to them, indicating that they are likely to change residences. The ...
California’s Rent Control Initiative Could Alter the Face of Housing in the State
This November, California voters will determine whether city governments need more power to enact rent control policies. Many landlords in the state are already selling off properties or holding off on buying more, according to the Wall Street Journal. The initiative, if passed, would repeal a 1995 state law called ...
Nearly a Quarter of Young Adults Live with Their Mothers
According to Zillow Research, 22.5 percent of young adults, those aged 24 to 36 years, still live with their mothers in 2018. That number has risen sharply since 2005, when 13.5 percent reporting living with their mothers. This age demographic, the Millennial generation, has battled a number of significant challenges ...
Oklahoma Real Estate Agent Lists Home In Good Condition for $1
For anyone who has ever watched “The Price is Right,” the idea of pricing something at one dollar is inherently strategic. Taking this tactic to the extreme of listing a four-bedroom, four-bathroom home for a single dollar, however, takes guts. A real estate professional in Edmond, Oklahoma, named Ryan Hukill ...
Real Estate Fund Betting on D.C. for Amazon’s HQ2
When Third Avenue Real Estate Fund announced it would buy $10 million worth of shares in a real estate investment trust (REIT) with extensive holdings in Crystal City, an urban neighborhood in the southeastern corner of Arlington County, Virginia, it cited, among other factors, the likelihood that Amazon’s second national ...
Nestpick Names San Francisco “Best City for Young Entrepreneurs”
Nestpick, a furnished apartment search engine based in Berlin, Germany, recently released its “2018 Millennial Cities Ranking” report. The report debuted last year, in 2017, and Nestpick conducted the study “in order to pinpoint which cities are successfully attracting this generation and therefore a core future workforce.” The company managing ...
Fair Housing Filings Continue to Rise
According to the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA)’s 2018 Fair Housing Trends Report, incidences of fair housing discrimination complaints rose slightly in 2017 after rising in 2016. It is important to remember that a complaint does not necessarily mean that the allegation is accurate or, in fact, an infraction. The ...
Zillow Research Reveals 3 Outdoor Trends to Showcase in Summer Listings
If your home offers outdoor entertainment options, chances are you will beat the competition when it comes to selling for top dollar in your local market. A new report from Zillow Research indicates homes with outdoor living additions may sell for double-digit premiums over comparable properties without those upgrades. For-sale ...
The Best Months and Days to Sell a Home
Although the best month in which to sell your home is officially May, the best day of the year to sell is June 28. According to new data from ATTOM Data, homeowners who sell in May net an average of a 5.9 percent premium on market value. Those who sell ...
Lennar to make Alexa Standard in New Homes
Calling the decision to make a variety of smart-home features standard in its new homes a new “hallmark of why we buy a new home,” David Kaiserman, president of Lennar Ventures, proudly announced the homebuilder will now make Alexa, Amazon’s voice-activated digital assistant, a standard feature in all of the ...
Millennial Buyers are Skipping the “Starter Home”
Millennial home buyers account for about a third of all home purchases today, and many are opting to purchase properties outside of the norm for a first home. “They rented for longer, and now they’re going to where they want to stay,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist for advisory firm ...
California Passes “Solar Mandate” on New Construction
Yesterday, California’s Energy Commission voted to require solar panel installations on nearly all new homes by January 1, 2020. Not surprisingly, solar shares surged upward in the wake of the vote while homebuilder shares fell, since the move will add somewhere between $10,000 and $30,000 to construction costs. However, noted ...
Los Angeles and Atlanta Top “Most Popular Neighborhood” Lists
Zillow recently announced its 20 “most popular neighborhoods” results, and Los Angeles, California, and Atlanta, Georgia, are home to the first- and second-place results. Presidio Heights, located in San Francisco, rounded out the top three. Zillow identified neighborhoods with the highest number of page views per listing during the first ...
Hawaiian Volcano Continues Destruction in Big Island Residential Areas
When Kilauea Volcano, a volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island, erupted last week, the flow of molten lava represented a huge danger to the inhabitants of the island, several thousand of whom lived in areas directly in the path of the lava. For example, in Leilani Estates, a subdivision that has ...
FHA Borrowers Can Now Access Solar Panel Installation Loans
More and more homeowners are expressing the desire to install solar panels in their homes, and an increasing number of lenders are working hard to help them obtain the funding to do so. One lender, Guild Mortgage, recently announced it would assist homeowners using FHA loans to purchase their properties ...
Renovation Rockstar: First-Time Townhouse Success
When Jason Lipsitz and his business partner, Lee Fondiller, co-owners of South Hill Homes, got a first glance at their very first fix-and-flip deal, they realized that they were in for some serious work. Fortunately, that work came with some pretty serious returns, as well. “We got the lead from ...
Freddie Mac Offering Affordability Incentives to Multifamily Owners
Freddie Mac will offer low-cost loans to owners of multifamily properties who keep their buildings affordable to households earning 80 percent or less of an area’s median income for the duration of the loan. “Freddie Mac is the country’s largest backer of apartment loans,” observed Wall Street Journal writer Laura ...
A New Luxury Trend Strips Down Properties Before Showing
Although most homeowners do not want to start “from scratch” when they move into a home, certain high-end buyers like nothing better, and high-end sellers are accommodating that desire by employing a practice known as “white-boxing” to make their homes a blank canvas for the next buyer. White-boxing involves stripping ...
