As home prices continue to rise, homeowners are finding they’re sitting on record amounts of home equity. People have mostly been shy about tapping into that wealth—but a new survey Bankrate.com survey of 1,000 consumers shows they have plenty of reasons they may want to take out a loan to unlock it.Consumers’ “growing penchant toward debt might make it tempting to tap into their home’s value,” says Greg McBride, Bankrate’s chief fi
Luxury housing markets continue to climb, as 20 major counties post double-digit gains in home prices, according to realtor.com®’s 2018 Luxury Home Index, released today. The number of sales at or above $1 million climbed 6 percent over the last year. Realtor.com® defines the luxury price tier as the top 5 percent of residential sales.Two-thirds of luxury housing markets are seeing inventory move faster than a year ago, according to the rep
A data-driven analysis of 13,000 property managers and 135,529 tenants by Rentec Direct, property management software company, found that scheduled automatic monthly payments is the most effective way to prevent late fees and save renters money.Of the 10,450 renters who have ACH currently enabled, 3,480 renters with ACH enabled and scheduled monthly rent payments were charged a late fee in 2017 (33%), while 4,932 renters with ACH enabled but did
The suburbs dominated this year’s list of top places to live in the country. Money magazine teamed with realtor.com® to identify its top picks of towns with populations of 50,000 or more. They factored in more than 135,000 data points, including economic health, public school performance, local amenities, housing, cost of living, and more."For someone who’s starting from scratch, this is a list of areas with great quality of life, healthy
Home buyers are putting more money down on a home purchase than ever before. The size of down payments during the second quarter climbed to a median of $19,900, a record high, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ research, which dates back to the first quarter of 2000. What’s more, this marks a 19 percent jump from $16,750 in this year's first quarter.The median down payment was 7.6 percent of the median sales price of homes purchased with fina
Manufactured homes are seeing the same type of appreciation as traditionally built homes, which is counter to conventional wisdom about mobile homes.The findings come from a new report from the Urban Institute, in which researchers analyzed data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency on manufactured homes (also known as mobile homes) that were financed with loans guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.Researchers found the average annual growt
Mortgage fraud climbed 12.4 percent year over year in the second quarter of 2018, and about one out of every 109 mortgage applications has been found to contain false or misleading information, according to real estate data firm CoreLogic. “Because home prices are rising and demand is strong, most mortgage fraud in this type of market is motivated by bona fide borrowers trying to qualify for a mortgage,” says Bridget Berg, CoreLogic’s prin
Some home sellers are looking for a good, reliable home stager that can magically transform their listings into the price point their hoping to achieve. The trouble and confusion sometimes come when the real estate professional asks a few home stagers to “bid” or present a proposal on their vacant home.BEFORE AFTERPhoto credit: HSR Certified Helen Bartlett of Refined Interior Staging Solutions in Kansas CityThe vacant staging proposal
A strong job market and consumer credit are driving up mortgage rates for the third consecutive week and now to their highest level in six weeks. Mortgage rates are 0.82 percent higher than a year ago—the largest year-over-year increase since May 2014, Freddie Mac reports.Despite the higher rates, Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, expects buyer demand to remain high. “This spectacular stretch of solid job gains and low unemployment
More lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender couples are purchasing homes since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to legalize same-sex marriage more than three years ago, according to the second annual LGBT Real Estate Report produced by the National Association of Gay and Lesbian Real Estate Professionals. Nearly 50 percent of NAGLREP members reported an increase in married LGBT couples buying homes. Further, 41 percent of the real estate professio
This website includes images sourced from third party websites including Adobe, Getty Images, and as otherwise noted.
