Home prices are climbing across the country, and that has made homeowners more bullish when it comes to the prospects of selling. Seventy-five percent of more than 2,700 households recently surveyed say it’s a good time to sell a house; 68 percent say it’s a good time to buy, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ second quarter Housing Opportunities and Market Experience (HOME) survey.“Hopefully this strong seller optimism
An audit from the Office of the Inspector General shows that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development had inadequate oversight of lead-based paint reporting and remediation in its public housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs.The OIG audit accused HUD of failing to make sure that public housing agencies completed required lead-based paint inspections. For homes built after 1977, the OIG says HUD did not require public housing age
Homebuilders report that some of their attempts to add new homes are being blocked by local zoning boards and neighboring owners who are trying to stop new development.“A lot of cities are reaching a crisis of affordability and supply of housing,” Rachel Meltzer, an urban policy professor at The New School in New York, told realtor.com®. “But cities can really use [zoning] to direct how housing is built.”Growing groups of neighborhood ac
The majority of renters aren’t happy with the location of where they live, according to a new survey by RentCafe of more than 2,000 renters. Eighty-three percent of renters say they live in less than their ideal location, but cost of rent was their number one concern in moving. Sixty percent of the renters surveyed say they are not able to pay anything more than the actual rent or a maximum of $100 more to live in their preferred location.The n
The majority of homeownership conversations focus on the impact from millennials, but senior citizens may actually have more influence in shaping the future market, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University’s 2018 State of the Nation’s Housing report. The median age of homeowners is on the rise, increasing from 50 in 1990 to 56 in 2016. Americans over the age of 65 were the only age group who had a higher
As more home buyers relocate from the North to the South, two Florida counties now top the list of the nation’s fastest-growing luxury markets, according to realtor.com®’s May 2018 Luxury Home Index.The top 5 percent of the priciest homes in Sarasota (North Port, Fla.) and Collier (East Naples, Fla.) counties rose 19 percent and 14 percent, respectively, in May. Broward County, where Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is located, ranked number 19 on the
The median lifespan in the U.S. is 79 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But residents in some cities are living past 80, on average.“If you want to live a long time, the best thing you can do is move to a place where people are verifiably living the longest," says Dan Buettner, founder of Blue Zones, an initiative that works with communities to help set up wellness policies. He’s learned that communities wher
Real estate professionals in British Columbia are no longer allowed to take part in “double ending” deals, which means they can’t represent both the buyer and seller in a transaction. The ban, which is being implemented by the Real Estate Council of B.C., took effect last Friday. The practice of double ending is known as dual agency. Exceptions to the ban exist for transactions occurring in remote locations where there are fewer agents in b
Innit offers the following tips on “future-proofing” a kitchen remodel.Find a digital hub to manage your kitchen. “Similar to how we use platforms that manage our living room entertainment—connecting our music, TV shows, movies, and games—our kitchens will soon be managed by platforms that help plan, grocery shop, prepare, and cook,” according to Innit. Download apps that can help you take greater control over your kitchen by using v
If a REALTOR® violates the Code of Ethics, the local association could identify the offender to the membership, releasing his or her name, photo, and a description of what was done wrong. There is also an option for publication of every violation if they meet certain criteria.This policy change is based on a program the California Association of REALTORS® piloted for four years. During the pilot period, CAR found a marked decrease in ethics vio
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