“Projects that take a home significantly beyond community norms are often not worth the cost when the owner sells the home,” says Scott Robinson, president of the Appraisal Institute. “If the improvements don’t match what’s standard in a community, they’ll be considered excessive.” Lifestyle website CheatSheet.com highlights a few renovation mistakes that could inadvertently lower a home’s resale value. Letting minor damage go unf
Two local REALTOR® associations in Massachusetts have issued safety advisories to their members after female agents reported suspicious incidents with a male prospective buyer. The REALTOR® Association of Southeastern Massachusetts sent out its alert after two incidents, one in which an agent in Dartmouth found the buyer in a closet during an open house, and another in which the buyer asked an agent in New Bedford to go down into the basement a
Developers of gated communities are discovering that high-end buyers are attracted to neighborhoods with more land, more privacy, and fewer occupants, The Wall Street Journal reports. “There are lots of people who are looking for a golf course development without the golf course,” conservation planner Randall Adrendt told the Journal. “You can lure them with open space, woodlands, meadows, and home sites that back up to wetlands so they
Home buyers looking to relocate are most likely to be heading to Colorado Springs, Colo. The city nabbed the top spot on ATTOM Data Solutions’ list of top moving destinations for the third quarter of 2017. Also likely to receive more transplants are Chicago; Washington, D.C.; Reno, Nev.; and Lexington, Ky.According to ATTOM Data Solutions’ Q2 2017 Pre-Mover Housing Index, the top five markets among the 122 metros researchers analyzed all post
If your buyers have been frantically searching for a home as the inventory crunch grows tighter, some relief may be on the way. It’s a challenging environment, with homes in July selling at the fastest pace this year, prompting “desperate buyers to bid up prices and move quickly to close,” according to realtor.com®’s monthly housing report.Additionally, realtor.com® reports that homes sold at a record pace in August, as listings moved
Borrowers applying for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage this week locked in the lowest rate of the year, as it dropped to its lowest average since November 2016, Freddie Mac reports. Additionally, “the 10-year Treasury yield fell 6 basis points this week amid concerns over lagging inflation,” says Freddie Mac chief economist Sean Becketti.Freddie Mac reported the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending Aug. 24: 30-yea
A new watchdog program designed to monitor real estate deals involving shell companies has found that the buyers in 30 percent of high-end deals were linked to “suspicious activity,” the Treasury Department reported this week. Federal officials are now expanding the program, which aims to prevent money laundering by overseas buyers who use shell companies to mask their identities.The program, called the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network,
The Council of Residential Specialists kicks off its fifth annual CRS Week on Monday, Sept. 11, offering five free webinars to all real estate professionals as a sampling of CRS education and credit toward a CRS designation or maintenance requirement. The webinars will cover topics such as creative video marketing, refining email newsletters, and choosing better listing photos. This year, participants can register for all five webinars at onc
The value you provide in the years between transactions is how you create loyalty and increase referralsKey Takeaways What is that feel-good work for you? What difference do you desire to make for people? How can you add value even if it has nothing to do with real estate?When people just call you to work with them, that’s a lead you love. When people call you to work with them because they have followed you and respect you for the value you’
At the right price, any and every home will sell, regardless of what it looks like and where it is. With price as the single most important factor in putting a home on the market, it never hurts to tip the scales in your sellers’ favor, increase their bottom line and potentially expedite the home sale timeline with all the levers you’ve got at your disposal as a listing agent.Here are six factors that could be contributing to buyers’ reluct
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