The boom in prices will impact middle-class families whose income can't keep paceSince 2014, the U.S. has gained 346 new $1 million neighborhoods, which can be a good thing — or a not-so-good thing, depending on how you look at it.According to Zillow, nearly one in 20 residential ZIP codes fall into this category because 10 percent of the homes in the area are worth $1 million or more.On one hand, the upshot of highly valued homes is due to t
Those words: “Can my buyers back out of a house if they don’t like it?” shouldn’t be uttered. Peter Lorimer of PLG Estatesdelves into why.There has to be a real reason for buyers to back out other than, they don’t like it.New real estate agents: If your buyers do want to back out for whatever reason, don’t say that they changed their minds.If buyers change their mind, there has to be a legitimate reason to back out of a deal, so it m
Effective lead-generation strategies require agents to reach the right people with the right messageKey Takeaways Look for life-changing events on Facebook, and market to those people in your sphere. Create valuable content to attract buyers and position yourself as a local expert. Utilize Facebook’s targeting features to create highly effective and inexpensive ads.For many Facebook users, it’s not unusual to spend a significant portion of th
Use past performance, analytics and market insights to focus prospect targeting methodsKey Takeaways Digital and traditional prospecting methods build on each other. Combining your boots-on-the-ground knowledge with data should give you all sorts of great ideas for prospecting. Find creative ways to participate in the community, and get to know your neighbors.You’ve held open houses, sent direct mail newsletters and made the dreaded cold ca
The factors involved in helping empty nest baby boomers sell their longtime family home are quite different from assisting millennials moving out of their starter home. They may desire different marketing tactics, channels of communication, or types of statistics and information, according to Andrey Nokhrin, founder and CEO of Flipt, a predictive technology firm.Whether you’re working with Generation Y, Generation X, baby boomers, late boomers
Developers are turning to wood framing as a more affordable building material, but officials are warning of some dangers after reports of several wood-frame buildings catching fire across the country.Wood framing is increasingly being used in apartment construction and is largely considered safe once construction is completed. But wood framing can be vulnerable to fires before the interior wallboard and other safety features—like sprinklers and
Although more homeowners are gaining equity across the country, owners in certain areas are remaining underwater in large numbers. More than 5.4 million U.S. properties remained seriously underwater at the end of the second quarter, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ Q2 2017 U.S. Home Equity & Underwater report. A property is considered seriously underwater when the combined loan amount secured on the property is at least 25 percent higher
Fixed-rate mortgages continued to drop this week, lowering borrowing costs for home buyers.“Following a mild decline last week, the 10-year Treasury yield rose 1 basis point this week,” says Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “The 30-year mortgage rate similarly remained relatively flat, falling just 1 basis point to 3.89 percent. Mortgage rates are continuing to hold at low levels amidst ongoing economic uncertainty.”Freddie
For-sale-by-owners tend to sell their homes for lower prices than homes sold through traditional agents via the MLS, and in many cases below the average differential represented by the prevailing commission rate, according to a new study by Collateral Analytics.The study examined the price differences between homes sold through traditional agents versus those sold by FSBOs from 2016 to the first half of 2017.Some homeowners may be tempted to tr
Antitheft software is saving stolen smartphones everywhere. In San Francisco, phone-related robberies have dropped by 50 percent from 2013 to 2016 since the passage of the Smartphone Theft Prevention Act. This legislation makes it mandatory for manufacturers like Google and Apple to install theft-deterring software into their products. This includes activation locks and remote device erasure software.Ensure the built-in capabilities of your iPh
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