Jim Cronin and his wife, Monte, hadn’t planned on moving from the little yellow house in Paradise, Calif., where they had lived since getting married more than 13 years ago. They once considered trading up to a bigger property but decided it was the best place to raise their 6-year-old son. Then, their plans for the future vanished on Nov. 8, when the biggest wildfire in California history incinerated most of the town and left thousands of peop
Is a chill in the air now being felt in the luxury housing market too? Luxury home prices saw their smallest increases in nearly two years. And those in the luxury market are now blaming a culprit familiar to other sectors of the market for slowing sales and prices: higher mortgage rates.This week, luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers reported a 13 percent drop from last year in the number of signed contracts for homes in the fiscal fourth quarter, a
The best places to retire are in the suburbs near a large metro area, according to a new analysis by GOBankingRates, a personal finance website. The cost of living may be higher near a big city, but a long list of nearby amenities makes these areas more livable when riding out your golden years, according to the analysis.GOBankingRates analyzed the 18 largest cities in the nation to identify the neighborhoods that had a low median listing price,
Buyers will likely see a significant jump in their monthly payments next year. Mortgage payments are forecasted to rise 8.4 percent in 2019 due to the increase in mortgage rates, according to S&P Global Ratings’ latest housing market update.Over the last year, the mortgage payment growth rate has exceeded the numbers seen for home price appreciation. That trend is expected to continue into next year.Housing affordability remains a chief co
Single-family rental giants, such as Invitation Homes and American Homes 4 Rent, are in search of more homes to buy, and they’re increasingly turning to iBuyers to find inventory. iBuyers, like Opendoor, Offerpad, and Knock, are tech companies that buy homes from sellers with instant cash offers and then put the homes back on the market.Single-family rental companies purchasing homes from iBuyers increased from 3.9 percent of total iBuyer sal
A tale of two housing markets is unfolding nationwide, with homes in large cities seeing deep price cuts while those in smaller markets experience growth, according to realtor.com®’s November housing report. “The housing market is a ‘Tale of Two Cities’ as the divergence widens between high-cost, large urban areas and smaller, more affordable markets,” says realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale. “Buyers in large metros are seei
Failing to factor in closing costs. “The biggest mistake that first-time home buyers make is they forget that they need closing costs—not just the down payment of, say, 10 or 20 percent,” Corcoran told CNBC. Closing costs can add up—typically an extra 2 percent to 5 percent of the total cost of the home. On a median-priced home, that could be more than $13,000.Focusing on the house at the expense of the neighborhood. Too often, first-ti
Foreclosure activity is on the rise in 15 states, bucking the national trend over the past few years. In October, foreclosure activity rose 55 percent in Florida, 50 percent in Georgia, 28 percent in Texas, and 24 percent in Michigan, among 11 other states experiencing sharp rises from a year ago, reports real estate research firm ATTOM Data Solutions.Further, 84 of 219 metro areas—or 38 percent—posted year-over-year increases in foreclosure
Freddie Mac has announced that it will start financing manufactured housing, which it hopes will help make homes more affordable to buyers. The mortgage financing giant says it will conduct a two-year pilot called CHOICEHome to grant conventional financing for manufactured homes with certain features, such as permanent and pitched roofs. Many of the manufactured homes also have energy-saving features, such as Energy Star Qualified Low-E windows,
A typical American household spends $2,060 a year on electricity, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Unfortunately, if a home isn’t efficient, a lot of that energy goes to waste—possibly as much as three-quarters of it, according to Renewable Nation, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit focusing on affordable and clean energy. If your clients are contemplating money and energy-saving updates to a house they’re planning to buy or se
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