You’re trying to sell a home that a former owner passed away in. Must you reveal that to home buyers, and will it give some buyers the creeps?In the majority of cases, with a peaceful death inside a home, “there’s no legal obligation in most states requiring that [sellers] disclose it,” Jason Wells, a real estate professional and attorney at Wells Law Group in Phoenix.Indeed, the majority of states do not require sellers or their real est
More new homes are being built with patios, as homeowners show a greater craving for more outdoor space. About 58.6 percent of new single-family homes started in 2017 included a patio, according to an analysis by the National Association of Home Builders. That makes patios more common than decks (23.8 percent), but still shy of the popularity of porches (64.7 percent).The West South Central and Mountain regions of the U.S. tend to show the highes
Realtor.com® invited one of the National Association of REALTORS®’ 2018 Good Neighbors to its offices in Santa Clara, Calif., for a wide-ranging interview about her volunteer efforts on behalf of children living in poverty and women with drug addictions living on the streets.The inspirational discussion between Ryan O’Hara, CEO of Move Inc., which operates realtor.com®, and REALTOR® Necia Freeman was broadcast live Friday to Move and NAR
Lower affordability and continued inventory crunches aren’t sidelining single women home buyers, who, for the second consecutive year, account for 18 percent of all buyers, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ 2018 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. Single women are the second most common buyer type behind married couples (63 percent), according to NAR’s report. Single men are the third most common buyer type, accounting f
Issues related to drone usage, imagery copyright, and mold are putting homeowner associations at increased risk of litigation, according to national insurer USI Insurance Services.Some residents have sued their condo boards for using drones to snap photos of buildings that also capture interior views of their units through the windows. Community associations may use drones to collect information on the conditions of roofs and common grounds, but
Financial experts are growing concerned by how millennials’ lack of homeownership will impact them financially when they retire."Homeownership is one of the touchstones of being prepared for retirement," Tamera Sims, a research scientist at the Stanford Center on Longevity, told CNBC. "Buying a home at age 50 or 60 isn't going to do you much good in funding a 30-year retirement."But young adults are “not able to hit the [housing] market at t
As the temperatures cool, homeowners have a lot of chores to do with their lawn to make sure it weathers well into the spring.Perfect timing is essential for fall yard care, says Missy Henriksen, vice president of public affairs for the National Association of Landscape Professionals. “For example, for many parts of the country, this fall has been warmer and wetter than usual, which has required that lawns are mowed later into the season, and m
The living room tends to be a major area for social activity in the home, and how you arrange the furniture can either encourage or hamper that.“Every piece of furniture you own might not have a perfect spot in your house, but it does have a best spot,” Myquillyn Smith, author of The Nesting Place: It Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful, told realtor.com®. Smith sees several common furniture placement mistakes that homeowners mak
The surge in off-market “pocket listings”—those held off the MLS in favor of secret channels and networks between agents or within a brokerage—is a growing issue in the real estate industry. In markets starved for inventory, real estate professionals are struggling with being kept out of these secret dealings for homes that their buyers could potentially want.In markets such as Los Angeles, for example, reports say that up to 30 percent
The technology to power driverless vehicles is already here, and greater tests of autonomous vehicles are already hitting the roadways. And as autonomous vehicles are spread around and the popularity of car-share programs rise, housing analysts are already calling on the death of the garage in residential homes.Babcock Ranch, located north of Fort Myers, Fla., is a sustainable, tech-enabled master-planned community development that is already sh
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