Home buyers and homeowners may be getting spooked by higher mortgage rates. Mortgage applications for both home purchases and refinancings plummeted 6.6 percent last week on a seasonally adjusted basis compared to the previous week, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday.Volume is now just 3.5 percent higher than a year ago, with annual increases continuing to shrink week to week.Applications to refinance dropped 7 percent last week
A handyman and co-defendant to a murder suspect pleaded guilty to hiding the body of a real estate agent who disappeared two years ago after showing a property in a remote area outside Kingman, Ariz.William Glen Sanders, 55, pleaded guilty on Friday to concealing a dead body, entering his plea in Mohave County Superior Court. He will be sentenced after the trial of his handyman coworker Alfredo Gerardo Blanco, who faces first-degree murder char
Home buyers locked in heated bidding wars are increasingly turning to escalation clauses to keep their offers in play, The Wall Street Journal reports.Escalation clauses are addendums to real estate contracts in which a prospective buyer is able to submit an offer but then raise his or her offer in increments to a maximum amount if others submit competing offers.In competitive real estate markets where homes are fetching multiple bids, real est
Blame it on the housing shortage: Existing-home sales posted their largest declines on an annual basis in more than three years, the National Association of REALTORS® reported Wednesday. All major regions of the U.S. saw monthly and annual sales decline in January.“The utter lack of sufficient housing supply and its influence on home prices muted overall sales activity in much of the U.S. last month,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economi
Homeowners may be surprised at how some extra costs really add up. A new survey by Bankrate.com shows that the average homeowner spends an average of $2,000 per year on maintenance services.Sixty-three percent of more than 2,200 respondents recently surveyed say they use at least one recurring maintenance provider. Thirty-five percent say they use two or more.The most common services and their average monthly costs for homeowners are: Housekee
The new-home market posted some strong gains with more single-family homes and apartments underway at the start of the new year. The U.S. Commerce Department reported a surge in multifamily production and an uptick in single-family home construction in January, up 9.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.33 million units.Multifamily production led the way, with a 23.7 percent increase in January, while single-family home production p
Many home buyers find the mortgage process “stressful” or “complicated,” recent surveys show. As such, they may go through it and make some mistakes they later regret. Realtor.com® recently highlighted some of consumers’ most common pitfalls when getting a mortgage, including:Failing to shop around.About half of home buyers say they meet with only one mortgage lender before signing up for a mortgage, according to the Consumer Financial
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About KimIn all I do I value having and using the values that are needed to get the job done right, on time, and with excellence. You will know that you were treated with the right values.iPro currently deals throughout the states of California, Texas, Florida and New York. We continue to strive and broaden opportunities for real estate professionals and consumers. Visit www.iprore.com for the latest information and links.Click here for
Taylor Morrison Home Corp. is allowing home shoppers to have more say in the design of its model homes in Arizona, California, and Texas. Consumers can vote online for design amenities like flooring, cabinetry, paint colors, and countertops. The features that nab the most votes will be built into model homes in the area.Consumers can enter their design picks at www.mymodelhomeproject.com.“This is a chance for home shoppers to truly influence t
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