Home renovations can help boost the resale value of a property, but they also can expose homeowners to costly repairs or even make them physically sick, if they don’t take some precautions.Help your renovating clients be on the lookout for some of these dangers that could surface in a home renovation:Flooding and electrical issues.Urge do-it-yourselfers to call 811 before they start digging. That is the service line that will inform them where
The Federal Reserve is picking up the pace, voting on Wednesday to raise its key interest rate just three months after its last rate hike. The Fed announced that short-term interest rates will increase by one-quarter of a percentage point and suggested that two similar increases likely will occur later this year. Mortgage rates aren’t directly tied to the Fed’s short-term interest rates but tend to follow them.“If you think it’s been hard
Right now, there are more Spanish speakers in the United States than in Spain, and by 2050 we’ll have the largest Spanish-speaking population in the world. To meet the needs of this growing market and the agents who serve it, the National Association of REALTORS® recently launched the Spanish-language edition of At Home With Diversity, an online certification course encompassing topics of diversity, fair housing risk reduction, and sustainable
Don’t assume your clients need a high income to avoid a mortgage. The Pennsylvania Association of REALTORS®' Welcome Home Survey for the first quarter of 2017 shows older people with lower incomes are paying in cash in higher numbers than most would assume.“While is seems counterintuitive that one in three buyers with incomes under $50,000 reported buying homes in cash, age may be driving a higher share of lower-income respondents reportin
Mortgage interest rates climbed to their highest level since 2014 last week, and consumers are rushing to lock in rates before any further increases, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday. The average on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.46 percent, from 4.36 percent the week prior, the MBA reports.Total mortgage application volume, including both home purchases and refinancings, increased 3.1 percent last week from the previo
Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion announced they will soon remove tax lien and civil judgment data from some consumer credit records. The reason for this change is that many liens and most judgments fail to include vital pieces of information. Beginning on July 1, the public records data the firms use must include these data points: the consumer’s name, address, and either a social security number or a date of birth. Existing reports that fail
If you want to compete with the best in the industry, you need to remain calm under pressure.Ninety percent of top performers are skilled at managing their emotions in times of stress, according to a study conducted by TalentSmart, a company that provides emotional intelligence resources to companies. Further, researchers found one of the greatest assets of top performers was their ability to neutralize difficult people. Here are a few tips from
The gap continues to widen between what homeowners say their home is worth and appraisers' valuations. Homeowners’ estimates of values were, on average, 1.69 percent higher than appraisers’ home value opinions in February, according to Quicken Loans’ National Home Price Perception Index. The gap has been detected every month since February 2015.A few metros are running counter to national trends with appraiser opinions actually higher than
Single-family builders are beefing up their use of green products and services. On average, single-family builders report using 10.2 green products or practices per new house they construct.What’s more, 22 percent of builders say they always or almost always have their homes certified to a green standard, according to a new survey of 337 single-family builders conducted by the National Association of Home Builders. Every builder who responded t
Rising home prices are boosting homeowners’ equity across the country. Nationwide, owners saw home equity rise, on average, by $13,700 during 2016, according to CoreLogic’s latest “Homeowner Equity Report.” States like Washington and Oregon saw some of the largest home-price appreciation last year, up $31,000 and $27,000, respectively.Take a look at this map to see the average equity per owner in your state.Of the largest metros by popula
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