General News - Real Estate, Updates, News & Tips

Cash-Out Refis Surge as Owners Use Equity Gains

With double-digit annual gains fueling homeowner wealth, owners have gotten richer, and they’re starting to take advantage of that added equity.Cash-out refinancing, which allows owners to take out a lump sum from their equity through loans, increased by 33% in October compared to a year prior, according to Black Knight Inc.The amount of U.S. tappable home equity reached a record high in October of $9.1 trillion, according to Black Knight.“We

Read More

The Priciest ZIP Codes in 2021

For the first time, the 10 most expensive ZIP codes have surpassed the $4 million mark for their median sales price this year in PropertyShark’s annual analysis of priciest places for real estate. California has six of the top 10.Researchers say the survey was completed before this year’s wildfires and tropical storms, which caused property loss to some of the places on this year’s list.PropertyShark found that Atherton, Calif., is the most

Read More

Bidding Wars still Burden Unsuccessful Buyers

A majority of house hunters say it’s not prices that are keeping them out of the housing market—it’s other buyers. Forty-five percent of prospective buyers recently surveyed say they keep getting outbid by other offers, according to a new survey from the National Association of Home Builders. The NAHB says this is only the third time in the survey’s history that the top reason prospective buyers have been unsuccessful has not been due to

Read More

3 Unrealistic Expectations of First-Time Home Buyers

A first-time home buyer may need to be educated about the realities of the housing market before they fall in love with a home and then quickly lose out to another bid. To prevent heartache, real estate professionals can have frank conversations with their buyers about the realities of the competition and the amount of money it takes to become a home buyer in today’s heated market.No home will be perfect.Housing inventories are ultra-low. Any h

Read More

Renters Missed Out on $51K in Equity this Year

Rents have been surging. Since January of this year, the national median rent has climbed by 16.4%, according to the latest National Rent Report from Apartmentlist.com. Rents aren’t slowing down either as demand continues to remain high.Meanwhile, renters may be missing out on gaining equity. The average homeowner gained about $51,500 in equity over the past year, according to CoreLogic.Rent payments only cover the cost of shelter and the inclu

Read More

Pets Influence the Choice to Move

More homeowners have become pet owners since the pandemic, and homeowners are showing a willingness to move for their pet. In fact, 43% of pet owners say they’d be willing to move to accommodate their pet, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. What’s more, 68% of pet owners surveyed by realtor.com® say they would pass on the perfect home if it didn’t meet their pet’s needs.“Often rentals have high pet fees, or

Read More

Home Sale Profit Margins Hit 10-Year High

Home sellers continue to get richer as prices rise. Profit margins on median-priced single-family home and condo sales climbed to 47.6%, which marks the highest level in a decade.The typical home sale nationwide during the third quarter generated a record-high profit of $100,178 as national median home prices continued to rise, ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate data firm, reports. That is up from $88,800 in the second quarter of this year. Prof

Read More

States with the Fewest Outgoing Residents

Of Americans who moved during the pandemic, 85% opted to move within their state, according to a new analysis from LendingTree, which evaluated mortgage loan data from March 1, 2020, to Sept. 21, 2021, to learn pandemic moving patterns.Texas had the highest percentage of residents looking to stay in the state. On the other hand, New York had the highest percentage of residents who left the state.The number one destination for out-of-state movers:

Read More

Some Rents Surge 40%

Many tenants are seeing steep increases in their rents, a reversal of the trend during the early phase of the pandemic as urbanites moved to suburbs and exurbs.As they return, they’re seeing that discounts on rents are not only quickly vanishing but surging, even for those who stayed, because of the high demand.“Renters who originally received pandemic pricing are now experiencing steep rent increases at renewal—sometimes upward of 40%,”

Read More

Asian Americans Disproportionately Denied Mortgages

Asian American mortgage applicants are facing higher mortgage denial rates than White mortgage applicants, despite having higher credit scores and incomes, according to a new Urban Institute report.The denial rate for Asian American mortgage applicants is 8.7% compared to 6.7% of White mortgage applicants. The denial rates are higher for Asian American mortgage applicants across income levels, too.Asian American mortgage applicants tend to have h

Read More

This website includes images sourced from third party websites including Adobe, Getty Images, and as otherwise noted.