Help your clients give the illusion of a perfectly manicured yard with these easy steps for sprucing up greenery from HouseLogic.Create accents with rocks. They don’t require the same level of care, water, and sunlight that grass and plants do. Rocks are good tools for forming pathways, adding design elements, or creating dry creek beds. Spots in the yard that collect water can be kept under control with rocks, which aid water runoff.Use colorf
Hawaii has the largest percentage of homeowners who are planning to make renovations in the coming year, according to a new survey. GetHearth.com, a financial technology startup that assists owners with remodeling decisions, found in its Home Renovation Survey that 16 percent of homeowners nationwide are thinking about renovating soon.The kitchen is the top project homeowners are eyeing, with 38 percent saying they dream of kitchen renovations,
“Costs of owning and renting a vacation home can be very high,” says Todd Huettner, owner of Denver-based lending company Huettner Capital. “The hassles and costs of short-term vacation rentals are higher than most people expect. … People are way too optimistic about rental rates, vacancies, management fees, maintenance costs, and home value increases.”Owners buying a second home in a different part of the country than their primary res
New York State has a lot to offer home buyers, with Rochester and Buffalo ranking as the U.S. metros with the lowest home prices. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $138,900 in Rochester and $135,200 in Buffalo.The U.S. Census recently ranked 53 cities with populations of more than 1 million on housing affordability. Markets are ranked by their ratios of median home value to median household income. The top 10 most affordable housing m
The three largest credit-reporting agencies will begin cleaning up credit reports in July, which could help lift the credit scores of about 12 million consumers.In a survey by the Federal Trade Commission, one in four people say they spot errors in their credit reports, most commonly concerning tax liens and civil judgments. Up to half of tax lien data on a credit report is inaccurate or incomplete, says Eric J. Ellman, senior vice president for
With the median sales price for existing homes reaching a new high last month, the availability of affordable housing is dwindling, causing a “crisis” in some areas of the country, says Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS®. Higher-priced homes now make up the majority of available inventory—which is the lowest it’s been in decades—making it harder for home buyers to achieve homeownership.“There is a
iPro currently deals throughout the states of California and Texas with new offices in New York and Florida. We continue to strive to broaden opportunities for real estate professionals and consumers. Visit www.iprore.com for the latest information and links.Click here for information on how to become a salesperson.
Over the years, Inman has published a series of stories on indie brokers, including surveys and reports on their DNA, their operations and their strategies. We have profiled a variety of companies and their founders and put the best ones on stage to share their successes.The characteristics below represent the ideal makeup of a successful indie broker. Many of the fastest-growing indie brokers built their business in and around the Inman communit
Housing shortages propelled the median sales price to a new high in May, the National Association of REALTORS® reported Wednesday. But that did not appear to spook home buyers as demand remained high. The median days on the market dropped to a record low in May as homes sold faster, NAR reports.Overall, existing-home sales—which include completed transactions for single-family homes, townhomes, condos, and co-ops—rose 1.1 percent month over
Mortgage applications for refinancings and home purchases remained elevated last week as mortgage rates continued to give consumers incentive to make a move."Both the 10-year Treasury yield and the 30-year conventional mortgage fixed rate held steady last week, keeping rates well below the recent highs," says Lynn Fisher, the Mortgage Bankers Association's vice president of research and economics. "The recent pause in the upward movement of inter
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