Finance - Real Estate, Updates, News & Tips

43% of Sellers Expect Offers Above Asking Price

Homeowners have seen the news headlines, and they believe if they sell now, they should get top dollar—and beyond—for their home. About 43% of sellers recently surveyed say they expect their home to sell over the asking price, according to a new survey of 1,000 homeowners conducted by Clever Real EstateMore than a quarter of sellers—28%—expect to receive an offer on the first day the home is listed. Fifty-three percent anticipate an offer

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Buyers Must Budget Extra for Closing Costs

Average closing costs for a single-family home rose by 13.4% in 2021, according to a new analysis by CoreLogic, a real estate research firm. That equates to about $6,905 including transfer taxes and $3,860 when transfer taxes are excluded.Home buyers also are facing higher borrowing costs from mortgage rates and higher home prices. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.11% last week, according to Freddie Mac. Since the beginning of the

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Multiple Offers Remain Prevalent this Spring

Home sellers are still fetching multiple offers on their properties and buyers continue to face competition, even as the housing market has shown some signs of slowing.REALTORS® reported an average of nearly five offers on each home that sold in March, according to the March REALTORS® Confidence Index survey.On average, half of buyers made two offers before being successful in their purchase by the third try, the survey shows.Buyers are paying

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Mortgage Rates Rise for Seventh Straight Week

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.11% this week, continuing its rapid rise, Freddie Mac reports. The higher borrowing costs are forcing home buyers to expand their budgets.With higher rates and home prices, house hunters need to earn about $25,000 extra if they want to buy the typical home now compared to a year earlier, Nadia Evangelou, senior economist and director of forecasting at the National Association of REALTORS®, writes for th

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Investors Cite the Money Pits that are Costly

Smart buys are crucial in an elevated housing market. Fifty-three percent of real estate investors say they’ve lost money on projects, according to the Q1 2022 Real Estate Investor Survey released by Kiavi, a provider of financing to real estate investors. They cite hidden issues with properties that they weren’t aware of when they made their purchase as the main reason for losing money.Another factor that contributed to losses was the locati

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Home Sales Reflect Impact of Rate Hikes

As mortgage rates rise, some home buyers are starting to back away from the higher costs of ownership. Existing-home sales fell in March, the second consecutive month for declines, the National Association of REALTORS® reported Wednesday. Still, with limited housing stock for sale, homes continue to sell fast and for higher prices.NAR’s existing-home sales index—which reflects completed transactions for single-family homes, townhomes, condos

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Collaboration Key to Solving Housing Crisis

Though the current housing crisis was decades in the making, all levels of government and the private sector can work together now to ease the burden on consumers and increase housing availability, affordability, and accessibility. This was the message Tuesday from experts during a webinar hosted by national think tank Third Way called “A Look Ahead: Fixing the Housing Crisis.”Chronic underbuilding has contributed to housing supply

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Single-Family Rents Continue Breaking Records

Single-family rentals remain a hot commodity. Rent prices continued their double-digit climb in February, rising 13.1% overall compared to a year earlier. It marked another record for single-family rents, according to CoreLogic’s Single-Family Rental Index.A shortage of available rentals is leading to a run-up in prices. Also, double-digit gains in home prices are pricing out some would-be home buyers and prompting them to rent instead.“Singl

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Mortgage Rates Hit 5% for First Time Since 2011

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage jumped to a 5% average this week, the first time it’s been that high since 2011. Since the beginning of the year, mortgage rates have jumped by 1.8 percentage points and added about $400 to the average monthly mortgage payment for a median-priced home, Nadia Evangelou, senior economist and director of forecasting at the National Association of REALTORS®, writes for the association’s blog.Also, with inflation a

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Property Taxes Rising at Slower Pace

The average property tax on a single-family home in 2021 rose at the smallest pace in five years. Taxes rose by 1.8% last year, from $3,719 in 2020 to $3,785 in 2021 nationwide, according to a new report from ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate data firm.“It’s hardly a surprise that property taxes increased in 2021, a year when home prices across the country rose by 16%,” says Rick Sharga, executive vice president of market intelligence at

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