A shortage of homes and surging prices are hitting first-time buyers particularly hard heading into the spring season. The share of first-time homeowners dropped to 29 percent of all existing-home sales in January, down from 33 percent a year ago, according to the latest housing report from the National Association of REALTORS®.“First-time buyers are typically people with a tighter budget,” says Joseph Kirchner, realtor.com®’s senior eco
Master proven scripts to win more business during your 'money-making calls'Does the thought of spending an hour calling prospects send a chill down your spine? Does dialing that next number feel like a chore, knowing you might get hung up on?Do you have fear of the phone?I hear it all day long in coaching sessions, “Tom, I know I should prospect more, but I’m scared.” For many agents, the fear of cold calling a FSBO is so paralyzing, they s
About TracyMy husband and I moved our young family to Conroe in 1994. Since then we have watched the city and surrounding areas thrive. It's amazing to think back and remember how it was back then compared to now. So, here we are. I have raised my family and, as many at this point in their lives, I get to focus on something new. I have chosen to work as a real estate agent. I love wood and construction and therefore homes. I love a good challenge
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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