Summer is peak season for climate-related disasters, and an alarming percentage of homeowners may be underinsured to weather a natural disaster. Sixty-four percent of homes are underinsured by an average of 27%, according to the Residential Cost Handbook, published by Marshall & Swift/Boeckh, a consulting firm.Reconstruction costs have risen by 5.6% to 7.6% in some areas over the last year, according to a separate study earlier this year
“Gayborhoods” are getting more expensive, and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community increasingly say they’re getting priced out of the neighborhoods they helped to build.For example, USA Today reports that areas like San Francisco’s Castro district, which has long been known to house many members of the LGBT community, has seen values reach nearly $1.8 million while comparable homes in other neighborhoods av
If you have an interest in working with international clients, you don’t have to go overseas to find them. One of the best places to meet foreign prospects may be your local university.College orientations and community events sponsored by higher education institutions provide ample opportunities to connect with foreign students who may be looking for long-term housing, real estate professionals told attendees at last week’s Midwest Real Esta
Mortgage rates are dropping, giving millions of homeowners an opportunity to lower their monthly payments. An estimated 8.2 million borrowers could refinance and potentially lower their monthly payments by at least 75 basis points, estimates Black Knight, a mortgage software and analytics firm. This marks the largest percentage of homeowners who stand to benefit from lower mortgage rates since the end of 2016.Last week, the average
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has allocated $330 million in grants to clean up lead-based paint and other health and safety hazards in low-income housing. The grants will be provided through HUD’s Lead Hazard Reduction and Healthy Homes Production for Tribal Housing grant programs.“Your home is a haven from the outside world,” says HUD Secretary Ben Carson. “You shouldn’t be worried about the hidden
Generation Z, the youngest potential home buyers, who are beginning to enter the housing market, show a preference for buying homes in culturally diverse neighborhoods, according to a new survey from Homes.com. It's the first generation in American history to show such a strong diversity preference, Homes.com says. The real estate website surveyed more than 1,000 young adults ages 18 to 24 years old to examine their homebuying preferences.Fifty-e
New rent control laws in New York are being blamed for eating away at landlords’ profits and putting many in a financial bind. Some real estate professionals and investors told The Wall Street Journal that the laws could cause rent-stabilized apartment buildings to drop 20% to 45% in value. That could put the building owners at risk of default. “It’s all over,” Lazer Sternhell, a real estate investor and broker of rent-regulated
Pending home sales bounced back in May from a dip the previous month, a sign that home buyers are returning to the market as lower borrowing costs improve affordability. Three of the four major U.S. regions saw an increase in pending home sales last month, the National Association of REALTORS® reported Thursday.NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, rose 1.1% to a reading of 105.4
For the seventh time in the last nine weeks, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped, reaching the lowest average since November 2016, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage market survey.“While the industrial- and trade-related economic data continues to dominate the news, the drop in mortgage rates over the last two months is already being felt in the housing market,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Through late Jun
Home buyers are finding fewer homes for sale that are meeting their price expectations. Half of all home buyers say they’re looking for a home priced under $288,000. But that is 9.1% below—or $27,000 less--than the median list price of currently available homes, a new realtor.com® study finds.“The price difference between what buyers are searching for, closing on, and what’s available on the market demonstrates just how big the gap is fo
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