Posts by Editor

Honing and Leveraging Your Public Image

By Jeremy Knauff Build your personal brand, control your online image and connect with local media to ensure you are recognized as an authority in your market. NEW YORK — The real estate industry is in a state of flux, and it’s likely that won’t change anytime soon. Though interest rates have subsided some, an inventory shortage and high prices still make for a competitive market. As a result, brokers need to do everything they can to create a competitive advantage, and one of the most effective ways to do that is through public image and influence. When used properly,
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Expanded ‘Cone of Uncertainty’ Tool Unveiled

By Curt Anderson The National Hurricane Center will start using a new, experimental tool to better convey inland wind and hazards as storms become more severe. ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The “cone of uncertainty” produced by the National Hurricane Center to forecast the location and ferocity of a tropical storm is getting an update this year to include predictions for inland areas, where wind and flooding are sometimes more treacherous than damage to the coasts. The Miami-based hurricane center said Thursday on the X social media platform that the new, experimental forecast tool will be ready around Aug. 15, just
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Millennials Intent on Homeownership

By Hailey Rose McLaughlin “More than three-quarters of millennial home buyers would consider an interest rate higher than the national average of about 7%,” the study found. NEW YORK – Most millennials are prepared to take drastic measures to buy a home, with 65% saying they would pay up to a 10% mortgage rate and 23% admitting they would buy at 15% or more, according to a new study from Clever Real Estate. A combination of high-interest rates, inflation, and stagnant wages are financially squeezing millennials, but it has not diminished their enthusiasm for homeownership. Clever’s survey of millennial homebuyers
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Powell: Federal Reserve On Track for Rate Cuts

By Christopher Rugaber The Federal Reserve chair said the Fed misjudged the duration of the 2021-2022 inflation surge, and the central bank moved too slowly to raise its key rate. Rate cuts could begin in May. WASHINGTON — Chair Jerome Powell said in an interview broadcast Sunday night that the Federal Reserve remains on track to cut interest rates three times this year, a move that’s expected to begin as early as May. Powell, in an interview recorded Thursday for the CBS news program “60 Minutes,” also said the nation’s job market and economy are strong, with no sign of
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Is an Assumable Mortgage Right for You?

Assumable mortgages are growing in popularity but come with challenges, the Wall Street Journal reported. NEW YORK — Buyers can get a 3% mortgage if they assume a mortgage from a seller with a loan backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), but the process for assuming these lower-rate mortgages can be lengthy. The VA indicates that mortgage companies can take more than 45 days to issue a decision on a mortgage assumption. Some of the applications also can be rejected after waiting for the process to conclude. Mortgage companies also earn less
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6 Commercial Real Estate Trends to Watch

By Jason D’Amico and Michelle Yarbrough Korb Experts say 2024 may be an opportunity for the commercial housing market to get back on solid footing by embracing shifting preferences and emerging trends. WASHINGTON – As we enter a new year, the commercial real estate industry finds itself at yet another crossroads. The market is continuing to take shape and redefine itself after several years of new challenges. In 2023, the industry remained on unsteady grounds as economic uncertainty persisted, return-to-work plans shifted at large companies, and rising interest rates continued to limit access to affordable capital. As a result, many
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Experts: 2024 Home Prices Won’t Decline

By Jeff Ostrowski Despite predications housing prices would come down, values keep rising in 2024. The reason? The tight inventory. WASHINGTON – Much to the chagrin of would-be homebuyers, property prices just keep rising. It seems nothing — not even the highest mortgage rates in nearly 23 years — can stop the continued climb of home prices. Prices increased once again in December, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), which reports that median existing-home prices were up 4.4% over last year — the sixth month in a row of year-over-year jumps. In another reflection of ongoing increases, the
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Feds Incentivize Office-to-Housing Conversions

By Kristin Niver, Katriina McGuire and Talar Berberian The federal government launched a slate of incentives to transform office space to housing. Billions of dollars are now available to start transactions WASHINGTON – The future of office space and office to housing conversions have been hot topics for some time now, as municipal governments are embracing the idea of office to housing conversions by offering tax incentives to developers to help subsidize the often-prohibitive costs and expanding by-right zoning policies to ease the burden of entitlement processes. In October 2023, the federal government also entered the game in a big
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Average Long-Term Mortgage Rate Eases To 6.63%

By Alex Veiga Freddie Mac’s chief economist said rates will continue to go down as inflation decelerates. Mortgage rates are at the lowest level since May. LOS ANGELES — The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate eased this week, welcome news for prospective homebuyers as the spring homebuying season approaches. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage fell to 6.63% from 6.69% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.09%. Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also fell this week, pulling the average rate down to 5.94%
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Cautions When Using Website Tracking Tech

By Joanne B. Lambert, Damon Silver and John A. Snyder Real estate companies using metrics-tracking tech should be cautious of the legal and regulatory implications. NEW YORK – Real estate businesses frequently operate multiple websites. These may include corporate websites, websites for each of their properties and websites for their apps and ancillary service offerings. To maximize the convenience and insights from their websites, real estate businesses often use a variety of website tracking technologies to better understand how visitors interact with their sites, to improve those sites and to develop and execute advertising and marketing campaigns. By managing these
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