By Kerry Smith Census Bureau survey: There’s a disconnect between perception and reality. While many older adults think they can “age in place,” their homes aren’t outfitted to do so. WASHINGTON – A survey by U.S. Census Bureau took a look a housing and older adults. While the nation largely focuses on millennial and Gen Z buyers stuck in a difficult housing market, the Census study analyzed old adults’ housing needs. It identified 37 million older-adult households in the U.S., and 1 in 10 (11%) of them face some kind of difficulty living in their current home – a number
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With profit as a goal, investors show what they’re thinking by where they put their money – and for now, they’re not putting much money into single-family home projects. NEW YORK – U.S. single-family properties are the only type of real estate that has increased in value since interest rates began to rise in March 2022. After a brief decline in the months after the Federal Reserve’s initial rate hikes, house prices resumed their upward trend. Based on the latest numbers from the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index, Residential property values reached a record in July. However, listed real-estate
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By Ron Hurtibise Some Floridians think “property insurance reform” means “my rates will go down,” but success is a stable market for insurers and reasonable yearly price hikes. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Home insurance costs in Florida are unlikely to fall even as reforms enacted by the state Legislature last year drive down litigation rates, a national insurance analyst predicted in a newly released report. The report by Karen Clark & Company, titled “Managing Expectations: Why Florida Homeowners Insurance Premiums Are Not Likely to Go Down,” says rising inflation rates, reinsurance costs and effects of climate change will keep insurance
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Ocala, Fla. Climate Alpha uses AI to identify those Fla. cities with the least risk from flooding. For overall storm risk, Ocala is No.3 behind Lake City and Tallahassee. NEW YORK – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that 40% of U.S. hurricane landfalls occur in Florida – significantly more than any other state. But some metro areas – all inland rather than on the coast – have less risk for buyers wary of the occasional storms. As a result, Ocala, population 63,000, has become a new destination for Floridians moving inland. With higher rainfall rates from future storms
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A surge in long-term interest rates – a factor pushing mortgage rates higher – will fight inflation and negate the need for more rate hikes, say two Fed officials. WASHINGTON (AP) – Two Federal Reserve officials suggested Monday that the central bank may leave interest rates unchanged at its next meeting in three weeks because a surge in long-term interest rates has made borrowing more expensive and could help cool inflation without further action by the Fed. Since late July, the yield, or rate, on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note has jumped from around 4% to about 4.8%, a 16-year
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By Alex Veiga CEO Mike Miedler say 7% mortgage rates are on par with rates historically, even if they did rise rapidly. Main problem is a big shortfall in new-home builds. LOS ANGELES (AP) – The highest mortgage rates in more than two decades are keeping many prospective homebuyers out of the market and discouraging homeowners who locked in ultra-low rates from listing their home for sale. The dearth of available properties is propping up prices even as sales of previously occupied U.S. homes have slumped 21% through the first eight months of this year. The combination of elevated rates
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By Cathy Womble Fair Housing Act rules differ from the ADA, and while biz owners must accept service animals (dog or miniature horse), they don’t always have to allow support animals. OKEECHOBEE, Fla. – With all the support animals turning up in public places in recent years, restaurant owners find themselves with a dilemma. There have been stories about peacocks, donkeys, turkeys and, most recently, an alligator being used as support animals. According to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), service animals are always allowed inside restaurants, but support animals are not. The dilemma for the business
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By Devon Jackson AI won’t simply make a task or job easier. Its impact – already being felt – will improve for current tasks but also take over other areas of the transaction process. SANTA FE, New Mexico – Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a game changer for the real estate industry. The more prominent AI becomes, the greater its potential to transform all aspects of the work lives of real estate professionals, the real estate industry and overall property investment. Here are just some of the ways AI has already affected real estate. Predictive maintenance and property management Problems will
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The U.S. added 336K jobs in Sept. – far above expectations for 162K. It says good things about the economy, but the Fed will see a big red flag in its inflation fight. WASHINGTON (AP) – The nation’s employers added 336,000 jobs in September, an unexpectedly robust gain and the largest monthly rise since January, evidence that many companies remain confident enough to keep hiring despite high interest rates and a hazy outlook for the economy. Last month’s job growth jumped from a 227,000 increase in August, which was revised sharply higher. July’s gain was also healthier than had been
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Jung Getty / Getty Images By Jim Saunders Plaintiffs opposing Fla.’s foreign-buyer law submitted a preliminary-injunction request to an appeals court this week after a U.S. district judge denied the request. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Attorneys for a group of plaintiffs this week urged a federal appeals court to block a new Florida law that restricts people from China from owning property in the state, saying the measure “mandates egregious national-origin discrimination.” A 57-page brief filed at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the law, approved this spring by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican-led Legislature, is unconstitutional and
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