by Racheli Refael | Aug 2, 2019 | Real Estate
If you’re selling your home, your real estate agent has likely advised you to stage your home to sell. But why exactly do people stage homes to sell? Some people go to great lengths to stage their home too, even going so far as moving possessions into storage...
by Racheli Refael | Aug 1, 2019 | Market Outlook
Home price growth slowed again in May according to Case-Shiller home price indices. Home price growth slowed for the 14th consecutive month to its lowest rate in 12 years. Case-Shiller’s National Home Price Index showed 3.40 percent growth year-over-year in May...
by Racheli Refael | Jul 31, 2019 | Real Estate
Eminent domain is a law that gives the federal, state, county, and municipal governments in the United States the legal right to “condemn” property and then seize it to allow its use for development. Eminent domain is supposed to be used by the government...
by Racheli Refael | Jul 30, 2019 | Real Estate
The federal government adopted the Housing and Community Development Act in 1977, and the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) portion was designed to prompt lending institutions to provide mortgages for low- and moderate-income Americans. The underlying reasoning for the...
by Racheli Refael | Jul 29, 2019 | Financial Reports
Last week’s economic reports included readings on sales of new and pre-owned homes and weekly reports on mortgage rates and first-time jobless claims. Realtors® Report Sales of Pre-Owned Homes Fall in June Sales of previously-owned homes fell last month...
by Mortgage Blog Content | Jul 26, 2019 | Real Estate
For market value and the comfort of a home\’s occupants, home security is just as important as energy-efficiency. Innovation in smart home technology focuses on both of these areas. Here are some tips about things a homeowner can do to make a home more secure...
by Racheli Refael | Jul 25, 2019 | Real Estate
Have you ever played the classic board game called Monopoly? The object of the game is to collect all the properties until one winner bankrupts all the other players. The other part of the game is that accumulating properties adjacent to each other increases the value...
by Racheli Refael | Jul 24, 2019 | Real Estate
When investing in real estate, few people think about water as a high priority. All of us have become used to water being readily available and rarely give it a second thought. Most would think that water is only a consideration for farmers who need it to irrigate...
by Racheli Refael | Jul 23, 2019 | Real Estate
A 1031 tax exchange is a legal way to defer paying capital gains when selling a property and then buying a “like-kind” property within the allowed period. The time limits allowed are 45 calendar days after the close of the sale of the first property to...
by Racheli Refael | Jul 22, 2019 | Financial Reports
Last week’s economic reporting included readings from the National Association of Home Builders Housing Market Index, Commerce Department reports on housing starts and building permits issued. The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index was also...
