Real Estate, Updates, News & Tips - iPro Real Estate

How Sellers’ Needs Differ By Generation

The factors involved in helping empty nest baby boomers sell their longtime family home are quite different from assisting millennials moving out of their starter home. They may desire different marketing tactics, channels of communication, or types of statistics and information, according to Andrey Nokhrin, founder and CEO of Flipt, a predictive technology firm.Whether you’re working with Generation Y, Generation X, baby boomers, late boomers

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Wood Construction Upping Fire Risks

Developers are turning to wood framing as a more affordable building material, but officials are warning of some dangers after reports of several wood-frame buildings catching fire across the country.Wood framing is increasingly being used in apartment construction and is largely considered safe once construction is completed. But wood framing can be vulnerable to fires before the interior wallboard and other safety features—like sprinklers and

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Where Underwater Homes Haven’t Dried Up

Although more homeowners are gaining equity across the country, owners in certain areas are remaining underwater in large numbers. More than 5.4 million U.S. properties remained seriously underwater at the end of the second quarter, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ Q2 2017 U.S. Home Equity & Underwater report. A property is considered seriously underwater when the combined loan amount secured on the property is at least 25 percent higher

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Will These Lower Rates Entice Buyers?

Fixed-rate mortgages continued to drop this week, lowering borrowing costs for home buyers.“Following a mild decline last week, the 10-year Treasury yield rose 1 basis point this week,” says Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “The 30-year mortgage rate similarly remained relatively flat, falling just 1 basis point to 3.89 percent. Mortgage rates are continuing to hold at low levels amidst ongoing economic uncertainty.”Freddie

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FSBOs Net ‘Significantly’ Lower Profits

For-sale-by-owners tend to sell their homes for lower prices than homes sold through traditional agents via the MLS, and in many cases below the average differential represented by the prevailing commission rate, according to a new study by Collateral Analytics.The study examined the price differences between homes sold through traditional agents versus those sold by FSBOs from 2016 to the first half of 2017.Some homeowners may be tempted to tr

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Is Your Smartphone’s Security Working?

Antitheft software is saving stolen smartphones everywhere. In San Francisco, phone-related robberies have dropped by 50 percent from 2013 to 2016 since the passage of the Smartphone Theft Prevention Act. This legislation makes it mandatory for manufacturers like Google and Apple to install theft-deterring software into their products. This includes activation locks and remote device erasure software.Ensure the built-in capabilities of your iPh

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Lower Rates Not Swaying Borrowers

Mortgage rates dropped to the lowest averages since November, but that did little to entice home buyers and refinancers last week.The Mortgage Bankers Association reports that total mortgage application volume—including for refinancing and home purchases—eked out just a 0.1 percent week-over-week increase. Volume is nearly 22 percent lower than a year ago.The drop in loan demand is coming at a time when mortgage rates are falling, which usual

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New Home Inventory at 20-Year Low

Builders failed to ramp up inventories last month, despite increasing demand from home buyers and calls from the real estate industry. New-home construction dropped 4.8 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.16 million units, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Commerce Development reported Wednesday.Single-family production fell 0.5 percent month over month in July to an adjusted annual rate of 856,000. Th

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1 in 4 Homes Now Equity Rich

Homeowners should be feeling richer. At the end of the second quarter, more than 14 million U.S. properties were considered equity rich. (That means the combined loan amount secured by the property was 50 percent or less of the estimated market value of the property.)Nearly 320,000 properties joined the “equity rich” category during the second quarter over the first quarter. Further, the number of equity rich properties is now up more than 1.

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Agents sell homes for more than FSBOs

Contradicting previous research, new study finds FSBOs sell at discountKey Takeaways Agents tend to achieve higher sales prices for properties than comparable FSBO listings, enough to offset their commission fee, according to a recent analysis.Academic research has often cast doubt on the value of real estate agents, but a new study will come as music to their ears.It suggests that homeowners will net roughly the same proceeds whether they sel

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