Housing affordability has fallen in the last year and fewer households are able to afford the inventory of homes for sale based on their incomes, according to joint research released Wednesday by the National Association of REALTORS® and realtor.com®.The REALTORS® Affordability Distribution Curve and Score examines affordability conditions at different income levels for all active inventory on the market. A score of one or higher suggests a ma
Residents in neighborhoods with high levels of limited English proficiency have significantly lower rates of homeownership. On the other hand, neighborhoods with fewer LEP residents have higher rates of ownership, according to a new study by the Urban Institute.“We are not sure why and how limited English proficiency interferes with homeownership, but this research establishes that it is a barrier on top of other, more researched barriers,”
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Even though the costs of homeownership are on the rise as home prices and mortgage rates increase, more consumers say it’s a good time to buy a home. AJ Smith, vice president of financial education with personal finance website SmartAsset, offers three tips for helping buyers determine whether now is the right time for them to purchase. ‘Right now’ is not always the right time: Prospective buyers may feel pressure to buy a home before i
Women who work full-time jobs in Arlington, Va., rank among the top female earners in the nation, bringing in an average of more than $80,200 per year, according to a new analysis by personal finance website SmartAsset. “Today, in some American cities, women are earning large salaries, running their own businesses, and handling their mortgages with ease,” the analysis notes.SmartAsset pinpointed the U.S. cities where women are finding the mos
Housing construction has not kept pace with population growth in the U.S. for more than a decade, and in order to stymie shortages across the nation, builders will need to construct 7.3 million more homes, according to a new report. The Up for Growth National Coalition, a group of real estate developers, owners, and builders of affordable housing, finds that since 2000, builders in about 22 states and the District of Columbia have not constructed
Fear of missing out—or FOMO, as millennials have coined it—has become a powerful motivator for young buyers to pursue homeownership, according to a new Bank of America survey. In particular, social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, where users often post about their lives as homeowners, are big influencers on prospective buyers, the survey of 2,000 U.S. adults finds. “I think it’s motivating them to think about homeownershi
The three major credit reporting agencies are implementing policy changes for credit scoring that could lift the scores of some consumers. Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion will now exclude exclude all tax lien data from credit reports, which could raise some credit scores as much as 30 points, CNBC reports.The agencies began this process last summer, removing nearly 100 percent of data on civil judgments and 50 percent of data on tax liens from
Tom Ferry examines the sales skills that matter mostThe client across the table stares expectantly at you. Suddenly you realize that instead of listening, you’ve been thinking about what to say next. It’s your time to talk. But deep down, you don’t really know what to say.It happens to every salesperson at one time or another. But that doesn’t mean it should. To provide the level of service that leads to happy clients and tons of referral
Look for a secure, collaborative, end-to-end digital transaction platformEvery real estate agent knows the moment an offer is accepted, the deal’s far from done with the thorny closing gauntlet still ahead.At this stage of a sale, commonly called escrow or a pending sale, real estate agents and their clients enter a heightened mode of vigilance and care as they coordinate inspections, prepare their down payment, execute their loans, evaluate ho
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