Sustainable homes are trending in the housing market. According to a report by Gallup in Rocket Mortgage, 52% of Americans surveyed believed the quality of the environment is becoming worse, compared to 43% reported in 2019. As individuals become more aware of the need to reduce their carbon footprint, self-sufficient homes are becoming a priority amongst …Read more
The last blog looked at the Cost of Doing Business by State – which was a timely topic given Tesla’s announcement yesterday to relocate their corporate headquarters to lower-cost Austin, Texas from Silicon Valley. Competition for where business locates, however, is not only state-to-state but also country-to-country. Fortunately the source for the previous blog — …Read more
Did you know that next to summer, fall is traditionally the next best time of the year to buy a home? According to Rocket Mortgage, October allows buyers to get the most bang for their buck because sellers are often trying to sell their home before the year ends. Purchasing a home in the …Read more
Just as housing costs, incomes, taxes and the overall cost of living varies across the country, so does the cost of doing business. Once again the TINSTAANREM Axiom is invoked — There Is No Such Thing As A National Real Estate Market or economy. The same is true for the cost of doing business. Just …Read more
New home sales continued to be buffeted by multiple headwinds in August 2021. Those headwinds included restricted vacant developed lot availability, lack of skilled workers, materials shortages and escalating costs. Unfortunately these economic weather patterns are not likely to soon dissipate. Though likely to be revised, new home sales were down 24.3 percent year-over-year in …Read more
The pandemic continues to create headwinds across many of the 380 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) which have monthly job numbers reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Though the U.S. economy added 235,000 net new jobs in August, those were not equally distributed across the country. The U.S. is still short 5.333 million …Read more
State employment data for August 2021 are analyzed in the following analysis. These are the latest data available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and are based on seasonally adjusted day allowing comparison across every month of the year. The story remains that only two states, Idaho and Utah, had more total …Read more
Current existing home sales numbers hover in the best range in 14 years, but weakened slightly in August 2021. The current pace is akin to a fluttering leaf oscillating from left to right and right to left but in a gentle downward track. There are no surprises here given escalating home prices, eroding affordability and …Read more
The summary of the latest monthly forecasts of residential housing markets and lending from Fannie Mae and the MBA are summarized. Interest rates are an integral component of housing sales and residential lending and have remained below 2.9 percent (conventional, fixed-rate 30-year mortgages) since early July according to Freddie Mac. The latest interest rate forecasts …Read more
In honor of REALTOR® Safety Month, we sat down with Carl Carter Jr. of the Beverly Carter Foundation to discuss real estate safety tips. This week, we’re focusing on how real estate professionals can stay safe when working alone. Real estate agents often work independently, from running open houses solo, to finishing admin work at …Read more