Real Estate Still Proves Fertile for Fraud
I hate to keep beating a dead horse – but then, real estate fraud is far from a dead horse. In fact, people are being taken in by crooks more than ever.
I hate to keep beating a dead horse – but then, real estate fraud is far from a dead horse. In fact, people are being taken in by crooks more than ever.
Every parent, myself included, who has uttered the immortal words “money doesn’t grow on trees” was dead wrong, at least when it comes to residential real estate.
When it comes to junk fees, nobody can hold a candle to landlords. Not even mortgage lenders. Now, the Biden administration is pushing landlords to cut back these charges.
In February, overall house prices registered their smallest year-over-year gain since September 2021. Even so, housing’s share of the Consumer Price Index rose at an accelerated pace.
If your client is thinking of buying a house that comes with one, you’re likely better off asking the seller to credit you with the cost of the warranty at settlement.
Even though rents have stabilized in some markets, and even dropped a bit in others, many tenants either don’t make enough money to pay what landlords are asking or don’t meet the credit qualifications.
Hopefully, owners who chose to remodel their bathrooms are enjoying their new spa-like retreats. If they were hoping to sell their homes for more, they likely won’t come out ahead.
Whether old-fashioned or tech-savvy, though, some agents are being held back from the best, newest versions of their greatest tool: their local multiple listing service, or MLS.
While late-night TV scams and robocall schemes are coming under increased scrutiny by state and federal officials, new real estate-related swindles continue to come to light.
Uncle Sam’s chief financial watchdog agency has fired a warning shot across the bow of consumer-facing comparison sites and mobile apps that steer consumers to the lenders that pay the sites the most.
The shift toward all-electric living is underway. But if you are a buyer in today’s new home market, how do you navigate the transition to make sure your house is not outdated before you’ve hardly settled in?
Homebuyers and agents alike could soon benefit from a new listing portal with all the online bells and whistles they’ve come to expect – but with better service on the ground and no-fee leads.
Too many homebuyers don’t hunt for the lowest mortgage rate. They spend weeks, sometimes months, looking for a house. But when it comes to shopping around for a loan, they don’t bother.
Many of the nation’s largest real estate firms still do not publish the share of the commission paid to agents who work with homebuyers, leaving buyers to fend for themselves.
Property taxes are rising right along with the cost of food, gas and other necessities. One main difference: You won’t have to wait for inflation to come down to lower your property taxes.
With the inventory of unsold houses rising on a daily basis, it’s time for sellers to consider taking a page out of the homebuilders’ playbook – especially when it comes to financing.
Two hot new trends in real estate – designing and buying a custom home sight-unseen, and having your home renovations paid for by someone else – could become forces in 2023’s housing market.
As if rising mortgage rates and high house prices aren’t enough, some homebuyers are going to have to contend with credit reports that will cost 400 percent more in 2023 than it did in 2022.
In a perfect world, a couple in the midst of a divorce would sit down together and calmly figure out what to do with their house. But, of course, this is not a perfect world.