Real Estate - Real Estate, Updates, News & Tips

Which States Dominate Vacation-Home Rankings?

Florida and its sandy beaches may be thought of as prime getaway territory in the U.S., but it doesn’t have the highest concentration of vacation homes in the country. Instead, that title goes to Maine, according to a new study from IPX 1031, a 1031 exchange resource. IPX 1031 analyzed data from more than 29,000 census-designated locales across all 50 states to identify the states with the highest percentages of vacation pro

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Hispanics Buyers are gaining ground as Housing Customers

Hispanics are posting the largest homeownership gains of any ethnic group, new Census Bureau data shows. The wave of growth is a far cry from four years ago when the Hispanic homeownership rate reached a 50-year low. Since then, ownership among this segment has risen 3.3 percentage points, Census Bureau data shows.To be clear, whites still have higher levels of overall homeownership. The Hispanic homeownership rate is at 47.4%, which st

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5 Kitchen Mistakes that could Sink a Sale

Buyers put a lot of their focus on the kitchen. After all, it can be one of the most expensive rooms to remodel and its features and conditions can make or break a sale.Designers recently shared a list of the items with realtor.com® that could be subtly sabotaging a kitchen’s attractiveness, including:Fluorescent lighting“Nothing screams ‘cheap kitchen’ more than outdated fluorescent tube lighting with a yellowing plastic cover,”

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Are Renters Stigmatized?

Nearly 30% of Americans believe that there is a negative social stigma against renters, according to a new survey from Apartment List. This belief is held by renters and homeowners alike.“Some of what we found was surprising,” says Igor Popov, chief economist at Apartment List.Apartment List surveyed more than 5,000 participants in June across the country. Some of the survey respondents referred to renters as “second-class citizens”

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Bidding Wars Expected to Heat Up Again

Lower mortgage rates are bringing out more potential home buyers. In certain parts of the country, this has translated into a lot more competition. In markets that have seen prices become more moderate, supply is lower than it was a year ago and bidding wars are becoming more prevalent. For example, a recent Redfin housing index notes that cities like Oklahoma City; Richmond, Va.; Memphis, Tenn.; Buffalo, N.Y.; and Atlanta are seeing buyer d

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What ‘Move-In Ready’ Really Means

A “move-in ready” home may mean different things to different buyers—everything from having freshly painted walls to having window blinds included.Bungalo, a real estate platform for buying newly renovated homes online, surveyed more than 550 home shoppers between the ages of 25 to 54 on what elements are required for a home to be considered “move-in ready.”If you’re going to use the term to describe your listing, here’s what most b

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Category 5 Storm No Match for House of Plastic Bottles

JD Composites, a Canadian homebuilder, has constructed a three-bedroom home in Nova Scotia that is made of 612,000 recycled plastic soda bottles. But the attention has mostly centered on how the home can withstand extreme winds—even a category 5 hurricane.The builder, which melted thousands of plastic bottles and injected them with gas to form the walls of the home, tested the plastic panels for hurricane resistance and found they could withsta

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Barry Spares New Orleans but Threatens More Flooding

Tropical Storm Barry, which crashed into Louisiana as a Category 1 hurricane over the weekend, may still bring heavy rain and flooding to the Gulf Coast for days. Barry largely spared New Orleans, which was expected to feel the brunt of the storm, but Louisiana and the Gulf Coast still could get up to 20 inches of rain in some areas.Life-threatening flash floods and possible tornadoes are still possible in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, southe

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10 Happiest States in America

How do you measure residents’ happiness? It may come down to having social relationships, financial security, strong ties to the community, good physical health, and plenty of career prospects, according to a new survey.The 2019 Gallup Well-Being Index examined responses from more than 115,000 adults ages 18 and older on how they feel about their lives and what they experience on a daily basis. Overall, well-being in the U.S. has seen a gradual

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Social Media, Community Websites Vital to Buyer Boomers

Home buyers over 55 are relying on technology to find their home, just like their younger counterparts, and they say internet searches and social media greatly influence their homebuying decisions, according to a new survey conducted by Immersion Active, a marketing solutions agency, of home buyers 55 and older. More baby boomers are turning to social media and community websites in their house hunts.Eighty-nine percent of the 55-plus consumers s

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