For the second consecutive month, pending home sales scaled back as significantly weak supply levels of homes for sale continue to press on affordability conditions, the National Association of REALTORS® reported Wednesday.NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, fell 1.3 percent in April to a 109.9 reading. The index is now 3.3 percent below a year ago. All four major regions saw a decrease in co
The U.S. boasts 95,471 miles of shoreline, and owning a small portion of that doesn’t have to necessarily set you back millions to own. Home buyers can still fetch bargains in plenty of U.S. beach towns, snagging a home for $250,000 or less.Realtor.com®’s research team analyzed the median home prices in beach towns with populations of from 1,000 to 100,000. Towns must have had at least 30 properties on the market to be considered in the rank
Credit scores among U.S. consumers surged to a record high this spring. Further, the share of borrowers considered among the riskiest borrowers hit a record low. The higher credit scores could be a boon for the mortgage market: A good credit score can help borrowers snag a better mortgage rate and better their chances of qualifying for financing."Higher scores lead to more available credit," says Cris deRitis, senior director in the economics gro
Key Takeaways Although leadership is one of the most crucial skills in the world of business, many business owners seem to overlook its importance. Leaders are great listeners and communicators, and they trust their team.Rosalynn Carter once said that a leader takes people where they want to go and that a great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.We are mostly surrounded by doers, and only a minuscule nu
More autonomous, self-driving cars are expected on the roads over the next decade, which will likely have a big impact on residential construction, housing demand, and home design, notes Robert Dietz, chief economist of the National Association of Home Builders.Driverless cars could make more areas suitable for development of single-family communities, Dietz argues in an article for BUILDER Online. “More efficient roadways would reduce travel t
If you're not careful about how you respond to clients over email, you could risk losing contracts, damaging your reputation, and even being sued for breach of confidentiality. Forbes.com offers some of the following tips to avoid PR nightmares and liability offenses with your email behavior.Beware of hitting the “reply all” button. If you’re responding to multiple contacts, delete the email thread history in your message to avoid potential
Though millennials express desire for homeownership, they aren’t saving anywhere near what they need for a down payment. About 80 percent of millennials recently surveyed by rental website Apartment List say they hope to one day buy a home, but 36 percent say they’ll likely need to wait more than five years before they can. Only 16 percent believe they’ll be able to buy within two years, according to the survey of 24,000 millennial renters
Not everyone is heading to a major metropolis. You may not have even heard of many of the metros topping the Census Bureau’s latest list of fastest-growing cities—but that may change as their populations surge.The nation’s fastest-growing city this year is Conroe, Texas. About 40 miles outside of Houston, Conroe saw its population increase 7.8 percent between July 1, 2015, and July 1, 2016, according to the Census report, which only include
Low mortgage rates and strong job growth are giving the housing market one of its best years in decades—even as overall economic growth has weakened—according to Freddie Mac’s monthly Outlook report for May. The report’s optimism is a change from the mortgage giant’s previous predictions, when economists said the housing market likely would not perform as well as it did in 2016.New-home sales in March were better than expected, and exis
Warn homeowners that more reports are surfacing of a microscopic parasite nesting in community and residential pools and hot tubs. The parasite, known as Cryptosporidium or “Crypto,” can make people sick, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that the problem is rising to epidemic levels nationwide.Traces of fecal matter from humans and pets found in pools and hot tubs are leading to the increase in Crypto cases, the CDC sa
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