All Blog Posts Tagged 'commission' (48)

If you want to live frugally, head South or Southwest, according to Kiplinger's latest annual list of cheapest U.S. cities to live. 

Texas, known for its affordable housing, had the most cities in the Top 10 list.

Kiplinger compiled its list by factoring in living expenses of metro areas,…

As housing inventories shrink, more buyers are reportedly finding their perfect home in properties that haven’t even been listed on the market yet.

“Such back-pocket deals used to involve mostly luxury homes where buyers and sellers wanted to keep the sale hush-hush,” The Star Tribune reports. “But…

Foreclosure filings are continuing to fall, dropping 2 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to the previous quarter and are down 16 percent compared to the same time last year, RealtyTrac reports in its latest report. 

Foreclosure filings include default notices, scheduled…

Thirty-three percent of real estate professionals reported that a contract fell through in December -- up from 9 percent reporting contract failures in December 2010, according to National Association of REALTORS® survey data.

A recent Chicago Tribune article  spotlighted some of the common reasons for…

Foreclosures are expected to pick-up as soon as banks begin to clear their backlog of troubled loans. RealtyTrac is projecting a 25 percent increase in foreclosures in 2012. 

If an increase does occur, some housing experts wonder how it will impact overall home prices and whether the discounts for REOs…

As part of a settlement with state attorneys general, the five largest mortgage servicers are adopting new requirements for short sales, which is expected to speed-up what has been known as a lengthy process.

Here are some of the new requirements for servicers under the settlement: 

• Servicers…

Are YOU Up for the 90-Day member challenge? With people joining every day, GLOZAL wants to reach 1 million members in 90-…

The government was able to chip away at its foreclosure inventory in 2011, reducing it by nearly half, HousingWire reports in analyzing financial statements from three government enterprises. 

From the end of 2010 to 2011, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development…

After months of tense negotiations, the nation’s five largest banks and state and government officials have agreed to a $26 billion settlement aimed at holding banks accountable for the mishandling of some foreclosures. 

The settlement is expected to help 1 million home owners, by having…

MIAMI– Dec.7, 2011 – Members of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) were asked earlier this year what they anticipate the new home size will be 2015. While the size of new American homes has been shrinking for years, the builders offered some insights into what home features will start to disappear and which will become more popular.



In terms of square footage, the anticipated drop isn’t drastic. Currently, single-family homes measure an average of 2,400 square…

WASHINGTON – Dec. 2, 2011 – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced yesterday that they would suspend evictions of foreclosed single family and 2-4 unit properties from Dec. 19, 2011, through Jan. 2, 2012. While lenders will continue completing legal and administrative paperwork, no families will be…

Real estate agents may feel like they practically live in their car and there’s good reason why: On average, real estate professionals cumulatively drive 3.6 billion miles in their car a year, according to data from the National Association of REALTORS®.

“You preview (properties) in your car,…

Home prices are rising faster in Hong Kong than anywhere else in the world, according to a new survey.

Those living in Hong Kong have long suspected…

According to London-based real estate firm Knight Frank, the third quarter saw mounting pressures on the global economy with politicians seemingly helpless to get to grips with the eurozone debt crisis. This has reawakened fears of a double dip recession, not just in Europe but around the world. Unsurprisingly, this economic uncertainty has been reflected in the performance of the world's housing markets.



The boom conditions experienced between 2004 and 2007 when global housing…

Television personality Brooke Mueller has sold the gated Los Feliz home she once shared with her ex-husband, Charlie Sheen, for an undisclosed amount.



The buyer is actor Simon Helberg of "The Big Bang Theory."



The restored 4,179-square-foot villa has four bedrooms and 4 ½ bathrooms. A fountain stands in the tiled front courtyard of the Mediterranean-style home, built in 1927.



Inside, the dramatic two-story entry has wood floors and a vaulted…

WASHINGTON (AP) – Nov. 29, 2011 – U.S. home prices are falling again in most major cities after posting small gains over the summer and spring, the latest evidence that the troubled housing market won’t recover any time soon.



The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index released Tuesday showed prices dropped in September from August in 17 of the 20 cities tracked. That was the first decline after five straight months in which at least half the cities in the survey showed monthly…

WASHINGTON – Nov. 29, 2011 – Average interest rates on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage dropped slightly to 3.98 percent last week, remaining at 60-year lows for the fourth week in a row, Freddie Mac reported.



The decline was only .02 percent from last week’s average 4 percent interest rate.



Freddie Mac spokesman Chad Wandler said the recent interest rates haven’t been near such lows for at least 60 years since long-term rates began being recorded.



Last year at this…

Builders mostly have stayed on the sidelines the last few years in many metro areas while construction permits and housing starts have dropped to only a fraction of what they once were during the housing boom days and even prior to that. But in many areas across the country, housing starts and permits at least leveling off. What’s more, in some places they're rising. 

The cities that are seeing the most construction activity in single-family homes and multifamily units are ones that…

New U.S. single-family home sales rose in October and the supply of homes on the market fell to its lowest level since April of last year, showing some healing in the battered housing sector.

The Commerce Department on Monday said that sales edged up 1.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted 307,000-unit annual…

The clock is ticking on homeowners who want to take advantage of Bank of America's recently announced short-sale incentive program.

To collect up to $20,000, qualified sellers must get their homes listed for sale by the end of November.

The bank, which services 1.1 million Florida mortgages, says it…