The effect of natural disasters—hurricanes and wildfires—in 2017 appears to have a lessening impact on mortgage delinquencies at least on the national levels. Nearly 5 percent of mortgages were in some stage of delinquency (30 days or more past due) in January, a slight decline from a year ago, according to CoreLogic’s Loan Performance Insights Report, released Tuesday.But the areas hit by natural disasters late last year continue to face e
You know those classic unsolicited emails from scammers posing as a Nigerian prince or a long-lost cousin? The ones with dreadful grammar, five different fonts, and three type colors? In some ways, we can consider those the good ol’ days of phishing scams, because they were quite easy to identify as false.Today, email scams are much more sophisticated, explained Katie Johnson, NAR’s general counsel and senior vice president of legal affairs
Police say they are continuing to get active new leads even seven years after a 27-year-old real estate agent was fatally shot at a model home in West Des Moines. Ashley Okland’s murder is still an open case, and no arrests have been made.“We just keep getting leads on it,” Lt. Anthony Giampolo with the West Des Moines Police Department told KCCI-8 News. “Maybe by reminding someone, maybe someone will say something that they know [can] he
When Bob Goldberg was named NAR CEO in 2017, it was with a pledge to move the association boldly into the future while honoring the successes of the past. Today, the association took a symbolic step, announcing the evolution of the iconic REALTOR® brand. The trademark “block R,” launched in 1973, will be transformed beginning this June into a three-dimensional logo.The new brand retains a comforting familiarity, employing the blue color pale
The Realtors Property Resource®, a real estate data and analytics platform, hit a record number of users in March, the National Association of REALTORS® announced. RPR is a subsidiary of NAR.The number of RPR users surged to a record 178,000, a 16 percent increase from a year ago. RPR webinars posted a 135 percent increase in registrations, and average attendance per webinar rose by 158 percent. The number of new accounts created in the first
The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice will hold a public workshop June 5 in Washington, D.C., to explore issues related to competition among residential real estate brokerages. The agencies also will invite the public to submit comments on several topics online through July 31, including brokerage models and MLS practices. “Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest financial transactions most consumers make in their
Median prices for luxury homes in the Santa Monica, Calif., ZIP code of 90401 have surged 60.7 percent over the last year, making it the hottest high-end ZIP code in the country, according to a new analysis by realtor.com®. The site’s researchers culled housing data from April 2016 through March 2017 for more than 600 ZIP codes where median list prices are above $1 million. They compared that 12-month period to the previous year to identify th
Monthly mortgage payments have risen an average of nearly 13 percent nationwide over the last year—or an extra $168—as buyers grapple with both higher home prices and increasing mortgage rates, according to a realtor.com® analysis. Luxury buyers are feeling the worst sticker shock, paying double the rate. In the top 10 percent of the market, owners are now paying an average $241 more per month.Mortgage interest rates are about a half of a pe
Many older Americans may be concerned about having enough money to cover their expenses when they enter retirement, as 41 percent of homeowners ages 65 and older are still carrying mortgage debt, according to 2016 data from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. The percentage of older adults who are still paying off their mortgage while in retirement has steadily increased over the years.Some may turn to reverse mortgages, which allow
Tom Ferry’s answer to the No. 1 question you hearIf someone opened a window of opportunity for you, would you slam it shut?You’re probably saying “No way, I’m going to jump on it!” But the truth is I see agents slamming that door shut every day. (Yes, every single day!)This window of opportunity is undoubtedly the most-asked question you’ve received to date. It’s something you probably hear every time you’re out in public.And if y
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