Earlier this year, a federal court ruled that provisions of a U.S. Department of Labor rule, which expanded access to association health plans to real estate professionals, were unlawful. The Department of Justice is appealing the ruling, joined in support by the National Association of REALTORS® and a growing number of voices within the real estate community.NAR has filed an amicus brief in support of the Labor Department’
When is the right time to purchase your first home? The answer differs across age groups.One in five parents say they expect their child to own a home by age 25, yet this doesn’t match up to reality. Younger adults tend to feel the most pressure to own a home, but they’re still waiting on their own time terms, according to a new survey from Porch.com, a home remodeling website. Porch.com surveyed nearly 1,000 individuals betwee
Consumers with financial or housing questions turn to the internet. In particular, consumers seem to have a lot of questions about income taxes and mortgages.TermLife2Go, a review site, analyzed Google data to find the top questions about money and organized the info by state.Income tax was the most Googled term in 23 states. New tax laws that took effect may be causing the influx in tax questions.New York City is home to more
Bank of America has made several recent moves to reduce the borrowing costs of would-be home buyers who have faced affordability constraints. The bank's latest offer: mortgages with no origination fees for buyers with little savings for a down payment. The promotion is available through Oct. 31.The offer applies only to loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration, Department of Veteran Affairs, Freddie Mac’s Home Possible program, and Ba
This marks the sixth consecutive weekly decline for mortgage rates, leaving some borrowers wondering how low will they go. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.82% this week, the lowest average since September 2017.“While the drop in mortgage rates is a good opportunity for consumers to save on their mortgage payment, our research indicates that there can be a wider dispersion among mortgage rate offers,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’
Home design reality TV shows may be inspiring more consumers to take on a house flip for themselves. The U.S. home flipping rate reached a nine-year high in the first quarter of this year, ATTOM Data Solutions reports.In the first quarter, 49,049 homes were flipped, representing 7.2% of all home sales during the quarter—the highest home flipping rate since the first quarter of 2010, the report shows. Researchers define a home flip as a property
U.S. homeowners who have a mortgage saw their equity increase by 5.6% over the past year, according to the Home Equity Report, released Thursday by CoreLogic. The average homeowner gained $6,400 in home equity between the first quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of this year. (U.S. homeowners with mortgages account for about 63% of all properties nationwide.)Some states saw larger gains than others. For example, Nevada homeowners gained an ave
It’s the 75th anniversary of the GI Bill, which created the VA home loan program—an avenue bringing military business your way. This week marks the 75th anniversary of the GI Bill, which provides financial resources to veterans who aspire to become homeowners—and serves as an avenue bringing military business your way. The milestone comes at a symbolic time, as June is National Homeownership Month. On Wednesday, the
More consumers are buying their groceries online, which has sparked a higher demand for cold storage warehouses and distribution centers. E-commerce food delivery services like AmazonFresh, Peapod by Giant, and Blue Apron are sparking an entirely new area of growth for investors, CNBC reports.“About 2% or 3% of all goods on groceries are bought online, and we expect the space could explode to 13% over the next 5 years because of the penetr
The top housing market for home buyers in the country is … drum roll … Albany, N.Y., according to a newly released realtor.com® study.The combination of low sales price growth and more homes for sale is making Albany a hot choice for home buyers, according to the study. The median list price was about $295,000 in April—about 5% below the national median of $310,000.“It’s a very middle-class, homey city,” Anthony Gucciardo, a local br
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