Smart homes can be susceptible to viruses, if homeowners aren’t careful.Many smart home devices are vulnerable, security experts say. A flood of inexpensive security cameras, thermostats, and other internet-connected devices have come to the market, and many of them are carrying minimal safeguards against remote hacking, The Wall Street Journal reports. What’s more, often times, many owners don’t realize their devices contain malicious soft
Bigger isn’t always better with the man cave. The “mini” man cave is starting to catch on.Men’s dedicated spaces may be shrinking from the garage or entire room to now be as small as just a walk-in closet.Still, “it’s important—for a man’s sanity—for him to have his own space in which to relax,” says Jason Cameron, a contractor and former host of the TV show “Man Caves.”Celebrities are bringing more attention to the trend.
The Federal Reserve has made two swift rate hikes in just four months and vows of more to come. But there’s a way to slow the pace of interest-rate hikes: Build more homes, Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS®, writes in his new column at Forbes.com.Building more apartments and single-family homes would help slow down inflation, Yun says.The nation has typically added 1.5 million new housing units each ye
Producing shareable content should be key behind any internet marketing strategy. The more you can get others to share your content, the more new prospects you can land in front of, and the potential to rank higher in Google searches.But what motivates other people to want to share your content?It may come down to science. Firms Moz and BuzzSumo teamed up to examine a million pieces of content to learn the science behind content shares.Type of co
When is your garden in full bloom? Believe it or not, waiting to put a house on the market when flowers, plants, shrubs, and trees are at peak color can make a big difference in how fast a home sells and at what price. That's one of the tips in a special show on the spring selling season on "Real Estate Today," the National Association of REALTORS®' consumer-facing radio show.The show is a top story in the latest Voice for Real Estate news video
Existing-home sales dropped in February as tight inventory and weakening affordability conditions kept many buyers out of the market in most parts of the country, the National Association of REALTORS® reports. Total sales for existing single-family homes, townhomes, condos, and co-ops fell 3.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.48 million, compared to 5.69 million in January, according to the report. However, the pace of sales in
Researchers have long suspected a connection between falling home values and spikes in arson rates, but they've lacked strong supporting evidence. Now a new study in The Journal of Risk and Insurance claims there's proof that the theory is real.Michael Eriksen, assistant professor of real estate at the University of Cincinnati, and James Carson, a University of Georgia professor of insurance, pored over records of 4.8 million fires between 1986
Some real estate pros are finding it's a benefit to highlight gyms near the condos or homes they’re selling, just like you might do for a good school.The gym impact to values may be especially pronounced in luxury apartments. The percentage of listings of luxury apartments that contained the words “gym,” “weight room,” or “workout studio” increased to 11 percent in January 2016 compared to only 7.4 percent in 2010, according to data
If your listing has two master bedrooms, you may very well have a highly desired feature that many couples want in their next home and are willing to pay extra for.Among the top 10 percent of markets nationwide, active listings that include multiple master bedrooms are priced, on average, about 9 percent higher than those with just one master, according to a realtor.com® analysis.Luxury home builders are taking notice of the growth in demand. A
Besides staging, sellers also should take a few more steps to ease the stress of their sale. Realtor.com® offers up some of the following often-overlooked tips:1. Highlight improvements and any issues.“If you’ve owned your home for a while, make a list of all the problems you’ve solved for a while, make a list of all the problems you’ve solved while you’ve lived there,” suggests Avery Boyce, a real estate pro with Compass Real Estate
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