National News

Every president’s starting median home price

The median home price nationwide when President Donald Trump took office was $234,900, according to the National Association of Realtors. Apart from Trump, there have been eight presidents to hold office since NAR started compiling comprehensive home sales data

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NAR: Northeast sees bump in existing-home sales in January

  The Northeast saw a jump in existing-home sales in January, according to the National Association of Realtors. And so did most everywhere else. “Much of the country saw robust sales activity last month as strong hiring and improved

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13 things NAR wants in a new CEO

By now about every Realtor knows that the National Association of Realtors is looking for a new chief executive. But in order to know what to look for, a team from Heidrick & Struggles, the search firm hired by

Survey: Agents and lenders need to better educate borrowers on closing costs

When the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule was passed in Oct. 2015, it was billed as a simplifying of the mortgage process – at least as far as borrowers were concerned – and an effort to increase transparency, particularly as

Report: “The World’s Most Admired” homebuilders

Toll Brothers is “The World’s Most Admired” homebuilder, according to Fortune. Of the five homebuilders named by Fortune, the Pennsylvania-based builder, which operates in markets across the country, came in on top. Fortune cited Toll Brothers’ renowned management, innovation,

7 reasons agents should consider virtual staging

We hear it all the time from our clients: “Vacant homes don’t sell.” As a professional photography studio specializing in real estate, we also know they don’t photograph well, which means fewer viewings online and in-person. Fortunately, Realtors have

Keller Williams Realty Branches Abroad to Jamaica and Puerto Rico

  After having found continued success in other international locations, Keller Williams Realty is again stretching its limbs – this time acquiring Meldam Realty in Jamaica and Grand Homes Real Estate in Puerto Rico. Significant growth has been seen in other international Keller Williams’

Four trends Gary Keller says may change real estate

Keller Williams Founder Gary Keller spoke via an invitation-only live stream this week on the nation’s real estate market, commenting on the state of today’s market, and speculating on the fate of tomorrow’s. One of the most pressing topics

GOP takes another swing at Dodd-Frank

Republican Congressman and Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Jeb Hensarling (Texas, 5th) earlier this month sent a memo to lawmakers outlining proposed changes to his Financial CHOICE Act (FCA), introduced last year, the would see the Consumer

Four ways builders are beating the labor shortage

In the five years following the peak of the housing bubble – so from 2006 to 2011 – the United States’ construction industry lost 2.3 million laborers. By 2013, 60 percent had already found new careers in other industries – which meant

Congress and Trump both take shots at Dodd-Frank

Republican lawmakers and President Donald Trump delivered a one-two punch to Dodd-Frank today, signaling the beginning of a legislative brawl that could see the law entirely dismantled. It began in Congress, where Senate Republicans won an unusual 52-47 vote

2 stats that could sign an end to inventory shortages

Builders need to build – a ubiquitous sentiment throughout the country, and what some experts believe is the solution to widespread inventory shortages. Two new stats suggest that may be exactly what’s going to happen in 2017. The first stat

Meet the first-time homebuyer of 2017

This year could be the year of the first-time homebuyer. Of course, that’s what experts said last year too. But this year it might actually happen. Of course, there remain barriers to entry – tight credit, inventory shortages, high

The 7 characteristics of 2017’s Silent Generation buyers that agents need to know

Understanding buyers is going to be especially important this year – interest rates and prices are rising, inventory shortages remain commonplace throughout the U.S., and our housing market is now operating under a president promising a broad spectrum of

Builders reveal what their 10 biggest problems are in 2017

Homebuilders across the nation faced crippling labor shortages in 2016; in fact, it was the biggest problem they faced all year. Don’t expect anything to change in 2017. Eighty-two percent of builders say the No. 1 problem they expect

What to do about Fannie & Freddie? How the Trump administration could change the mortgage industry

The Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae, created in 1938) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac, established in 1970) are government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) in their eighth year of conservatorship under the FHA. That is an exceedingly

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