At an open house, buyers will carefully size up a home, either to buy or simply out of curiosity. Here are a few details to pay particular attention to when prepping for an open house:The front door: This is the first spot buyers see. Is the paint chipped? Are the lighting fixtures covered in spiderwebs? The front door could set the tone for the rest of the house on whether this is a well-kept house or one that lacks maintenance, Elizabeth L
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
Using a narrator in your listing video can make a property stand out in the market. It certainly has for a new listing that features Oscar winner and Hollywood powerhouse Michael Douglas. Douglas recently lent his voice to narrate his $32.4 million listing for his home in Spain.Douglas narrates the history of the seven-building estate, called “S’Estaca,” located on the island of Mallorca in Spain. The home was built in the mi
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
If you spot a bird nest near a home, don’t be quick to dismiss it. Nesting birds can cause more damage to your home than you might expect, warns a new article at realtor.com®.By nature, birds want to nest near homes, associating it as a protected location away from predators and extreme temperatures, Dirk Van Vuren, professor of wildlife biology at the University of California, Davis, told realtor.com®.But nesting birds can actually physicall
The kitchen is often considered the centerpiece of a home, so it’s not surprising that it tops most homeowners’ renovation lists. Homeowners are spending more to outfit their kitchens, too. Kitchen remodel spending jumped 27% in the past year, reaching a median of $14,000 on upgrades, according to a newly released Houzz & Home survey of more than 140,000 homeowners.After the kitchen, the next biggest remodeling expenditures are for guest
A recent sharp drop in mortgage rates hasn’t unlocked savings just for those looking to purchase a home—homeowners may also benefit. About 5.9 million borrowers could see their rates drop by at least 75 basis points by refinancing their mortgages, according to Black Knight, a mortgage software and analytics firm. That is up by 2 million in the past month alone.That’s the largest population of eligible borrower candidates in nearly three yea
Homebuilders and many housing analysts have been thinking about the evolving housing needs of the 55-plus age group. The size of the group commands special attention alone: Baby boomers (born between 1946 to 1964) stand at 76 million and are on the brink of a housing change in the coming years. The housing industry wants to be ready.For the first time in U.S. history, older Americans will outnumber children by 2035, according to U.S. Ce
Builders who typically serve the homebuying market are beginning to allocate some of their real estate stock to the rental market, hoping to capitalize on strong rental demand. Toll Brothers is leading the charge, putting $60 million into a build-to-rent venture. The company initially will target Boise, Idaho; Dallas; Denver; Houston; Jacksonville, Fla.; Las Vegas; and Phoenix. “We are investing in the single-family build-to-rent sector,” Tol
Young adults with low incomes or poor credit histories may ask their parents to co-sign on their mortgage—and it’s a growing trend. The share of co-signed mortgages rose nationwide from 13.7% in 2015 to 17.4% in 2018, according to ATTOM Data Solutions.But there are risks to being a co-signer. “Whoever is co-signing has to bring substantial income because they have to be able to afford the new payments on top of all of their other debt,” E
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