The mortgage industry loves jargon and it can quickly confuse a real estate professional and all the moreso a borrower. The Fannie Mae Sellers Guide alone has 91 different acronyms and abbreviations.The National Mortgage News recently offered up a few of the most common acronyms buyers and professionals should know while going through the homebuying process.DTI: Debt to income Underwriters turn to this ratio to determine if a borrower can financi
California homeowners and neighborhood groups are filing lawsuits against the state's major cities, demanding they roll back some of their zoning restrictions to make way for more housing development. While the nation's most populous state, California ranks 49th in the number of housing units per capita — beating only Utah — and has the second-highest rate of overcrowding after Hawaii. Officials say the state's housing supply is so low that i
As society operates more and more online, handwritten notes are becoming a rarity — which is why sending one to your clients could help you stand out from your competition."A thank-you note can stand out from the seemingly dull and impersonal style of digital communications, such as emails and texts," Keller Williams Realty notes on its blog. "With mailing lists and newsletters coming at your clients from nearly every business they visit, a tha
The time it has taken for homes to sell nationwide in January has decreased at a rate of 4 percent compared to a year ago, despite record-high housing prices, according to realtor.com®'s latest housing report."We saw evidence of a stronger-than-normal off season starting last September and October due to pent-up demand and surging interest from first-time buyers," says realtor.com® chief economist Jonathan Smoke. "The downside to this strong of
What are the key traits you need to make a stellar impression when networking? Ivan Misner, founder of Business Network International, recently surveyed 3,400 business professionals across the globe to find out the characteristics they like to see in a great networker. Good listener: 61% Positive attitude: 56% Helps others/collaborative: 52% Sincere/authentic: 52% Follows up: 52% Trustworthy: 48% Approachable: 32%"Success in networking depends on
Anyone buying a property wants to get the best price. A smart offer can not only help successfully close the deal, but it can also earn you the gratitude and loyalty of your clients by saving them thousands of dollars, both upfront and over the life of a mortgage.Here are five tips to put your home buyer in a better negotiating position:1. Explain how to read the market.2017 is likely to remain a seller’s market for the most part, though buyers
Do you have the “it” factor to move your real estate business? Travis Bradberry, author of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 and co-founder of TalentSmart, recently highlighted at Forbes.com some of the qualities that make people more fascinating to others.Here are some characteristics you may want to focus more on projecting so that others will find you more engaging:1. Demonstrate passion. “Interesting people don’t just have interests; they ha
An average of 10 percent of brokerages’ online profiles are inaccurate or outdated, according to an audit by the WAV Group, a real estate consulting firm. And the slower winter months are the perfect time to do a digital clean up.Start by identifying all your business's online profiles, whether they are on your own website, Realtor.com, Facebook, Homes.com, Zillow, etc. Then collect the necessary information to update those profiles. This could
About a quarter of first-time home buyers surveyed by realtor.com® in December said the top delay in buying was a lack of funds for a down payment. However, many first-time buyers don’t necessarily need a 20 percent down payment to move forward on a home purchase.In fact, the average down payment is 11 percent, according to realtor.com®’s research of loan record data from Optimal Blue. On an average purchased house in 2016 at $290,000, that
Have you heard from clients who want to delay listing their home until the season begins? Because sales and prices tend to peak in the spring and summer, it's a common request in many markets.However, this year is different. Jonathan Smoke, realtor.com®’s chief economist, stresses in his latest column that the conventional wisdom isn't correct this winter.Here’s why: At the beginning of 2017, inventory levels plunged to multiyear lows. Selle
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