Amazon is partnering with homebuilders to bring its Alexa voice assistant to more new housing units as a standard smart-home feature. The online retailer recently announced it has partnered with Plant Prefab, a California-based company that uses sustainable materials to build prefabricated single-family and multifamily homes. The move comes after Amazon introduced more than a dozen Alexa-controlled smart-home devices, including a microwave oven a
Loud music, voices, and parties are the most annoying disturbances that make homeowners complain about their neighbors, according to a new survey conducted by home improvement website Improvenet.com. The site surveyed 2,500 consumers from 24 of the nation’s largest cities to find what they call the most offensive traits in their neighbors. Overall, the most annoying neighbors can be found in Dallas; Miami; Austin, Texas; Philadelphia; and Los A
Users of short-term rental sites such as Airbnb and VRBO who book accommodations directly with property owners in New Jersey must pay a 5 percent tax—unless they, instead, use a real estate agent to complete the transaction.The loophole in the state’s occupancy tax could be a boon for practitioners but also may cause headaches for homeowners who advertise short-term rentals. “Since 50 percent of bookings are direct by owner, it’s going to
Some markets are beginning to feel the relief of more for-sale inventory, but others are seeing the number of listings further shrink. And where inventory continues to be constrained, home prices are accelerating, bidding wars are erupting, and buyers are finding fewer choices than ever before. “Competition [for homes] has virtually doubled over the past five years,” says Javier Vivas, director of economic research at realtor.com®.Realtor.co
More would-be buyers are being forced to continue renting as rising home prices push them out of the market, which, in turn, is heating up rental demand and prompting landlords to raise rents. The growth rate in rents had been slowing for the past three years because builders focused on adding more rental inventory. But the shortage in for-sale inventory is reversing the trend; in the third quarter of the year, rents rose 2.9 percent compared to
High-income millennials are the force behind a nearly 10 percent decrease in the amount of time homes spend on the market in the most popular areas of the country, according to a new realtor.com® report. Young adults are driving demand for homes in smaller, more suburban locales, and realtor.com® pinpointed the following as the hottest ZIP codes: Kentwood, Mich. (49508); Peabody, Mass. (01960); Boise, Idaho (83704); Rochester, N.Y. (14624); and
Low rental vacancies nationwide, coupled with continued strong demand for single-family rental properties, could prompt landlords to increase rents even more. But housing analysts caution that further rent hikes could overburden tenants, many of whom already are struggling to stay afloat financially as housing costs rise.The nation’s largest landlords of single-family rentals, Invitation Homes and Tricon American Homes, say their occupancy rate
The frenzy of the summer real estate market has cooled by the seemingly very same breeze sweeping leaves off the trees across much of the country. But now may be a better time than ever for your buyer clients to do their house hunting.According to RealtyTrac and realtor.com®, October is the best time to snag a deal on a house. RealtyTrac analyzed more than 32 million sales of single-family homes and condos between 2000 and 2015, finding that t
Mortgage rates surged to their highest averages since 2011 following the Federal Reserve’s announcement Wednesday that it is raising its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage jumped to 4.72 percent, up from 4.65 percent last week.“The robust economy, rising Treasury yields, and the anticipation of more short-term rate hikes caused mortgage rates to move up,” says Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater.
The Internal Revenue Service is working on guidance that would clarify the deductibility of expenses for client meals under the new tax law, The Wall Street Journal reports. According to the report, this guidance is expected to say that the cost of business meals will be 50 percent deductible, even when those meals are purchased at events defined as entertainment, such as ballgames, as long as the cost of the food is documented separately fr
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