Mortgage fraud climbed 12.4 percent year over year in the second quarter of 2018, and about one out of every 109 mortgage applications has been found to contain false or misleading information, according to real estate data firm CoreLogic. “Because home prices are rising and demand is strong, most mortgage fraud in this type of market is motivated by bona fide borrowers trying to qualify for a mortgage,” says Bridget Berg, CoreLogic’s prin
Capital cities tend to have the strongest economies in their respective states, as well as a rich history and broader cultural offerings, according to a new study by personal finance website SmartAsset. But many state capitals also tend to have less affordable housing options. SmartAsset sought to pinpoint the most livable capital cities in the U.S., comparing them based on residents’ discretionary income, unemployment rates, dining and enterta
Builders are being forced to raise home prices and are having a more difficult time meeting project deadlines because of the ongoing labor shortage in the construction industry, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. Eighty-four percent of builders say they have had to pay higher wages to subcontractor bids, 83 percent say they have had to raise home prices, and 73 percent say they can't co
Some home sellers are looking for a good, reliable home stager that can magically transform their listings into the price point their hoping to achieve. The trouble and confusion sometimes come when the real estate professional asks a few home stagers to “bid” or present a proposal on their vacant home.BEFORE AFTERPhoto credit: HSR Certified Helen Bartlett of Refined Interior Staging Solutions in Kansas CityThe vacant staging proposal
A strong job market and consumer credit are driving up mortgage rates for the third consecutive week and now to their highest level in six weeks. Mortgage rates are 0.82 percent higher than a year ago—the largest year-over-year increase since May 2014, Freddie Mac reports.Despite the higher rates, Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, expects buyer demand to remain high. “This spectacular stretch of solid job gains and low unemployment
What would you be willing to do in order to keep a real estate transaction from falling through? Would you literally put your life on the line to save a deal?Ask any agent or broker, and the answer likely will be an easy “no.” But according to real estate safety instructor Cheryl Knowlton, president of Elite Edge Real Estate Training, practitioners most commonly cite fear of losing the deal as the reason they don’t follow safety protocols o
More lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender couples are purchasing homes since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to legalize same-sex marriage more than three years ago, according to the second annual LGBT Real Estate Report produced by the National Association of Gay and Lesbian Real Estate Professionals. Nearly 50 percent of NAGLREP members reported an increase in married LGBT couples buying homes. Further, 41 percent of the real estate professio
Hurricane Florence is churning off the East Coast, threatening to slam the Carolinas and Virginia with high winds and catastrophic flooding as early as Thursday afternoon. More than 10 million people in the storm’s path have been ordered to evacuate. Meteorologists predict the eye of the hurricane to come ashore Friday afternoon near the North Carolina-South Carolina border.Nearly 759,000 homes are in the storm’s path, and hurricane winds and
Rental fraud is growing, costing landlords thousands, a new survey from Forrester Consulting and TransUnion finds. The majority of property management companies recently surveyed say they’ve been affected by rental fraud, but they lack the resources to combat it.“Working closely with property management companies for the last few decades, it was apparent to us that the prevalence of fraud was rising in the rental industry,” says Mike Doher
The first step buyers most often take in their home shopping pursuit is to check up on financing and to make sure they can even afford a home, according to a new survey of 1,000 recent buyers. The survey was commissioned by loanDepot and mellohome, a real estate services provider. The majority of these customers—nearly 74 percent—sought financing first in their home buying journey before looking at homes. For first-time buyers, that percenta
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