Real Estate News

Local Headlines

(Site: RealEstateJournal.com Residential Real Estate News)

• Europe Feels Pinch As Housing Boom Slows
  The real-estate downturn that hit the U.S. is spreading overseas. Home prices in some European markets are falling after a decade of huge increases.

  

  
  
• Reader's Horror Story Is Lesson Learned for Diarist
  After hearing about a reader's costly mistake with a builder, Nancy Keates thinks that perhaps she should exercise more caution in her own teardown project.

  

  
  
• Subprime Mortgages Will Return, But With Some Changes
  Although 'subprime' has become a four-letter word in our collective lexicon, bankers say these types of loans will make a comeback.

  

  
  
• Study Shows Timely Payments On New Mortgages Rise
  More people are managing to pay their home-loan bills on time, reflecting more conservative lending policies.

  

  
  
• In China, the Wealthy Show Off Wealth With Lavish Homes
  The county's 'villa compounds,' gated communities of multimillion-dollar houses, offer a view of what it's like to be rich in a nation that's coming to terms with being communist in name only.

  

  
  
• Is a Bigger Lot Better When Buying a Home?
  A California couple is looking to trade their condo for a house. From a money standpoint, should they opt for a bigger piece of property, but a smaller home, or go for a newer residence that's built on a 'tiny' lot?

  

  
  
• Richard Gere Buys In Schnabel's Building
  The actor has purchased an apartment in New York City. Plus, rental-car billionaire Jack Taylor has bought a Palm Beach, Fla., home, and the price of a Montana ranch owned by the late Liz Claiborne has been cut 12%.

  

  
  

(Site: RealEstateJournal.com Residential Real Estate News)

• Educated Homeowners Surviving Housing Crisis
  If the experts have said it once, they've said it a thousand times, but they can't say it enough.
• Crescent Communities Releases Hottest Home-Building Trends for 2009
  Crescent Communities identified the hottest new home trends expected for 2009 after compiling information from buyers and prospects in all its Charlotte-area luxury communities.
• Real Estate Outlook: Housing in Recovery
  With all the turbulence and losses in stocks and bad economic news in the headlines lately, you can easily lose perspective on what's really going on in the real estate sector.
• Holiday Wish List
  With the holidays just around the corner, you better get busy shopping. Here's a short wish-list of this years must-have gadgets and gizmos for the home. These modern gifts are sure to get your motor running while also enhancing the functionality and livability of your household.
• Greenspan & "The Globally-Integrated Phenomenon"
  How can individual property owners make sense of an economic situation of such global scope and economy-shattering depth that financial experts like Dr. Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the US Federal Reserve System from 1987 to2006, are even driven to say, "I don't know"?
• Making Your Scripts Work
  Let's talk about scripts. I think they have a place in the human experience -- we all use scripts every day, in both our personal and business lives. "Hi, how are you?" is a script, as is "Hi, this is Jennifer Allan with RE/MAX City Horizons; I'd like to set a showing... ." I use essentially the same script every time I go through a purchase contract with a buyer or a listing agreement with a seller. When I finish up a day of showing, I always say "So, that's our show for today - how did we do?"
• Washington Report: Uniform Disclosures Mandated
  It took six years and major controversies with Capitol Hill, but last Thursday HUD published final regulations mandating uniform disclosures for all new home mortgages -- plus tougher rules requiring "good faith estimates" from lenders that accurately reflect the line items on consumers' settlement sheets at the end of a home purchase or refinancing.
• Hot Market: Dallas/Ft. Worth: Where Everything's Big
  Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas Realtors are so up on their market that they even created a web site about it: www.DFWHousingFacts.org. The web site touts all the reasons the 4th largest metropolitan area in the U.S. is a great place to buy in today s economic environment.
• Investor Report: REO Scam Warning
  The nationwide boom in foreclosures and bank-owned real estate (REO) property sales to investors is producing an unpleasant and sometimes dangerous side effect: Growing numbers of confrontations occur when investors visiting supposedly empty properties find them occupied -- and the inhabitants don't want to leave or let anybody in.
• Home Warranty May Come in Handy
  You are about ready to close your real estate transaction on a home; did you consider a home warranty?