Realtor News

A study released during an NAR virtual Fair Housing event finds new scoring models open doors and boost minority homeownership. Older credit-score models “raised the cost to borrow while limiting access … for minority populations and rural communities,” says NAR President Oppler.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon calls robust consumer savings and a $2T infrastructure plan the economic “Goldilocks scenario” for fast and sustained growth into 2023.

Realtor membership fluctuates year-to-year and even week-to-week, but NAR’s membership report on March 31 finds 5,118 more Realtors in Fla. than in No. 2 Calif.

Buyers are moving to smaller cities and more affordable states: renters are buying or moving out of the city. The demographic changes will impact more than real estate.

Of the Fla. cities and counties allocated funds for fighting homelessness, Miami-Dade County tops the list with $17.6M, followed by Broward with $14M.

While brokers should still strive to make websites accessible for disabled users, an appeals court ruling suggests that until wording of the current law is changed, websites are not places of public accommodation. The issue remains fluid, but it may bring relief to brokers facing ADA website accessibility lawsuits.

The Legislature permanently cut affordable housing trust funds 50%, up from the 66% initially proposed. Florida Realtors will advocate for more during budget reconciliation.

The 30-year mortgage rate dropped to 3.13% this week from 3.18% last week; it was 3.33% a year ago. High prices and limited supplies continue to impact buyers.

MBA: Mortgage credit availability has hit its lowest level since 2014. In 4Q 2020, the median credit score for approved mortgages was 786.

The best marketing tactic to pull in potential customers is not to seem as if you’re marketing to them at all. Start by making it sound like education.

CBRE study: Miami metro area saw a 49.4% gain in San Francisco transplants from 1,190 moves in 2019 to 1,778 in 2020, in part due to the ability to work remotely.

Florida Realtors economists: If the home is great but the traffic in the surrounding area is not, the deal might fall through. But a cool traffic tool can empower you to know if traffic in that home’s neighborhood will get the “green light.”

Also: A board member also owns a home watch business and provides home watch services to many of the building’s units. Is that a conflict of interest?

For many homebuyers, property insurance is a detail, a box to be checked off on the way to closing. But details are important and missteps can be expensive.

Higher interest rates help investors, but it’s a big unknown for developers. People are rushing to sweeping conclusions, and “We don’t know which way it’s going to go.”

D.R. Horton sold an entire subdivision of single-family homes to online investor Fundrise LLC, as more yield-chasing investors buy homes to rent out or flip.

It may be possible to buy a home without the help of a Realtor – but it’s hard to see how given today’s multiple bid competitions for a limited number of homes.

States will get almost $700M in federal grants this year, a special program for low-income housing. It’s more than double the amount HUD sent out last year.

After warning mortgage servicers not to repeat their Great Recession mistakes, the consumer bureau proposed actual rules to prohibit starting foreclosures before Dec. 31, 2021, with a few possible exceptions – such as proof that they’ve unsuccessfully tried to contact unresponsive owners.

82% of Realtor buyers’ agents say staging helps buyers visualize a property; and 7 out of 10 agents say the pandemic added value to photos, videos and virtual tours.