Realtor News

ATTOM: Only 2.7% of single-family homes and condos in 1Q were considered a house flip down from 4.8% during 4Q 2020 and from 7.5% year-to-year.

REIT magazine interviews: Five economists generally agree that commercial real estate is recovering from pandemic shutdowns, though that will vary by sector and geography. Still, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and the U.S. will recover faster than the rest of the world.

Airbnb wants to “send a strong message” that helps keep people in homes and won’t accept new short-term rentals if told a tenant was evicted for nonpayment of rent.

A divorce decree that awards the house to one spouse is akin to a set of instructions – and difficult situations can arise if those steps aren’t completed.

When considering loan applications, lenders can’t consider maternity leave without violating a Fair Housing Act protected class. But complaints suggest some do anyway.

If a home in a 100-year flood zone was submerged five years ago, it’s not necessarily safe for 95 years. Each year it has a 1% chance of flooding, regardless of history.

Inflation hasn’t pushed mortgage rates higher because the market believes it’s only temporary, says Freddie Mac chief economist.

The downside to Zoom calls? Hundreds of people see your home – and how well you clean. While 73% clean more, 18% feel “house shame” and use virtual backgrounds.

Lee County tops NAR’s list of U.S. counties for the highest increase in vacation home sales, with Collier County also making the top 10 list. In 2020, vacation home sales were 5.5% of total existing-home sales; in 2019, they were 5%. Vacation home median prices were up 14.2%.

Calling the current housing shortage “dire, with a chronic shortage of affordable” homes, NAR suggests steps to take but warns it requires a “major national commitment.”

On the one hand, it shows a home is pet friendly and great for families. It also draws in more homebuyers. On the other hand, it could suggest pet odor problems.

CoreLogic: The cost to rent a single-family home rose 5.31% year-to-year in April, up from 2.4% one year earlier. Detached homes rose 7.9%; attached homes rose 2.2%.

May survey: In Cape Coral, 75% of sellers had a bidding war, as did over 50% of sellers in other big Fla. metros. Only Jacksonville, at 34%, had more non-bidding sales.

Builders added more homes last month, but the increase isn’t enough to keep up with demand. And in the face of rising lumber prices, new building permits were down 3%.

NAHB chairman says supply-chain problems, like lumber, created production problems that forced some buyers out of the market when they could no longer afford a new home.

Several companies say meeting participants can be 3-D holograms of remote workers, a close replication of in-person meetings – but no one-on-ones by the water cooler.

A bubble, by definition, pops and prices plummet. Look at buyer demand. Look at homeowner equity. Prices could stop going up for a bit – but it’s not a bubble.

Doc stamp money in Fla.’s affordable housing trust funds should be used for affordable housing, but the Florida Legislature often “sweeps” it into general revenue. A constitutional amendment proposed by Florida Realtors would change that and secure ongoing support for housing in Fla.

When will interest rates go up? The Federal Reserve might weigh in, but it still says that inflation is a temporary problem caused by supply-chain bottlenecks.

In addition to a wave of new Fla. residents, many buyers find themselves “forced to rent,” many month-to-month, because they haven’t successfully found a home to buy.