Realtor News

Planned changes by the Fed will likely push mortgage rates higher – but refis will dry up, and lenders may still offer deals as they compete for homebuyers’ loans.

Refreshing old brick exteriors with paint gives a listing a new, clean look. But what if the current trend fades? Removing paint later is close to impossible.

In Walton County, commissioners shut down beaches during the pandemic, including private ones. Homeowners sued claiming they deserve compensation, but a judge said no.

Recently aware that some communities have historically been one race or another, an increased number of buyers are adding “racially diverse neighborhood” to their list of must-haves. But that doesn’t always help lower-income neighborhoods if it causes gentrification and rising home prices.

Fla. isn’t seeing a lot of new record-high temperatures during the day, but a tracking of overnight lows in Central Florida found 807 record highs from 2015 to 2020.

Biophilic design attempts to bring a suburban atmosphere into urban cores. The main tool? Plants – and lots of them, often incorporated into a building’s design.

14% of millennials would use home equity for a vacation compared to 3% of boomers. But 64% of boomers would tap it for home improvements, compared to 49% of millennials.

NAR and others held a meeting and pushed for Congress to keep housing dollars in the massive infrastructure project, saying it “must stay in the reconciliation package.”

Florida Realtors’ data: Median prices up 18.3% for single-family homes to $355,000 year-to-year; up 17.2% to $255,000 for condos. Single-family home sales down 1.3% year-over-year; condo sales up 4.9%. However, Sept. 2020 saw a huge sales surge because the pandemic shifted transactions into summer and fall, says Chief Economist O’Connor.

While the inventory of for-sale homes is down 13% year-to-year, NAR Economist Yun credits a boost in supply for the increase, and buyers’ fears of rising interest rates.

How many new homes are being built? A study looked at building permits and year-to-year increases as of June. Out of all U.S. cities, 10 Fla. metros are in the top 20.

The average for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage moved notably higher this week. Freddie Mac economist blames “the trajectory of both the economy and the pandemic.”

FHFA announced this week that remote appraisals for conventional loans – a temporary pandemic-era change – will become a permanent option starting in 2022.

The contest to recognize Realtors who serve their communities selects 5 Realtors each year. In 2021, Christina Sauger was honored for her work feeding those in need.

Rising lumber costs pushed new-home prices higher and higher. While that supply-chain problem is easing, however, other building materials are still in short supply, even as builders face a labor shortage and high buyer demand. The bottom line: New-home costs won’t plateau anytime soon.

Over the past 7 quarters, Tampa-St. Pete had the nation’s second-highest rent increases (23.7%), with Jacksonville No. 3 (up 23%) and Broward County No. 9 (19.5%).

Halloween topics, like trick-or-treating safety tips, can boost posts but even a consistent fall theme can increase engagement and create a feeling of mutual celebration.

The magazine’s 2021 list ranks Fla. metros in the top four spots– Sarasota, Naples, Daytona Beach and Melbourne – but 7 other Fla. metros also made it into the top 20.

Starts dropped 1.6% overall, but single-family changed little with multifamily down 5%. Year-to-date, however, single-family starts are up 20.5% compared to last year.

The company that created realtor.com’s flood risk tab released a report by city and county. Fla. and Louisiana are top-risk states – but so are Kentucky and W. Virginia.