Category Archives: Financing a Home

[SURVEY] Will Optimism Increase the Nation’s Housing Supply?

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Homes.com recently released the Local Market Index and Rebound Reports indicating that the housing market is steadily recovering from the effects of the great recession.  Additionally, the National Association of Realtors® reported that the U.S. housing market is ‘solidly recovering.’  As home price gains momentum, more homeowners are becoming increasingly comfortable with bringing their homes to the market.  But will an increase in the nation’s housing supply cause these gains be short-lived?

According to an annual survey from Fannie Mae, American confidence in the ability to buy and sell a home ascended sharply due to recent strong home price gains. In fact, the share of respondents who say now is a good time to sell a home reached a record high of 40 percent, compared to 30 percent in April and 16 percent one year ago. Continue reading →

[REPORT] Has Your Local Market ‘Bounced Back?’

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Real estate professionals know better than anyone that the Great Recession significantly effected the real estate industry. So where did the proverbial burst of the “housing bubble” leave your local market? Is it still gasping for air or breathing a sigh of relief? To help you answer this question we have rolled out the red carpet for the release of the Homes.com Rebound Report.Homes.com Top-Bottom-Markets-Rebound-Report-March-2013

What is the Rebound Report?

For most U.S. markets the housing boom of the early 2000’s represented a time of prosperity with increased demand and skyrocketing home values. Soon after came the time that we now know as the housing bust, which consisted of sharp decreases in demand and plummeting home values that contributed to the downward spiral of the nation’s economy. The Homes.com Rebound Report is used to measure the progression of the housing market since this grim time in the real estate industry. Continue reading →

It’s Official: NAR Reports that Housing Market is ‘Solidly Recovering’!

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It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood! Especially when home values are increasing, selling within a month and mortgage rates dropping another half percent. To say the least it’s a good day for buyers, sellers, real estate professionals and mortgage lenders!

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently released their national report on the state of the housing market through April. Homes.com thought you would be excited to know that properties are selling faster and at a higher price while distressed home sales only made up 18 percent of April’s total sales, a dramatic reduction compared to 28 percent of last April’s total sales. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, stated “the housing market recovery is occurring in spite of tight access to credit and limited inventory” and with total sales above year-ago levels for last 22 consecutive months, we couldn’t be more hopeful by this news.

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Ancillary Services Bring Luck to Your Brokerage

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Are you and your agents meeting all of your clients’ needs? A new report analyzes the business models employed by many brokerages that offer ancillary services (also known as  ”home services”) and how they use them. Do these services make sense for your brokerage? This report focused on enterprise brokers, with 500 agents or more, because they usually have a relationship with a mortgage company or insurance company.

The report was given by WAV Group Inc., and can be found in its entirety here.  The term “home services” refers to providing residential, mortgage, and insurance services to the consumer when speaking in conjunction with brokerages. It’s common for these same brokerages to have a settlement service and home warranty service in combination with the home or ancillary services. According to the report, these additional practices will really only benefit the brokerages of significant size because they will be able to “have enough data to profit from the harvesting practices outlined” in the report.

The full report for you shows the best data analytic and business intelligence practices by the largest banks and mortgage companies in the United States.  WAV uses with their examples to show how large real estate brokerages that offer home services can show consumers and other brokerages a more competitive edge as well as be more profitable. See what these ancillary practices can bring to your brokerage; it could be just the luck you need!