Pending Home Sales Are Up!

Homes.com

Earlier in the year, the National Association of Realtors predicted that 2012 would be a great year for the real estate industry with projected home sales higher than they’ve been in a long time. Now that the year is in full swing, NAR is reporting that their initial predictions weren’t far off! According to the National Association of Realtors’ latest Pending Home Sales Index, pending sales of existing homes rose to their highest point in two years in March 2012!

Pending home sales jumped a little over 4% between February and March, which is reason to celebrate in itself. The real accomplishment, however, is the 10% increase from 2011! In fact, the last time numbers were even close to this was in April 2010 when the federal homebuyer tax credit was set to expire.
The bottom line is that not only are sales rising but they’re doing so by an extensive margin! In a struggling economy with a delicate housing market, these numbers speak huge volumes of encouragement to real estate professionals.

As an increasing number of people are turning to buy, there’s hasn’t been a better time to join us at Homes.com. Similar to pending home sales, Homes.com’s traffic has also dramatically increased over the past year, with 11 million unique visits per month. With your listings on Homes.com, your pending home sales could possibly be on the rise, too!

Also, with the advent of Homes Connect’s Lead Gator feature, now you’re able to manage all the leads you receive from other real estate websites in one convenient place, your Homes Connect dashboard.

What about you? Are these numbers consistent in your market? Have you seen an uptick in home sales this year?

Mortgage Companies Optimistic about Lending in 2012

Homes.com

It looks like 2012 is shaping up to be a great year for real estate agents!

At the beginning of the month, we told you about the National Association of Realtors’ predictions for home sales. According to NAR, home sales will be at the highest they’ve ever been this year! Continue reading

Homes.com Announces Mortgage Calculator App

Homes.com

Application helps consumers navigate tough financial decisions

NORFOLK, Va., May 5, 2011Homes.com, a division of Dominion Enterprises, announced today the release of its new Mortgage Calculator Application for the iPhone. The Mortgage Calculator app joins Homes.com’s already extensive mobile suite, which includes home search applications for iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Phone 7 and Android users, as well as a mobile website, making Homes.com the first real estate portal to reach consumers on all major mobile platforms.

Homes.com’s Mortgage Calculator app offers a variety of tools to help home buyers and renters searching for their next home. The “Buy or Rent” tool, which calculates the home searcher’s best financial option based on factors like monthly expenses, local market conditions and taxes, is the first of its kind offered in a mobile app designed by a real estate search site.

Other tools on the app include:

  • A debt-to-income calculator that offers feedback on whether now is a good time to buy based on the consumer’s financial circumstances
  • A monthly payment calculator
  • A refinance calculator

Continue reading

New Deadline for tax credit approved by Congress

Homes.com

Homebuyers who were under contract by April 30th and qualified for the original homebuyer tax credit, now have more time to close on their home due to a major backlog of mortgage applications. This amendment does not allow more time for additional homebuyers to qualify for the tax credit, but merely allows more time for those who have already qualified to close.

With this new approval, the closing deadline for the home buyer tax credit has been extended from June 30th to September 30, 2010. According to Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the extension will allow lenders to clear a backlog of 180,000 homebuyers nationwide. Continue reading

Increase Your Income

In real estate appraisal terms such as, the “highest and best use” of a property is how that property would be used most efficiently or profitably. In the same way, the highest and best use of your time as a real estate professional means making the most of those events that lead most directly to sales, referrals and repeat business. Continue reading