Housing Market
Google Joining Amazon in The Home Repair Act
The Tuesday blog update was about Amazon getting into the home repair business (or at least, the business of locating home repair services). It looks like Google wants in on the act, too. Rumors are circulating that the search giant will be augmenting its comparative mortgage and insurance tools with the ability to search for…
Read More8 Year Later, Still No Private Money; Fannie & Freddie Running on Fumes
It’s been eight years since the sub-prime mortgage shutdown in 2007. Overall, the market seems to be doing fairly well, and while the U.S. economy may still not be firing on all cylinders, it’s certainly pointed in the right direction. But this belies a dirty little secret: the mortgage industry is still backed by the…
Read MoreHomeownership vs. Household Formation
Everyone is familiar with the concept of homeownership, but you may be less familiar with the economic indicator, “household formation” — and it’s something to which you should pay attention if you’re not buying or selling right now, but planning to do in the future. As the Wall Street Journal explains, “When the economy stumbles…
Read MoreAngie’s List, Craig’s List, …Amazon?
You never want to ignore when Amazon enters a new business: and they just have. If you’re looking for home repair, or any other general labor, Amazon may be the place you go in the future. Amazon Home Services is their new offering, covering over 700 different categories, and already live in 40 states. The…
Read MoreInterest Rates Staying Low; Rent- Not So Much
With inflation remaining well below their target rate, experts are predicting that this week’s meeting of the Fed will move away from any notion of raising interest rates in June. But while the overall interest rate may be below the point the Fed is targeting, that’s not the case for rent prices. According to the…
Read MoreSpring Housing Market Stifled By Herd Behavior
A healthy housing market, balanced between buyers and sellers, is considered to be one with about 6 months of inventory. Today, there is just a 4.6 month supply, but at the same time, many homes on the market aren’t moving — they’re going stale (where “stale” is considered anything that’s been on the market longer than…
Read MoreLet Your Watch Find Your Next Home
The Apple Watch has been all the news the last few weeks, and it’s unsurprising, given that smart watch sales are expected to grow from 4.6 million units last year to 28.1 million units this year. What does that have to do with real estate, you ask? Yesterday, Trulia announced they now have a version…
Read MoreDid Your Home Come with A Maintenance Checklist?
Of course, the title is kind of a joke — it would be more than a little surprising if it had. But wouldn’t it be nice if it had? “A stitch in time saves nine” is a proverb that homeowners would do well to heed, because those proverbial stitches can become quite costly when we’re…
Read MoreThe Week for Wonks in Mortgage
If you’re the sort of person who loves following the thoughts of a good policy wonk, and you’re interested in the mortgage industry, then this is the big week for you. The annual American Mortgage Conference is taking place this week, in Raleigh, NC. If there were a cabal controlling the mortgage industry, this would…
Read More1/3rd of The Way through Spring: Have You Started Cleaning?
Spring cleaning is a tried-and-true tradition — but that doesn’t make it any more pleasant. We’re already one month past the Vernal Equinox, and if you haven’t yet started your spring cleaning, you’re probably not alone. Thankfully for all of us who dread this annual task, LifeHacker has put together 10 ways to ease the…
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