Tips - Real Estate, Updates, News & Tips

The Best Housing Markets for Home Flippers

House flipping activity surged to an 11-year high this year, with more than 207,000 homes flipped, according to ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate data firm. But the key is knowing where to be and when. “The sweet spot for successful home flipping is finding the neighborhoods just emerging as the next hot neighborhoods in a city,” says Daren Blomquist, a senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions. The firm says the average profit for a

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3 Pros, 3 Cons of Buying New Construction

Many house hunters are under the mistaken impression that new construction is flawless, a perception that may be challenging to wrestle with if your seller’s home is surrounded by brand-new development. In reality, there can be just as many inspection issues with new builds as there are with resale properties. If you’re working with clients who are interested in purchasing new, it’s important to manage their expectations and let them know

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REALTORS: Protect Your Devices Over Public Wi-Fi

You likely conduct a lot of business from your phone, but when using public Wi-Fi, you may be putting your and your clients’ personal information at risk.As Michael Gargiulo, CEO at VPN.com, notes at Forbes.com, public Wi-Fi is never secure. Hackers will use fake public Wi-Fi networks, along with openly posted Wi-Fi passwords, to break into devices to access that network. The data you send and receive can be intercepted, exploited, and resold.G

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Retirees Preferring Dog Parks Over Golf

Generations of retirees are showing a shift in housing priorities. John Burns Real Estate Consulting recently compared nearly 3,000 registered new-home shoppers born in the 1940s to more than 5,200 new-home shoppers born in the 1950s to uncover some of those shifting trends.For one, younger retirees are showing more preference to live near dog parks. The 1950s generation surveyed rated a dog park as their top retiree amenity, which replaces golf

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What Makes Homeowners Tackle a Remodel

The chief reasons homeowners undergo a remodel are because they desire better and newer amenities or they feel compelled to repair or replace old components in their home, according to the National Association of Home Builders’ Remodeling Market Index. These two reasons have tended to drive most remodels in recent years, but other reasons are growing in popularity among homeowners.Notably, three reasons to remodel are on the upswing: a “desir

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Negotiating Home Fixtures

Before buyers make an offer, they’ll want to be clear on what stays and what goes with the house, as well as what’s up for negotiation.In general, buyers keep anything permanently attached to the house. However, in some markets, there can be a gray area when it comes to appliances and custom-built pieces.“People usually put riders in the contract to lay out who gets what, and a buyer should make sure their attorney helps with this negotiati

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4 Hot Trends for Outdoor Spaces

Regardless of its size, a home's outdoor space should be a showpiece in a listing.“This year it’s really about making your outdoor space function like an interior space for all things fun, lounging, and entertaining,” Gretchen Kennelly, a San Diego interior designer, told realtor.com®.Designers offered up some of their trend insights to realtor.com® for homeowners or sellers trying to maximize a home’s outdoor potential, including:Al

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Why You Should List in the Middle of the Week

If you want to sell a home for the most money, list it on a Wednesday. If you want to sell it in the fastest amount of time, list on a Thursday. These are the findings from a recent Redfin study, which analyzed a sample of 100,000 homes that sold in 2017.Redfin researchers found that homes listed on a Wednesday sold for an average of $2,023 more than homes listed on a Sunday—the worst day of the week to list. They also found that homes listed o

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Twitter Urges Users to Change Passwords Now

Twitter is warning its 336 million users that it has discovered a glitch in the system that stores users’ passwords. The social media giant is urging users to change their passwords immediately, as well as to change their passwords on any other service where they may have used the same one to login.“We have fixed the bug, and our investigation shows no indication of breach or misuse by anyone,” Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s chief technology of

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How to Prevent a Low Appraisal

Many buyers are offering more than the asking price on properties undergoing bidding wars, but when the appraisal reveals the true market value of the home, they may find they’ve agreed to pay too much. Home sales commonly fall through when a property appraises for less than the price the buyer offers; the seller may be unwilling to accept a lower offer, and the buyer may decide the deal isn’t worth it.Appraisal issues are still one of the mo

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