May, 2023

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New Single-Family Home Size Trending Lower

Eyes on Housing

An expected impact of the virus crisis is a need for more residential space, as people use homes for more purposes including work. Home size correspondingly increased in 2021 as interest rates reached historic lows. However, as interest rates increased in 2022, and housing affordability worsened, the demand for home size has trended lower. According to first quarter 2023 data.

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How to answer buyers’ top 10 most-asked mortgage questions

Inman

Agents should be prepared to answer their buyer's mortgage questions, including types of mortgages, lender guidelines, preapproval vs. prequalification and the closing process in the area.

Buyers 192
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Green Appraisals Dependent on Agents

National Association of Realtors

Proper documentation can help appraisers evaluate high-performance home features. From the 2023 REALTORS® Legislative Meetings in Washington, D.C.

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Housing Market Tracker: Mortgage rates over 7%

Housing Wire

Debt-ceiling drama pushed bond yields up last week, taking mortgage rates to a new 2023 high in the middle of the spring home-selling season. Active housing inventory , thankfully, saw some decent growth last week. Purchase application data had a second straight week of declines. Here’s a quick rundown of the last week: Active inventory grew 8,914 week to week, even though new listing data is still trending at all-time lows in 2023.

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These Are The Top 20 Up-And-Coming Real Estate Markets This Spring

BiggerPockets

The latest data from the Emerging Housing Markets Index is out. Here are the markets that made the top 20 list.

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Watch out — the industry’s mind-boggling transformation isn’t over

Real Estate News

Don’t let this transformative moment intimidate you. Industry experts Stefan Swanepoel and Jack Miller of T3 Sixty say it’s an opportunity built on history.

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More Trending

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5 things agents should look for in a real estate photographer

Inman

It can be hard to know which type of photographer will show up at your property. Here are some best practices to ensure your listing (and your client) are set up for success.

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Valuing Market-Resistant Properties

National Association of Realtors

Real estate professionals need to consider both the complexities of the market and the different valuation methods when measuring the effect of a harmful property condition or stigma.

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Is the savagely unhealthy housing market back?

Housing Wire

Just when I thought days on market were returning to normal, that number for existing homes fell back down to 22 days. Why is this so important to me? If the days on the market are at a teenager level or even lower, it’s never a good sign for the housing market. I would say it’s savagely unhealthy to have that level and even though we’re not there yet, we are dangerously close.

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A U.S. Default Could Be Catastrophic For Real Estate Investors—Here’s What You Need To Know

BiggerPockets

The looming debt ceiling is worrisome, as the economic implications that follow a possible default are unprecedented and could be catastrophic for all sectors, including real estate. Here's what you need to know.

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Why RE/MAX's CEO isn’t worried about the market (but hates a cluttered inbox)

Real Estate News

President and CEO Nick Bailey — a 30-year industry veteran — takes a long-term perspective on real estate, and he already sees positive shifts.

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Inflation Falls Below 5% For First Time in Two Years

Eyes on Housing

Consumer prices in April saw the smallest year-over-year gain since April 2021. This marked the tenth consecutive month of deceleration and the first time the rate has fallen below 5% in two years. While the shelter index (housing inflation) experienced its smallest monthly gain since January 2022, it continued to be the largest contributor to the total increase, accounting for.

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Opendoor CEO Carrie Wheeler on Q1 earnings and the iBuyer’s future

Inman

The chief executive of the largest iBuyer spoke to Inman about Opendoor's first-quarter earnings on Thursday — and expectations that the company is turning a corner after a rough 2022.

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Lamacchia Realty Announces Top Producing REALTORS® for April 2023

Lamacchia Realty

Lamacchia Realty, Inc. has released its “Top Producing REALTORS®,” for April 2023! This program recognizes the Top 10 REALTORS® by company and the Top 3 or 5 REALTORS® by office with the highest transaction numbers or sales for the month! April 2023 Winners of the Top 10 for the Company are: Kyle Denlinger joined Lamacchia Realty part-time in 2021, and officially switched to real estate full-time in the beginning of 2022.

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CPI report is good news for mortgage rates

Housing Wire

The massive inflation and double-digit mortgage rates of the 1970s and early 1980s seem to haunt the Federal Reserve , which wants to cool the economy and even provoke a job-loss recession to avoid that scenario. But the latest Consumer Price Index inflation report shows how the fear of 1970s-style inflation is wildly overblown. Today’s numbers don’t look like the 1970s at all, when rent, wages, and oil shocks sent inflation running hotter than anything we have seen in recent modern-day hi

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REITs vs. Stocks: Is There Any Diversification Benefit At All?

BiggerPockets

If you're exploring diversification options, it's crucial to note that this investment might not be as sensible as initially thought. Here's the truth about this trendy investment.

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The 'catastrophic' impact of a debt default on housing costs

Real Estate News

The U.S. has never defaulted on its debt, but without government action, it could happen by June 1 — leading to a surge in mortgage rates and monthly costs.

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Improved Affordability Expectations Lead to More Engaged Buyers

Eyes on Housing

Improvements in affordability expectations have led to an increase in the share of prospective buyers who have moved beyond just the planning phase of their home search: 56% report being actively engaged in the purchase process in the first quarter of 2023, up from 46% a quarter earlier. The share of prospective buyers actively searching for a home rose in.

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Sisu claims transaction revolution is underway with portal 2.0 update

Inman

Sisu, a proptech that combines sales cycle and workflow automation with performance tracking technology, said Client Portal 2.0 aims to refine how agent teams interact with critical vendors.

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William Mahoney Named Lamacchia Realty’s Employee of the Month – April 2023

Lamacchia Realty

Behind the incredible REALTORS® of Lamacchia Realty is a team of over 75 staff members that work tirelessly to support, propel, and operate the independently owned brokerage. Each and every staff member plays an integral role in the continued success of the quickly growing company. Lamacchia Realty views its staff members in the highest regard, fostering the values the full service, value-based brokerage prides itself on.

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Housing Market Tracker: A wild week for rates

Housing Wire

It was a wild ride for the housing market last week! The 10-year yield rose noticeably, sending mortgage rates near 7% right in the heart of the spring selling season. New listings data fell, however, active inventory grew. And purchase apps had a weekly negative print, continuing the 2023 theme of higher rates impacting the data. Here’s a quick rundown of the last week: Total active listings grew by 3,809 weekly, but new listings are still trending at all-time lows.

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10 Landlord-Tenant Laws Every Landlord Should Know

BiggerPockets

Landlord-tenant laws can be complicated and have a lot of grey areas. This article lists out 10 critical laws you must know before renting out property.

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Newly built homes a hot commodity for spring buyers

Real Estate News

As existing home listings have fallen, the inventory of new homes has increased — and prices have dropped — making them an attractive option.

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Homeownership Rate Unchanged at 66%

Eyes on Housing

The Census Bureau’s Housing Vacancy Survey (CPS/HVS) reported the U.S. homeownership rate at 66% in the first quarter of 2023, amid persistently tight housing supply. The homeownership rate remained statistically unchanged from the fourth quarter reading (65.9%). It is 0.6 percentage points higher than the rate in the first quarter of 2022. Compared to the peak of 69.

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Mosaik is peak client experience, the ideal agent productivity solution: Tech Review

Inman

Mosaik is an operating system for the client experience, handling listings, tasks, transactions and relationships for real estate agents and teams.

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Housing Market Tracker: Spring inventory falls

Housing Wire

Just when I thought it was safe to say we were getting more traditional spring housing inventory , we hit a snag last week, as active inventory and new listings declined. Hopefully, this is just a blip, which can occur from time to time with weekly data. We had a lot of drama over the week between Federal Reserve meetings and banking stress, and mortgage rates and purchase applications both fell.

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Jobs data shows the labor market is normalizing

Housing Wire

Is the labor market finally normalizing? Jobs Friday data came in as a beat of estimates, but the labor market is clearly starting to come back to earth, killing the fear of 1970s wage spiral inflation. We’ve had a good week’s worth of data to show that the Federal Reserve is starting to get what it wants if you know where to look. The headline jobs data beat estimates, but we did have 149,000 negative revisions to the previous month’s data.

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Is the spring housing market about to rebound?

Housing Wire

In my last market outlook for HousingWire, published in January , I offered two predictions for the early 2023 retail housing market based on forward-looking Auction.com bidding behavior from the fourth quarter of 2022: A home price correction nationwide and in the majority of major markets Home sales volume bottoming out While both predictions have played out in large part (more on that below), bidder behavior on Auction.com in the first quarter turned a sharp corner, indicating a robust reboun

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The 2023 housing market is at odds with itself

Housing Wire

A paradoxical picture is emerging as the spring market is underway. On the one hand, elevated mortgage rates continue to erode buyers’ purchasing power, and in some markets, home prices are falling. On the other hand, inventory is still low, and homes are still selling fast, often with multiple offers. All major housing market metrics point to a restrained housing market.

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Incoming data will dictate future mortgage rate shifts, experts say

Housing Wire

The Federal Reserve affirmed on Wednesday that its next key federal funds rate hikes will depend on incoming data. In turn, economists and housing industry experts have now turned their attention toward the June meeting, as that decision will dictate the future movement of mortgage rates. The Fed’s move on Wednesday was well anticipated and should not cause a major shift in mortgage and other interest rates, experts noted.

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Home prices accelerated in March even as mortgage rates climbed

Housing Wire

Low housing inventory and still-strong demand kept prices high in March, according to the latest according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index , released Tuesday. The annual growth rate in March 2023 was up 0.7%. On a month-over-month basis, the index was up 1.3% before seasonal adjustment. This was the second month-over-month increase following seven consecutive month-over-month decreases.

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NewRez now offers Freddie Mac’s revamped downpayment assistance program

Housing Wire

Mortgage lender and servicer NewRez on Monday launched a special purpose credit program through Freddie Mac that will provide $3,000 or more in closing cost assistance to qualifying first-time homebuyers. Freddie Mac’s BorrowSmart Access program will be available to NewRez borrowers through Caliber Home Loans ‘ national network of branches.

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DataDigest: The remarkably resilient agent commission rate

Housing Wire

On Friday afternoon, my real estate agent called with good news. “Congratulations!” she said. “You just sold your house.” The agent wished me well and said that she would appreciate a review on her website. And that was that! A little backstory: The four-bed, 1.5 bath house in the Poconos showed well and I priced it very competitively – at $269,000.

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Opinion: Setting the record straight on mortgage pricing

Housing Wire

Recently, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) issued a statement clarifying the agency’s rationale for changes to loan level pricing adjustment (LLPA) fees going into effect on May 1. The changes have created some controversy due to the fact that better credit quality borrowers will experience higher fees after May 1 than under the current LLPA grids and vice versa for lower credit quality borrowers.

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