Mortgage rates were down across the board this week, lowering borrowing costs for potential home buyers and refinancers.“After holding steady last week, rates dipped slightly this week,” says Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “The 10-year Treasury yield fell roughly 7 basis points, while the 30-year mortgage rate dropped 4 basis points to 3.90 percent.”Freddie Mac reports the following national averages with mortgage rates f
Meetings with clients should be conversations rather than interrogations. Agents can always be asking open-ended questions to solicit more than a yes or no response. But John Asher, author of Close Deals Faster and CEO of Asher Strategies, has more concrete ways you can train your agents to be tactful interviewers, starting with active listening.Active listening is listening with the intent to understand, as opposed to passive listening, whi
Consumers are less satisfied with mortgage lenders this year, with complaints surfacing of a slow purchase process even though more are using digital mortgage applications that were touted as being faster and easier, according to J.D. Power’s 2017 U.S. Primary Mortgage Origination Study. The study is based on responses from more than 5,800 customers who originated a new loan or refinanced within the past year. Still, some mortgage lenders—li
About 60 percent of first-time home buyers put down 6 percent or less on a home purchase in September. The median down payment has dropped from 6 percent to 5 percent for first-time buyers, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ 2017 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.But there are still many potential buyers on the sidelines who may be under the impression they need a bigger down payment before they can buy.NAR conducted a survey
The share of new homes that are 5,000 square feet or more is dropping. It’s now at its lowest point since 2012, during the Great Recession.The percentage has dropped from 3.9 percent in 2015 to 3.1 percent in 2016. In absolute terms, that’s 28,000 units reduced to 24,000, respectively, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction.In 2015, the share of 5,000-plus–square-foot homes skyrocketed to its highest number since 20
Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index receded from its all-time high set last month, as Americans showed less confidence about buying and selling in October. But the dip may be seasonal, according to Fannie Mae’s chief economist.The index, which measures consumers’ perceptions on the housing market, showed an 8 percentage point decrease month over month on the net share of respondents who said now is a good time to sell; it decreased 6
Senate Republicans released their version of a tax reform bill Thursday, and although it differs from the House’s plan, it calls for the elimination of the deductions for property taxes and other state and local taxes.“While we are still reviewing the outlines of this proposal, we are watching closely for changes to current law that might leave middle-class homeowners—and homeownership broadly—in a worse place than it is today,” NAR Pre
Charles McMillan, CIPS, the 2009 president of the National Association of REALTORS®, whose consensus-building spirit and get-it-done style helped steer NAR through the depths of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, died Wednesday in Ft. Worth, Texas, after complications from congestive heart failure. He was 66.“He had a gentle, yet strong demeanor about him,” said 2018 NAR President Elizabeth Mendenhall. “He was extraor
More households are feeling richer across the country. But in a handful of cities, residents are seeing incomes skyrocket.SmartAsset, a personal finance site, evaluated the cities where incomes are growing the fastest by analyzing median household income data from 2015 and 2016.Tech hubs have seen the biggest jumps in incomes. Five of SmartAsset’s top 10 cities with the fastest-growing incomes are in tech hub areas: Oakland, Calif.; Raleigh, N
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