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Real Estate & Homes
Forget Lowballing: Bidding Wars Return in Hot Housing Markets
Are buyers being manipulated into overbidding for the relatively few attractive homes on the market?
Housing Prices Jump Again…and Wall Street May Be Playing a Role
If journalists were allowed to bet (we’re not) it would have been easy to call today’s S&P/Case-Shiller housing price data. After jumps of 6.8% two months ago (reflecting December year-over-year sales) and 8.1% last month …
Code Police! 6 Things That May Surprisingly Be Banned in Your Front Yard
Just because it’s your property doesn’t mean you can do anything you’d like with it. Towns and residential communities ban all sorts of things from appearing in front yards, and by most accounts, enforcement of the rules is picking up.
More Young Couples Commit — To Homeownership Before Marriage
First comes love, then comes … mortgage? A new study indicates that young couples in committed relationships have been far more likely than older generations to purchase homes before getting married.
Home Price Gains Continue Increasing Nationwide
Citing “steady employment and low borrowing rates” as well as inventories that have fallen “to their lowest post-recession levels,” the S&P Dow Jones Indices released Case-Shiller housing data that showed home prices jumping 8.1% from the previous year. When charted, the data looks like it’s been hit with a booster rocket, with the past …
The Bigger Box Store: Home Improvement Stores That Are Double the Size of Home Depot
The average grocery store in the U.S. measures under 50,000 square feet. Home Depots average about 100,000 square feet, and the typical Costco or Walmart Supercenter—generally considered the biggest of all big box …
If There’s No Inflation, Why Are Prices Up So Much?
Many of the costs faced by typical American households are rising faster than the official inflation statistics indicate.
North America Gets Its First Sustainable ‘Active Home’ — And It’s in the American Heartland
Over the weekend, an open house was held in the suburbs of St. Louis, Mo. OK, there were lots of open houses over the weekend in the region. But one in particular stood out, for it featured the first “active home” in North America.
Will Reform of Fannie and Freddie Kill the 30-Year Mortgage?
The sequester is all anybody wants to talk about. I get it: It’s the hip new crisis sweeping Washington. But remember Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? You know, the once quasi-independent housing giants whose takeover by the federal government has cost taxpayers upwards of $190 billion thus far? Well, Fannie and Freddie are still owned by the …
Selling Your House? Choose Your Words Carefully
Certain phrases pop up again and again in real estate listings, and these keywords offer a good indication of the prices a property will command. A listing promising a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” for instance, has an …
What Happens When the Fed Really Does Run Out of Ammunition?
The Fed has no good choices. If easy money ends, the economy will slow even more. But continuing the policy risks inflation