Top 5 REALTOR® Updates | Week of August 17th
Check out these fives real estate updates to help you stay in-the-know with the latest happenings in our industry.
1. Realtor.com®: The 10 Hottest ZIP Codes (Centennial, Colorado is #3!)
The ZIP codes 02176 (Melrose, Mass.) and 43085 (Worthington, Ohio) are the hottest ZIP codes in the nation, topping a new list released by realtor.com®. Realtor.com® took a look at the ZIP codes where housing markets are booming the most, basing its rankings on how quickly properties are selling and how frequently homes are viewed in each ZIP code. "Each locale on this list is emblematic of the key trends driving housing this year – healthy local economics, job opportunities, and affordability," says Jonathan Smoke, realtor.com®'s chief economist. Read More...
2. View the Top Home Features By State
Realtor.com® researchers recently analyzed 1.5 million active single-family listings to compile a list of more than 200 individual home features from the listing descriptions. They narrowed down a list of the top five features for each state and then selected one with the most "local flavor." The analysis found that wet bars are particularly popular in Kansas, a state known for having one of the strictest alcohol laws in the country. Seven percent of the active listings currently list a wet bar. Read More...
3.TRID Guide Aims to Ensure On-Time Closings
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has published a new guide for real estate agents detailing all the changes with the upcoming "Know Before You Owe" mortgage initiative, which goes into effect Oct. 3. The guide aims to help ensure "smooth and on-time closings" when the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule are implemented. The new mortgage rules are expected to have sweeping changes across the industry by merging the HUD-1 Settlement Statement, the Good Faith Estimate, and the Truth-in-Lending disclosure form into two new closing forms: a Loan Estimate and a Closing Disclosure. Read More...
4. Building New Brings Longer Waits
The average completion time of a single-family home is about seven months, according to the 2014 Survey of Construction from the Census Bureau. That includes around 25 days from authorization to start and then another six months to finish the construction. The average build time of single-family homes built for sale and built for rent has grown by one month longer in the latest data from 2014, compared to a prior 2012 analysis. Homes constructed for sale took the shortest time to complete at six months, while homes built by owners averaged the longest time at 11.5 months. Homes built for rent averaged between nine and 10 months to completion. Read More...
5. 56% of Agents Call Open Houses 'Pointless'
Open houses are a polarizing topic in the real estate industry when it comes to judging their effectiveness. Fifty-six percent of real estate professionals recently surveyed by RISMedia called open houses "pointless," while 44 percent said they were "powerful" in the marketing of a home. Regardless, nearly 72 percent of agents claimed to host one to six open houses per month. Yet, nearly a quarter of agents said they avoid open houses completely. Real estate professionals said the main reason for holding an open house is because their clients expect it. Thirty-five percent of agents said that their sellers "frequently" want to include open houses in marketing plans, while 41 percent say sellers only "sometimes" expect open houses. Read More...
