Here, you’ll find helpful articles and other resources that cover issues related to the real estate market: buying, selling, financing, refinancing, credit and debt, insurance, second homes, vacation homes, real estate investment, new construction, and renovation.
Coronavirus 2020: Home Buying, Selling and the Real Estate Market
Coronavirus 2020: home buying, selling and the real estate market. Answering reader questions about how COVID-19 will impact the housing market. In the past few weeks, we have begun to receive questions about COVID-19 and how the coronavirus pandemic has affected local real estate markets. Many buyers and sellers are worried about making a [...]
How Will the Coronavirus Impact the Real Estate Market?
How will the coronavirus impact the real estate market? How will COVID-19 impact home buying, selling, real estate closings and the housing market? We’re only getting one question this week although it comes in many forms: How will the coronavirus, COVID-19, impact the real estate market? At this point, buyers are still buying homes and [...]
Will Mortgage Rates Continue to Drop in 2020?
Will mortgage rates continue to drop in 2020? Should you refinance your mortgage now or wait and see what happens with the real estate market next? The coronavirus is wreaking havoc on the global economy, but there is one bright spot here in America. Thirty-year mortgage rates in the U.S. dipped to 3.29 percent earlier [...]
Are Pocket Listings Unethical?
Are pocket listings unethical? The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has a new rule regulating how and when properties are listed. Our recent article on pocket listings and “coming soon” listings elicited quite a number of comments. Here is one take: Comment: I think you did your readers a disservice by not informing them that [...]
Cannabis Legalization and Real Estate: What Happens to Property Values?
Cannabis legalization and real estate: what happens to property values? How has recreational cannabis legalization impacted the real estate market? This year, Illinois joined 10 other states and Washington, D.C., in legalizing recreational cannabis use. Nearly $3.2 million of marijuana and cannabis products were sold on January 1st in Illinois, and there are still dispensaries [...]
Buying vs Renting a Home in 2020
Buying vs renting a home in 2020. Insights from Rick Sharga answer whether it is better to rent or buy a home in 50 U.S. metropolitan areas. This article has been updated to clarify that median home prices and median home payments listed are for homes in the 25th quartile. More than 80 percent of [...]
What You Should Know About Pocket Listings
What you should know about pocket listings. Who does this real estate market trend benefit most and why is this reader annoyed by it? Q: I’m annoyed with some of the things I see going on in the real estate market, including pocket listings. Sellers should avoid brokerages that list properties internally before they are [...]
Buyer Representation Agreements: How Do They Work?
Buyer representation agreements: how do they work? This reader points out that some states have real estate laws that regulate buyer agency agreements. Q: I saw your recent article on exclusive buyer agents and buyer agency agreements that discussed an agent that required the homebuyer to sign an agreement for the showing. I feel your [...]
Is the Real Estate Market Slowing Down?
Is the real estate market slowing down? What's happening with the housing market and what happens when the real estate market turns from hot to cold. Recently, we came across a headline in a local Chicago news outlet about an expensive home that had been for sale for a while: “Spec House Sells For Two-Thirds [...]
Latest Housing Market News for 2019
Latest housing market news for 2019. Home sales are up but can the national supply keep up with the demand from homebuyers? Home sales increased by 2.5 percent in July, according to the latest national housing market report by RE/MAX. The jump was enough to end nine months of year-over-year inventory growth as the number [...]