The U.S. Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would ease compliance costs for smaller banks and possibly lead to more lending for residential and commercial property purchases. The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, S. 2155—which garnered bipartisan support—would lower reporting, disclosure, and other requirements under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, enacted in 2010 after the finan
Recent hurricanes and wildfires are likely to blame for an uptick in the number of homeowners who became late on their mortgage payments at the end of the year. Early-stage delinquencies—loan payments that are 30 to 59 days late—rose to 2.3 percent in December, according to CoreLogic’s latest data. For comparison, the rate was at 2.2 percent in December 2016.“We see this happen every time there’s a natural disaster,” Jack McCabe, a
Some homeowners and buyers are growing concerned about sinkholes after news reports surfaced of several opening up recently in The Villages, Fla. Twenty percent of the country is under “karst terrain,” which can be susceptible to a sinkhole event, according to the United States Geological Survey. That has left some wondering: How do you know which properties may be most at risk?While sinkholes are relatively rare, they can happen. Florida top
Wellness-minded millennials are filling their homes with clean-air houseplants, and real estate developers are realizing that a love for greenery can be used as an amenity to attract buyers.Millennials are looking for spaces to add indoor gardens. Real estate developers are jumping on the trend. The ARC in Long Island City, a 428-unit luxury rental building, allows its residents to use a 1,100-square-foot glass greenhouse where they can plant and
Home floor plans can take much longer to evolve than design trends. Changes tend to occur over years, as some designers and architects look to push the envelope and take a gamble on what they believe will resonate with buyers. But a few trends are starting to emerge.BUILDER recently weighed in on some of the hottest fads that could impact more floor plans in 2018, including:1. Flexibility for multigenerational households. More homes are being bu
Some tax deductions for home sellers may amount to potentially big savings. As such, homeowners who are selling their home soon or sold it last year will want to educate themselves on the tax deductions available. Realtor.com® recently highlighted some, including:Selling costs: “You can deduct any costs associated with selling the home—including legal fees, escrow fees, advertising costs, and real estate agent commissions,” says Joshua Zi
A new program that sets out to help spark an early interest in real estate among inner-city teens is borrowing some star power to grow its efforts. Project Destined, which recently won the support of former baseball legend Alex Rodriguez and singer-actress Jennifer Lopez, teaches teens financial literacy through investments in real estate. The teens are taught how to value and finance local apartment buildings and then are given the opportunity
Millennial buyers are more diverse and mobile than their predecessors, and expect real estate professionals to be totally tech-savvy, right? According to certain data points from the National Association of REALTORS®’ 2018 Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends Report, that may not be universally true.The report, which is based on a survey NAR mailed out to a random, though geographically weighted, sample of 145,800 recent home buyers last
Seventy-four percent of contracts in the first month of the year contained settlement contingencies, according to the January 2018 REALTORS® Confidence Index survey, conducted by the National Association of REALTORS®.The monthly survey, based on responses from more than 3,500 REALTORS® about their latest transactions, examines what real estate pros are seeing most often in contracts. The most common contingencies are home inspection (58%),
About 70 percent of U.S. offices feature an open layout, but that isn’t what workers say they prefer, according to a new survey from Commercial Cafe. Instead, workers say their most ideal working space is a private office. Nearly 43 percent of more than 2,000 respondents surveyed say they prefer a private space, while an open-plan office was only desired by about 10 percent of respondents. Only 5 percent said they desired cubicles.While most wo
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