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The way you market green home features has an effect on how house hunters perceive them and whether they’ll pay more for an eco-friendly property, according to new research by the National Association of Home Builders released last week during the 2019 International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas. “A green home marketed by its energy savings and as having good air quality are the two things that seem to...

Prisons and military bases are commonly located outside small, rural towns and often they’re the biggest employers and economic drivers around. But that’s been a double-edged sword—until now. Prisons and military bases currently count toward an area’s population, putting many communities over the threshold of eligibility for federal Rural Housing Service (RHS) programs. A town with...

Rising interest rates are prompting more home buyers to turn to adjustable-rate mortgages—which come with potential financial risks. Though these mortgages typically come with lower interest rates initially, they reset to market rates after five or seven years, potentially shocking borrowers with much higher costs. The percentage of borrowers with ARMs rose to 8.2 percent in October, up from 7.2...

Federal agencies have proposed a plan to reduce the number of homes that require an in-person appraisal, hoping to speed up the closing process and save money for home buyers and borrowers looking to refinance. Under the proposal, which was developed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, in-person...

A bipartisan bill on Capitol Hill aims to make it easier for self-employed individuals and small-business owners to obtain a mortgage. Federal lending rules in recent years have made it difficult for the self-employed to qualify for a mortgage, favoring more documentable incomes that can be verified by pay stubs, W-2s, and two years of steady income. That has made it more troublesome for those who work...

A waterfront home in the suburbs that has nearly 5,000 square feet and a one-story ranch may be at the top of American consumers’ real estate wishlists, according to findings from a Porch.com survey of more than 600 Americans and Europeans about their ideal home designs, amenities, and locations. Forty-five percent of Americans surveyed say if they could get their top choice they’d have a waterfront...

The home’s garage, large backyard, and updated kitchen may not be as important to home shoppers as the school district, according to a new survey released by realtor.com® of more than 1,000 people who closed on a home in 2018. Seventy-eight percent of buyers surveyed say they’re willing to give up home features to get their school district of choice, and home shoppers are willing to give up their...

Millennials and baby boomers may grab most of the attention as the big movers in real estate these days, but the generation in between has been the only generation of households to regain the wealth it lost during the Great Recession. Generation X homeowners (those born between 1965 and 1980) saw the largest declines in home equity a decade ago during the recession—so they also had the most ground to...

Purchase-rehab loans, recently unveiled by the Department of Veterans Affairs, would cover renovation costs and provide another avenue for military vets to take advantage of no-down VA loans. About a month ago, the Department of Veterans Affairs released long-awaited guidelines for 100 percent financed purchase-rehabilitation loans for military veterans, a move that real estate professionals hailed as a...

Mortgage rates reversed course and soared to the highest averages in seven years, Freddie Mac reports. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.61 percent this week, which matches the highest level since May 19, 2011. “Healthy consumer spending and higher commodity prices spooked the bond markets and led to higher mortgage rates over the past week,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief...