To Some Thieves, a 3D Tour Is Like Online Shopping
A Faberge egg on the mantle? The location of a home safe? Agents should take steps to protect their sellers’ privacy and safety when they create 3-D listing tours.
Giving Money to a Real Estate Syndicator? Things to Know
A syndicator combines money from multiple investors for a single project. Due diligence requires consideration of at least nine things – but trust tops the list.
Appraisal Valuation Gap Uncovered in Minority Areas
A Freddie Mac study of 12M appraisals found that 13% of homes in Black neighborhoods were below contract price; in white tracts, it was 7.4%; in Latino it was 9.4%.
Mortgage Rates Up this Week, but Only a Bit
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.88% this week, a small increase from last week’s 2.86%. Freddie Mac credits foreign investors for keeping rates low.
Fla.-Owned Insurer: Losses and Policies Keep Growing
Citizens Property Insurance expects to exceed more than 1M policies sometime in 2022 – and private insurers will rack up more than 1B in losses by the end of this year.
Prefab Construction? Don’t Call It a Mobile Home
The industry has been fighting mobile-home thinking. With pre-fab, the entire home is built onsite after 50%-80% of individual elements are constructed offsite.
SEC Brings First Crowdfunding Fraud Case
Crowdfunding continues to grow as a way to invest in real estate, but the SEC alleges that some investors pocketed money intended for cannabis real estate purchases.
Flood Insurance Alert: Need to Know Info on Oct. 1 Changes
NFIP’s Risk Rating 2.0 becomes effective on Oct. 1. Register for Florida Realtors webinar (Tue., Sept. 28) to learn the changes and best practices.
Florida Realtors Named One of Central Fla.’s Top Workplaces
Energage sends workplace culture surveys to companies on behalf of the Orlando Sentinel, and the state Realtor association was named one of the area’s best places to work.
Fla.’s Housing Market: Median Prices, New Listings Up in August
Florida Realtors’ data: More new listings and higher median prices – up 18% for single-family homes to $354,000; up 16.1% to $252,500 for condos – than a year ago. Single-family home sales rose just 0.2%, but condo sales were up 13.1%. Chief Economist O’Connor: Condo-townhouse market “remains the hotter market for now.”