The number of home buyers who say now is a good time to buy dipped to an all-time survey low in Fannie Mae’s latest Home Purchase Sentiment Index. Meanwhile, home owners who say now is a good time to sell soared to an all-time survey high.

The disconnect in the market is likely partially due to the limited number of homes for sale in many markets, allowing sellers to face less competition and ask for higher home prices. On the other hand, home buyers are having fewer choices and stuck paying higher prices, sometimes in multiple-bid situations.

Read full Article

With spring coming soon — and hopefully sunnier weather along with it — more people will be out in neighborhoods checking out open houses.

They’ll have less to see.

Snohomish County has a third fewer homes available on the market now than it did just a year ago, according to numbers released Monday by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

There were 1,244 homes listed in the county in February. That’s down from 1,880 in February 2015, or a decrease of 33.8 percent. It’s a trend being seen all over Western Washington.

Read Full Article

Owning a home can pay off at tax time.  

Take advantage of these home ownership-related tax deductions and strategies to lower your tax bill:

Read Full Article

If this year is anything like the last, almost 7.2 million Americans will get a tax refund this spring averaging around $3,000. If you’re a homeowner getting this refund, you’re fortunate because you’ve got more creative ways to invest it for a profit. Doesn’t matter if you’re selling, staying put, or stuck in the middle. Here are three homeowner-only options to grow that refund:

Read Full Article

Learn how to make 10 percent more money when selling your home

This is a great time to be selling a house—or buying one. With housing prices at recent highs (in some neighborhoods they’re exceeding pre-2008 valuations), it’s no wonder about 5.3 million homes are expected to change hands in 2015, up about 30 percent from the bottom of the crash, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Buyers as well as sellers can benefit. That’s because purchasing a home is comparatively cheap right now, thanks to still-low interest rates (they recently dipped below 4 percent for a 30-year fixed mortgage). “A home buyer with the U.S. median income who buys the median-priced home will pay 15.3 percent of their income on their mortgage now,” says Skylar Olsen, a senior economist at Zillow, the online real estate marketplace. “The historical number is 22.1 percent.” And although home prices will continue to climb in 2015, they’re expected to do so at a slower rate than in 2014.

So how do you make the most money, no matter which end of the transaction you’re on? For answers, the Consumer Reports National Research Center turned to the people most in the know for answers—the real estate professionals who broker almost 90 percent of residential sales.

Read Full Article

Whether you’re hoping your house sells in the next 20 minutes or you’re planning to put it up for sale in 20 years, you should consider the consequences of your color choices.

Read Full Article

After being overthrown last year by Houston, Austin regains the number one spot as the fastest-growing city in the U.S., according to a new analysis by Forbes. Adding to its allure, Austin boasts booming technology, pharmaceutical and biotech industries as well as low-cost of living.

Forbes.com compiled its annual list of America’s Fastest-Growing Cities by ranking the 100 largest metro areas and their surrounding suburbs. For its rankings, they factor in population growth for 2015 and 2016, year-over-year job growth for 2015, the metro’s economic growth rate, unemployment, and median annual pay for college-educated workers in the area.

The following cities topped Forbes’ list as the fastest-growing populations and economies (included below with each city’s population growth for 2015 and projected growth rate for 2016): 

Read Full Article Here

"…After figuring out the closing dates, the hacker sends an email to the buyer, posing as the real estate professional or title company. The bogus email says there has been a last minute change to the wiring instructions, and tells the buyer to wire closing costs to a different account. But it’s the scammer’s account…"

Read Full Article

You? Buy a home? If that prospect sounds as unlikely as your becoming the next U.S. president—well, this campaign season has shown us that anything can happen.

Sure, amassing the funds and slogging through the necessary paperwork for your own piece of the real estate pie can be daunting, especially if you’re a less-than-stellar loan candidate. Still, if you just assume there’s no way you could buy a home, without doing any research, you could be missing out.

Here are some oft-cited reasons people don’t buy a home, and the reality checks showing why they shouldn’t give up hope.

Read Full Article

"Buyers who are looking for houses cannot start looking at the top of their affordability range — they should look 15 or 20 percent below their limit and be prepared to go over list price if they have any hope of success," suggested Frank Wilson, immediate past chair of the Northwest MLS board."

Read Full Article