Real Estate, Updates, News & Tips - Willy Olsen - iPro Real Estate

Mortgage Rates Hold at Low Levels

Home shoppers are getting another week to lock in some of the lowest mortgage rates of the year. “Following last week’s sharp decline, the 10-year Treasury yield rose 3 basis points this week,” says Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “The 30-year mortgage rate remained relatively flat, falling 1 basis point to 3.90 percent. Mortgage rates are continuing to hold at year-to-date lows amidst ongoing economic uncertainty.”Fredd

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California MLS Launches Solar Data Fields

Real estate professionals who want to highlight a home’s solar energy features on the MLS usually have to do so under the “other” category, which may not capture enough attention from buyers. But that may soon change.The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of California is developing new data standards for a special MLS field that will automatically populate solar data within the country’s 700 MLSs. This would help mak

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Most Undervalued U.S. Cities in 2017

SmartAsset, a personal finance technology company, has analyzed its second annual round of undervalued cities in the U.S. Each city had a projected price per square foot based on livability metrics such as unemployment rate, crime, high school graduation rates, number of entertainment and dining establishments, and walkability. SmartAsset then compared that number to the actual price per square foot.In Charleston, buyers purchase homes for $106.

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Home Security Tips for the Summer

Ooma, a smart home phone and security company, offers six tips for preventing break-ins. Front door surveillance. Because 34 percent of break-ins happen through the front door of a home, recommend that your clients install a smart doorbell that routes to their phone. Other security options Ooma mentions include two-way speakers that will give visitors the impression the owner is home, or video cameras so your clients can see who’s at the door

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6 most (and least) affordable mountain resort towns in the US

Clients in the market for a mountain town dream home? Here's a list to narrow the searchKey Takeaways Beautiful mountain resort towns come with varying price tags, so finding one that fits within your buyer's budget should be no problem. The most affordable mountain resort town is Ogden, Utah, with a median home price of $122,800.Your real estate clients dream of skiing across snow-covered peaks in the morning and mountain biking down rocky slope

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BROKERS: Why listening to your clients is key to growing your company

At Inman Connect San Francisco's Startup Track, Triplemint co-founder Philip Lang will share his experience leveraging feedbackPhilip Lang, the Co-founder and COO of TripleMint, a technology-enabled real estate brokerage based in New York City, knows that to start a company you have to ask yourself: “Who is going to buy my product? Who is my target market? How do I reach said market?”And to be successful, you have to come up with the right an

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Low-Maintenance Landscaping Hacks

Help your clients give the illusion of a perfectly manicured yard with these easy steps for sprucing up greenery from HouseLogic.Create accents with rocks. They don’t require the same level of care, water, and sunlight that grass and plants do. Rocks are good tools for forming pathways, adding design elements, or creating dry creek beds. Spots in the yard that collect water can be kept under control with rocks, which aid water runoff.Use colorf

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Where Remodeling Is Most Popular

Hawaii has the largest percentage of homeowners who are planning to make renovations in the coming year, according to a new survey. GetHearth.com, a financial technology startup that assists owners with remodeling decisions, found in its Home Renovation Survey that 16 percent of homeowners nationwide are thinking about renovating soon.The kitchen is the top project homeowners are eyeing, with 38 percent saying they dream of kitchen renovations,

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4 Vacation Home Issues Buyers Should Know

“Costs of owning and renting a vacation home can be very high,” says Todd Huettner, owner of Denver-based lending company Huettner Capital. “The hassles and costs of short-term vacation rentals are higher than most people expect. … People are way too optimistic about rental rates, vacancies, management fees, maintenance costs, and home value increases.”Owners buying a second home in a different part of the country than their primary res

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Top 10 Most Affordable Housing Markets

New York State has a lot to offer home buyers, with Rochester and Buffalo ranking as the U.S. metros with the lowest home prices. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $138,900 in Rochester and $135,200 in Buffalo.The U.S. Census recently ranked 53 cities with populations of more than 1 million on housing affordability. Markets are ranked by their ratios of median home value to median household income. The top 10 most affordable housing m

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