Author: Daniel Bortz

How Much Will Home Prices Continue to Rise in 2022?

Posted in Kiplinger'sTagged , , , ,

After watching four homes go to competing bidders over the course of seven frustrating months, Shubham Nath and Ankur Srivastava finally nabbed a four-bedroom house in Warren, N.J., last June. The couple pounced on the property when it hit the market. “We saw the home on a Saturday, looked at it a second time that Sunday and made an offer Sunday night,” says Nath. And this time they were prepared to best the seven other bidders: They offered about $60,000 above the home’s $849,000 list price, plus a 2.5-month closing period so that the seller would have plenty of time to pack up and move. And when the property appraised for $7,000 below the price they had agreed upon in the purchase contract, the couple paid for the appraisal gap. “We jumped through a lot of hoops,” Nath says. 

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6 Mocktails Your Guests Will Actually Enjoy

Posted in The New York TimesTagged , , , ,

For some, a wedding reception is all about the bar and signature cocktails. Colleen Shea and Christopher Smith, who live in Orlando, Fla., said that a highlight of their celebration on Aug. 17, 2019, was the menu of drinks. But the couple, who met in 2015 at a 12-step program in Washington, D.C., didn’t offer your typical assortment of cocktails.

“We had a coffee bar with coffee, cappuccinos, lattes, and syrups to satisfy everyone’s caffeine fix,” said Ms. Shea, 33, a communications manager in the transportation industry.

Mr. Smith, 32, and Ms. Shea’s wedding at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., was alcohol-free and kicked off at 10 a.m. “Because we don’t drink and a lot of our guests don’t drink, it didn’t make sense to serve alcohol,” she said.

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Is the Housing Market Finally Cooling? A Guide to Home Buying This Winter

Posted in Money.comTagged , ,

nyone who has bought a house last year (or tried to) knows how hot the market has been. But as we head into 2022, the housing market may — finally — be starting to cool.

Let’s recap, briefly, how we got here.

A record-low supply of homes for sale and near record-low mortgage rates have propelled U.S. homes prices to an all-time high. The median sales price of a single-family existing home jumped about 23% in the third quarter of 2021, hitting $363,700, according to the National Association of Realtors’ quarterly report. Those rising home prices forced buyers to duke it out for a limited number of homes.

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How to Avoid Basic Wedding Scams

Posted in The New York TimesTagged ,

From counterfeit dresses to vanishing vendors and stolen gifts, there are many ways unsuspecting couples could fall prey to wedding fraud or theft. Although the pandemic has forced many to postpone or downsize their celebrations, wedding scams have persisted.

In May, one couple in Chicago lost $3,500 when their wedding photographer ghosted them. Another couple in Melvindale, Mich., had nearly all their gifts stolen at their wedding last August. And then there are the dozens of brides in Black Forest, Colo., who have filed lawsuits this year against a venue owner who kept their deposits after the venue was forced to suddenly shut down for operating without permits. With a large surge of weddings expected to take place next year, there could be a spike in wedding scams in 2022.

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5 Signs It’s Time to Break up With Your Real Estate Agent

Posted in Money.comTagged , , ,

Your real estate agent can’t make more housing supply appear out of thin air or double the value of your home overnight. But they should make you feel supported and well represented in a crazy market. If not, it may be time to cut ties.

This is not a decision to make lightly, but if you do you certainly have no shortage of options. As of October, the National Association of Realtors, the real estate’s largest trade group, had 1,564,547 members — a 7% jump from the end of 2020. And many more real estate agents aren’t NAR members.

With all the competition, real estate agents are fighting tooth and nail for clients. “It’s a dog-eat-dog industry,” says Jason Gelios, an agent with Community Choice Realty in Southeast Michigan. Considering that you have plenty of agents to choose from, there’s no reason to stay with your agent if you’re not happy with their service.

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Negotiate a Better Deal

Posted in Kiplinger'sTagged , , , , ,

The very thought of haggling, no matter what you’re haggling for, creates a crushing wave of anxiety in a surprising number of people. And while some personality types jump at the chance of striking a deal, many of us avoid negotiating at all costs.

But negotiating skills can be learned. And knowing how to negotiate when you’re buying a new car, making an offer on a house, asking for a cheaper cable or internet bill, or planning a wedding can save you a lot of money.

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Rebuilding From the Storm

Posted in REALTOR magazineTagged ,

When a derecho packing 140 mph winds slammed into Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in August 2020, toppling power lines and battering homes, REALTOR® Raymond Siddell was ready to act. The derecho—a violent, high-velocity windstorm often referred to as a hurricane on land—killed four people and damaged thousands of homes in the city. Nearly all of Cedar Rapids, a town of more than 133,000 people, lost power. Within 24 hours of the disaster, Siddell, a sales associate with Keller Williams Legacy Group, created a Facebook page where people could request or donate basic items like food, water, and medicine. In its first three days, the Facebook group swelled to 21,200 members. Ultimately, that figure rose to 70,000.

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How to Win in a Red-Hot Housing Market

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Laura Gross knew that she’d be facing fierce competition this spring when she was getting ready to bid on a four-bedroom house in Troy, Mich., a suburb of Detroit. So she pulled out all the stops: She waived an appraisal contingency, offered $30,000 above the home’s $285,000 list price, wrote a letter expressing why she loved the home (it reminded her of the house she grew up in a mile away), and offered the seller a free 60-day rent-back.

The seller chose Gross’s offer over seven others. “I knew I had to offer above list price and waive con­tingencies to even have my offer considered in this market,” says Gross, an accounting manager at a manufacturing company.

Gross is just one in a tsunami of house hunters who have flooded the housing market since the coronavirus pandemic began. She experienced firsthand how tough today’s housing market is for buyers.

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How to Unlock the Equity in Your Home

Posted in The New York TimesTagged ,

Good news, homeowners: now may be a great time to unlock your home equity.

Home values have soared since the pandemic began. The national median existing-home price hit a record high of $363,300 in June, up from $294,400 a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors. As a result, the average U.S. homeowner now has $153,000 in tappable equity, according to a May report from the mortgage data firm Black Knight.

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Is That Condo Building Structurally Sound?

Posted in REALTOR magazineTagged ,

Questions linger and answers remain elusive in Surfside, Fla., more than a month after the deadly collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo building. The local real estate community is still healing from the June 24 tragedy, which killed 98, including agent Maria Notkin, who was affiliated with Rotbart & Associates in Miami Beach, and her husband, Arnie. While grieving with victims’ families, real estate professionals in South Florida and across the country also are grappling with fresh concerns about the structural soundness of aging multifamily buildings. “Any agent showing high-rises going forward is going to look twice at what’s really going on with the integrity of the condo buildings that they’re selling in,” says Jorge Guerra, CRS, C2EX, broker-owner of RESF Real Estate in Coral Gables, Fla.

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