Despite bad news on the jobs front Friday, more Americans believe home prices and opportunities for buyers and sellers will increase over the next 12 months, Fannie Mae said Monday. Americans on average expect home prices to jump 1.3% over the next year, according to Fannie’s April 2012 National Housing Survey. The GSE surveys 1,000 random Americans to come up with the latest results each month. The percentage of Americans who believe...

With signs of a housing turnaround getting stronger, housing experts say buyers are finding several recent changes when they go to put in an offer on a home. A recent article at U.S. News & World Report highlights some of these changing “rules” for your home buyer clients: 1. Lowball offers won’t likely stick: Sure, deals are still around, but lowball offers that aren’t in line with comparable sales data are increasingly proving...

Texas dominates the list of fastest-growing cities, attracting more residents with its strong employment center, lower taxes, and more affordable housing, according to an article in Forbes.com. For the second year in a row, Austin, Texas, topped Forbes’ list of America’s fastest-growing cities. The city has a projected economic growth rate of 6 percent a year through 2016, which is more than twice as much as the nation as a whole,...

Home buyers are unexpectedly finding more competition this spring in landing their dream home. Bidding wars are increasingly being reported in markets across the country, from California to Florida, The Wall Street Journal reports. “It’s a little surprising because we thought bidding wars were done with,” Andy Aley, a home shopper in Seattle, told The Wall Street Journal. Aley says he was outbid on a home earlier this...

With housing affordability at record highs, real estate professionals are hoping this year’s REALTOR® Nationwide Open House Weekend event will be a big jump-start to the spring buying and selling season for housing markets across the country. The REALTOR® Nationwide Open House Weekend will be held April 28 and 29, in which REALTORS® and real estate associations across the country and worldwide hold thousands of open houses in their...