Category Archives: Selling a Home

Existing-home sales rose in April but remain below underlying demand because of limited inventory and tight credit, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. All regions are showing strong price gains from a year ago. Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, increased 0.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.97 million in April from an upwardly revised 4.94 million in March. Resale activity is 9.7 percent above the 4.53 million-unit level in April 2012. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, […]

Builders are feeling more confident about new-home sales, sales expectations for the next six months, and prospective buyer traffic, according to the May reading on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. The index—which gauges builders’ sentiment on those three indicators—rose three points to 44 in May. Still, it takes a number over 50 on the index to indicate that more builders view conditions as good rather than poor. All three indicators posed gains in May, with expectations for future sales reaching 53 on the index—the highest […]

As the inventory of for-sale homes remains at low levels, sellers are getting more comfortable at the bargaining table and telling buyers to cool it with the contingencies. In competitive situations that attract multiple bids, some sellers are even telling buyers they want an offer without mortgage contingencies. A mortgage contingency, often included in sales contracts, provides buyers with a safety net of being able to get out of the deal without forfeiting their down payment in case they are unable to obtain financing within a certain timeframe. Some sellers […]

A real estate professional discovered what appeared to be pipe bombs in a crawl space of a vacant Nashville home that is listed on the market. The agent made the potentially explosive find at 7 p.m. Sunday, and contacted authorities. More than a dozen neighbors were evacuated from the area as a bomb squad was called out to remove the devices from the home. The bomb squad determined the devices were hazardous. Nearby roadways were also closed for hours. Authorities told reporters that they believe the devices may be training […]

In some situations, a buyer puts in an offer on a home and they’re discovering that the seller already has lined up a potential mortgage lender for them, in an effort to help get all parties to closing smoothly and without delay. “Some sellers are finding lenders willing to provide financing for an eventual sale even before they put their condos or co-ops on the market; they then add language to the sales contract requiring buyers at least to obtain preapproval from the seller’s preferred lender,” The New York Times […]

New home sales made a U-turn after falling 4.6% in February to 411,000 homes sold. The sales of new single-family homes inched up 1.5% in March to 417,000. March sales are up a more dramatic 18.5% from the year-ago estimate of 352,000, according to data from the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Analysts at Econoday believe the housing sector is moving forward right now, but not very quickly or very much. “Yesterday’s existing home sales report showed a dip in March with today’s new home […]

Home sales are “stuck” this spring due to the limited number of homes available to buy, says Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS®. The supply of homes for sale is 17 percent below year-ago levels, according to NAR data. For-sale inventories are most constrained on the low-end of the housing market, where investors had moved in floods to purchase distressed homes and hold them as single-family rentals, housing experts note. About a four-month supply of homes is available under $100,000. As such, sales of low-end homes […]

New-home sales rose 1.5 percent in March, and economists predict more increases ahead as housing likely remains a consistent driver of economic growth this year, The Associated Press reports. “With increasing signs of a softer U.S. economy springing up in the spring, we can take comfort in the resilience of the housing recovery,” Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, told The Associated Press. Record low mortgage rates and steady job creation are attributed to helping lifting home sales. The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that sales of new homes […]

In 21 of the 24 major metro markets, new listings are outnumbering new sales contracts, according to the real estate brokerage ZipRealty in its latest market report. The supply of homes may “finally start to keep pace with frenzied buyer activity,” says Lanny Baker, ZipRealty CEO. In Los Angeles, for example, there were 16,170 homes for-sale from mid-February to mid-March. During that same time period, there were 9,533 homes under sales contract. However, new pending sales continue to outnumber new listings in Las Vegas, Raleigh, N.C., and Washington, D.C., according […]

With tighter inventories of homes for sale, buyers are finding increased competition through bidding wars. But the bidding may not be between only one or two other buyers — more bidding wars are popping up where dozens or even hundreds of other buyers are all competing for the same property. “The only question is not whether a new listing will get multiple bids but how many it will get,” Kris Vogt, who manages Coldwell Banker offices in the Sacramento area, told CNNMoney. For example, a home in Elk Grove, Calif., […]