Real Estate, Updates, News & Tips - Mike Stokes - iPro Real Estate

Ten Questions to Ask a Seller's Agent

If you’re ready to sell your home, you should feel empowered to find and work with the agent who is the best fit for your needs. Here are ten questions you should consider when selecting an agent:1. Are you a REALTOR®? When you work with an agent who is a REALTOR®, you are working with a professional guided by ethical duties under the REALTOR® Code of Ethics, including the pledge to protect and promote the interests of their clients.2. W

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Contract Signings Leap as Home Buyers Reemerge in Fall

Will signs of increased home sales last? NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun weighs in with his housing predictions for the rest of the year and into 2025.More home buyers signed contracts for a home purchase in September, a sign that the housing market may be on the mend after a sluggish summer.The National Association of REALTORS®’ Pending Home Sales Index—a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings—jumped by 7.4%

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As the Housing Affordability Crisis Deepens, Airbnb and Vrbo Face Backlash

It’s been more than six years since Irvine, California, banned short-term rentals ­— and the city’s mayor hasn’t looked back.“It’s been great,” said Farrah Khan, mayor of Irvine, which is a city of about 300,000 in California’s Orange County. “In speaking to our residents, I think they appreciated that ban.”Irvine is not alone. Over the past few years, Airbnb and Vrbo, two of the most well-known short-term home rental platfor

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US Economy Seen Shining Amid Robust Consumer Spending

The U.S. economy likely maintained a solid pace of growth in the third quarter as subsiding inflation and strong wage gains powered consumer spending ahead of a contentious presidential election set to turn on pocketbook issues.The Commerce Department's advance estimate of third-quarter gross domestic product on Wednesday will be published less than a week before Americans head to the polls on Nov. 5 to choose between Vice President Kamala Harris

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Mortgage Rates Move Higher Again This Week

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose for the third consecutive week.Mortgage rates are inching higher, but prospective home buyers needn’t be too spooked: Rates are still more than one percentage point lower than a year ago.The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.44% this week, Freddie Mac reports. It marks the third consecutive week that rates have risen. Meanwhile, mortgage applications for home purchases dropped 7% in the last week as mor

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US Housing Starts Ease on Decline in Multifamily Construction

US housing starts eased in September as a drop in multifamily projects outweighed a pickup in construction of single-family dwellings.Housing starts decreased 0.5% last month to a 1.35 million annualized rate, according to government data released Friday, after a big rebound in August. The September figure was in line with the median projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists.Starts of single-family homes climbed 2.7% to an annual

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Top 10 Issues that Will Impact Real Estate in 2025

The Counselors of Real Estate released its annual list of the most pressing topics facing commercial and residential real estate in the year ahead.Political uncertainty, soaring insurance costs and the growth of artificial intelligence are among the hot topics that likely will have a big impact on the real estate industry in 2025, according to the Counselors of Real Estate, a global organization of property advisers. Each year, CRE releases its 

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The Irresistible Real Estate Bet Gripping Investors

There’s a niche corner of dealmaking that’s quietly making inroads in the battered market for commercial real estate.It involves buying buildings with big carbon footprints and investing in green refurbishments. Asset managers Bloomberg interviewed spoke of doubling their clients’ money in just a few years by renovating older buildings, adding 20% to rents and then cashing in on gains when they sell.As a model for real estate investing, it

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Single-Family Rents Rise 2.4% Annually in Aug.

A new CoreLogic report says that single-family rentals saw "slow and steady" rent growth in August. Overall, it was 2.4% year-over-year, the lowest rate recorded since the fall of 2023.Typically, rents in the asset type are up 0.3% month over month in August, but this year they increased only 0.2%. However, it's still up by a third since the pandemic.The firm categorizes SFRs into two different category groups. The first is attached and detached;

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US Firms Point to Steady Economy, but See Lower Profit Margins, Fed Says

U.S. economic activity was little changed from September through early October and firms saw a slight uptick in hiring, continuing recent trends that have reinforced expectations the Federal Reserve will opt for a smaller 25-basis-point reduction in borrowing costs in two weeks.The U.S. central bank's latest temperature check on the health of the economy also showed that inflation pressures continued to moderate while input prices generally rose

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