Housing Chatter delivers the news you need to know about current events in the housing market in simple terms. We have no political or institutional affiliations so you can be confident that our content and commentary is unbiased. Housing Chatter is brought to you by your professional Realtor®.

Why are foreclosures not making it to the market?

Homebuyers are facing a tight housing inventory this spring, and the number of foreclosures available to the typical consumer have shrunk as well. According to a Redfin report that examined 50 markets to see if fresh inventory is growing, as of March 31, nearly 70% of homes on the market were stale, meaning they had languished unsold for more than a month. ... Read More »

Reverse Mortgage Prices and Closing Costs: A Look at the Options

Senior homeowners looking to shop the HECM reverse mortgage market for the best price, meaning the lowest interest rate and origination fee, have a major problem. Unlike the standard mortgage market where price data are available from many sources (including third party multi-lender sites), in the reverse mortgage market prices are hard to find. Only a few ... Read More »

Privacy Fences That Won’t Overwhelm Your Small Space

Summer is on its way and everyone is looking forward to sunny weekends and balmy evenings outdoors. Everyone but you, perhaps? When your yard is the size of a postage stamp and the folks next door loom uncomfortably close, it’s hard to really relax. A privacy fence could be just what you need to save both your sanity and your relationship with the neighbors. ... Read More »

One graph illustrates a major reason why people should care about their credit scores

If you’re going to buy a home, you’ll want a strong credit score. When it comes to buying a home, there’s a lot more to the process than just finding an affordable home for sale and having enough money for a down payment. Most people need loans to finance such a large purchase, but even as the housing market has rebounded from the foreclosure crisis and lo ... Read More »

12 Motivational Quotes That Aren’t for the Weak-Willed

A collection of powerful quotes that don’t pull any punches. Sometimes we need someone to give us the hard truth–a dose of pure, distilled honesty–to shake up normal patterns and give us fresh perspective. Here is a collection of quotes that have the same effect as jumping into cold water–they are crisp, to the point, and not always altogether pleasant, bu ... Read More »

Feisty 5-Year-Old Insists She’s ‘Moving On’ And Leaving Home

Five-year-old Saige is fed up with her messy house and her mean brother Tanner. In this viral video Saige’s mom posted on YouTube earlier this month, the little girl announces with steadfast conviction that she’s “moving on!” “I’ve been in this house way too long … For, like, five years!” she shouts, adding that she wants to move in with her mom’s best fri ... Read More »

Student debt is not roadblock to homebuying… yet

But here’s one thing that is Excessive levels of student debt repayments are not acting as a roadblock to housing for first-time homeowners, at least not yet. According to a new report on student debt and housing from Capital Economics, while many believe that America’s outrageously growing amount of student debt is holding millennials back from buying a h ... Read More »

Time to Buy a House Now!

We tend to make financial plans looking backward, learning the lessons of our most recent costly experiences. That’s why individuals don’t buy stocks at the “bottom”; they’re simply too scared. And in a similar scenario, that’s probably why people aren’t buying homes right now, despite still relatively low home prices and historically low finance rates. It’ ... Read More »

How to Get Started in Real Estate Investing

There’s no reason amateur real estate investors can’t profit from small, individual property purchases. With home values currently rising 3.9 percent year-over-year, and expected to rise another 2.6 percent over the next year, why not allocate some of your savings toward real estate? To get started off on the right foot, you’ll need to make some decisions. ... Read More »

Real estate experts share 5 tips to snag the home you really want this spring

Spring and all its glory is right around the corner — just take a look at the signs all around you. No, we’re not talking about the budding flowers or the chirping birds — we’re referring to those “For Sale” signs that start popping up on lawns across the country as the weather starts heating up. And once the home-buying season commences … so do the biddin ... Read More »

Pros and Cons of the New Closing Disclosure

Being involved in the real estate market means keeping up-to-date with the current market at hand - this includes the rates, new guidelines and procedures, lender and title company expectations, etc. You have to change with the real estate market in order to market yourself to your clientele. Consumers want to know and feel relieved that the companies ... Read More »