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®.

Are you ready for the next wave of home equity lending?

With mortgage rates, home values and consumer confidence all trending upward, consumers are once again tapping into their home equity. Lenders who want to capitalize on this trend must respond to changes in the home equity line of credit (HELOC) and home equity loan market, including demand for 24/7 digital lending options. Consumers expect a digital bankin ... Read More »

Avoiding Home Buyer Remorse

As the media continue to report an improving real estate market and rising prices, it may be putting some pressure on those who have been sitting on the sidelines. Interest rates are still low, and rising price news could be pulling some buyers into the market just to try and get ahead of even higher prices in the short term. Buying a home is a major decisi ... Read More »

When Does It Pay to Remodel Your House?

Projects and Trends for a Higher Return on Your Investment When you consider which home remodeling projects to tackle and which ones to shelve, it is wise to think about the payback potential. Which projects will increase the value of your home enough to recoup your investment potentially? Remodeling Magazine may be able to help you decide. They recently co ... Read More »

This is exactly why title clearing is so underappreciated

About a day ago, a user to the popular open-discussion forum Reddit published this food-for-thought question: Whose fault is it if I find out there’s a $5k lien 1 day before closing? In the post, “blahh837492” is openly lamenting that he didn’t use title clearing before investing in his/her third short sale investment. In fact, they didn’t even know title ... Read More »

4 Tips for Selling a Home Far Away

Whether you’re in the next state or across the country, selling a home remotely can be tough. To pull it off, you’ll need to plan ahead and get some help from a local agent. Just a few years ago, at the height of the real estate crisis, if homeowners were transferred for work or moved for personal reasons and couldn’t afford to sell their homes, they often ... Read More »

The Age of Homes in All 50 States

Roaring ’20s or the Disco era? See which decades are most represented. Homes back East are older, and houses out West are newer, right? Not quite. We looked at single-family houses built from 1900 to 2014 to see which decades are most represented by the current housing stock. Turns out, the largest share of homes in the Northeastern states was built in the ... Read More »

How to Stage a Home Everyone Will Want for Their Own

Prep your home for a quick sale with these tips for staging it to appeal to the widest audience. by Decorilla First impressions mean everything — especially when it comes to viewing a potential home. As visual beings, a cluttered space or a jarring wall color can be enough to make us turn around and walk out the door. Successfully staged spaces provide tw ... Read More »

Three Sure-Fire Ways to Nail Customer Engagement

The secret to engaging your consumer “like a boss” If you, like me, are a fan of the long-running CBS-TV reality show, “Undercover Boss,” you watch with particular interest when a wig-and-makeup-clad CEO is compelled to interact directly with the company’s customers. It is at this moment that the CEO often gains a “game-changing” perspective–an “a-ha” mome ... Read More »

6 Tiny Home Problems That Could Turn Into Giant (Expensive) Disasters

Home ownership has its ups and downs. On the plus side: redecorating! On the minus: discovering asbestos in your basement. But even through the not-so-fun times, it’s important to keep your head. Here, six tiny problems to look out for–and how to nip them in the bud. Related: 7 Simple Storage Hacks That Cost $0 2015-08-17-1439816510-8503576-homeproblems.j ... Read More »

6 renovations that could destroy your home’s resale value

When people renovate their homes, they often factor in whether those renovations will add to the resale value. While few homeowners recoup the full cost of home renovations, updated bathrooms and kitchens, plus other improvements, can help you sell your home more quickly, and for more money. The added bonus is if you do the renovations while you live in th ... Read More »

6 Mistakes to Avoid When Decluttering Your Home

When you get ready to move or sell your home, the first thing that you dread is packing all of your clutter compiled over the years. First you have to declutter the stuff you need and don’t need and prepare for the walk through inspection. Before you start on this daunting task, be sure to avoid the 6 common mistakes below. Laziness and Procrastination. ... Read More »

REMINDER! MORTGAGE LOAN DOCUMENTS TO CHANGE SOON!

This year, come October 1, 2015, the real estate transaction process should be easier for homebuyers, especially reviewing the loan documents. The forms will be easier to understand with two new forms that will be named the Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure, which will replace the formerly known HUD-1, Truth in Lending, and Good Faith Estimate. The resu ... Read More »