Thirty-one people have died and 200 are missing as three wildfires sweep through California, turning hundreds of homes into ash. The death toll from the fires now matches the deadliest blaze on record in the Golden State, the 1933 Griffith Park disaster in Los Angeles. An estimated 250,000 people have been forced to flee their homes.“Most of the residential area is gone—I would say 90 percent,” Jody Jones, mayor of the town of Paradise, Cal
The city where the most locals plan to stay put is Spokane, Wash. It’s also the city that is the most popular with out-of-towners who want to move in, according to a new analysis by realtor.com®. The city is about four hours inland from Seattle and is known for its affordability compared to many other Western cities. Far more buyers around Spokane are looking for homes in the city rather than outside the city, according to realtor.com®’s re
Amazon is narrowing the list of cities for its second headquarters, announcing last week that it will pick two locations for what’s been dubbed “HQ2.” The list reportedly has been narrowed to Crystal City, Va.; Long Island City, N.Y.; and Dallas.Property frenzies have been sparked in Crystal City and Long Island City in anticipation that they’ll be the chosen two. Real estate brokerage Redfin reports that online views of listings in the t
Tom Ferry’s tips to “wow” your database and create raving fans -- plus a top performing script Creating a business based on regular and recurring referrals is the ideal for any real estate professional. But it doesn’t just happen. It takes work. It requires you to be different, be proactive and provide extraordinary levels of service.In today’s coaching corner, I’m sharing with you five ways to “wow” your database between now and
How working on my personal development saved my life and my business A little over two years ago, I nearly hit rock bottom.My life was in a downward spiral. I was going through home foreclosure; I was incapacitated from a car accident, where I lost my car and then I lost my job. I felt like the world was collapsing around me. I was a single mother without another source of income and I was 60 days away from losing my home.I needed to act — and
Mortgage rates were on the rise this week, and as a result, home buyers faced higher borrowing costs. The 30-year fixed rate rose to its highest average in seven years, averaging 4.94 percent this week, Freddie Mac reports.“The economy continued to show resilience as strong business activity and the growth in employment” drove mortgage rates higher, says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Higher mortgage rates have led to a slowd
The Federal Reserve voted on Thursday to keep its key interest rate on hold, but signaled that rate hikes and tightened borrowing costs are likely on the horizon.The Fed kept its benchmark target for rates unchanged in the 2 percent to 2.25 percent range. The Fed’s rate does not directly influence mortgage rates but does tend to have an effect.“The labor market has continued to strengthen and … economic activity has been rising at a strong
Credit scores often take about 11 months to fully recover after a consumer purchases a home, according to a new study by LendingTree, an online loan marketplace.After a buyer purchases a home, their credit scores fall by an average of 15 points, but it takes 160 days—or slightly over five months—for the full impact to take effect.The analysis showed that after the full drop, recovery takes an average of another five months. For most borrowers
Wells Fargo blamed a calculation error for resulting in foreclosures on hundreds of homeowners who instead should have been helped by the bank. The finance giant acknowledged this week that it had improperly foreclosed on 545 distressed homeowners after they had requested assistance with their mortgages.In total, Wells Fargo said 870 homeowners were wrongly denied help. More than half of that total ended up losing their homes.An internal review
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