Real Estate

New Commission Laws Start July - How Will it Affect You? In 2023, Missouri home sellers sued the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and major brokerages for antitrust violations. The NAR and RE/MAX settled before trial, paying $83.5 million and $55 million, respectively. The jury ruled against the industry, ordering NAR and two firms to pay $1.8 billion in damages. Keller Williams settled for $70...

Is It Still A Good Time To Buy? - Mortgage Rates Rise Above 7% The Federal Reserve is still not ready to lower interest rates. At its latest meeting on May 1, 2024, the Fed held the federal funds rate steady. Meanwhile, mortgage rates have inched back over 7%. There are many factors to consider. It's not all a,bout mortgage rates. Housing inventory, finding the best mortgage lender, and getting a fair...

Thanks primarily to an unexpected rise in mortgage rates, which increased affordability challenges, the spring home-buying season has yet to spring to life. Though newly built home sales are thriving, sales of existing homes, have stagnated. On the bright side, tepid demand for existing homes is helping boost the country’s low housing supply Yet, despite ongoing affordability hurdles, Fannie Mae...

Scams are on the rise, and this includes real estate scams. According to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), business email compromise (BEC) schemes frequently target the real estate sector. In fact, the IC3 received 9,521 real estate-based complaints in 2023. That may not seem like a significant number; however, in terms of losses, these crimes amounted to $145,243,348 The first half of...

Charlotte City Council to Consider $5 Million in Funding for New Affordable Housing Development Charlotte leaders are expected to approve $5 million on Monday for affordable housing geared toward multifamily rentals and future homeownership through the city's Housing Trust Fund. The agenda for Monday's City Council meeting states the money would add 140 affordable housing units and 19...

Home Sales Climb Since Aug. 23' US. existing-home sales grew 3.1% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.00 million, exceeding economists’ expectations and marking the strongest sales pace since August 2023, according to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). Falling interest rates late last year, coupled with a recent uptick in inventory, helped existing-home sales to climb...

If you don't know what is going on and have been living under a rock for the past week. Last week, a federal class-action antitrust lawsuit, Burnett v. NAR jury ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, agreeing that NAR and major brokerages colluded to artificially raise seller commissions! The Burnett case represents just one of over 20 similar lawsuits filed by home sellers against NAR and several major...

Home Prices Likely to Remain High Until 2026 - How Does This Impact Your R.E Plans? According to JP Morgan Chase, housing affordability won’t return to Charlotte until the second quarter of 2028, assuming no change in the mortgage rate, or by the fourth quarter of 2026, assuming a 1% drop in mortgage rates. In North Carolina, while the demand for housing is increased, new home growth is stagnant or...

While mortgage interest rates have risen from their all-time lows in recent years, the share of all cash buyers is growing. All cash home buyers have trended up significantly in recent months. In January 2024, all cash buyers now stand at 32% of home sales. The last time the share of all cash buyers was this high was June 2014. So, who are these home buyers? Data from the last six months of the...

North Carolina homes continued to sell at eye-popping prices last month. The median home sale price rose 3.9% year-over-year from $349,800 to $363,000. The number of homes listed on the market declined by 13.2% YoY from 47,494 to ~41,000 homes, with only 2 months of supply. Does the scarcity of houses make North Carolina a seller’s market? If you are a home buyer: You can avoid bidding wars and...