#real-estate-agent

#real-estate-agent

If you find yourself in Washington Square Park on one of these fine spring days, you might see Felix Morelo, bent low over the sidewalk, drawing.More likely, though, you will see his art.Look down, and you may find yourself standing in a good luck spot, drawn in pastel pink or blue or yellow.Or maybe a bad luck spot.

Johnrob/iStock The sand, the surf, the sound of crashing waves-all available 24/7, right outside your door.Beach homes are the stuff of sun lovers' dreams.Heck, even if you prefer the shade, a beach home can sound quite dreamy.But all too often, people get swept away by the idea of buying oceanside property, then find out that owning one is no walk in the sand.

The Mercury provides news and fun every single day-but your help is essential.If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us.Thanks for your support!GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND!It might not be summer quite yet, but the weather doesn't know that!

John Reyes was helping his wife clean out her father's 1900s-era home about nine months ago when they stumbled upon something truly unexpected.Reyes was rummaging through the crawl space in the basement of his late father-in-law's home when he found some loose pennies held together by disintegrating paper rolls.

HousingWire recently spoke with Desmond Smith, chief growth officer at United Wholesale Mortgage, about the role that wholesale lending plays in the mortgage ecosystem and common myths and misconceptions about becoming an independent mortgage broker.HousingWire: What role has wholesale lending historically played in the mortgage ecosystem?

In 2016, when Shawn Loht bought his house near New Orleans, he easily found homeowner insurance with a $2,000-a-year premium.It was just lickety-split, he said.But after Hurricane Ida, a Category 4 storm, barreled through Louisiana in 2021, his premium jumped to $6,109.Then his provider failed, leaving him facing a premium of nearly $13,000 a year from the state's insurer of last resort.

Whether it is a miniature mansion in Huntington Beach, CA or a cabin in Centerville, VA , your home is probably your biggest investment, and protecting it is in your best interest.You already know how important it is to maintain the interior of your home, but what about the space outside those four walls?

Getty Images As you might have guessed, a buyer's market favors homebuyers, not sellers.But what, exactly, does that mean?"It means external conditions-like supply and demand, comparable sales in the neighborhood, the economy, public opinion, confidence in the future, and changes in the tax laws-favor buyers," says Robert Elson, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Warburg in New York.

Brett Carlsen/Getty Images / Realtor.comBuffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane wants to make a deal.But in this case, he has a real estate agent working the phones.Beane's 10,442-square-foot mansion in Orchard Park, NY, comes with a hefty price tag-for upstate New York.He's asking $1,800,000, making this the most expensive home for sale in the Buffalo suburb.

Getty Images When buying a home today, you might have to solve a puzzle about the mortgage rate you'll pay.Which would you do?Get the lowest monthly payment now by paying discount points to reduce the interest rate.Make monthly payments at today's interest rate and wait an unknowable time for rates to fall so you can refinance, at which time you'll pay closing costs of roughly 2% to 6% of the loan amount.

Realtor.com / Getty Images A California home renovated by HGTV stars Heather Rae and Tarek El Moussa popped up on the market recently.This home was featured on the second episode of the couple's new series, "The Flipping El Moussas."On the show, Tarek works on flips with his new wife, Heather Rae, a real estate agent on the Netflix reality show "Selling Sunset."

Troels Graugaard/Getty Images If you're gearing up to buy a home, there's a bitter pill you'll have to be prepared to swallow.You don't just have to pay for the house itself.You'll also need to open your swiftly slimming wallet for a myriad of costs, fees, and taxes-the infamous closing costs.They encompass a wide variety of fees that average between 2% to 7% of your home's purchase price.

Illustration by Realtor.com;Photos: Getty Images (2) Homebuyers who are closely watching the correction in the real estate market might believe now is a good time to pounce.After all, homes are sitting on the market for longer, those maddening bidding wars have dried up, and wild offers over the asking price are things of the past, right?

mihalis_a/iStock The pandemic changed the nature of home buying for a couple of years.Nearly half of all homes were bought sight unseen.But if today's buyer prefers a return to tradition, they will likely traipse through your home during an open house.Holding an open house is a great way to get many potential buyers through the door and show off your picture-perfect home.

*Editors Note* As a musician and having spent the better part of my 20s recording records, I know first hand how important acoustic panels are to deadening a space and ensuring the best, bell tone, crystal clear, audio makes it to "tape."If you aren't on the move, investing in some quality deadening material, like acoustic panels for walls and ceilings, may make the difference in someone listening past the first thirty seconds of your show.

Realtor.com Whether you're buying a fixer-upper or just want to modernize the kitchen of a dated home before you move in, a FHA 203(k) loan insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) could be the solution to purchasing a home that will require some work.But before you start drawing up the blueprints for a fancy new open kitchen, you might be wondering: What is an FHA 203(k) loan?

In addition to its fine period details, this early 20th century standalone house has a notable preservation pedigree as the home of Victorian Flatbush booster and advocate the late Mary Kay Gallagher.In 1959, Gallagher and her husband purchased the shingle and clapboard house in Prospect Park South and she lived there until her death last year.

One of the occupational hazards of being a real estate agent is that you can walk into a home you were scouting for a client and suddenly want it for yourself.We were not looking to move, said Suzanne White, a 58-year-old Realtor from Memphis.My husband and I had never discussed it.She'd always wanted a pool and the space to host big parties.

A living room on the main level has tall windows and a fireplace.(TruPlace)Montgomery County native Lee Meiners noticed the house on Riley Road while driving through the neighborhood with his wife.The newlyweds lived in a nearby townhouse, but Meiners later said he knew this house "was the one" the first time he saw it.

Finding an apartment in Los Angeles can be a daunting task, especially for those who are new to the city.Los Angeles is a vibrant and diverse city, with an abundance of rental options for anyone looking to move into the area.However, with so many neighborhoods and apartments to choose from, it can be overwhelming to start the process.

Around the time Brooke Shields celebrated her 16th birthday, she and her mother/manager, Teri, bought a townhouse on the Upper East Side.It was quiet, and it was luxurious, in that we had space in New York.We had a backyard.It was such a privileged and safe way to grow up in the middle of Manhattan, said Ms. Shields, 57, who, since her days as a child model, actor and professional Calvin Klein jeans enthusiast, has starred in television series and Broadway musicals, written books, designed jewelry, founded the digital platform Beginning is Now and appeared in a number of movies.

Interesting fact: The appraisal report in a Boston condo purchase can make or break a sale.All lenders will require that a licensed appraiser determine the Boston condo value.The appraiser--who works independently and is not on staff at the bank--studies recent comparable sales in the neighborhood and makes adjustments for stuff like number of bedrooms, bathrooms, parking and kitchen/bath finishes.

After Kouri Richins's husband, Eric, died suddenly last year, she wrote a children's book that she said she hoped would help her three boys process the loss, comforted by the knowledge that their father would always be with them.On Monday, a little over two months since the book Are You With Me? was published, Ms. Richins, 33, was charged with murdering her husband by poisoning him with a lethal dose of fentanyl at their home outside Park City, Utah.

It is the stuff golfers' dreams are made of: a formal invitation from Augusta National Golf Club to compete in the Masters Tournament, considered the most prestigious event on the golf calendar.When Scott Stallings, a real estate agent from Georgia, and his wife, Jenny, opened the door to their house on St. Simons Island on New Year's Eve, they found that just such an invitation had arrived via UPS.

A Toronto condo owner is demanding changes to how the City of Toronto grants short-term rental licences after learning someone other than her approved tenant was able to obtain one for her unit.Allison Rasquinha, a real estate agent, says the licence was used to rent out her downtown studio on Adelaide Street West to multiple guests on Airbnb.com

A school district in Missouri has adopted a four-day school week, with a "mixed" response from parents.On Dec. 13, the Independence School District school board voted 6-1 to shorten the school week to four days.Beginning in the 2023-24 school year, students in grades pre-K to 12 will attend classes from Tuesday to Friday, with each school day extended by 35 minutes per day.

The last few years have been among the most challenging for home buyers.The pandemic blew up prices as demand for single-family homes grew.Today, inflated prices, high interest rates and few active listings continue to make finding and buying a house extremely difficult.But what about building a house from the ground up?

Luxury Homes If you don't have $60,000 a month to spend, you'd better drop back and punt on this one.Out with the Tom, and in with the you?Tom Brady's retirement - for real this time, he says - means he doesn't have much use for his home in Tampa's Davis Islands neighborhood.The six-bedroom, 6.5-bath home was built in 2019 and is now available for rent for $60,000 a month, Realtor.com first reported.

Taking advantage of wait time during the design, planning and construction of a new home will make a new-home buyer's journey much more pleasant.This is particularly true for new-home buyers who plan to sell their existing home before taking possession of the new home.And there is a new factor to consider: the transitional real estate market that most of California is experiencing.

From left: Total Quality Lending's Ivan Oberon, Delaware Pacific's Waleed Delawari, Agent Zane Widdes and Agent Derek Reilly In a residential market slowdown sparked by rising interest rates, agents and lenders look to sweeten deals with the financial tool of mortgage buy-downs, in which the interest rate is lowered for the first few years of a mortgage.

This 50-year-old mansion in Bethesda, Md., underwent a lengthy modernization - including two years of design work and five years of construction.It now has a sleek, modern design.(Craig Westerman)This 50-year-old mansion in Bethesda, Md., isn't your typical 1970s house.It's not just huge (15,000 square feet) and very expensive (at $12.5 million, the most expensive property now on the market in Montgomery County).

The two-story circular foyer has marble flooring and curved stairs that ascend to the second floor.(Constance Gauthier)This Georgian manor built for developer Albert Small is on the market for the first time.The 1.7-acre estate, one of the largest parcels in the Edgemoor neighborhood of Bethesda, Md., is listed at just under $11 million.

Back in October, the longtime Hidden Hills, California, home of late Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully was put up for sale.The $15 million listing came two months after he passed away in August at the age of 94.Scully, who spent 67 seasons calling games for the Dodgers, purchased the estate for $12.4 million in 2009.

CasarsaGuru/iStock "Gentleman's farm," which crops up in real estate listings, describes property where people farm just for fun rather than to make a living.The term dates back to the 19th century, when retired sea captains and shipping agents returned to Nantucket and started their own farms and dairies," explains Mark Quindoy, a real estate agent with eXp Realty, in San Diego.