We’ve had a lot of posts related to the cost of living and how it affects real estate and quality of life.  With that in mind, a recent report from Realtor.com reveals their list of the top 10 states with the lowest cost of living.  The say Americans are still feeling walloped with high prices every time they open their wallet—at the grocery store, gas pump, to pay for housing, and beyond.

To get their list, they examined the latest regional price parities data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, whic
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The National Association of Realtors is reporting that existing home sales were down 1% in September to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 3.84 million – down 3.5% year over year.  Total housing inventory at the end of September was 1.39 million units, up 1.5% from August and up 23% from one year ago.  Unsold inventory sits at a 4.3-month supply at the current sales rate with properties remaining on the market for around 28 days.  The median existing-home price for all housing types in September was $404,500.

““Home sales have been essentially stuck at around a four-million-unit pace for the past 12 months, but factors usually associated with higher home sales are developing…There are more inventory choices for consumers, lower mortgage rates than a year ago and continued job additions to the economy…”  Said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.

The American Land Title Association (ALTA) is reporting that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in mid-October renewed its Geographic Targeting Orders (GTO) requiring U.S. title insurance companies to identify the natural persons behind shell companies used in non-financed purchases of residential real estate.  In addition, ALTA reminds readers that FinCEN began issuing Geographic Targeting (GTOs) orders in January, 2016 requiring title insurance companies to file reports & maintain records concerning all-cash purchases of residential real estate above a certain threshold in select metropolitan areas of the United States.

Key points:

• The terms of the GTOs are effective through April 14, 2025.
• FinCEN renewed the GTOs that cover certain counties and majo
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According to the latest CoreLogic Single-Family Rent Index (SFRI), U.S. single-family home rental prices continue to grow at a slow and steady pace.  According to their report, prices posted a 2.4% gain year-over-year – the lowest rate of growth recorded since last fall.  Interestingly, detached rental prices rose by 2.3% from August 2023, compared with 2% for attached properties.

“Single-family rent growth slowed in August from both a year and a month ago…The monthly drop in single-family rents of 0.2% was notable as it was contrary to the typical August increase of 0.3% and therefore points to quickly decelerating single-family rents. However, some metro areas bucked the national trend – the top metros in rent growth in August all had accelerati
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We have run a few posts about a website that allows you to see if someone died in the house or property you’re about to buy.  However a recent report from CNBC says that while real estate agents are required to point out physical or material defects in a property, it depends on the state whether they have disclose if someone died there.

Some homes are considered “stigmatized properties,” or dwellings that have been “psychologically impacted by a past or suspected event on the property, but has no physical impact of any kind,” according to the National Association of Realtors.

The U.S. government is reporting that privately‐owned housing starts in September, 2024 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,354,000, which is 0.5% lower than August’s revised number and is 0.7% lower than one year ago.  September’s rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 317k.  Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,428,000, which is 2.9% lower than August’s revised number bit is 5.7% lower than one year ago.  Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 398k in September.

We recently posted a compare & contrast chart for the 2024 Presidential Race.  With that in mind, this Tuesday, November 5th is election day all across America.  Every four years on the first Tuesday, following the first Monday in November America chooses its next President (or reelects the current one).  However, as the folks over at Kids Discover point out, it is actually a little more complex than just casting a vote for your favorite man or woman to be the next leader of the free-world.

The U.S. constitution Read More...

This Monday, September 2nd is Labor Day.  The annual 3-day  weekend marks the unofficial end of Summer and ushers in the cool Fall season – although Fall doesn’t officially begin until September 22nd.  Today’s graphic gives us the  Read More...