Fast-moving wildfires are spreading throughout California. So far, at least 17 people have died and more than 20,000 people have been forced to evacuate.The fires began blazing through California’s wine country Sunday night. The two largest and most destructive fires have consumed more than 52,000 acres in Napa and Sonoma counties.The wildfires have placed about 172,117 homes at risk in Napa and Santa Rosa, according to an analysis by CoreLogic
Between its own stock and the offerings by third parties that use its storefront, Amazon has earned the reputation of having anything shoppers can buy, and now consumers can add shipping container homes to their carts.One firm is making a shipping container home available using Amazon's storefront as a third-party retailer. MODs International, a Wisconsin-based company, is selling a 320-square-foot container as a structural shell for a home fo
For the fourth consecutive month, the gap between homeowner and appraiser opinions on property values narrowed. Still, homeowners tend to believe their homes are worth more than appraisers do.In September, homeowners’ opinions on home prices tended to be 1.14 percent higher than appraisers, according to the latest National Quicken Loans Home Price Perceptions Index.There is a fair amount of variation in price perceptions across the country, ho
A Toronto couple has settled a three-year-long legal battle against their neighbors, whom they accused of copying the design of their multimillion-dollar home.Jason and Jodi Chapnik allege that a house near them looks “strikingly similar” to theirs. They argued in court that the home is using the same shade of blue and matching grey stonework. They’ve accused the neighbors of decreasing the value of their home and taking away its uniqueness
The majority of consumers start their house search online. But could your website’s housing search functionality be turning off potential buyers? Matt Cohen, chief technology officer at Clareity Consulting, wrote a column at RISMedia highlighting a few common mistakes that real estate websites and apps are making, including:Offering too many search fields. It can make the process more complicated by offering too many parameters to conduct a ho
More borrowers are being dishonest on their mortgage applications.Mortgage fraud risk is up by nearly 17 percent in the most recent 12-month period, according to CoreLogic, a real estate data firm. “Occupancy” fraud is rising the fastest, in which applicants deliberately misrepresent their intended use of the property. For example, a client may tell a lender that they plan to live in the house when they really intend to rent it out. Applicant
Ninety-one percent of closed sales in August contained a sales contingency, allowing a buyer or seller to back out of the contract if certain conditions were not met. This percentage was reported in the August 2017 REALTORS® Confidence Index Survey, a monthly survey sent to more than 50,000 real estate practitioners.The most common contract contingencies in August were related to passing home inspections (19 percent); the buyer obtaining financ
Are you a cat person or a dog person? Which type of pet you pledge your allegiance to may influence where you decide to live, according to a new realtor.com® analysis. Some cities tend to be more welcoming to canines while others favor felines, realtor.com® researchers found. “The West Coast is far more climatically friendly to dogs, especially if you like going to dog parks and schmoozing with other owners every weekend—even in the winter,
Homeowners who have embraced the “tiny home” lifestyle are discovering that it’s not so easy to find a place to put their property. Many tiny houses—usually considered to be between 100 and 400 square feet—are built on trailers with wheels so they can be towed, but zoning regulations in many cities don’t allow for temporary structures such as RVs or other movable homes. These laws also frequently specify a minimum size for a home or l
The federal government is investigating a number of predatory lending schemes targeting thousands of veterans who have Veterans Administration mortgages. Officials say the scams aim to convince borrowers to repeatedly refinance, ultimately paying more on their loans. Some lenders also are being accused of using teaser interest rates, “cash out” windfalls, and lower monthly payments, using marketing materials that sometimes resemble Department
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