Consumer

Most home-search platforms filter by round numbers, such as $200,000, $250,000, and $300,000. A home listed at $249,900 shows up for buyers searching up to $250,000. It disappears for buyers searching from $250,000 and up. On paper, the seller saves the buyer $100. In practice, the seller loses an entire bracket of potential offers. In ...

For years, luxury buyers in the hills around Los Angeles prioritized views, acreage, and privacy. Insurance was a line item, not a deciding factor. That era appears to be ending. In the West Valley and surrounding fire-prone areas, insurance costs have climbed so steeply – and coverage has become so difficult to secure – that ...

In most Texas housing markets right now, buyers have leverage they have not enjoyed in years. Inventory is up, prices are softening, and seller concessions – credits toward closing costs or interest-rate buydowns – have become a common negotiating tool. But in the luxury corridors west of Dallas, that playbook stops working above a certain ...

In parts of the Midwest where the housing market still favors sellers, a split is emerging that has less to do with location than with condition. Two houses can sit side by side in the same neighborhood, built around the same time, and sell at noticeably different prices. The difference, according to Jean Lewis, who ...

The biggest risk in a fix-and-flip project is not picking the wrong house. It is running out of money halfway through the renovation. The issue is not the down payment. It is everything that comes after it. Scott Ward, owner of Lakewood Ranch Lending and the parent Ward Company in Bradenton, Florida, has closed more ...

When sellers in the South Bay beach cities need new paint, fresh flooring, or updated landscaping before listing, many resist. They would rather offer the buyer a credit at closing and skip the hassle. It feels logical: give the buyer money to do the work themselves and avoid spending cash on a home you are ...

In small towns where the housing stock is old and buyers are stretching to qualify, a deal’s success often depends on whether the seller is willing to pitch in on repairs. In Chester, Illinois, a Randolph County town where most homes were built decades ago and new construction is scarce, that willingness is now the ...

In the mountain towns around Lake Tahoe, older cabins carry a particular kind of charm – knotty pine walls, stone fireplaces, the look and feel of something that belongs in the Sierra Nevada landscape. They also carry a financial risk that many buyers wildly underestimate, according to Dave Gove, an agent with Real Broker in ...

Buyers considering waterfront property anywhere in Florida tend to treat insurance as a dealbreaker before they have priced it. Along the Gulf Coast’s barrier islands, agents say the difference between an alarming quote and a manageable one often comes down to something surprisingly simple: whether the buyer contacts a national carrier or a local insurer ...

Buyers assume a barrier island in hurricane-prone Southwest Florida must be one of the most expensive places to insure a home. On at least one island near Placida, Florida, the opposite may be closer to the truth – and the reason comes down to elevation and flood zone classification, not marketing. Robin Madden, owner of ...

Rising home prices are often blamed on mortgage rates. In Chicago’s western suburbs, the bigger driver is a shortage of homes for sale. Buyers there have spent roughly two years competing for a limited supply of listings, according to Chris Pequet, a broker with Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty. Pequet has worked mainly in the area’s ...

Many sidelined home buyers share the same strategy: wait for interest rates to fall, then buy. That plan assumes the market will hold still while they wait. In Missoula, Montana, Zach Gratton and Chris Funston of GFG Real Estate argue that assumption is wrong. Buyers waiting for lower monthly payments may face higher prices and ...

When buyers relocate to the suburbs southwest of Boston, the instinct is often to chase space: a bigger yard, a quieter street, and more room to spread out. But in towns such as Westwood, Dover, and Norwood, the homes that hold their value best are not always the ones on the largest lots. They are ...

A decade ago, first-time buyers in Chicago’s southwest suburbs were often younger and willing to fix up a home in exchange for a lower price. That buyer has largely disappeared. Ellen Williams is a residential agent with Coldwell Banker Real Estate Group in downtown Plainfield, Illinois. She says today’s first-time buyers are noticeably older and ...

Interest rates dominate conversations about buying a home right now. In the Detroit metro area, the housing market has softened modestly in recent months. For some buyers there, a fixation on rates may cost more than the rates themselves. Anthony Kellum runs Kellum Mortgage, a Detroit-based mortgage company that also serves Atlanta. His argument is ...