If you’ve been in the market for real estate lately — or even just idly browsing your old neighborhood from curiosity — you’ve almost certainly seen the “Zestimate” splashed across a property’s Zillow listing. But now, multiple lawsuits are claiming those numbers are so far from realistic that they’re actually harmful, and Zillow itself is launching a contest, hoping to crowdsource a better Zestimate. [More]
home sales
Zillow’s “Zestimates” Probably Aren’t The Best Way To Figure Out How Much Your House Is Worth
By 5.26.17
Some Banks Offering Tech Employees Mortgages With No Down Payment
By 7.28.16
Usually when you hear about banks offering home loans with low down-payment requirements, it’s intended to attract first-time homeowners who may not have the tens of thousands of dollars it can take to make the full 20% upfront payment. However, some banks in high-priced areas in and around Silicon Valley are using 0% down-payment loans in an attempt to attract well-heeled tech employees. [More]
Family Sells Home For $140K More After Agreeing To Include Their Cat In The Deal
By 10.14.14
How much would someone have to pay you to part with your favorite feline companion? Perhaps no amount of money could pry Mr. Whiskerworth van Hugglebottom from your loving arms, but the $140,000 offered to one family to include their cat in a real estate deal is proving pretty darn tempting. [More]
If You Can't Sell Your Home, Here Are Some Options
By 11.29.11
If you put your house on the market, there’s a great chance it will stay there for months, leaving you twisting in the wind as you decide what your next move will be. No matter how often you badger your real estate agent, the depressed housing market means buyers can be choosy, leaving otherwise attractive deals hang in the balance. [More]
Economist: 2011 Will Be Worst Year So Far For New Home Sales
By 9.27.11
As nearly each month passes, home sales get slower and slower. New home sales in August declined 2.3 percent from July. The numbers were up 6.1 percent from August 2010, which isn’t saying much considering that was the 48-year low for the housing market. [More]
Even Rock-Bottom Mortgage Rates Can't Resuscitate Housing Market
By 8.4.11
Last week, 30-year fixed mortgages dropped to 4.45 percent and 15-year mortgages hit a new low of 3.52 percent, meaning seemingly anyone who can afford a house payment had as much incentive as possible from the financing side to go out and close on a house. But the housing market is showing no real signs of recovery, and things don’t look so great on the horizon, either. [More]
More Would-Be Home Buyers Backing Out Before Closing
By 7.21.11
Real estate agents don’t have it easy these days — well, these years — and their jobs have become even more maddening lately thanks to the recent trend of home buyers canceling sales at the last minute. The rate of home sale cancellations rose from 4 percent in May to 16 percent in June. [More]
House Prices In April Rose A Whisker From March
By 6.29.11
Although house prices continue to tumble year over year, and analysts expect prices to continue to drop as the months roll by, April marked an ever so slight nudge in the opposite direction. Previously owned single-family home prices rose 0.7 percent from March, according to the Case-Shiller index, which examined sales in 20 cities. [More]
New Home Sales Dive To Lowest Level In Nearly 50 Years
By 3.24.11
As housing prices sank to their lowest levels since 2002 in February, the number of new houses sold took a much harder fall, dropping 16.9 percent from the previous month. [More]
New Home Sales Down 33%, A New Record
By 6.23.10
The Commerce Department has released figures that show that new home sales have dropped to a record low — down 33% from April. The drop isn’t unexpected, but it does show to what extent the market was being propped up by the tax credit for new home buyers. [More]
This Is Timothy Geithner's Beautiful House – Not Selling
By 7.31.09
It’s a common enough story. A family puts their house up for sale after one of the parents gets a great job offer in another city. Sure, they bought the house at the peak of the housing bubble, but they refuse to sell for less than they paid. The house stays on the market for months on end.
