Smart homes can be susceptible to viruses, if homeowners aren’t careful.Many smart home devices are vulnerable, security experts say. A flood of inexpensive security cameras, thermostats, and other internet-connected devices have come to the market, and many of them are carrying minimal safeguards against remote hacking, The Wall Street Journal reports. What’s more, often times, many owners don’t realize their devices contain malicious soft
Bigger isn’t always better with the man cave. The “mini” man cave is starting to catch on.Men’s dedicated spaces may be shrinking from the garage or entire room to now be as small as just a walk-in closet.Still, “it’s important—for a man’s sanity—for him to have his own space in which to relax,” says Jason Cameron, a contractor and former host of the TV show “Man Caves.”Celebrities are bringing more attention to the trend.
The Federal Reserve has made two swift rate hikes in just four months and vows of more to come. But there’s a way to slow the pace of interest-rate hikes: Build more homes, Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS®, writes in his new column at Forbes.com.Building more apartments and single-family homes would help slow down inflation, Yun says.The nation has typically added 1.5 million new housing units each ye
Producing shareable content should be key behind any internet marketing strategy. The more you can get others to share your content, the more new prospects you can land in front of, and the potential to rank higher in Google searches.But what motivates other people to want to share your content?It may come down to science. Firms Moz and BuzzSumo teamed up to examine a million pieces of content to learn the science behind content shares.Type of co
When is your garden in full bloom? Believe it or not, waiting to put a house on the market when flowers, plants, shrubs, and trees are at peak color can make a big difference in how fast a home sells and at what price. That's one of the tips in a special show on the spring selling season on "Real Estate Today," the National Association of REALTORS®' consumer-facing radio show.The show is a top story in the latest Voice for Real Estate news video
Existing-home sales dropped in February as tight inventory and weakening affordability conditions kept many buyers out of the market in most parts of the country, the National Association of REALTORS® reports. Total sales for existing single-family homes, townhomes, condos, and co-ops fell 3.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.48 million, compared to 5.69 million in January, according to the report. However, the pace of sales in
A lesser-known home loan may help your clients in the medical industry better afford a home purchase. Known simply as a "physician loan," these mortgages have less stringent credit and debt-to-income requirements than other loan products. They require down payments as low as 10 percent or less—even zero money down in some cases. They also don't require borrowers to pay private mortgage insurance.Why is their a mortgage targeting doctors, you as
The pace of construction is a major influence over whether housing prices remain affordable in a city, according to a recent article at Forbes.com. Between 2010 and 2016, an overall annual rise in national housing permits led to major metros issuing permits for projects "in the [high-$400,000 or low-$500,000] figures annually," according to Census data. But three metros stood above the rest: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas; New York-Newark-Jer
More borrowers are turning to shorter-term adjustable-rate mortgages as interest rates rise, but that may be a riskier move than your clients realize. While these mortgages offer lower interest rates, the rates reset after a certain preset time. Still, a five-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged a 3.28 percent rate last week compared to 4.30 for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, according to Freddie Mac's weekly mortgage market survey.The
Researchers have long suspected a connection between falling home values and spikes in arson rates, but they've lacked strong supporting evidence. Now a new study in The Journal of Risk and Insurance claims there's proof that the theory is real.Michael Eriksen, assistant professor of real estate at the University of Cincinnati, and James Carson, a University of Georgia professor of insurance, pored over records of 4.8 million fires between 1986
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