Busting 5 Common Credit Misconceptions

​ NEW YORK – Maintaining solid credit can open doors to financial goals, but misunderstanding how credit works can make your efforts futile. As part of the 2024 State of Consumer Credit study, a NerdWallet survey conducted online by The Harris Poll asked more than 2,000 adults a series of questions focusing on common misconceptions […]

Home Organization: Less Clutter, Lower Stress

​ NEW YORK – Although happiness isn’t everything, enjoying one’s home is a must. Every home, regardless of family size, accumulates clutter and as an unfortunate side effect, produces higher stress levels. Living with clutter impacts more than stress levels. Several studies over the years show a general positive impact of tidiness on overall mental […]

4 Tips to Ensure Sellers Get Market Value

​ NEW YORK – In a perfect world, we will all buy low and sell high. In some places, home prices have increased by 47% since the start of the 2020 pandemic, meaning many should definitely be able to sell high. ​Unfortunately, not all appraisals have kept up with such fast-rising values. As a result, […]

State Sees Across-the-Board Population Gains

​ WASHINGTON – The population age 65 and over increased in all but one (Eagle Pass, TX) of the nation’s 387 metro areas, while the population of children declined in many metro areas from April 1, 2020, to July 1, 2023. An examination of changes in the age make-up of the population from April 1, […]

Banks Offloading Real Estate Loans

​ NEW YORK – Some Wall Street banks, worried that landlords of vacant and struggling office buildings won’t be able to pay off their mortgages, have begun offloading their portfolios of commercial real estate loans hoping to cut their losses. It’s an early but telling sign of the broader distress brewing in the commercial real […]

July Rates Could Follow House Prices Down

​ NEW YORK – Mortgage rates are poised to edge lower in July as inflation cools. We’re not talking about a steep rate decline. Picture a gentle slope, like the uneven floor of a 150-year-old house, where a dropped marble rolls, but slowly. It appears that mortgage rates peaked for the year in May. We won’t […]

Florida Insurers Approved for Rate Decrease

​ News & Media By Garrett Phillips TAMPA, Fla. — One month after a handful of insurance companies filed for decreased rates in 2024, the Office of Insurance Regulation has approved the lower rates for some of the companies, NBC affiliate WESH reports. Currently, Florida homeowners pay the highest property insurance rates in the nation, […]

Supreme Court: Outdoor Sleeping Bans Are OK

​ WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court cleared the way for cities to enforce bans on homeless people sleeping outside in public places on Friday, overturning a ruling from a California-based appeals court that found such laws amount to cruel and unusual punishment when shelter space is lacking. The case is the high court’s most significant […]

Florida Realtors CEO Honored by HousingWire

​ News & Media WASHINGTON – Margy Grant, CEO of Florida Realtors®, was recognized Monday as one of HousingWire’s 2024 Women of Influence, an award honoring 100 women nationwide for their significant contributions to the housing industry. HousingWire highlighted the winners as industry trailblazers, representing a cross-section of women who are paving the way for a […]

Home Remodeling: What to Do & not Do

​ News & Media NEW YORK – Thinking of a home renovation? Whether it’s time to upgrade appliances or simply to expand on living space, there are things to consider when remodeling three of the most popular rooms in any home – the living room, the bathroom and the kitchen. Those considering home improvement projects […]

Home Buyer Opportunities Appear to be Opening

​ News & Media By Melissa Dittmann Tracey WASHINGTON – More homes are for sale, yet home buyers don’t appear to be in a rush. Pending home sales fell 2.1% in May and are down nearly 7% from a year ago when home choices were much slimmer, according to the National Association of Realtors®’ newly […]

Market for Newly Built Homes Slows

​ LOS ANGELES – Homebuilders who bucked the worst of last year’s housing slump may be seeing their luck run out. After showing signs of strengthening early this year, sales of new U.S. homes fell in April and May from a year earlier by 7.7% and 16.5%, respectively. Last month’s sales skidded to a seasonally […]