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Buying a House: From search to offer, we've got your real estate needs covered. You get instant access to all current MLS listings, neighborhood info and more. When you're ready to tour homes and make an offer, the agent you're connected to will be there to guide you through the process and help you win the home you love.

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Best Places to Be a Renter

Which are the best cities in which to rent?

For a renter, the best place to live is Little Rock, Ark., according to a new study by data firm
Axiometrics, which looked at 28 metro areas nationwide to see where rents are the most affordable.
Axiometrics took a look at the metros that boast the lowest rent-to-household income ratio. Here are the top eight most affordable places for renters.
Little Rock, Ark.

Rent-to-household income ratio: 16.5%
Average monthly effective rent: $735

Salt Lake City
Rent-to-household income ratio: 17.1%
Average monthly effective rent: $977

Las Vegas
Rent-to-household income ratio: 17.2%
Average monthly effective rent: $861


On the other hand, the least affordable market Axiometrics found were New York (where rent-to-income ratio was 53.8%). New York has been the least affordable of any of the 28 metros since 1997, according to Axiometrics. Rents there average $2,970.
Other markets on the bottom of the affordability list for rentals were Los Angeles (43.7% rent-to-income ratio); San Francisco (42.1%); Miami (41.3%); and Oakland, Calif. (34.1%).

Source: “The Most (And Least) Affordable Metro Areas to Rent an Apartment,” Forbes (Jan. 20, 2016), RosaPace@realtor.com .

Market Pushes Down Mortgage Rates

For the third consecutive week, mortgage rates edged down, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage continuing its run below 4 percent. The 30-year mortgage rate dropped 11 basis points to 3.81 percent, the lowest rate in three months. Freddie Mac reports the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending Jan. 21:

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.81 percent, with an average 0.6 point, dropping from last week's 3.92 percent average. Last year at this time, 30-year rates averaged 3.63 percent.
• 15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.10 percent, with an average 0.5 point, falling from last week's 3.19 percent average. A year ago, 15-year rates averaged 2.93 percent.

Source: RosaPace.realtor.com

INCREASE HOME VALUE

What’s your number one goal when selling your home?

 For most homeowners it’s selling it for what it’s worth – especially if you’ve invested a lot of time and effort into updating it. Here are 7 home improvement projects that you can do that will give you the highest return on investment.

What is ROI?

Return on investment is a term that investors use to calculate how profitable a business venture was. In terms of house value, a return on investment is calculated by taking how much money you spend on a project, and then seeing how much that increased the home value when it sells. For example:

You complete a project for $300. When you sell your home, it sells for $1,000 more than it was originally worth. You would have earned $700, which is your ROI. You earned 230% of the original $300 you paid to do the home improvement project.
The following home improvements have a high ROI according to three studies completed by Home Gain, Remodeling.net and HouseLogic. Read the complete article at Landmark

Rents Are Still Skyrocketing

Half of all renters can't afford the rent

Rents surged 4.6 percent in 2015, posting the largest gain since before the Great Recession. It’s a good time to be a landlord, but not a renter, according to the latest report out by Reis, a real estate research firm. Apartment rents nationwide now average nearly $1,180, which is up from $1,125 a

year ago, Reis reports

The fourth quarter “wrapped up an incredible year for the apartment market, probably the strongest we’ve ever seen,” says Jay Denton, senior vice president of analytics at Axiometrics Inc., an apartment research company that also released a report showing rents rose 4.7 percent in the fourth quarter compared with the same quarter a year earlier.

For the past six years, rents have been on the rise. Increases have ranged from 2.3 percent in 2010 to about 4 percent in the last two years. The higher rents edge up, the more difficult it proves for young adults to save enough to become home owners. The number of first-time home buyers in the real estate market, as such, has dipped to a three-decade low, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.

The apartment market may be showing some signs of peaking, however, as a greater supply of apartment buildings hit the market. Vacancy rates edged up slightly in the fourth quarter to 4.4 percent compared to 4.3 percent in the previous quarter. The increase in competition is causing landlords to limit the amount that they can raise prices, says Bob DeWitt, president and chief executive of GID, a Boston-based apartment owner and developer.

“We certainly believe that over the next two or three years rent trends are going to slow and in some places they may actually back up,” he told The Wall Street Journal.

Trends Sellers Should Know in 2016

Selling a home can be a Stressful Experience

There are three dominant trends in real estate that sellers should be aware of going into the new year. If you expect to put your home on the block at some point in 2016, here are some key factors for you to keep in mind before you address issues and concerns to make the best possible deal.



Get start click on Picture

A seller's market dominates. Home prices have been climbing so much that they're even matching their 2006 highs. Seller's markets are more dominant in certain cities such as San Francisco, where bidding wars are widely reported and offers go well above asking price. "The more lucrative a region's economic future appears to be, the easier you can expect it to be to sell a home," according to the article.

1. Mortgages will get pricier. Low mortgage rates have been the standard in the last few years, but that will soon change. The Federal Reserve is gradually beginning to raise rates, which will move mortgage rates higher and dampen affordability. Sellers should be aware that it may become more difficult for prospective buyers to secure financing.
    
2. Tax benefits still abound. The largest tax break for ordinary taxpayers who qualify remains the exclusion on capital gains for the sale of personal residences. Single taxpayers are able to exclude a maximum of $250,000 in gains from the sale of a home. Joint filers get double that: $500,000.

Yet since early 2012, prices have climbed higher, and the Case-Shiller National Home Price Index is coming within spitting distance of matching its highs from 2006 and 2007. Source: RosaPace@Realtor.com