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Posted on Oct 16 2017 - 3:46pm by Housecall
Comments Off on Buying a Home? Factor These Into Your Interest Rate Calculations

By Liz Dominguez The mortgage process can be complicated if you jump in without any prior knowledge on home-buying and lending. The best tool you can arm yourself with is an understanding of how your mortgage interest rate is calculated. Credit can make or break you.  Your credit score will determine how reliable you are in the lending world. The higher your score,...

Posted on Oct 16 2017 - 2:27pm by Beth McGuire
Comments Off on Spotlight: Does realtor.com Really Care About REALTORS®?

Jesse Zagorsky, Broker/Owner, Z Team Real Estate In the following video spotlights, San Diego-based Z Team Real Estate Co-Owner Jesse Zagorsky discusses the online leads his company receives from realtor.com®, and how the data presented on the site supports agents’ success through its accuracy and accessibility. Region Served: San Diego, Calif.
Years in Business:...

Posted on Oct 13 2017 - 10:10am by Housecall
Comments Off on The Most (and Least) Valuable States in America

Everyone knows location is the most important part of real estate. You can't change where your house is (all things being equal). You have to consider school districts, crime rates, commute times—the list goes on and on. It can be much simpler when you're considering buying a home to compare apples to apples so you can see how the real estate market differs according...

Most of us have a hobby—baking or painting, a creative interest, a part-time passion or a simple way to pass the time. For Matt Widdows, CEO and founder of HomeSmart International, that passion is flying his private plane, a Pilatus PC-12 that seats eight passengers. For years, Widdows has been using his flying skills to give back, working with the Eastern division...

Posted on Oct 10 2017 - 11:56am by Housecall
Comments Off on Buying in a Seller’s Market: Who’s the Winner?

By Liz Dominguez The change of season often brings a shift in real estate market conditions. Inventory tends to decline and buyers may become more aggressive in their home search. This change can affect real estate transactions in a variety of ways. Here's what you need to know about buying or selling a home in a seller's market: Time is valuable.
Buyers don't...

Posted on Oct 9 2017 - 9:15am by Housecall
Comments Off on Crowdfunding Your Way Into a Home

By Liz Dominguez Crowdfunding has appeared in the real estate industry in a variety of forms: house flip investing, mortgage payoff and down payment support. High fees and legality issues have made it difficult for the popular funding method to be taken seriously within U.S. real estate markets. A new crowdfunding platform—HomeFundMe—was recently launched by CMG...

Posted on Oct 6 2017 - 10:48am by Housecall
Comments Off on Survey: Broker Operations and Technology

Staying ahead of the curve on technology is an ongoing challenge for real estate brokerages of all sizes. From deciding on which technology to use to agent adoption, there are many options. With these challenges in mind, we want to hear directly from the nation's leading brokers about how you make your firm's technology decisions, how you incorporate them into the...

By Liz Dominguez The time to tweet is now. If you haven't taken the Twitter world by storm yet, here's your chance to make a name for yourself. Social media is a great way to boost your real estate business and connect with your younger clients. Marketing yourself with 140-character word limit can be tough. The right string of words can be powerful enough to evoke...

Posted on Oct 3 2017 - 11:00am by Housecall
Comments Off on Home Renovation for (Less than) the Cost of an iPhone 8

By the experts at Home Advisor With every new iPhone release, we discover new ways we can’t live without our devices. The iPhone 8 is water proof, rust proof, and has the most durable glass yet. It has enhanced stereo speakers, wireless charging, a stellar camera, and more. However, it comes at a hefty price: $699-$949. You may see that price tag and think, there...

Posted on Oct 2 2017 - 10:00am by Maria Patterson
Comments Off on Know Your Model, Work It Well

From L to R: Zillow Group Chief Industry Development Officer Errol Samuelson; Latter & Blum, Inc. President Rick Haase; Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Arizona/California/Nevada Properties Broker/Owner & CEO Mark Stark; HomeSmart COO Ashley Bowers; Compass Chief Revenue Officer Rob Lehman "There are a lot of different models in this room. At the end of the...