Boost Curb Appeal with $100 in 4 Easy Steps

Boost Curb Appeal with $100 in 4 Easy Steps

Does your listing need a more inviting first impression from the outside? Stager Cora Sue Anthony with Antony Staging in Oakland, Calif., says you don’t have to break the bank to get an instant lift to a home’s curb appeal. In fact, in a short video she highlights how spending just $106 on some paint and a new light fixture could instantly amp up a home’s curb appeal.

Here are four steps that can entice buyers:

1. Paint the front door. Try out a bold color – such as red – to get buyers’ attention focused on the door.

2. Paint the mailbox. Try either red or black. Anthony says since she painted the home’s door red in the video example, she painted the mailbox the opposite color – black.

3. Paint the railings. Use black to add depth.

4. Change out the light fixture. Make sure the new light fixture matches the aesthetics of the home’s exterior, but this can dress up the outside while also brightening the space.

Source: “How to Get Curb Appeal on a Budget,” realtor.com® (Feb. 5, 2016)

Housing Winners = Super Bowl Champs

Housing Winners = Super Bowl Champs

Realtor.com® predicts a Denver Broncos win over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 this weekend. That could prove to be good news for the national housing market as well, the real estate site says.

“Although there is no economically driven correlation between the outcome of the Super Bowl and the housing market, we have found a promising real estate predictor for the Super Bowl that’s more effective than a coin toss,” says Jonathan Smoke, realtor.com®’s chief economist.

Realtor.com® used January’s performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average to predict the Super Bowl’s outcome. “Out of the 49 games to date, this predictor has anticipated the outcome of the Super Bowl 82 percent of the time,” realtor.com® states.

This year, the stock market ended January down 5.5 percent, which realtor.com® says indicates a win for the Denver Broncos. If the market had risen in January, the Carolina Panthers would be the anticipated winners.

History suggests a Denver win is also good for the overall housing market, says realtor.com®.

“Denver’s past wins in the Super Bowl – in 1998 and 1999 – were also strong years for housing,” according to realtor.com®. In 1998, home prices rose 6 percent and existing-home sales increased 13 percent, according to data from the National Association of REALTORS®. Also, housing starts surged 9 percent, with single-family starts alone up 12 percent. In 1999, the housing market also showed rises, with home prices up 7 percent; existing-home sales increasing 3 percent; and housing starts inching up 2 percent.

Source: Move Inc.

Your Online Sphere is Larger Than You Think

Your Online Sphere is Larger Than You Think

The idea that everyone is connected by six degrees is becoming outdated, as new Facebook research shows its users are connected to each other by an average of 3.57 degrees.

Facebook marks its 12th birthday today, which they’ve dubbed “Friends Day,” by reminding users how their online social circle makes them more connected than they might think, and they’ve developed a calculator to show you how close you are to everyone else.

“Our collective ‘degrees of separation’ have shrunk over the past five years,” says Facebook’s data team. “In 2011, researchers at Cornell, the Universita degli Studi di Milano, and Facebook computed the average across the 721 million people using the site then, and found that it was 3.74. Now, with twice as many people using the site, we’ve grown more interconnected, thus shortening the distance between any people in the world.”

To celebrate “Friends Day,” the social media channel also created a personalized video tool that allows Facebook users to turn their milestone moments with friends into short videos. These videos are shared to users’ profiles and posted on their friends’ news feeds.

Source: “It’s a Smaller World After All: Facebook Research Shows 3.57 Degrees – not 6 – of Separation,” Venturebeat.com (Feb. 4, 2016)

Groundhogs Know Best: Spring Buying Is On

Groundhogs Know Best: Spring Buying Is On

The infamous groundhog – Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil – may not only have the power to predict how many more weeks are left to winter but also the ability to predict the start to housing’s busiest time of year.

Phil didn’t see his shadow on Tuesday’s Groundhog Day, which, if superstition holds true, means that winter will be shorter this year, with a warmer February across the country.

If the groundhog is correct, Jonathan Smoke, realtor.com®’s chief economist, says, that could spark an early start to the spring home buying season.

“Over the 47 years for which we have sales data, when February’s temperature was above average, February home sales showed growth over the prior year 60 percent of the time,” Smoke writes in his most recent column at realtor.com®.

But what matters more than the weather is the health of the economy and the demand for housing, Smoke writes.

“When the market is strong and temperatures are cold, we still typically see growth,” he writes. “But when we have a strong market and warmer temperatures in February, we are far more likely to see growth.”

And “when the housing market is strong like it is now, and Phil doesn’t see his shadow, February sees an average 11 percent year-over-year increase in existing-home sales,” Smoke continues. “Thanks to Punxsutawney Phil, we know that the spring housing market starts early this year — and buyers and sellers had better be ready.”

Source: “Guess What? Spring Home Buying Starts Now (Thanks, Punxsutawney Phil!)” realtor.com® (Feb. 2, 2016)

Apply Now for the 2016 Good Neighbor Awards

Apply Now for the 2016 Good Neighbor Awards

REALTOR® Magazine is currently accepting applications from REALTORS® for the 17th annual Good Neighbor Awards. This program recognizes NAR members who go above and beyond to support their communities through charitable and volunteer work.

Five winners will be announced in this year’s November/December issue of REALTOR® Magazine and will receive a $10,000 grant for their charity.

They will also be recognized at the 2016 REALTORS® Conference & Expo in Orlando where they will receive their awards. Winners also will receive paid travel expenses to the conference and can expect national publicity for their cause. In addition to the winners, five honorable mentions will each receive a $2,500 grant.

“REALTORS® play a significant role in building and improving communities across our nation,” said NAR President Tom Salomone, broker owner of Real Estate II, Inc. in Margate, Florida. “Over the last 16 years, more than 160 Good Neighbors and their charities have been recognized for their outstanding acts of altruism and kindness.”

Last year’s Good Neighbor Award winners contributed countless hours to their causes, raised millions of dollars and drew a standing ovation from thousands of REALTORS® and guests during the annual conference in San Diego.

The 2015 winners were Daniel L. Goodwin, The Inland Real Estate Group, Inc., Oak Brook, Ill., founder of the New Directions Housing Corporation; Nancy E. Hines, F.C. Tucker Co. Inc., Avon, Ind., co-founder of Ovar’coming Together Inc.; John Kersten, Century 21 Town & Country, Utica, Mich., power fundraiser for Easter Seals Michigan; Barbara Mills, RE/MAX Realty One, Inverness, Fla., founder of Operation Welcome Home; and Susan Stearns, Berkshire Hathaway, California Properties, Calabasas, Calif., former president of New Horizons.

Previous Good Neighbor Award winners’ charities benefited from the grant money and media exposure that resulted from winning the Good Neighbor Award.

“Winning the Good Neighbor Award has brought donations from across the country, which will help bring more awareness, education and support,” said 2015 Good Neighbor Award winner and four-time cancer survivor Nancy E. Hines, who won for cofounding the Ovar’coming Together, Inc., which supports women diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

The Good Neighbor Awards is supported by primary sponsor realtor.com® and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. Nominees will be judged on their personal impact on the community through volunteer work. To be eligible, nominees must be NAR members in good standing.

—By REALTOR® Magazine

The Wealthy Still Want a Trophy Home

The Wealthy Still Want a Trophy Home

Wealthy hot spots like the Hamptons, Beverly Hills, and Aspen are not seeing any shortage of home buyers in their ultra-luxury housing markets, proving the global market panic isn’t deterring the rich in real estate. The wealthy are still seeing real estate as a strong investment, despite recent turmoil in China’s financial markets and mounting concerns about global growth, CNBC reports.

The median sales price in Beverly Hills for a single-family home reached $5.5 million, soaring 54 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the same period last year, according to sales data from Douglas Elliman. In the mountain resort of Aspen, its median single-family home price rose 35 percent to $6.7 million. The Hamptons reached a record number of homes that sold for more than $5 million and more than $10 million during the fourth quarter. In the Hamptons, the average sales price also hit a record high of $2.39 million.

“There’s a general perception that the luxury market across the U.S. is weaker than the middle or lower end,” Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, an appraisal firm, told CNBC. “But in the most highly regarded areas, like Beverly Hills, the market is strong.”

The largest sales in recent years have occurred in the fourth quarter, Miller says.

“I’m not sure why, but ever since the financial crisis, the largest activity has come at the end of the year,” he says.

Source: “Mansion Prices Hit New Highs in Super-Rich Enclaves,” CNBC (Jan. 28, 2016)