Real Estate, Updates, News & Tips - iPro Real Estate

MUSIC: Listen to this Song "Numb" by Linkin Park

In memory of the amazing talent of Chester Bennington and condolences.R.I.P. March 20, 1976 - July 20, 2017"Numb" is a song by American rock band Linkin Park. It was released as the third single from their second studio album, Meteora (2003), and is the thirteenth and final track on the album. One of Linkin Park's most well-known and critically acclaimed songs, "Numb" topped the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart for 12 weeks. T

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Who Really Owns Single-Family Investment Properties?

About 23 percent of residential homes built for one to four families are now owned by investors, according to a study recently released by REAL Trends, Inc., and NEXZUS Publishing Group. The vast majority of those homes are not owned by institutional investors but rather individual investors or small investment groups.The Iceberg Report outlines the size of the single-family residential market, as well as uncovers trends in terms of demographics

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Shrine to Female Agents Alarms Local Pros

Real estate professionals in Abilene, Texas, are on edge after a shed on private property was found to contain a collage of more than two dozen head shots of women, mostly local agents, tacked on the outer walls and a nearby property fence. Agent Tommy Simons discovered the collage when he was visiting his listing next door.“I’ve known all those ladies a long time,” Simons told the Houston Chronicle. “That’s kind of weird and kind of

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After Brief Hike, Mortgage Rates Fall Below 4%

Following two weeks of rate increases, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage settled back below a 4 percent average this week.“Continued economic uncertainty and weak inflation data pushed rates lower this week,” says Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “The 10-year Treasury yield fell 5 basis points this week. The 30-year mortgage rate moved with Treasury yields, dropping 7 basis points to 3.96 percent.”Freddie Mac reported the fo

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Foreclosures Now ‘Unicorns’ of Housing Market

Foreclosure filings, which include default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions, are down 20 percent from the same period a year ago, according to the Midyear 2017 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report from ATTOM Data Solutions.“With a few local market exceptions, foreclosures have become the unicorns of the housing market: hard to find but highly sought after,” says Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions.Forec

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‘Mannequin House’ Goes Viral With Odd Photos

A two-acre property in Richmond, Texas, garnered 1.2 million page views in just two days for its unusual listing photos. How’d they do it?If you flip through the photos, you’ll see how “one of a kind” this five-bedroom, 5.5-bathroom home is. Nearly every room contains at least one mannequin, prompting the nickname “mannequin house.” The photos feature a mannequin sitting on a kitchen stool, peeking into windows from the outside, and

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Fannie Mae to ease lending standards

The most important specific easing will be an expansion of the maximum debt-to-income ratio (DTI) from 45 percent to 50 percentKey Takeaways To get 50 percent DTI you must have very high credit scores and cash reserves after closing.On July 29, Fannie Mae will activate an update to “Desktop Underwriter,” the software that analyzes borrower applications and grants approval — “DU” in shorthand spoken with reverence or disgust throughout t

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REALTORS: Why you’re missing out if you aren’t producing video

Key Takeaways Video helps real estate agents build trust, create recognition and convert clients.Today’s world is digital. Consumers are inundated with digital devices, filled with social media, email campaigns and digital marketplaces. There is no breaking free from the World Wide Web — it’s part of even our most simple daily routines.When it comes to the web, though, there is one format of media that seems to break through the most. Accor

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Builders Speed Up to Meet Housing Demands

Home builders are ramping up the pace of new-home construction in response to an ongoing shortage of homes for sale across the country.Housing starts nationwide jumped 8.3 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.22 million units, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Single-family production zoomed to its second highest rate of this year, increasing 6.3 percent month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 849,0

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Poverty Rates Rising in Suburbs

Poverty is increasingly striking the nation’s suburbs and exurbs (farther out suburbs on the edges of metros). High-poverty neighborhoods have risen 76 percent in the suburbs and 123 percent in the exurbs from 2000 to 2015, according to an analysis from Apartment List, which culled data from a recent report out of Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. A high-poverty neighborhood is an area with a poverty rate that is 20 pe

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