Archive for the 'News & Headlines' Category
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | July 6, 2010
Check out these great tips for adding home value from HGTV’s FrontDoor.com in USA Today’s Weekend edition:
http://www.usaweekend.com/article/20100702/HOME/7040307
Remember, it’s not about how much you spend, but where you spend it. FrontDoor’s Maximum Value Projects is a great resource for homeowners looking to invest their remodeling money wisely.
Find out which projects offer the best return on investment at frontdoor.com/mvp!
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | May 26, 2010
Looks like April’s mad rush to take advantage of the expiring homebuyer tax credit is showing results in a slew of economic reports.
Among the latest mixed bag of housing data:
- Commerce Department: New home sales rose 14.8% from March and are up 47.8% compared with a year ago. Median sales prices are down 9.5% in the past year to $198,400. Housing starts rose 5.8% from March, but building permits fell 11.5%.
- Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller: Home prices fell 3.2% in the first quarter of 2010 from the previous quarter, but rose 2.3% from last year.
- National Association of Realtors: Existing home sales rose 7.6% from March and are up 22.8% from 2009.
- Federal Housing Finance Agency: House prices fell 1.9% in the first quarter of 2010 from the prior quarter, and are down 3.1% for the year.
Whatever you make of all this housing data, one thing is clear.
How much your home is worth is not based on what economists say or how much you put into it; it’s purely based on what someone else is willing to pay for it.
The best way to calculate your home’s market value is to compare it to similar homes in your neighborhood that are sold now. With time, value changes, so your market value may vary at any given time.
If you’re selling your home, learn how to calculate your market value and set a reasonable price for your market with FrontDoor’s Pricing Guide:
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | April 16, 2010
It’s Annalisa reporting from the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show in Chicago and I’m looking forward to a great weekend learning about cool new trends and technology for the two most popular rooms in your home.
I spent most of the morning checking out the show floor, from Kohler’s mega-booth (more like showroom), which felt like a club with its blaring dance music, to Wood Stone’s booth, where they were baking fresh pizzas for convention-goers to sample.
I’ll be tweeting via @HGTVFrontDoor and posting updates on the blog periodically so follow along!
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | January 20, 2010
Our thoughts and prayers are with the many thousands affected by the disaster in Haiti.
We’ve heard moving stories and seen powerful images over the past week. We’ve seen miracles happen and are grateful for the heroes who have jumped in to help. Rescue workers are still finding survivors, from a three-week-old baby to an elderly woman.
Many victims are children who have been orphaned, lost or separated from their families. Our friends at UNICEF are working to help the most vulnerable of them.
Executive director Anne Veneman said, “Expert estimates suggest that 46 percent of Haiti’s nearly 10 million people are under 18 years of age. The special needs of children for food, shelter and protection, must be factored in at the very outset of relief efforts and UNICEF will do everything in its power to make sure these needs are met.”
If you would like to join us in supporting UNICEF’s work, please donate to Haiti.
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | November 10, 2009
Think you’ve got what it takes to be a real estate expert in the media, or even HGTV?
Then join HGTV’s FrontDoor.com at the REALTORS® Conference in San Diego this weekend! Here’s how:
1. Attend the “Test Out Your On-Camera Presence” session
Saturday, 11/14, 1:30 p.m. – 3 p.m., San Diego Convention Center, Room 28A
or
Sunday, 11/15, 1:30 p.m. – 3 p.m., San Diego Convention Center, Room 28A
The host of HGTV’s Real Estate Intervention, Sabrina Soto, and Channing Dawson, one of the members of the founding executive team of HGTV, will show you:
* how to use video to enhance your brand and business
* the top 10 tips for boosting your on-camera appeal
Attendees will be part of a “studio audience” and a few lucky REALTORS® will be selected to work with Sabrina in an interactive home walk-through.
2. Shoot a 90-second screen test in HGTV’s FrontDoor booth #1916
Annalisa Burgos, FrontDoor’s editorial content guru, will be conducting screen tests in our booth #1916 on the convention floor. We’ll shoot a 90-second video of you reacting to a typical scenario from our HGTV shows. It’s not a lot of time, so you’re on the spot. See how fast you can think on your feet and offer valuable advice for our viewers!
We’ll select a few videos to highlight on HGTV’s FrontDoor.com.
So if you’ll be in San Diego, definitely stop by and say hello to your friends at HGTV’s FrontDoor.com. We look forward to seeing you there!
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | November 6, 2009
It’s official. The popular first time homebuyer tax credit, which many say is responsible for keeping the housing market afloat, has been extended and expanded to include repeat buyers.
You now have until April 30, 2010, to secure a contract for a home purchase and until June 30, 2010, to close on it. Buyers had been scrambling to close by the previous deadline of Nov. 30.
President Barack Obama signed into law a $24 billion economic stimulus bill today, which includes these incentives. With numerous reports of people abusing the credit, Congress included a provision that requires buyers to submit documentation with their tax returns to claim the credit. The new program is estimated to cost taxpayers $11 billion.
So go out there. Hit up some open houses this weekend. Get house hunting tips and advice at openhouse.com.
You just may find a house you love and get paid for buying it.
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | July 14, 2009
What makes a city or town a “best place to live”?
It varies so greatly from person to person and yet we see these types of lists all the time. Heck, FrontDoor.com is coming up with one too — stay tuned for it!
Not sure if Money Magazine’s new list of Best 100 Small Towns to Live will spur a homebuying spree in the named places, most of which are in middle America.
According to Money, these are the places that ranked highest in terms of factors we value, including a strong local economy, housing affordability, income, education and job growth.
The top spot went to Louisville, CO, which is where we found this 3,200-square-foot, 4-bed, 3.5-bath house listed for $469,500.
Here’s the top 10 and if Money’s list has you longing to move to these places, click on the link and browse homes for sale in that town:
1. Louisville, CO
2. Chanhassen, MN
3. Papillion, NE
4. Middleton, WI
5. Milton, MA
6. Warren, NJ
7. Keller, TX
8. Peachtree City, GA
9. Lake St. Louis, MO
10. Mukilteo, WA
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | July 7, 2009
NFL fans are mourning the loss of football great Steve McNair, who was tragically killed on July 4.
The former quarterback of the Tennessee Titans and later the Baltimore Ravens was found in a Nashville condo he rented, shot dead, along with his 20-year-old girlfriend Sahel Kazemi. Police ruled McNair’s death a homicide and are investigating the case as a possible murder-suicide.
According to reports, the then-married McNair had planned to divorce his wife. The couple had listed their 9-bed, 9.5-bath mansion in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville for $3 million.
The 14,000+ square foot home in Woodmont Estates features 26 spacious rooms, vaulted ceilings, a theater room, pool, sauna and hot tub/spa.
See more pictures of the inside and outside of this 1.33-acre estate in the listing on FrontDoor.com.
Perhaps a die-hard Titan fan will find value in walking the halls McNair once did.
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | June 11, 2009
RealtyTrac’s May foreclosure report is out, and as usual, the news is grim. Foreclosure activity is up 18 percent from a year ago. Even worse, most real estate experts are warning us about “shadow foreclosure inventory” which is set to hit the market later this summer. Oh yeah and the unemployment rate is at 9.4 percent. So if you think we’ve hit the so-called “bottom,” think again.
The good news is that President Obama’s stimulus plan seems to be working. Lenders are now more willing to work with struggling homebuyers to refinance or modify their loans or negotiate short sales, in which a house is sold for less than what the borrower owes and a portion of the loan balance is forgiven by the lender. Why would they do this? Because the federal government is giving them money to do this, and besides, better to sell and write off the loss now than deal with the foreclosure process and try to sell a property in crappy condition. I spoke to a short sale expert for Coldwell Banker in San Diego, Troy Huerta, who has some great insight and advice on the subject. Stay tuned for my blog post on that.
Meanwhile, FrontDoor Insider and Freak Out Prevention Specialist Tara-Nicholle Nelson is spreading the word about her Drama-Free Real Estate Guide, which provides concrete solutions to some of the most common issues consumers are facing today. Just in time! Situations like losing your job and trying to make your mortgage payment. Or you got preapproved and suddenly your lender says “no money for you.” Yours truly will post a vlog later taking you behind the scenes of our media tour.
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | June 3, 2009
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s job is to lead the United States out of the recession. Now he’s got another job — landlord.
Geithner assumed his new role the same way many homeowners in this market do: reluctantly.
The former head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York listed his five-bedroom Tudor near Larchmont, a suburb north of New York City, for $1.635 million in February. The asking price was later dropped to $1.575 million, about 27K less than what he paid for it in 2004.
Unable to find a buyer, the Geithners opted to rent out the home for $7,500 a month and ride out the rough real estate market.
During a time when home prices are falling faster than a ton of bricks to the bottom of the Hudson, many sellers would rather rent out a home than lose hard-earned equity or do a short sale, where you sell the home for less than what you owe.
Being a landlord isn’t all that bad. Research the local laws and consult a local real estate attorney. If you move out of the city or don’t have the patience to find tenants and maintain the property, you can always hire a property manager.
The downside is that rent usually doesn’t cover all your costs as a homeowner, especially in high-priced markets like New York. Like other sellers put in this position, Geithner still has to cover part of the mortgage payments on $1.25 million in loans and $27,000 in annual property taxes. Ouch. Looks like the housing slump has really hit home for the nation’s top economic official.
SOURCE: Associated Press; Photo by Stephen Chernin
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