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

Homeowners Turn to Smart-Home Tech in Pandemic

One in four Americans purchased a smart-home device in 2020, according to a new survey from SafeWise, a firm that offers safety solutions and resources for the home. The majority of those surveyed say they are spending more time using home tech and are increasing their home tech spending and report using smart-home technology at least once a day.SafeWise surveyed 1,000 Americans to ask them about their home technology spending habits and how they

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10 Single-Family Rental Markets Set for the Most Growth

During the pandemic, the desire for a single-family home has grown for owners and renters alike. Many builders and investors are now exploring the single-family-to-rent sector.The single-family rental market has seen some of the highest rental returns in counties located in the Midwest and South so far in 2021, according to ATTOM Data Solutions, which tracked 495 U.S. counties for its latest single-family rental market report.Researchers identifi

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4 Simple Updates to Refresh the Home Office

Homeowners across the country have transformed their kitchens and living rooms into temporary workstations. But have they created an optimal setup for remote work? Kelsey Stuart, CEO of Bloomin’ Blinds, offers the following tips to make a home office more inviting and motivational.Give the walls a fresh coat of paint. Whether you have a designated home office or plan to repurpose a spare bedroom or basement, try a quick and fresh paint job to t

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Where New Construction is Taking Off

Permits for residential construction are up 14% compared to a year ago, according to Census Bureau data, showing that development of new-home communities is ramping up amid surging buyer demand. Permits are a gauge of future home construction. “Builders are looking to grow wherever they can right now,” Rick Palacios Jr., an analyst with John Burns Real Estate Consulting, told realtor.com®. “COVID-19 has ignited demand in markets where ther

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Demand for Pools, Hot Tubs Surging Due to COVID-19

New in-ground residential pools saw a 21% uptick in 2020 compared to 2019. States like Arizona, Texas, and Florida saw permits rise by up to 30%, Janay Rickwalder, a spokesperson for the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance, an industry research group, told The Escape Home.“This is historic growth for the industry—the next closest period was in 1983 with 16% growth over a much smaller base,” Rickwalder says.Hot tubs are also in demand, with some are

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One-Third of Renters Unsatisfied with their Apartment Amenities

Many renters want more from their apartments. Nearly 40% of more than 3,000 American renters said they’d be willing to pay up to $100 more for new apartment amenities. Men are willing to pay more—$200 or more—for new amenities, according to a new survey from Apartment Guide.That’s because more than one-third of overall respondents said they aren’t happy with their apartment’s current amenities, according to the study.To make them happ

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Homebuilding Giant Launches $4B Single-Family Rental Venture

The pandemic has prompted more renters to seek out additional space, but owning a single-family home may not be attainable. As such, single-family rentals have become a growing business—one that is attracting homebuilders.Lennar, one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, announced it was creating the Upward America Venture, a platform that will acquire single-family homes to rent in high-growth markets across the country. It hopes to use that

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Small-Business Loan ‘Lifeline’ Extended

If your real estate business continues to feel the effects of the pandemic, you now have an additional two months to apply for a loan through the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program. On Thursday, by a bipartisan vote of 92–7, the U.S. Senate passed the PPP Extension Act of 2021, which extends the application deadline through May 31, 2021. It also gives SBA lenders an additional 30 days, through June 30, to process

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New-Home Sales Tumble as Builders Try to Catch Up

New homes remain in high demand among home shoppers, but sales are starting to fall as builders slow down inventory. Persistent delays from supply shortages, rising material costs, and labor shortages continue to press on the homebuilding industry as builders frantically try to meet the surging demand for new homes since the pandemic.Sales of newly built single-family homes in February plunged 18.2% month over month to a 775,000 seasonally adjust

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The Top 15 Housing Markets Right Now

Smaller outlying markets are among the hottest housing markets in the nation. In particular, several California markets are seeing rising demand for housing, but it’s mostly the smaller cities within the Golden State that are seeing the most activity as affordability becomes a more pressing issue.A year ago, realtor.com®’s monthly analysis of the hottest housing markets was once dominated by large California markets like San Francisco and Sa

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