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Where’s the buyer loyalty when open-house agents surface?
Tom Kelly | May 5, 2015 11:16 amThe "phantom" agent - one who surfaces at the last moment and collects commissions for work done perhaps by another - has been the focus… -
Stressful? Consumers pick root canal over homebuying
Tom Kelly | May 4, 2015 9:01 amThe survey, based on responses from more than 1,000 consumers, also found that homebuying can cause tension among couples. -
Home offices have become a much ‘safer harbor’
Tom Kelly | April 28, 2015 9:40 pmAccountants say that the original rules for home offices simply became too complex for the nearly 3.4 million taxpayers who claimed deductions for business use… -
Home shoppers flock to listings, ‘fresh’ or ‘stale’
Tom Kelly | April 27, 2015 8:17 amAs of March 31, nearly 70 percent of the homes on the market were considered "stale"- homes that have sat on the market unsold for… -
Tacoma’s U.S. Open: Tax-free cash for owners willing to rent
Tom Kelly | April 22, 2015 10:26 amAccording to the Internal Revenue Service, an owner can derive tax-free income from renting a property, provided the owner rents it out for 15 days… -
Do real estate agents ever turn down a listing?
Tom Kelly | April 20, 2015 7:40 amRecently, a longtime acquaintance and agent reduced the price of a waterfront second home by $500,000. -
New reverse mortgage ‘review’ timeline pushed back
Tom Kelly | April 15, 2015 11:04 amThe new prerequisite is a first for reverse mortgages, which had carried no financial qualification requirement since the loans were first offered in 1989. -
Referral power: Survey reveals lack of shopping for mortgages
Tom Kelly | April 14, 2015 12:18 pmResearchers found that higher-income and younger-aged borrowers were the most likely to gather multiple quotes when shopping for a mortgage. -
Real estate will ride three-year wave, new survey predicts
Tom Kelly | April 13, 2015 8:39 amEconomists predict that existing home prices will rise through 2017-rising rising 5 percent this year, another 4 percent in 2016, and by 4 percent in… -
New to the neighborhood? Test noise at different times
Tom Kelly | April 10, 2015 8:20 amYour dream home could be in a flight path or on an ambulance or fire truck route.