Tag: how to sell your home

The NAR settlement could slash home prices for many Americans

New York
CNN
—

The entire US housing market is about to get remodeled, and the end product could come with a big perk: cheaper home prices.

That’s due to a $418 million settlement the National Association of Realtors announced Friday with groups of homesellers.

The settlement, which is still subject to a judge’s approval, will eliminate the long-standing standard 6% commission paid by the seller. Those fees, however, are often baked into the listed price of the home. Lower commissions could therefore lower home prices, experts say.

And at a time when elevated housing costs are driving inflation across the country, reining in home prices could help bring price increases back to levels Americans experienced before the pandemic.

But none of that will happen overnight.

For starters, a judge still needs to sign off on the settlement, which would also put in place a slew of new rules. Among those, buyers’ agents showing homes that were listed on local centralized listing portals, known as multiple listing services, won’t have prior knowledge of the commissions they’ll receive if their clients end up purchasing it.

The NAR, which represents more than 1 million agents, declined to comment on whether home prices

The Housing Market And Inflation

Despite the slight uptick, inflation is now substantially lower than its high point of 9.1 percent in the summer of 2022. “Progress has been made on inflation, down significantly from the peak,” said Mark Hamrick, Bankrate’s senior economic analyst. “But it is happening at too slow a pace to satisfy.”

The battle against inflation has not yet been won, and the Federal Reserve cannot yet declare ‘mission accomplished.’
— Mark Hamrick, Bankrate Senior Economic Analyst

At the Fed’s first announcement of the new year, at the end of January, it was implied that rate cuts would be coming at some point this year, although when has not been specified. “With the hotter-than-expected CPI, notions of a near-term rate cut by the Federal Reserve are going up in smoke,” Hamrick says. “The battle against inflation has not yet been won, and the Federal Reserve cannot yet declare ‘mission accomplished.’”

Here’s a peek into how inflation affects the housing market.

The housing market and inflation

The shelter category, which includes housing costs, continues to be a major contributor to the CPI’s monthly all-items increase. It rose 0.4 percent from last month and 5.7 percent year-over-year — combined, the shelter and gasoline indexes

A Proposal Backed By Mayor Brandon Scott Approved To Sell Over 200 Vacant Baltimore Properties For $1 Each To Local Residents

A new housing proposal in Baltimore, MD, is modeled after the city’s property program from a few decades ago.

In the 1970s, Baltimore had a “dollar house” program, in which residents got to own vacant properties for $1 each under the requirement of fixing them, according to Bloomberg. Now, the idea to revitalize has surfaced again.

The Baltimore Sun reports that Major Brandon Scott supported the proposal to offer over 200 vacant properties in Baltimore to people who will repair and live in them. The Baltimore Board of Estimates approved the program on March 20. The program was designed mainly for individual buyers and community land trusts. However, for $3,000, developers and large non-profits can also purchase unoccupied houses (small non-profits would pay $1,000).

This proposal is an opportunity to combat an ongoing issue in Baltimore. The Baltimore Sun mentions that unoccupied homes are a big problem throughout the city, numbering more than 13,000. This new program will only cover some vacant homes, as not all are city-owned. Guidelines have also put focus on the more “stressed” housing markets, such as East and West Baltimore.

While it may be welcomed by a good number of residents and housing advocates,