Real Estate

The raffle concept usually is more acceptable to state officials when a non-profit is involved.

The small home movement isn't just for those who want to live off the grid.

Last year's completed sales included 66,716 single family homes (about 86 percent of the total) and 10,560 condominiums.

Researchers found that low down-payment requirements had a larger influence on how much people were willing to pay for a home, especially among lower-income and credit-constrained borrowers.

When mortgage protection is offered as a result of a new loan, the coverage often is easier to obtain compared to a homeowner seeking disability insurance on his own.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.66 percent late last week, the lowest weekly average since May 23, 2013.

Mortgage insurance is offered in a variety of forms for different services and needs.

If home prices rose by 5 percent more-which is largely predicted to happen this year-an additional one million homeowners now in negative equity would also move into positive territory.

"Buyers barely slowed down long enough to take a break for Christmas," said OB Jacobi, Windermere Real Estate president.

In the spirit of making New Year's lists, here are two dozen red flags that can go up with lenders when borrowers list certain revenue streams on a mortgage application.

"When a seller starts keeping things that should stay with the house, I guarantee that the contract negotiations will be painful."

Imagine what the climb would be like if 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages ranged from 6.0 to 6.5 percent rather than 4.0 to 4.5 percent?

Seattle-based Redfin pulled data from its real estate professionals across the country as well as 2014 sales transactions from multiple listing services to rank the most competitive neighborhoods.

The FAA lists "professional real estate or wedding photography" as examples of what constitutes commercial or business drone use that is not permitted.

I look forward to hearing their memories of their early childhood Christmases at my parents' house, a wonderful spot my folks owned for 46 years.

Why don't employers seeking top-notch talent now use a student-loan payoff as part of a recruiting package?

"Real estate leaders are telling us their agents already have the gold-they just need to mine it."

"The notion that borrowers brought foreclosure on themselves ignores evidence to the contrary."

Consider a custom gift certificate that would offer an "aging-in-place" evaluation of their home - perhaps the same house in which you were raised that has undergone very few improvements up to now.

"During the holidays we usually see a drop in homebuyers, but this year they're remaining engaged later than usual," said OB Jacobi, president of Windermere Real Estate.

The data indicates that "underwater" borrowers are 10 times more likely to be delinquent than those with positive equity.