Gay Real Estate News | Gay Realtor Headlines | GayRealEstate.com

Code of Ethics amended In January of this year, Article 10 of The Realtor Code of Ethics was amended to include sexual orientation as a protected class.  Article 10 in its entirety now reads as follows: Realtors® shall not deny equal professional services to any person for reasons of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin, or sexual orientation. Realtors® shall not be parties to any plan or agreement to discriminate against a person or persons on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, […]

Bloomberg just released an article with information from Barclays Capital stating that housing markets such as Phoenix and Atlanta. where foreclosures have been plentiful and home prices have sharply declined since the housing bubble burst, are the best potential markets for the sale of new homes.  In fact, they report that Atlanta has the potential to build 47,317 new houses a year, followed by Phoenix with 46,485 and Dallas with 33,997. “Regions that have pushed foreclosures through the pipeline quickly should see demand for new homes earlier than those that […]

Signs of a slowing economy in the last few days appear to have taken Wall Street by surprise. Those of us closer to Main Street would say they haven’t been paying attention. Persistent unemployment and heavily indebted consumers have taken a toll on demand for months. That spells trouble with a national economy in which consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of activity. On July 29, revised economic figures showed that first quarter growth was just 0.4 percent and the second quarter wasn’t much better at 1.3 percent GDP growth. […]

Real estate agents and brokers say turmoil in financial markets is planting doubts in the minds of some would-be homebuyers even as it signals opportunity for others. Plunging stock prices initially sparked by Friday’s downgrade of the U.S.’s long-term debt rating and reinforced by lingering fears of a European debt crisis don’t necessarily signal that the U.S. is headed into a “double dip” recession. So far, investor flight to the relative safety of bonds and mortgage-backed securities that fund most home loans has pushed the cost of borrowing down — […]

Home intially listed for $6,245,000 in 2010, but price now has been dropped to $5,995,000 Dennis Hopper’s home has hit the Venice real estate market again, this time with a fresh look and price. According to property listing information, the home in the Los Angeles neighborhood owned by the late actor, filmmaker and artist received new updates that were completed by architect Brian Murphy. This 4,900-sq ft Hopper home was part of Hopper’s compound that included three separate, free-standing lofts that were designed by Frank Gehry and were known as […]

Recovery? In these areas, hitting the bottom of will have to come first The real estate market is already in the deepest depression in modern U.S. history. If you think it can’t get any worse, think again. In several cities, the real estate market is about to drop even more. Home values in many of those cities, such as Las Vegas, have already collapsed as unemployment has shot higher. And with no hope of quick recovery, housing prices are expected to continue to fall. 24/7 Wall St. identified ten housing […]

Servicers participating in the Home Affordable Modifications Program extinguished more than 1,000 second-lien mortgages in June, according to Treasury Department data. Fannie Mae, which administers HAMP, directed participating servicers to begin modifying second liens on Jan. 1. Defaults on second mortgages dropped to 1.4% in June, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Experian index, down a full percentage point from a year ago. At least through HAMP, modifications on these loans have been steadily climbing since Fannie directed its servicers to participate in the 2MP program (The chart below notes that […]

The median value of an existing home in the Orlando area was up in July compared with a year earlier and hit its highest mark so far this year, said a new report by the Orlando Regional Realtor Association. Though home resales of distressed properties were still rampant — foreclosures and short sales made up nearly 58 percent of all July sales — metro Orlando’s median price climbed to $117,000 last month. That represented a 7.6 percent jump from July 2010’s median price of $108,700 and a 23.3 percent jump […]

The number of same-sex couples who call New Jersey home increased significantly over the last 10 years, according to the latest census figures. There are 24,112 same-sex couples living in New Jersey — a 45 percent increase from 2000, according to the 2010 Census. By comparison, New York City has 32,972 same-sex couples. The sharpest increase was in Asbury Park, which had a 305 percent gain in the same sex couples. Hoboken (70.7 percent increase), Jersey City (44.2 percent) and Newark (12.7 percent) all saw significant increases. Anthony Newarski and his […]

That depends largely on your income. Experts suggest your mortgage payment be no more than 28-35% percent of your monthly income. This income-debt ratio is the percentage of your monthly income dedicated to making your monthly mortgage payment. If you want to maximize your home buying potential, you can assume that more of your income will be tied up in your monthly mortgage payment. Let’s assume your gross income is a $100,000 a year and you have $20,000 for a down payment. You conservatively elect to spend 28% of your […]