Fun Stuff - Real Estate, Updates, News & Tips

The Happiest Places in the U.S.

The U.S. ranked as the 18th happiest country in the world in 2018, according to the World Happiness Report, released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the U.N. So, which specific counties are making the country the most happy?To find out, researchers at SmartAsset, a personal financial website, compared U.S. counties across eight factors, including the unemployment rate, poverty rate, affordability ratio, marriage rate, divorc

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Agent Lands in Guinness World Records for Sales

Real estate pro Ben Caballero of Dallas has made history: He’s the first real estate agent ever to be recognized by the Guinness World Records for a mammoth number of home sales. Caballero sold 3,556 verified homes in a single year—this means essentially selling an average of more than 68 homes per week, or nearly 10 homes per day, every day of the week.Caballero was honored this week for his achievements at a REAL Trends conference in Denve

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Retirees Preferring Dog Parks Over Golf

Generations of retirees are showing a shift in housing priorities. John Burns Real Estate Consulting recently compared nearly 3,000 registered new-home shoppers born in the 1940s to more than 5,200 new-home shoppers born in the 1950s to uncover some of those shifting trends.For one, younger retirees are showing more preference to live near dog parks. The 1950s generation surveyed rated a dog park as their top retiree amenity, which replaces golf

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Mandarin-Speaking Robots Could Assist Foreign Buyers

Juwai.com, a Chinese international real estate website, announced it’s partnering with a tech firm to introduce a line of Mandarin-speaking robots that real estate agents and developers can use to serve Chinese buyers. The firm Singou Technology of Macau will develop the “Butler 1” artificial intelligence robots.The robots could be used in real estate offices to assist with Mandarin-speaking clients.“The robots are really designed to help

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The Art Factor Boosts Housing

Public art has been linked to building booms and price increases for residential real estate. That's why developers and city planners alike are working to weave art throughout new real estate projects and public spaces.“Developers are beginning to see that if they want to attract tenants, they have to offer them more than just four walls,” says Barbara Goldstein, a public art planner and consultant in San Jose, Calif. “We’re going to see

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Agent Goes Viral With Bobcat vs. Rattlesnake Video

Real estate professional Laura Lucky was showing a home to a couple in Scottsdale, Ariz., when they drove up on a sight taken straight from the Wild West: a hungry bobcat versus an undeterred rattlesnake along the road.Lucky began recording the snake as it took a bite out of the bobcat. The two fought for several minutes. She posted her video on social media. As of Thursday, the video had nearly 1 million views.“The rattlesnake had come up and

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U.S. News Reveals Best Places to Live List

Austin, Texas, ranked number one for the second year in a row as the top place to live in the United States, according to new rankings released by U.S. News & World Report. The magazine ranks the 125 largest metros based on affordability, employment prospects, and quality of life each year.“When deciding on a place to settle down, it’s important to understand that where a person lives can impact their well-being,” says Kim Castro, execu

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Hottest Luxury ZIP Codes in the Nation

Median prices for luxury homes in the Santa Monica, Calif., ZIP code of 90401 have surged 60.7 percent over the last year, making it the hottest high-end ZIP code in the country, according to a new analysis by realtor.com®. The site’s researchers culled housing data from April 2016 through March 2017 for more than 600 ZIP codes where median list prices are above $1 million. They compared that 12-month period to the previous year to identify th

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5 Home Improvement Personality Types

A homeowner’s personality can have a big influence on their behavior when it comes to home improvement projects, according to a new survey by the Home Projects Council, a group of home improvement experts that aims to help homeowners improve their property values.The Home Projects Council identified the following five home improvement personality types: The Sensible Improver, the Project Planner, the Reliable Renovator, the Visionary, and the

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Celebrities Bolster Teen Real Estate Program

A new program that sets out to help spark an early interest in real estate among inner-city teens is borrowing some star power to grow its efforts. Project Destined, which recently won the support of former baseball legend Alex Rodriguez and singer-actress Jennifer Lopez, teaches teens financial literacy through investments in real estate. The teens are taught how to value and finance local apartment buildings and then are given the opportunity

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