Source: Forbes.com

          By: Maggie McGrath

 

What a difference a month — and a change in weather — can make: a new report shows that after plunging 11.4% in March, new home sales rebounded in April, rising nearly 7% in the first full month of spring and jumping 26% over sales reported in April of last year.

According to a report released Tuesday morning by the U.S. Department of Commerce (and compiled using data from the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development) sales of newly-constructed single-family homes reached an annual rate of 517,000 in April, a figure that marks a 6.8% rise over sales in March (which were revised to a seasonally-adjusted rate of 484,000 homes) and growing an impressive 26% over the…

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Source: Main Street By: Brian O'Connell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 NEW YORK (MainStreet) — Good news on housing and the economy: Mortgage delinquencies are down.

Data from credit rating giant TransUnion shows the national mortgage delinquency rate dropped to 2.95% in the first quarter of 2015 — the first time that figure has sunk below the 3% market since the third quarter of 2007, right before the Great Recession hammered us.

It's the 13th consecutive quarterly drop in delinquency rate. Year-to-year, the delinquency rate is down nearly 18% from the first quarter of last year. It's also way down from the market high of 6.94% in 2010.

There's something to cheer about even in the much maligned subprime…

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Source: BBC.com Former Fitzgerald home in Great Neck EstatesGreat Neck provided much of the inspiration for The Great Gatsby's fictional town of West Egg

The suburban home where F Scott Fitzgerald is believed to have written The Great Gatsby has gone on sale.  The seven-bedroom house is situated in Long Island, where Fitzgerald set much of his 1925 novel.

Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, lived in the home - in the New York hinterlands - from 1922 until 1924.  The author is understood to have completed The Great Gatsby after moving to France, where he set his subsequent novel Tender is the Night.

A spokeswoman for the estate agency said the asking price for the Mediterranean-style home, in the village of Great Neck Estates, is in excess of $3.8m (£2.4m). She declined to identify the current…

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Source: DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS

Don't underestimate the importance of a beautiful yard to home owners and their neighbors. 84 percent of adults say that the quality of a home's landscape and yard would affect their decision on whether to purchase a home or not, according to a new survey of more than 2,000 adults conducted by the National Association of Landscape Professionals.

The majority of Americans want to live amid nice landscaping. The survey found that 91 percent of Americans believe it is important to live in close proximity to trees, grass, or nice landscaping. Midwesterners are the most likely to rate the importance of landscaping the highest (at 94%), followed by the West (89%) and Northeast (87%).

"Across the board, the survey…

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Source: Forbes.com

Matt Clawson, Houzz Contributor

You might think you are the master of your own remodel, but sadly, it’s not always so. Remodels sometimes have a tendency to develop their own inertia, as decisions lead to new dilemmas, unintended consequences and surprising outcomes. In some cases, these flights of fancy are perfectly acceptable, provided the design and completed execution truly align with the vision and budget.

But if your budget is a concern, and the wise investment of limited home improvement dollars matters, then there are a few basic guidelines you should familiarize yourself with before planning your remodel. Here we review five remodels that typically make good financial sense, providing a nice return on the…

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