Real Estate News, Information, and Ideas - Market Trends

Kitchen Renovation: High-End Looks on a Budget

Tight on your budget and still want to have a high-end kitchen look? Here are suggestions by industry experts on how to get the high-end look without breaking the bank. 

Simply updating your appliances is one way to achieve that high-end kitchen look.  Keep an eye out for sales while checking out appliances from reputable brands. With proper consideration, you can go about finding what you are looking for at the price that will meet your budget. 

Interior designer Nate Berkus, who also happens to be the artistic advisor of LG Studio’s high-end appliances range indicates, "The right appliance can make the space feel much more finished and expensive. Plus, they involve almost no construction, but change the functionality 100-fold." If you're forced to…

75780 Views, 0 Comments

The Evolution of Marketing Real Estate; Then vs Now

Customers are the lifeblood of any business.  Advertising is the lifeblood to attracting customers.  Real estate agents, just as with any other business out there, need to continuously find new buyers, sellers, and properties.  To do this, the real estate agent deploys a variety of marketing strategies in order to keep a steady flow of business coming their way.

Gone are the days of the “spray and pray” technique of newspapers, bus stops, and direct mailers.  The market has changed. There is more competition for everyone’s attention, and the age of being the “knowledge bearer” given way to the information age. Below are some comparisons of how the real estate business has evolved over the years.

Ease of selling properties

Selling real estate in…

2785 Views, 0 Comments

Top 5 Fastest Growing Companies in Iowa

Why is the Cedar Valley is the Future Business Center in the U.S?

The Cedar Valley region in Iowa recorded the second-highest percentage of GDP gain in the region. According to a Forbes Magazine report of 2015 the Cedar Valley ranked at the 49th position out of the 201 metros battling it out to become The Best Small Cities for Business and Careers. In fact, the State of Iowa ranked as America’s Top State for Business in 2015 by CNBC.

The Cedar Valley is a few hours from some of the major markets around Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis and the Twin Cities. Having said that, there are over 5000+ companies located in the Cedar Valley region, including Fortune 100 companies, as well as startups across various industries including, but not limited to,…

1903 Views, 0 Comments

Most American state? Iowa. Yes, Iowa.

By:Courtney Crowder

Source:The Des Moines Register

Internet, Internet, on the web, which state is the American-est of them all?

Iowa, of course.

A new totally unscientific study by Estately declared lil' ol' us to be the most American of all the 50 states.

Iowa is "where astronauts are born, and where the actual baseball field in the movie 'Field of Dreams' is located," the Estately post read. "It produces the most bacon of any state, and Iowa corn farmers fuel our country's obesity epidemic with sweet, sweet corn syrup."

Estately rated states based on eight factors: 

• Bald eagles per square mile
• Olympic gold medals won per capita
• Native astronauts per capita
• Fast food restaurants per capita
• Major League…

2448 Views, 0 Comments

May Housing Trends: Iowa Homes Selling Fast, Sales up 7.3%

by RealEstateRama Source: Iowa RealEstateRama  

WASHINGTON, D.C. – June 17, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Sale prices and number of homes sold continue their upward trend. Homes are selling faster than any point in the last 3 years according to the Iowa Association of REALTORS® (IAR).

Homes continue to sell very quickly as days on market fell to 75 days as compared to 90 days at this time last year. This is the lowest number of days on market in the last 3 years.

Sales increased 7.3 percent from a year ago. 4,134 homes were sold last month as compared to 3,853 homes that sold in May 2014. Active listings were down 3.4 percent and Pending listings were up 5.7% when compared to last May.

Listing Activity May 15

The report shows that…

2419 Views, 0 Comments

Top Apps for Home Décor and Design

By: Kurt Jacobson
Source: Realty Biz News

Gone are the days when women used to cut out pictures from interior design magazines and filed them away for future use. Today, technology has invaded nearly every aspect of our lives, including home décor and design. So whether you are buying furniture for your living room, choosing paint colors for your dining room, or simply looking for ideas to do up your kid’s room, you can rely on technology to help you achieve the best possible results. 

Here are some of the top apps in the home decor and design space today. Don’t forget to check them out before you plan your next home renovation project!

Color Smart

Want to paint your bedroom in the colors of the painting you fell in love with, but not sure…

1973 Views, 0 Comments

The latest ‘Tinder for real estate’ app helps agents track expenses.

SwipeFin allows real estate pros to swipe expenses into 'business' or 'personal' categories.

Source: Inman
By: Paul Hagey

Kyle Willis, 30, downloaded the dating mobile app Tinder eight months ago, and while it hasn’t yielded any relationships yet, it did inspire him to create the latest “Tinder for real estate” app, SwipeFin.

The app allows real estate pros to designate all of their expenses as either business (swipe right) or personal (swipe left) with a swipe of their smartphone screen, helping them eliminate the yearly tax-time dance of organizing shoeboxes full of receipts in the process.

Launched earlier this year, SwipeFin joins a growing crowd of real estate apps that have functions based on the simple mobile device swipe…

1943 Views, 0 Comments

Owners Place High Value on Good Yards

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…

1336 Views, 0 Comments