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These days, the hottest home outdoor amenity is a backyard pool. The COVID-19 pandemic
has brought a huge wave of interest and increased desirability for stay-at-home entertainment,
but home shoppers should be prepared to pay a premium for a house with a pool or to have one
installed.

Millions of Americans relocated in 2020 and many due
to the COVID-19 pandemic. College students and young
adults moved home, and a new breed of remote working
Americans no longer tied down to a long commute
sought new places to call home.

A $50 million, government-backed whitewater park and outdoor fun center is about to start construction on the outskirts of downtown Montgomery, and it’s a project that local officials are betting will redefine the area as a young professional and family destination.

The main attraction is a 25-acre central park that will feature rafting and kayaking along a man-made whitewater course that twists through restaurants, shops, a beer garden, an outdoor concert venue and a hotel and conference center. But the wider, 120-acre site will feature a climbing tower, zip lines, mountain biking, rope courses and more.

"This facility is going to be bigger and better than anything folks around here have ever seen," Montgomery County Commission Vice-Chair Ronda Walker said.

State overrules MPS vote denying breakfast, lunch for LEAD Academy students

LEAD Academy, Montgomery’s first public charter school, is scheduled to open in August, school leaders announced Monday. (Source: WSFA 12 News)

By WSFA Staff | August 16, 2019 at 11:03 PM CDT - Updated August 16 at 11:03 PM

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - The state has overruled a decision recently made by Montgomery Public School board members.

Lower mortgage rates are bringing out more potential home buyers. In certain parts of the country, this has translated into a lot more competition. In markets that have seen prices become more moderate, supply is lower than it was a year ago and bidding wars are becoming more prevalent. For example, a recent Redfin housing index notes that cities like Oklahoma City; Richmond, Va.; Memphis, Tenn.; Buffalo, N.Y.; and Atlanta are seeing buyer demand outpace the number of available homes for sale.

“With low mortgage interest rates luring more home buyers off the sidelines as supply dwindles, we’re likely to see competition pick up, especially for the most affordable homes and neighborhoods, where inventory is limited and buyers are most rate-sensitive,” says Daryl Fairweather, Redfin’s chief economist. He says his brokerage is starting to see an increase in the number of home buyers starting their searches and taking home tours following the latest mortgage rate drops.

In just a few months, home shoppers may begin to see a drop in the number of homes for sale, which could lead to the return of bidding wars and quicker home sales, a new report from realtor.com® predicts.

For most Americans, a home purchase is the biggest purchase of their life and thus requires taking on a large amount of debt. The average mortgage debt can vary considerably from state to state.

“Cost of living and home prices are a big factor,” says Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate. “The cost of living impacts how much you can save for something like a down payment, and home prices impact how much you have to borrow.”

Wealthier states tend to have the highest amount of mortgage debt. 24/7 Wall St., a personal finance website, pinpointed which states have the highest amount of mortgage debt. Here are the top 10: Read more...

Mortgage products that haven’t been widely used since before the Great Recession are making a comeback. The volume of loans with alternate documentation has more than doubled in the last two years among loans included in mortgage-backed securities, according to a report from Fitch Ratings.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday that property owners can challenge government access to their land, which some view as a major victory for property rights.

The court’s ruling stemmed from a case involving a Pennsylvania woman, Rose Mary Knick, whose land the town of Scott Township used in 2013 to access an old burial ground. Knick didn't grant the town permission to come on her property, and she sought damages in court for what she viewed as an invasion of her privacy. Local rules, however, require property owners to allow access to private cemeteries discovered on their land.

WASHINGTON (June 21, 2019) – Existing-home sales rebounded in May, recording an increase in sales for the first time in two months, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Each of the four major U.S. regions saw a growth in sales, with the Northeast experiencing the biggest surge last month.

Total existing-home sales¹, completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, jumped 2.5% from April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.34 million in May. Total sales, however, are down 1.1% from a year ago (5.40 million in May 2018).     

Some would-be home buyers may be able to afford the
monthly payments of a mortgage, but they can’t scrape up
enough money for the down payment. More than 2,500
government assistance programs nationwide are offering
help, and more buyers are taking advantage of the aid.
More than 13% of borrowers who used Federal Housing
Administration mortgages in the first three months of this
year used government assistance for their down payment,
up from 8.6% five years prior, according to recently
published FHA data. The number of government assistance programs has
doubled between 2013 to 2016..

The real estate industry has been pouring in donations to go toward supporting storm victims affected by catastrophic flooding from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Over the past two weeks, individual and state and local association donations to the REALTORS® Relief Foundation have totaled $1.2 million. The National Association of REALTORS® also announced this week that it would give an additional $600,000 contribution to the RRF. Locally the Montgomery Area Association of REALTORS® donated $10,000.00 to the Texas Association of REALTORS® relief fund to help consumers and fellow REALTORS®. The RRF says 100 percent of all donations go directly to victims of natural disasters, and NAR covers the foundation’s administrative expenses. “The devastation caused by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma is enormous, and our thoughts and support go out to all of those affected,” says NAR President William E. Brown. “The National Association of REALTORS® wants our members and the consumers they serve to know that the REALTOR® family is here for them. We encourage one and all to join NAR in donating to the REALTORS® Relief Foundation.” The RRF was established in 2001 in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Since then, the foundation has raised more than $26 million for housing-related aid, which supports mortgage and rental assistance for disaster victims. Source: REALTOR® Magazine

The Fourth of July, which commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, was Tuesday and while cooking out and spending time with family and friends I hope you took time to remember the day and its importance. 

Everyone has heard the old saying, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” That old saying has never been more true than today. With a tough economy, money tight and everyone looking to save every dollar, real estate scams are increasing. The most common version we REALTORS® deal with is the rental property scam that begins on the internet.