Zillow

Hidden Costs of Homeownership Can Add Up to Almost $10,000 Per Year

By Leah Shafer / August 18, 2015 /

At CandysDirt, we love real estate and we love homeownership! But with a house comes expenses beyond the mortgage and insurance. For the unprepared buyer, these can be a rude surprise. And nobody likes those. We’ve seen it before: First-time homebuyers focusing solely on the list price of a house when deciding how much they can…

Realtors and MLS Systems Are Still Valuable Despite Calls For Their Demise

By Joanna England / March 18, 2015 /

Inman contributor Creed Smith wrote a column published on the real estate news site suggesting that the system real estate agents use to access listing information, the Multiple Listing Service, was on the way out. It ignited a heated debate among Inman staffers and commenters, earning a reply from Inman managing editor Matt Carter. …

6 Ways Millennials Are Changing Real Estate Business for Everyone

By Leah Shafer / March 11, 2015 /

For years, Millennials have largely been thought of as renters, not buyers, but that has changed. Millennials, born from the early 1980s to the early 2000s, now represent the largest group of homebuyers in the U.S. at 32 percent, taking over from Generation X, according to the 2015 National Association of Realtors (NAR) Home Buyer…

Starbucks: Caffeinating Home Values Since 1997

By Leah Shafer / February 18, 2015 /

If you think coffee is only good for getting you moving in the morning, this new study will wake you up. Apparently, it can also provide a jolt nearby home values. That’s according to Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff and Chief Economist Stan Humphries. In their New York Times bestseller, Zillow Talk: The New Rules of Real Estate,…

DFW Rents Up $600 Million in 2014, Leading Nation for Leasing Rates

By Leah Shafer / January 5, 2015 /

DFW rents were 6.2 higher last year, averaging $919 per month, but demand still soared, with North Texas leading the nation in apartment rentals, and vacancies at a 13-year low, according to new real estate research from Zillow and MPF Research. The increased rent translated to an extra $600 million paid to landlords last year, Zillow reported. For North Texans, that meant a…