A smartphone that boasts a bendable screen is expected to hit the market early next year. Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest phone maker, reportedly plans to introduce its long-awaited foldable-screen smartphone in 2019, The Wall Street Journal reports. The screen can be folded in half, like a wallet.The prototype—known internally by its nickname, “Winner”—features a screen of about 7 inches, or about the size of a smaller t
The start of summer was sluggish for homebuilders. Homebuilding fell 12.3 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.17 million units, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Wednesday. This marks the lowest level since September 2017 and the largest percentage drop in a month in nearly 2 years. Housing starts were down in all four major regions last month—by 40 percent in the Northeast and nearly 36 percent in the Midwest.Housing
Some cities faced with sluggish population growth are making an enticing offer to consumers: They’ll pay new residents—up to $10,000 in some cases—to make the city their new home. Such incentives are growing more common, according to a new report from Livability. The various metros are hoping to attract new residents to relocate and help them revitalize their economies.Cities are coming with abundant offers too, from paying off student loa
Apparently the magic number for first-time home buyers is 28. That’s the average age that most Americans think a person should be when they buy their own home, according to a new Bankrate.com report conducted last month among a sample of 1,001 respondents.This may be a bit optimistic in practice, at least for buyers in today’s market. The National Association of REALTORS®’ 2017 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers found the median age of
Buyer demand may be high but tight inventory is keeping that demand from translating into sales. And with fewer choices of homes for sale, some buyers are retreating. Mortgage applications fell again last week, dropping 2.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday. Total volume is now 12 percent lower than the same week a year ago.Home buyers were the ones who most receded from mortgage applicati
Home values can drastically differ in some areas of a metro and foster an environment of housing value inequality between rich and poor.LendingTree, an online loan marketplace, recently analyzed 50 of the largest metro areas to rank cities based on its home value Gini coefficient. The Gini coefficient ranges from 0 (complete equality where every value is the same) to 1 (complete inequality where one entity has 100 percent of the value and the ot
The cost to maintain a home is something financial experts recommend budgeting for early on, in preparation for choosing which house to buy. On average, homeowners spend 1 percent of their overall home cost in maintenance every year, according to a new study by Porch.com.The upkeep costs can vary based on style, age, type, and even location of the home. The average cost to maintaining a home each year is about $16,000, according to Porch.com’
Low inventories of rental homes as well as strong job growth are fueling increases in single-family rent prices, CoreLogic reported Tuesday.U.S. single-family rental prices rose 2.9 percent year-over-year in April. CoreLogic analyzed single-family rental price changes nationally and among 20 metro areas.Nevertheless, the year-over-year rent price has been slowing since February 2016, after peaking at 4.2 percent. It has mostly stabilized over the
A REALTOR® is always a good person to have on your team, and Cubs all-star Kyle Schwarber must have known that when he chose Michael Sinicola—a real estate professional with The K Company Realty in Tampa—as his pitcher for Monday night’s Major League Baseball Home Run Derby. Schwarber had the most total home runs this year at 55 (the second most in Derby history) and set a new semifinal record of 21 runs, but he was just shy of the grand
Public speaking can be a huge challenge for some, but numerous TED Talk presenters have mastered the art of captivating an audience through public speaking. How? They go beyond facts and figures to tell a story. You don’t have to be a TED Talk-level speaker to incorporate these engaging techniques. By taking a storytelling approach next time you’re speaking in front of your office, a new client, or at a real estate conference, you’ll k
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