What’s new

By Susanne Dwyer

Once touted as the most popular and innovative internet community of its time, Facebook is now pushing to compete with trendy social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat. As part of its rebranding efforts to become an all-in-one service, Facebook recently added payment capabilities to its messaging service, along with various filters to its camera settings to mimic Instagram’s photo editing settings. It is now making a move into the real estate industry by adding apartment and home rental listings onto its existing Marketplace storefront, which so far only included household items, job postings and car listings.

Adding a social media twist to a popular Craigslist service, Facebook is transforming apartment searching into an interactive experience by providing 360-degree photo capabilities and using social media profile information to reduce the chances of scams and unsafe transactions. And while consumers will be able to search for properties based on location, price, size, bedroom number and animal restrictions—information that is provided by landlords and leasing companies—a real estate agent is nowhere in sight. So, how is this going to be impact the industry?

For many real estate agents, being fully entrenched in the rental business is a great way to transition into buying and selling. This is especially true for greener agents that don’t yet have the real estate experience, and need to build business by working primarily with renters. After all, it’s safe to assume that many of those renters will become buyers someday. Not only is it a great way for agents to familiarize themselves with the industry, but it’s vital to building a contact database that they can grow.

Not only is Facebook looking to list its consumers’ properties using Marketplace, but it is also pulling property information from partnered sources—Apartment List and Zumper—which will integrate hundreds of thousands of listings. Although only in the early stages of adoption, the industry could see this as a direct challenge to Zillow and other popular home search sites. Unless Facebook decides to go the lead marketing and agent branding route with brokerages, as Zillow does, the real estate industry may see this as an unwelcome addition. So far, it doesn’t sound great for the industry overall. But here’s why it won’t be an overnight success:

Consumers Want Simple
The more capabilities are added onto an app, the more complex it will become. Yes, consumers expect a one-stop shop for services that make sense together, such as ordering food and getting it delivered; however, Facebook is primarily a social media site, and that’s what it will always be known for. While some community aspects like groups and neighborhood tag sales are successful, trying to condense an entire rental industry into an app’s subcategory may be a stretch.

It’s Free, but at a Cost
While Facebook maintains that the service is free of charge, putting a rental listing on the market is well worth the commission paid. When using a real estate agent, the rental commission goes toward listing services, such as photography and staging, as well as marketing, consulting …read more

From:: Real Estate News

By Susanne Dwyer

Appraisals better matched owner perceptions in October, coming in only 0.99 percent lower than expected, according to the latest Quicken Loans’ National Home Price Perception Index (HPPI). The latest Quicken Loans National Home Value Index (HVI) shows appraised values rose 4.76 percent year-over-year.

A summary of the HPPI:
Owner’s estimates of their home’s value rose above the actual appraised value by an average of 0.99 percent, according to the National HPPI. This marks the fifth consecutive month the gap between the two value opinions narrowed. Also, the HPPI is now the closest to equilibrium it has been since April 2015. The trend of appraisals surpassing homeowners’ estimates in Western cities continued in October, with appraisals as much as 3.13 percent higher than expected in Dallas. On the other hand, Eastern and Midwestern cities were more likely to have an appraisal below the owner’s estimate.

“Based on the HPPI, it appears homeowners in the markets where prices are rising faster than the national average—like Denver, Seattle and San Francisco—are continuing to underestimate just how quickly home values are rising, so the average appraisal is higher than the homeowner estimate,” says Bill Banfield, executive viec president of Capital Markets for Quicken Loans. “On the inverse of that, homeowners in areas where the values aren’t rising as fast may think they are rising faster than they are, leading to the appraisal lagging the estimate.”

A summary of the HVI:
The HVI, the only measure of home value change based solely on appraisal data, showed values increasing at a measured pace month-over-month and making larger strides on an annual basis. Nationally, appraised values rose 0.71 percent from September to October and jumped 4.76 percent year-over-year, according to the HVI. All regions had similar annual growth; however, the Midwest and the West had slight dips in monthly value.

“As we enter the traditionally slower demand season in the home purchase market, persistent supply constraints may keep home prices elevated,” Banfield says. “Compared to the previous year, our economy continues to improve and attract homebuyers who may have been on the sidelines during the past few years. This will add additional demand to the equation.”

For more information, please visit QuickenLoans.com/Indexes.

For the latest real estate news and trends, bookmark RISMedia.com.

The post Appraisals Better Match Owner Perceptions appeared first on RISMedia.

…read more

From:: Real Estate News

By Susanne Dwyer

Appraisals better matched owner perceptions in October, coming in only 0.99 percent lower than expected, according to the latest Quicken Loans’ National Home Price Perception Index (HPPI). The latest Quicken Loans National Home Value Index (HVI) shows appraised values rose 4.76 percent year-over-year.

A summary of the HPPI:
Owner’s estimates of their home’s value rose above the actual appraised value by an average of 0.99 percent, according to the National HPPI. This marks the fifth consecutive month the gap between the two value opinions narrowed. Also, the HPPI is now the closest to equilibrium it has been since April 2015. The trend of appraisals surpassing homeowners’ estimates in Western cities continued in October, with appraisals as much as 3.13 percent higher than expected in Dallas. On the other hand, Eastern and Midwestern cities were more likely to have an appraisal below the owner’s estimate.

“Based on the HPPI, it appears homeowners in the markets where prices are rising faster than the national average—like Denver, Seattle and San Francisco—are continuing to underestimate just how quickly home values are rising, so the average appraisal is higher than the homeowner estimate,” says Bill Banfield, executive viec president of Capital Markets for Quicken Loans. “On the inverse of that, homeowners in areas where the values aren’t rising as fast may think they are rising faster than they are, leading to the appraisal lagging the estimate.”

A summary of the HVI:
The HVI, the only measure of home value change based solely on appraisal data, showed values increasing at a measured pace month-over-month and making larger strides on an annual basis. Nationally, appraised values rose 0.71 percent from September to October and jumped 4.76 percent year-over-year, according to the HVI. All regions had similar annual growth; however, the Midwest and the West had slight dips in monthly value.

“As we enter the traditionally slower demand season in the home purchase market, persistent supply constraints may keep home prices elevated,” Banfield says. “Compared to the previous year, our economy continues to improve and attract homebuyers who may have been on the sidelines during the past few years. This will add additional demand to the equation.”

For more information, please visit QuickenLoans.com/Indexes.

For the latest real estate news and trends, bookmark RISMedia.com.

The post Appraisals Better Match Owner Perceptions appeared first on RISMedia.

…read more

From:: Finance and Economy