The money will go to public housing agencies that assist homeless vets. HUD estimates that the money will help move 7,500 more former service members off the streets.

Christina Pappas, 2022 president, is the 2023 Realtor of the Year. All award winners were recognized Thurs. at the annual convention’s in-person Awards Luncheon.

“Livability” is subjective, but an exhaustive study attempted to rank states based on how happy they’ll make residents. Fla. was No. 6 – but No. 1 in some categories.

In 2022, more homeowners fought rising inflation by tapping into home equity. In two years, equity lines of credit originations rose 41% as equity loans rose 166%.

In a push to reduce money laundering under the Corporate Transparency Act, FinCEN will require many businesses to state their actual owners’ names after Jan. 1.

An Orlando team leader uses professional RE writers for his website and offers expansive content – blogs plus articles that complement his listings.

Many older homeowners don’t want to move even if homeownership has become challenging. But they have options that might not be as bad as they fear.

Single-family housing permits – a sign of future construction activity – increased marginally by 0.6%, though overall permits dropped 13.9% as multifamily slows.

The Mortgage Bankers’  2Q National Delinquency Survey found that delinquency rates dropped to 3.37% – the lowest rate since it began collecting data in 1979.

NAHB’s Aug. index fell 6 points to 50 – the break-even point between optimism and pessimism – based on higher mortgage rates and increased construction costs.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation says changes passed by the Fla. Legislature have attracted new insurers and removed 280K policies from Fla.-owned Citizens.

A comparison of teacher salaries to home values within 20 minutes of work found a high of 18% affordable in Fort Lauderdale and Jacksonville but only 4% in Miami.

The Realtors Relief Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, says the money will “assist with disaster victims’ housing payments as relief and recovery efforts continue.”

UBS will pay $1.44B to settle claims it gave mortgage borrowers false and misleading statements in 2006-2007, the last big bank case from the housing crisis era.

It’s not just the house: Some neighborhoods offer more opportunities. In Fla., the home price difference between high- and low-opportunity areas runs as high as 64%.

NAHB’s 2Q comparison of selling prices ($388,000, nationally) to median incomes ($96,300) found only 40.5% of U.S. residents can afford a home at that price.

Texas had 3 cities in the top 10, but Jacksonville hit No. 9 with its “bounty of BBQ restaurants.” It beat out Tampa (No. 15), Orlando (No. 17) and Miami (No. 47).

New buyers often ask similar questions, and an AI virtual assistant – not unlike ones used by some companies in online “Chats” – are handling the more basic queries.

New condo buyers enter a big room, put on a headset and explore empty space in “meta reality,” seeing not-yet-built condos as if they’re on an actual physical tour.

Attempted scams are often identified only because something seems wrong, but that could change if artificial intelligence (AI) makes future scams undetectable.