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Lock Your Loan! Mortgage Interest Rates Rose—Again
By Chrystal Caruthers Are you arranging a home mortgage right now? If so, you’d better lock in that loan. For the second week in a row, mortgage interest rates increased, according to Freddie Mac.The average weekly interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 3.76%, up from 3.69% last week, according to the Primary Mortgage Market Survey. This time last year, the rate averaged 4.33%.Read more, click HERE!
Home Prices Are Up, Supply Is Down—Expect Bidding Wars
By Chrystal Caruthers
 It’s getting more expensive to buy a house. Prices rose 6% in the fourth quarter of 2014 as buyers competed for fewer and fewer available homes for sale, according to new data from the National Association of Realtors®.
The NAR report shows most cities (86%) are experiencing rising prices, with fewer available homes to choose from. Just 24 cities, or 14%, recorded lower median prices in 2014 than in 2013.
Read more, click HERE!
All-Cash Sales Are Declining—and That’s Good for Home Buyers
By Chrystal Caruthers
 When the housing market collapsed at the end of 2008, an odd thing happened—Wall Street investors became single-family-home buyers. But the end is near. Hedge funds are losing their lust for houses, opening the door back up to traditional buyers.
Read more, click HERE!
2015: Buy Now, Before the Fed’s Patience Ends
By Jonathan Smoke
 By now you’ve probably heard that 2015 is expected to be a pretty good year for real estate. It’s a prediction that we chief economists are all fairly aligned on.
But what I can’t emphasize enough is why I’m so confident this is a defining year for the housing industry.
Read more, click HERE!
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Bet on These Home Improvements in 2015
If you’re considering giving your home an upgrade this year, it can be overwhelming to choose what home features need an overhaul. Trends seem to change all the time, and the last thing you want is to spend money on costly improvements that will soon be out of date.
Read more, click HERE
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13 Ways to Rethink the Foot of Your Bed
When designing your bedroom, don’t forget to address the foot of the bed. It’s up-front-and-center, prime real estate that gives you another opportunity to layer in function, pattern, shape and texture. Don’t miss the chance to do more with this seemingly small amount of space.
Read more, click HERE!
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8 natural Feng Shui winter cures for the home
By Laura Mordas-Schenkein
It always seems that the colder season lasts longer than the spring and summer months, and with it comes a great deal of low energy. When it seems like winter is dragging on, purifying our homes with new energy may be just the cure. In Feng Shui, winter is naturally a “yin” season; a quieter, more reflective time of year that encourages us to spend more time in the home. Read on for eight essential Feng Shui cures to make your living space …
Read more, click HERE!
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ASU report: Metro Phoenix home prices hit 7-year high
By Catherine Reagor
Metro Phoenix’s housing market ended 2014 on a high, after several months of flat prices and sagging sales.
Valley home sales climbed 29 percent during December, and the area’s median home sales price increased 2 percent to $215,000, according to new report from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.
Read more, click HERE!
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Raise Your Home’s Value Instantly
By Blanche Evans
Your real estate professional is advising you to declutter, stage your home, plant new flowers, and make repairs and updates. You may be reluctant because of the costs, but according to HomeGain, your real estate agent is giving you sound investment advice that can actually make you more money when you sell your home.
Through its Home Sale Maximizer feature, HomeGain, an agent referral website, identified the top 10 home improvements …
Read more, click HERE!
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Arizona’s economy poised to warm up in 2015, reports say
By Russ Wiles
Arizona’s economy, which grew in line with the nation last year, could perk up with a faster pace of expansion in 2015, according to new forecasts.
Robert Kavcic, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, sees Arizona’s economy advancing 3.5 percent in 2015, beating expected U.S. growth of 3.1 percent. Both the state and the nation grew at around 2.5 percent last year, BMO estimates, with final numbers still not in.
Read more, click HERE!
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9 vital home repairs to complete before negotiating a sale
By Hank Bailey
There’s something that I see generated in almost every transaction — a list of repair items found during due diligence inspections that buyers would like completed before closing. This can cause heartaches for sellers, who have negotiated their best deal and then feel “put upon” because they’re being asked to make repairs to close the sale.
Read more, click HERE!
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Looking for work in health care? Come to Phoenix
By Angela Gonzales
Phoenix topped ZipRecruiter’s list of best cities for a health care job.
The Santa Monica, California-based employment service for small and medium businesses examined millions of job postings nationwide and looked at the ratio of health care companies to those in other industries combined with an analysis of the number of health care companies to unearth the top 10 cities to find a health care job.
Read more, click HERE!
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