The first Real Estate News Now of 2017 is featuring articles with topics that range from how to declutter a home, signs that your real estate website is out of date, home improvements that will add value to your home and more!
Take a look through them and don’t forget; there’s something for everyone to read, so make sure to share what articles resonated with you the most with your friends and your thoughts in the comments at the Champions School of Real Estate Facebook and Twitter pages!
1. Declutter Your Way to a More Organized, Intentional Home
“On a scale of 1 to 5, how much do you need to declutter? Dorothy Breininger’s clutter scale is here to help.”
2. Pending home sales close 2016 slightly up from 2015
“While the National Association of Realtors’ Existing-Home Sales Report signaled an “autumn revival” last fall, the Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) painted a bit of a different picture, with rollercoaster indices that took a sharp turn downward in November thanks to continuing inventory problems and increasing mortgage rates. Thankfully, the latest PHSI have ticked slightly upward — a welcome ending to a nail-biting year. “Pending sales rebounded last month as enough buyers fended off rising mortgage rates and alarmingly low inventory levels to sign a contract,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun in a statement.”
3. 5 Signs Your Real Estate Website Is Out of Date
“Internet users don’t tend to have a lot of patience. For example, 79 percent of users will search for another site to complete a task if your website is not optimized, according to an ExperienceDynamics’ study. A broken link or even the slightest delay could be enough to get them to move on. Read more: Are Your Online Profiles Out of Date? A great website can help draw more business to you; a bad one could be costing you business. Better Homes and Garden Real Estate’s blog, Clean Slate, recently featured some of following tips on knowing when your website could use an overhaul.”
4. Home improvements to add value to your property
“Whether you’re looking to move house or simply upgrade the home you’re living in, adding certain features or fixing particular problems, can add value to your property. So, it’s worthwhile spending a bit of time researching all the options, from simple, cosmetic makeovers to structural repairs, extensions and renovations. This guide gives you an overview of all the factors, including internal and external options to consider.”
5. Location, Location, Location. Where? When? Why?
“Every decision we make has a context, a frame of reference. In both architecture and real estate, our technical term for this is, “location, location, location.” This emphasis on place clearly carries weight in people’s sense of what determines architectural success, but what do we really mean when we refer to “location?” We could limit our understanding of location to a ZIP code, the buildings across the street, or the the latest four-letter moniker assigned by real estate folks (SoHo, LoDo, RiNo, anyone?). Alternately, we could broaden this perception to include abstractions such as history, culture, liberty, hope or peace. Human nature has a deeply rooted bias to a local, “now,” concrete view of context, but does this limit us? Should we widen the scope?”
There’s something for everyone to read, so make sure to share your thoughts with is over at the Champions School of Real Estate 
and 
pages!
Enjoy your read — see you next week! Do you have a response or is there a relevant article I should have included? Send me an email with all questions, opinions, and suggestions to Karla@ChampionsSchool.com!
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