The outlook for California's real estate market is looking brighter. (Photo: iStockphoto)

The median sales price for October was $257,000, a 2.4 percent increase over the $251,000 in September. The number of sales rose 2.6 percent from September to October. The numbers were generally consistent throughout the state …Full Story

Despite falling interest rates, some consumers are still hesitant to buy a home.

For the second week in a row, mortgages to purchase properties fell despite interest rates falling. According to a survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association, mortgage interest rates fell from 4.90 percent to 4.83 percent for a 30-year fixed-rate purchase loan with a 20 percent down payment …Full Story

October's drop in new-home construction is good news for the real estate market.

The stock market took a tumble yesterday because of investor reaction to what is being called a surprising drop in housing starts. The Commerce Department said October new home construction fell 10.6 percent from the previous month, dropping to a six-month low …Full Story

There's been some negative coverage of the home buyers tax credit. (Photo: iStockphoto)

Although the real estate industry did not get everything it hoped for when the home buyers tax credit was recently extended and expanded, they were more than happy the program was continued.

But for some, there’s a lot not to love about the home buyer tax credit …Full Story

Tenants can help pay the bills -- or create more. (Photo: iStockphoto)

In my last post, I told you how we ended up “reluctant” -- and long-distance -- landlords. For the past year, we hoped the people living in our Memphis-area house would buy it. But they defaulted on their lease-purchase contract and left us with a major clean-up.

They also left us with our first lesson. Don’t expect that tenants will treat your house with any respect at all, especially if they don’t have a deposit hanging in the balance …Full Story

Construction is not a nice sound early in the morning -- or at any time. (Photo: iStockphoto)

There’s nothing like waking up to a noise so loud that your house actually shakes. That happened to me this morning, and it has happened, on and off, for the past three months.

My neighbors across the street, you see, are renovating their house. Scratch that: They aren’t just renovating, they’re tearing it down to the studs and starting over …Full Story

Our Memphis home has been badly treated by tenants.

Call me the reluctant landlord.

Our story starts simply enough: My husband got a new job in the Memphis area. It was a big pay bump from his current position, and we’d be closer to our families. So we jumped at the chance. We bought a great house, thinking we’d be there for years. We imagined our kids growing up there, big family dinners and a bright future …Full Story

The National Association of Realtors predicts an improved real estate market for 2010. (Photo: iStockphoto)

Home prices may rise 4 percent next year, Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, told real estate professionals at NAR’s annual convention, held earlier this month in San Diego …Full Story

The median home price in New York's Buffalo-Niagara Falls area rose 4.8 percent from a year ago. (Photo: iStockphoto)

Not everything is headed down in today’s real estate market. Despite that median home prices fell in 123 out of 153 U.S. metro areas, according to recent data from the National Association of Realtors, median home prices are up in 30 cities from where they were a year ago. And some of these cities have seen substantial increases. Could these cities be harbingers of more positive real estate news? I hope so …Full Story

A home owned by Nicolas Cage that sold at a foreclosure auction last week.

I guess that it’s fitting that actor Nicolas Cage’s upcoming film, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, which comes out this month, is based in the Big Easy. It’s in New Orleans that Cage lost two homes to foreclosure last week …Full Story