Inside the Industry – Beyond Murphy to Manteo

Couple Willing to Sell Home to Find Dog

A couple in Warren, Texas, has listed its home for sale in order to be able to offer $50,000 as a reward to find its missing dog. Charlie Parker says his missing chocolate Lab, named Sir, means everything to the family and it’s willing to give up the roof over its heads in order to find him. “He plays such a great role in our lives,” says Parker, who has had the dog for five years. “Whatever it takes, just bring me the animal and I’ll pay you.” The chocolate Lab disappeared Sept. 15 while Parker was mowing the lawn. The family is offering a $50,000 reward to anyone who returns the dog safely. In order to offer the reward, the family put its home on the market.

Households Getting Even More Crowded

More generations are sharing one roof and households will likely only get bigger in the years ahead, surveys show. Nearly a third of homeowners say they expect their adult children and aging parents to eventually move in with them, according to a new survey of more than 1,000 homeowners conducted by homebuilder PulteGroup. One in seven homeowners surveyed say they already have an adult child or elderly parent living with them. Indeed, multigenerational households are at their highest level since the 1950s, according to Pew Research Center.

Cali Metros See Large Inventory Declines

For­sale inventories of single family homes, condos, townhomes, and co­ops continue to hover at historic lows, down nearly 18 percent compared to a year ago, according to September housing data from Realtor.com. Some markets have seen inventories drop even more in the past year, falling by 60 percent or more in some cases. California continues to see some of the biggest drops in for­sale listings nationwide, as well as some of the largest increases to median asking prices. For example, in just one month from September to August, the StocktonLodi, Calif., metro area has seen inventories of for­sale homes shrink by 35 percent. In Sacramento, inventories have fallen by nearly 34 percent.

Move Inc. Acquiring Relocation.com

Move Inc., which operates Realtor.com, announced it is acquiring Relocation.com, an online company that matches homebuyers and renters with moving and storage companies, for $11.5 million in cash. Move Inc. officials say that its acquisition of Relocation.com will help the company inch closer to becoming a one­stop destination for accessing real estate­related information and services. Relocation.com features prescreened and licensed moving, auto transport, and storage companies from across the United States and internationally.

530 Charged for Scamming Homeowners

After a yearlong probe, federal investigators say they’ve charged 530 people for allegedly defrauding more than 73,000 homeowners who had fallen behind on their mortgage payments. The people charged are accused of allegedly duping the homeowners into thinking that they could be rescued from foreclosure through the scammers’ fake rescue programs, investigators say. The scams have resulted in 285 criminal cases of mortgage rescue scams and more than $1 billion in losses to homeowners, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder recently said.

More Say Walking Out on Mortgage OK

Thirty­two percent of Americans surveyed say homeowners should be able to strategically default on their mortgages without facing any consequences for doing so, according to data compiled by JZ Analytics. What’s more alarming, 13 percent say they would likely strategically default and another 17 percent say they know others who have already walked away from their mortgage obligations. Thirty­six percent of Americans surveyed also said they believe it’s acceptable to have a poor credit score.

Sellers Overestimate Their Home Value

Many homeowners think their home is worth a lot more than it really is, according to HomeGain’s third quarter 2012 National Home Values Survey Results of 300 real estate agents. Seventy­seven percent of sellers say their home is worth more than their real estate agents’ recommended selling price. Some homeowners are overestimating the value of their home by up to 20 percent. Nearly 40 percent of real estate agents surveyed say that homeowners believe their home is 10 to 20 percent higher than it really is, with another 40 percent reporting overestimates of one to nine percent. Only about six percent of homeowners underestimate the value of their home.

Facebook ‘Population’ Tops 1 Billion

Facebook reached a new milestone recently, topping more than a billion people who log onto the social network each month. Its population has doubled since reaching the 500 mil­