The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

New tool compares instant bids for homes from Redfin, Zillow and other iBuyers

Posted: 24 Mar 2019 01:00 PM PDT

Zavvie, a local information publishing platform, is launching a tool called Offer Optimizer, which allows homeowners to compare offers for their properties from so-called iBuyers. Offer Optimizer compares offers from Offerpad, Opendoor, Redfin Now and Zillow Offers, which are known as iBuyers, or instant home buyers, because they provide instant all-cash offers for homes based on proprietary valuation models. Companies operating as iBuyers acquire homes in all-cash transactions that close quickly, and they often perform […]

Miami-based firm enters California market with $85.7M Marriott hotel acquistion

Posted: 24 Mar 2019 12:00 PM PDT

Miami-based Driftwood Acquisitions and Development entered the California market by acquiring a Marriott hotel in San Diego for $85.7 million. Driftwood paid just under $243,000 per key for the 353-key Marriott Mission Valley and plans to develop a second hotel on the same site. The Miami-based firm is soliciting accredited investors to co-invest in the San Diego hotel. Driftwood acquires hotels with its own capital and installs new management, then invites clients to co-invest at […]

Mortgage interest rates dropped last week and may stay down for months

Posted: 24 Mar 2019 11:00 AM PDT

Interest rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage loans fell last week and may stay down for months or even longer if global economic growth remains slow. Mortgage News Daily reported that the average mortgage lender is offering an interest rate ranging from 4.125 to 4.25 percent, and aggressive lenders are offering 3.875 percent to the most creditworthy borrowers. The average fixed rate on a 30-year mortgage was 4.4 percent prior to the Federal Reserve’s announcement last […]

Brazil’s biggest state-owned bank plans to sell real estate assets to repay public debt

Posted: 24 Mar 2019 10:00 AM PDT

Under new management, the biggest state-owned bank in Brazil plans to restructure itself by selling distressed real estate and equity stakes in subsidiaries. Chief executive officer Pedro Guimaraes is overseeing the planned asset sales by Caixa Economica Federal to repay perpetual bonds issued by the Brazilian government that total approximately 40 billion reais ($11 billion). Caixa has assets valued at 1.3 trillion reais, and all extraordinary gains from asset sales “will be used to repay […]

When snow is a no-show: Climate change threatens ski resorts, nearby home values

Posted: 24 Mar 2019 09:00 AM PDT

Ample snow in the western United States has produced one of the best seasons in years for skiers. But climate change is making seasons like this one increasingly uncommon – a threat to the value of ski resorts and nearby homes. The amount of snow in western states has declined by an average of 41 percent since the early 1980s, according to research just published in a journal called Geophysical Research Letters. That trend has […]

Living (too) large: Aging baby boomers struggle to sell sprawling Sunbelt homes

Posted: 24 Mar 2019 08:00 AM PDT

Older owners of large homes throughout the Sunbelt are struggling to sell them. Many baby boomers spent heavily to retire in jumbo-size houses in such Sunbelt states as Arizona, Florida and South Carolina. But as these sprawling houses cease to meet the needs of their aging owners, finding buyers has become problematic. Since the early 2000s, buyers increasingly have favored smaller houses with modern designs to large, elaborately detailed houses, and many prefer to live […]

Automated retail arms race gets more crowded with new app

Posted: 24 Mar 2019 07:00 AM PDT

Amazon Go has a new competitor in grocery chain Meijer, which rolled out a new app this month letting shoppers scan items on their phones and breeze past the cashier on their way out. Shoppers at 23 Chicago-area stores where the app is accepted still have to stop by a kiosk to review their order, but they don’t need to take any items out of the cart when they get there, according to the Chicago […]

Home sales tumble in South Florida — yet again

Posted: 24 Mar 2019 06:00 AM PDT

Across South Florida, home sales fell again in February, mimicking a nationwide trend. The declines follow a slow start to the year in South Florida. In January, total home sales decreased throughout the tri-county region, with Palm Beach County reporting the biggest percentage drop: down 21.1 percent. Prices, meanwhile, continued climbing upward in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties – with the exception of single-family homes in Palm Beach County. Miami-Dade Home sales in Miami-Dade […]