Includes GPS-enabled listings along with home values from eppraisal.com, Zillow, and Cyberhomes

Although I am not currently in the market for a new home, I tend to window shop the “for sale” market just for fun.  ZipRealty just made it even more fun with their iphone app, which allows you to find homes for sale, as well as recently sold homes, based on your current location.

All fun aside, this is a really useful app for prospective home buyers.  Geo-targeted searches can be filtered based on property characteristics — such as property type, price range, and number of bedrooms/bathrooms — making it easy to identify potential homes while out house hunting.  Once listings are identified, there’s no more jumping out of the car and running through the lawn to retrieve property flyers. Each listing includes home details and photos, along with aggregated home valuations from eppraisal.com, Zillow, and Cyberhomes.

The app is free and can be found by searching the easily by searching the App Store for ZipRealty.

Moving day is stressful — you’re uprooting your family’s life and moving it to an entirely new house, and perhaps an entirely new city.

There are ways you can make the moving day itself less grueling with just a little planning. Here are a few:

1. If you’re using movers, they will go through your entire house and draw up an inventory of your things to be moved. Tag along with the driver who’s tallying this inventory and make sure everything gets on it, and then use the inventory at your new home to make sure that everything gets unloaded. The more familiar you are with the inventory, the more at ease you will be that your loading and unloading is proceeding smoothly and that you’re on track for your move.
2. Be the sole source of contact with moving companies. Having one person in charge of all the moving details will make it easier to keep track of your entire move. It will also make it easier for the moving company to know who to speak to if there are issues.
3. Before you even move, take care of things at your new home so you don’t have to worry about them on moving day. Get your utilities hooked up, and arrange to have cleaners get everything clean before you arrive. Also, when your new house is empty is the best time to do minor home improvement projects like painting, wood-floor refurbishing, and carpet cleaning.
4. If you have kids or pets, arrange to have someone take care of them during your loading and unloading. Kids, especially small kids, can get underfoot during a move and pose a danger to the folks who are moving your stuff. Also, the less you have to keep track of on moving day, the better.
5. Pack and set aside a bag that you will need during the trip to your new home. To be safe, keep this bag at a neighbor’s, or put it in the car, to ensure it doesn’t accidently get packed by your moving company.
6. After everything’s been loaded, go through the house (and possibly enlist someone to come along with you) to ensure everything was loaded onto the truck.

SOURCE: Relocation.com

In the 12 months from May 2008 to May 2009, The District of Columbia led the U.S. with the highest percentage of homes sold over $1 million at 7.14 percent. California leads the nation in overall volume of homes sold for over $1 million but is fourth behind Hawaii (6.95 percent), Connecticut (3.87 percent), and D.C. (7.14 percent) in percentage at 3.26 percent.

Furthermore, the unemployment rate for the D.C. metro region is at 6.2 percent, much lower than the 9.5 percent national average. There is a fascinating article about the muted effects the recession has had on D.C and its residents by Victoria McGrane – D.C. Plays “Rich Uncle” in Recession.

Of all the states where enough data was gathered to report on percentage, Michigan was the lowest at 0.08 percent. With the continuing decline of American automobile companies in the area, climbing unemployment, and soaring foreclosures, it would stand to make sense there are less opportunities for people to both earn and spend millions on homes in the area.

The top 20 by percentage are listed below:

Today eppraisal.com released its National Real Estate Market Analysis report for 186 markets across the continental U.S. This report, which tracks median sales price of residential homes, compares data on homes sold in the last three months ending May 2009 with homes sold in the previous three months beginning on December 2008 and ending February 2009.

For the first time this year, more than half of the markets tracked by eppraisal.com saw an increase in the median home value. Of the 97 markets that saw positive gains, more than 25 percent of those markets saw a double-digit increase in the median home value. For example, in the Ohio markets of Columbus, Sandusky, Lima, and Cleveland-Elyria, all saw double-digit increases of 12.7 percent, 23.1 percent, 26.7 percent, and 29.9 percent respectively. Overall, increases were seen across most states. Ithaca, NY, saw an increase of 16.9 percent to a median home value of $159,000, Fairbanks, AK, increased by 9.3 percent to a median home value of $225,506, and Boston-Quincy, Mass., areas increased by 7.1 persent to a median value of $300,000.

In the previous report, smaller markets led the list with overall increases in home values; however, larger markets have begun to make a comeback as well. For example, San Jose-Sunnyvale and Santa Clara, Calif., saw an increase of 8.4 percent to a median value of $439,000. San Francisco-San Mateo, Calif., was up 10.4 percent to a median value of $635,000, and Chicago-Naperville, Ill., saw an increase of 3.1 percent to a median value of $115,000. This is the second time this year that San Francisco has seen an increase in home values. For the first time this year there are more positive markets in California than negative.

On the other side of the country, Florida leads the list with the most declines, with 14 of the 19 markets tracked by eppraisal.com showing declines in the median home value. In Jacksonville, Fla., home prices dropped 3.9 percent to a median home value of $152,900. In the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, home values dropped 3 percent to a median value of $125,000. The Orlando-Kissimmee area dropped 8.5 percent to a median home value of $151,000.

Overall, the markets are showing signs of recovery and surprisingly less than five percent of the markets tracked by eppraisal.com saw more than a 10 percent drop in home values. This is down from the more than 30 percent of markets seeing a 10 percent or higher decline in the median home value that was reported in the March 2009 report.

See a complete list of rankings.

There’s something about the iPhone that has you salivating even as you hear the name being spoken. And with all the innovative apps that are being developed for this smartphone, life sure becomes a whole lot easier when you’re able to access all that you need right from the palm of your hand. Whether you just dabble in real estate or are a real enthusiast, these five apps meant for the iPhone are just what you need to make your real estate dealings and searches more comfortable:

Coldwellbanker: This nifty application allows you to search for homes based on location, city, state, zip code, price (set minimum and maximum amounts), the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and the most recent search results. Another useful utility is the one that allows you to view the values of homes in certain neighborhoods.

StreetEasy Real Estate: StreetEasy provides you with a complete real estate view of New York, allowing you to pull details of home values, building information, photographs and other data through simple searches. You could get detailed information of a particular apartment or any other building and also information on similar listings if you are looking for alternatives.

Puluwai: Another search application for the iPhone, Puluwai allows you to search for homes and other property based on location, price, keywords and the number of bedrooms. You could also search using the iPhone’s GPS capabilities.

Home Finder: Besides acting as a valuable real estate search tool, Home Finder also includes a nifty calculator that you can use to process mortgage rates and plan payment schedules. You can store your recent searches, email them to friends and others, and view maps of areas you are interested in.

Zillow Real Estate: This is one baby that’s smooth both when you’re on the move and when you’re stationary. It provides you with real estate information about houses in the area you’re in and about property in any area you want to view. You’re given information about recently sold homes, homes that are available for purchase, and the values of homes in the locality.

This article is written by Kat Sanders, who regularly blogs on the topic of construction management degree at her blog The Fixer-Upper Blog. She welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: katsanders25@gmail.com.

How your move goes depends to a large degree on your interaction with the moving company you hire, and communication plays a key role in that. Here are some tips to help things go smoothly:

1. When the moving company estimator comes to your home to give you moving quotes, be explicit about what you want and don’t want moved. First, it will likely affect your long distance moving cost — the more stuff you have, the pricier it will be. Also, if you want something to stay at the house but the moving company is unaware of that, you might pay more because of the greater weight — and you’ll have the extra hassle of getting it back.
2. Make sure the moving company has a clear understanding of move-out and delivery dates. If there are things that could change the move date — closings, building move-out dates, etc. — let your moving company know. If something does come up, tell the movers right away. This is particularly important during mover’s busy season in the summer.
3. If there’s a special item that you’re very concerned about because of its value or fragility, let the mover know that so they can prepare accordingly.
4. The moving company needs to know about any obstacles to the move at the origin home and the ship-to home. Knowing this ahead of time will ensure the moving company has the proper equipment and workers to handle your move.
5. The moving company also must know about any items that need special packaging or services. Certain items in a typical household, like appliances, may require servicing by a 3rd party company instead of the moving company.
6. For the unloading, tell the mover, or map it out for them on a schematic, where moving boxes and furniture will go in your new house. This will ensure things go more smoothly for your move.
7. Finally, give the workers refreshments or lunch, and if they earn it, tip them like you would for any other service. A happy worker will be that much more apt to do good work for you.

Get free moving quotes from licensed and professional movers.

Source: Relocation.com

Today eppraisal.com released its National Real Estate Market Analysis report for 184 markets across the continental U.S. This report, which tracks median sales price of residential homes, compares data on homes sold in the last three months ending April 2009 with homes sold in the previous three months beginning on November 2008 and ending January 2009.

During this time period, 119 markets across the U.S. saw a decrease in the median home value, which accounts for 64.7 percent of the markets tracked by eppraisal.com. This is down from the 143 markets that saw declines in the previous eppraisal.com report for first quarter. An upward trend in median home value continues in smaller markets, like Punta Gorda, Fla., with a 9.5 percent increase in the median home value to $115,000, Wausau, Wisc., up 8.8 percent to a median value of $117,500, and Binghamton, N.Y., with a 14.5 percent increase to a median value of $226,600.

Even though smaller markets continue to dominate the list of areas showing increases in the median home value, eppraisal.com shows a few larger markets with home value gains. For the first time this year, San Francisco-San Mateo, Calif., shows an increase in the median home value, which is up 0.2 percent to a median value of $600,000.

Other California markets that appear to be reversing the trend are the San Jose-Santa Clara area, which is up 1.2 percent to a median home value of $430,000, and the Santa Barbara-Santa Maria area, which is up 4.6 percent to a median home value of $250,000. While we have a few gainers, overall the California market is still in negative territory with 75 percent of the 28 markets tracked by eppraisal.com seeing declines in home values.

In other areas the bleeding continues. In Florida, Jacksonville drops even further with a 5.8 percent decline to a median home value of $150,700. The Orlando-Kissimmee area decreased 8.4 percent to a median home value of $156,500. It’s not much better in the Carolinas, with Wilmington, N.C., declining 6.5 percent to a median value of $187,000.

The eppraisal.com National Real Estate Market report is attached. It shows the median sales price of existing single-family home sales in the last three months ending April 2009 in comparison with homes sold in the previous three months beginning on November 2008 and ending January 2009.

See a complete list of rankings.

June is National Homeownership Month, and everything seems to be falling into place for first-time home buyers. It’s a buyers’ market, interest rates are at all-time lows, and first-time home buyers can qualify for a new, hefty federal tax credit.  Yet, potential buyers should ask themselves several key questions before making this important decision.

1. What will monthly costs be, and can I afford the payments?
   Keeping mortgage payments under 30 percent of your monthly income is a good rule of thumb. If you can’t keep mortgage payments below that, you may be better off renting for awhile.
2. What other debt do I have?
   Total rent or mortgage payments plus credit obligations should not exceed 35 to 40 percent of monthly income.
3. What is my credit score? Can I qualify for a good interest rate?
   A high credit score indicates strong creditworthiness, and that qualifies you for better interest rates on a mortgage. Maxing out on your credit lines and paying bills late will lower your credit score. The impact of a credit score on interest rates can be significant. For instance, a borrower with a score of 760 could pay nearly two percentage points less in interest on a mortgage than someone with a score of 620. Lower interest rates mean lower monthly payments. If your credit score is low, you may want to delay buying a home until you can improve your score.
4. How much will taxes, monthly maintenance, or other fees cost?
   Owning a home means you’ll have to pay real estate taxes and other costs like insurance and maintenance. On the other hand, owning a home brings big tax savings at the end of the year. As a renter, the owner pays those costs for you.
5. How many years will I stay here?
   Generally, the longer you plan to live someplace, the more it makes sense to buy. You’ll build equity in your house and its value will likely increase over the years.

If you’re still unsure, the Amercian Bankers Association (ABA) has a “buy or rent” calculator you can use to compare the cost of renting versus buying a home.

Whether you’re a broker selling or leasing an unlimited number of properties, or an owner looking to sell or rent a single property, TweetLister makes it easy and convenient to promote your listing(s) using social media. Here’s the low-down:

• TweetLister creates Twitter-friendly listings that are 140 characters or less based on the listing information you provide.
• You can schedule listings to tweet when you want – immediately, later, or again and again until the property is sold or leased.
• Each listing links to its own profile page, where more detailed listing information is available, including pictures and a contact form that sends you leads via email. The detailed listing page also includes the coveted “backlink” to your website, which can help your site’s search engine ranking.
• Your listings appear on both Twitter and Tweetlister.

By posting listings, either on Twitter directly or through TweetLister, you can instantly put them in front of potential buyers and renters for free. If you already have a Twitter login, sign in to TweetLister now to try it out. If you don’t have a Twitter account, perhaps it’s time to create one.

Earth Day is inspiring Realtors^® nationwide to obtain the Green Designation created by the National Association of REALTORS^®.

The program is designed to help Realtors^®:

• Understand what makes a property green
• Explain to clients and customers the cost benefits of green building features and practices
• Distinguish between industry rating and classification systems
• List and market green homes and buildings
• Discuss the financial grants and incentives available to homeowners
• Guide buyers in purchasing resource-efficient homes

To earn the Green Designation, Realtors^® must complete 18 hours of coursework.  Realtors^® attending the NAR mid-year conference in Washington, D.C., can register for the Green Designation courses.  For more information, visit NAR’s Green Designation website.