Google's appetite for real estate is growing. The tech giant’s CEO announced this week that the company is building new data centers and offices and plans to expand to several key locations across the country this year. It plans to spend $13 billion this year in real estate.“With this new investment, Google will now have a home in 24 total states, including data centers in 13 communities,” wrote Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, in a blog post
Amazon announced Thursday that it has halted plans to build a second headquarters in Long Island City, N.Y., blaming political and community opposition for its decision.The reversal comes three months after Amazon picked two cities as homes for its HQ2 project—Long Island City and Crystal City, Va.—promising to bring 25,000 new, high-paying jobs to each area. A booming housing market in those areas was expected to follow.Indeed, in the time s
Home prices have cooled in 70 percent of the 200 largest housing markets. That’s good news for home buyers, but home sellers are faced with a new reality on what they may be able to get for their home.However, not every market is slowing down. Realtor.com® has identified a handful of metros where home prices are rising and still seeing double-digit annual price growth.Some of these growing housing markets were devastated by nearby natural disa
An estimated tens of thousands of loans and mortgages have had private data compromised online, according to an investigation from a security researcher and TechCrunch. The sensitive information that was found mostly dated back to 2008 and included loans from banks like Wells Fargo and Citigroup, among others.The banks are reportedly in the process of trying to identify the customers affected and inform them of any possible account hack
Email scams are common, such as fake messages that tell you to reset your password, spam, and phishing attempts that try to winnow their way into your real estate transactions. How good are you at telling a phishing email from a real one?Google subsidiary Jigsaw is trying to educate internet users on how to spot fraudulent emails with a quiz. The quiz gives you eight email examples and allows you to choose between “legitimate” and “phi
Microsoft has announced it is committing $500 million to advance affordable housing solutions in the booming Seattle area, where its headquarters are located.Microsoft first made the Seattle area’s Puget Sound region its home in 1979. Since then, as Microsoft became one of the world's leading software companies, the city has seen explosive growth. But the housing market has failed to keep up.Since 2011, jobs in the region have increas
You and your clients may need to consider the signs of a refrigerator that is about to explode when making your next appliance purchase.Though refrigerator explosions are rare, recent cases have prompted consumer alerts, and they should no longer be “ignored disasters,” says Neil Everitt, former editor at air-conditioning and refrigeration magazine ACR News. Refrigerator explosions occur spontaneously and sometimes with little warning.In
Luxury home sales are cooling off, and some home sellers are finding they may have to invest in a few upgrades to nab top dollar for their home.High-end sales posted a 7 percent gain in October annually, the second slowest increase in more than two years, according to an analysis from realtor.com®. And while sales are slowing, inventories of homes for sale are swelling. The total number of properties listed at or above $1 million is posting doub
A Kansas City, Mo., couple lost their entire $130,000 down payment on a home purchase from a money wire scam that has been increasingly targeting real estate transactions.Ross and Melinda Fulton were purchasing a home to live closer to their daughters and new granddaughter in the Kansas City area. Ross, a retired pastor of 46 years, and Melinda found the perfect home in Independence, Mo., and were planning to pay for it with cash.They receiv
The iPro Real Estate family feels blessed to have your business and wishes you a Merry Christmas and an amazing prosperous New Year. Our gift to you this year is a song from iPro owner Jason D. Mechura's (a.k.a. Jason Daniels) new album Cinematic Dreams. Watch Glenn Keane's duet animation along with the 5th track from the new album, Come be Mine: Watch Jason Daniels - Come be Mine - duet More links to Jason Daniels' music: Artist website: http://
This website includes images sourced from third party websites including Adobe, Getty Images, and as otherwise noted.