What’s been happening to that good old-fashioned American way to sell your home — doing it yourself, with minimal or no commission costs? If you believe new data from the National Association of Realtors’ Buyer/Seller survey, for-sale-by-owner transactions — popularly known as FSBOs (“Fizzbos”) — appear to be on the same trendline as buggy whips: They’ve just hit their all-time low of 7 percent as a share of total home-sale transactions. They were 8 percent the previous year. Both numbers are down from 15 percent in 1981 and continue a slow but steady decline. So FSBOs are fizzling. But is that the full story? Or is something else happening that’s a bit more complicated? Traditionally, doing a FSBO meant that you, the homeowner, took on ...

Deveolpment of the One West Palm highrise condos and hotel are back in play for downtown West Palm Beach. Billionaire Jeff Greene has changed his mind and decided to build One West Palm, a two-tower development with hotel rooms, residential units and office space in downtown West Palm Beach. After he ended his campaign to become governor of Florida, Greene told The Real Deal in September that he decided against building One West Palm, citing nearby hotel developments and the city government’s decision to remove a five-story limit on building height in a downtown area where New York-based Related Companies plans to build a 25-story, 275,000-square-foot office building called One Flagler. Greene also said he had no plans to sell the site of the city-approved ...

La Clara is a new high rise condo development coming to West Palm Beach. Canadian developer Great Gulf is launching plans for a 25-story luxury condo tower in West Palm Beach. Sales for La Clara, an 83-unit development planned for 1515 South Flagler Drive, will officially launch in the first quarter of next year, said Douglas Elliman’s Chris Leavitt, director of sales. Elliman’s Alison Newton and Joey Columbo will also work on sales. Leavitt said he’s received interest from buyers in Toronto, where the developer is based, as well as from the Northeast, and from residents on Palm Beach Island looking for “a more contemporary option.” Zoning only allows for up to eight-story buildings in the town of Palm Beach, Leavitt said. “They can’t live ...

American homebuilders are feeling more confident amid a rise in consumer demand and a drop in lumber prices. The recent boost follows months of declining sentiment among homebuilders nationwide, according to a report by the National Association of Homebuilders and Wells Fargo. It was first reported by Bloomberg. The more positive feeling is in line with a rising six-month home sales outlook along with a jump in prospective buyer traffic. Improving market momentum could be attributed in part to a strong job market, benefits from tax cuts and lower lumber prices, which had briefly jumped to a record high in May amid a perfect storm of challenges. Those included U.S. tariffs on Canadian wood imports, wildfires and a shortage of freight trains to transport lumber. ...

Would-be homebuyers have another reason to be concerned: mortgage rates rose to nearly 5 percent, the highest in more than seven years and the biggest weekly increase in two years. Rising mortgage rates slow the housing market, which is an indicator of the overall economy. Long-term rates are now up nearly a full percentage point from the start of 2018, the Wall Street Journal reported. According to Freddie Mac, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is 4.9 percent. Although rates have been rising for months, 5 percent isn’t that high compared to the decade before the financial crisis. “There’s almost a generation that has been used to seeing 3 percent or 4 percent rates that’s now seeing 5 percent rates,” Vishal Garg, founder and CEO of ...