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Housing markets continue to improve according to the S&P Case Shiller Home Price Indices released April 30 for February’s data.

The Indices consist of a 10-City Composite Index and a 20-City Composite Index with housing markets for each city reported based on a three-month rolling average of home prices.

The data released yesterday comprised the Indices’ highest growth rates since May 2006.

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According to the the latest Foreclosure Inventory Analysis showed nearly 1.5 million properties were currently in the foreclosure process or being held by banks as Real Estate Owned.

This was up 9 percent from the first quarter of 2012, but down significantly from the apex of foreclosure activity — 2.2 million units — in December 2010.

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Mortgage rates fell again last week and are again near record lows.

According to Freddie Mac, the average rate for a 15-year fixed rate mortgage did achieve a record low of 2.61 percent as compared to 3.1 percent one year ago.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage fell to 3.40 percent and near the record low of 3.31 percent.

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A clean, uncluttered home is very likely the single most important thing to get your home sold quickly and for top dollar.

In fact, a recent survey by HomeGain showed a whopping 568% return on investment for money put toward cleaning and organizing a home for sale!

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It’s getting close to that time of year again — time to have a garage sale at your home!

Here are a few tips to help you have your most successful garage sale ever.

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The National Association of REALTORS® released its Existing Home Sales report for March on Monday.

Sales dipped from February’s seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.95 million to 4.92 million existing homes sold in March, a decrease of 0.6 percent month-to-month.

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If you’ve been considering taking your home in a green direction, April is the perfect month to make an environmentally friendly update. Installing a solar energy system may be a very smart way to help the environment.

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Mortgage rates fell for the third consecutive week. According to Freddie Mac, the average rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage fell by two basis points to 3.41 percent as compared to last week’s 3.43 percent and 3.90 percent year-over-year.

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Selling a house in the current market can be tricky, but there are certain mistakes an owner can make that will cause a home to sit still without a decent offer and cause the listing to go stale.

In order to prevent that from happening, make sure you are not making one of the following mistakes when putting your property on the market.

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An open house gives you a great opportunity to look closely at |**CITY % CITY**| real estate you might be interested in buying.

It also affords you the chance to chat with the owner or real estate agent so you can bring up any issues or hesitations you have with the home.

Knowing what to ask can be difficult, so below are examples of questions to ask at the next open house you attend.

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