Buyers negotiated a median 2.7 percent off the last listing price of homes during October, down from 2.9 percent in September, according to Zillow’s Real Estate Market Reports. The month marked the ninth this year in which discounts shrank (in January, buyers negotiated a median 4.6 percent off the last listing price).

The median discount off the last listing price of homes was $5,741.

Buyers were able to negotiate the biggest discounts in Florida markets, with Sarasota topping the list with a median discount of 7.6 percent. Some Northeast markets were also near the top of the list, with the Cape Cod, Mass., Stamford, Conn. and New York, N.Y. MSAs in the top 25.

On the other end of the spectrum, buyers paid the same as or more than the last listing price in 14 markets, most of which were in California.

Fewer listings saw price cuts while on the market, with sellers slashing prices on 22.7 percent of Zillow listings as of Oct. 31, down from 24.7 percent at the end of September. Sellers cut prices by a median 6.5 percent.

For webmasters who have buyers looking for real estate listings on your site and don’t currently have a way to serve them, we recently released the Large Search Box Widget that enables buyers to search real estate listings in a co-branded fashion. Real estate agents reading this can use one of the many IDX providers — however, if you don’t go that route or are waiting until the new year to sign up, you can use the Large Search Box Widget as a way to provide buyers on your site a way to search for listings in a way that maintains your branding. You can see a live example on the O’Connell Real Estate Team site.

Of course, if you aren’t looking for a search widget, there are a number of other real estate and mortgage widgets that will enable you to instantly add functionality and data to your site with the goal of turning buyers and sellers on your site into more qualified, and hence more profitable, clients when you convert them from web traffic to an actual client.

Happy searching!

OK, the statement you see in the headline was made in Zillow Advice by real estate agent Amanda Alejandro, so that opened the floodgates for accusations of spam and self interest.

But, imagine if this question was asked by someone other than a real estate professional. There would be an interesting discussion — minus the accusations — which eventually did happen. Look:

Why rent when you can own for less than renting?

In 2004, the Wofford Family of Encinitas, CA went from a 1,212 sq ft home to a 4,600 sq ft home, courtesy of the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition show that provides new digs for deserving families. In this case, Brian Wofford, a chiropractor, had a house too small to fit his eight children. He was raising the kids alone after his wife died of flu-like complications in 2000.

Flash forward five years and the Wofford family is now facing another challenge: foreclosure. According to 10News.com, Brian Wofford has been struggling to pay the mortgage for the past two years after the loan reset.

“A lot of people think when you get the house you get the mortgage. Well, you don’t,” said Wofford.

Wofford is in the process of trying to get a loan modification, but he is not sure it will happen in time to avoid the auction block on December 14.

>>See more Extreme Makeover Home Edition news.

Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, and their three daughters (Gracie, 12, Maggie, 11, and Audrey 7) are reportedly selling their Chickering Lane home in Nashville, TN, according to Real Estalker. The county singing megastars have finally moved into the dream home they’ve been building the past several years in Nashville and are ready to unload their old pad(s).

Faith was a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show last month and confessed to Ellen that the project was supposed to take two years, but ended up lasting four. The couple was very involved in the home-design process. Faith even admits to stuffing magazine cut outs into her purse for inspiration. “We’re in (the new home) now — we actually moved in about a week ago. It’s the first home we’ve ever built from the ground up. We’ve always remodeled and lived in a place we knew we were going to move out of.”

Now that their custom dream home is complete and the moving trucks have left the driveway, the couple can focus on their next task; selling not one, but two homes. Their most recent Nashville residence, a 6,430 square feet, 6-bedroom, 6-bathroom home located on Chickering Lane, is rumored to be on the market for an undisclosed sum. The Zestimate of the property is $2.3 million, less than the $2.55 million it was purchased for back in 2004. See interior photos of the home.

The second Hill-McGraw home for sale is a gorgeous Mediterranean estate in prestigious Beverly Glen. As Zillow reported back in October 2008, the family listed their 10,500 sq. ft., 6-bedroom, 7.5-bath home for sale for $14.8 million. Today, more than one year later, the couple has reduced the price 27% to $10.8 million. The home sits on over 4 acres and offers panoramic views, a gourmet kitchen w/stainless steel appliances, manicured gardens and a luxurious pool.  The listing description begs home buyers to bring all offers.

See additional Nashville, TN homes for sale.

See additional Los Angeles, CA homes for sale.

According to this Orange County property appraiser, the location of Tiger Woods’ home is part of the exclusive gated Isleworth golf community in Windermere, FL.

And, if you’ve been following the story of how Tiger left his home early on the morning of Friday, Nov. 27 at 2:25 AM and drove his Cadillac Escalade over a fire hydrant and into a neighbor’s tree, you wonder how this can happen. But, if you’re in the insurance business, you’ll know it’s all too common — especially for drivers ages 18 to 34 — to have an accident close to home. The stats show:

• 77 percent of insurance policyholders involved in an accident were less than 15 miles from home and and more than half were less than five miles from home (Tiger crashed right next door).
• Driver distraction (texting, talking on cell) is one of the main causes of accidents for drivers 18 to 34 (Tiger is 33).

And this just in: Tiger will be given a careless driving citation.

Huffington Post provides details of the Tiger debacle, complete with photos of the hydrant and tree and bookmaker’s odds of what will happen to Tiger next (admits to an affair, stays with wife, etc.).

The Zestimate on Tiger’s home is $2,391,000.

Mortgage rates for 30-year fixed mortgages fell this week, with the weekly average rate borrowers were quoted on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace at 4.62%, down from 4.69% the week prior. This is the lowest weekly average rate on record since Zillow Mortgage Marketplace launched in April 2008. Additionally, 15-year fixed borrowers were quoted on average, 4.19% and for 5/1 ARMs, 3.74%.

This morning, the national rate for 30-year fixed purchase mortgages was 4.56%.

What are the rates right now? Will they fall further? Check Zillow Mortgage Marketplace for up-to-the-minute mortgage rates.

In 2008, former NBA star Latrell Sprewell lost his Milwaukee home to foreclosure and now it looks like he’s facing the same fate for a home in Purchase, NY.  According to Lohud.com, Sprewell’s Purchase, NY home will be auctioned off on Jan. 7 at the Westchester County Courthouse for failure to make his mortgage payments.

Sprewell bought the Purchase property in January 2000 for $2.3 million and it was assessed at $5.4 million by the town this year.

Sprewell, who is a four-time NBA All-Star and played for the Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves over a 15-year period, retired in 2005 when no team came forward with what he felt was an attractive offer.

In addition to losing his Milwaukee home in 2008, he also lost his 70-foot yacht, “Milwaukee’s Best,” when U.S. Marshals sold it at auction for $856,000 after Sprewell failed to make the monthly payments of $10,322. The yacht was assessed at $1.5 million.

> See more celebrity foreclosures

Sure, Thanksgiving is about giving thanks, and we celebrate by gathering with family and friends for a big feast. My family is filled with wonderful cooks, but if given the chance, I might skip one Thanksgiving at my aunt’s home if I was invited to Thanksgiving dinner at one these famous chef’s homes:

Martha Stewart

Thanksgiving with Martha Stewart would be filled with ornate harvest-inspired decorations (handmade, of course), a stroll around her fall gardens, and “I am thankful for___” gratitude cards. And, if conversation dried up, I would just ask her about the 10 ways to prepare a turkey.

>See Martha Stewart’s Turkey Hill home (below)
>See Westport, CT homes for sale

Paula Deen

If Southern cooking is more your style (that is, if butter is more your style) Paula Deen’s place would be the perfect home to spend Thanksgiving. I think I might skip dinner altogether and just eat pie - maybe all seven of them.

> See Paula Deen’s Savannah home (below)
> See Savannah, GA homes for sale

Barefoot Contessa

For a multiple-course meal with fresh herbs and perfectly ripened fruits and vegetables, Barefoot Contessa host Ina Garten would provide just that. Garten is a fan of simple, quick-to-cook French food, so you get all the deliciousness with less of a wait.

> See Barefoot Contessa’s home (below)
> See East Hampton, NY homes for sale

Rachael Ray

I’m sure Thanksgiving dinner would be “yum-o” at Rachael Ray’s house, but I think I might want to stick around for a few days to find out what she makes with the leftovers. Her recipes range from ground turkey and stuffing meatballs to turkey meatloaf with smashed sweet potatoes. I love a good feast that lasts for days.

> See Rachael Ray’s Southampton home (below)
> See Southampton, NY homes for sale

Lastly, if the true queen of cooking were still alive, a Thanksgiving dinner at Julia Child’s Cambridge home would be simply divine. Not only did Julia Child bring cooking into our homes via television, but her eccentric, never-care style gave joy to cooking.

> See Cambridge, MA homes for sale

Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger, who has one of the most recognizable brands in fashion and who dominated urban fashion in the 1990s, sold his Greenwich, CT home for $20 million.

Known as “Stone Hill,” it was originally listed for $27.9 million last March, according to Big Time Listings. It is a stately Greenwich mansion with stone walls, a gated entrance with a long driveway and it sits on just over 4 acres and has an inground pool, basketball and tennis court in the back. The 20,000 sq ft home has 7 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms.

Greenwich home values are among the highest in the country. At this writing, the Zillow Home Value Index for Greenwich is $ 1,131,800. According to the NY Post, Hilfiger’s neighbors included former Citigroup head Sandy Weill and “Judge Judy” Sheindlin.

Hilfiger is reportedly moving into his Plaza duplex in Manhattan.