It appears that the housing market has bottomed, and is slowly making a recovery. According to a survey from ActiveRain, 84 percent of real estate agents expect home values and the number of transactions to increase in 2013. The

8. Present it in-person. This almost never happens. But making the effort to hand in an offer in-person, making eye contact and explaining a bit about the buyer goes a long way. This way, you can also tell the

The pros for agents who have pocket listings are they may be able to secure a double commission on any deal, because they could be acting for both parties involved in the transaction; if the agent representing the seller

How can agents excel in all facets of real estate? They can implement strategies that work. We asked some of the experts in the business how they obtained success when it came to various tasks, such as selling new

Roseann Schumacher was a relatively new agent when she discovered that one of her two managing brokers/partners would be leaving. After she had been at Century 21 Langos & Christian for just five years, one of the co-founders wanted

On Facebook and Twitter, we asked agents why their managing broker was the greatest managing broker ever, in their opinion. We received several great responses. Here are a few of the several we received: Rose Muñoz-Dante, Baird & Warner,

Today is my first day as the new managing broker of one of our brokerage offices. For six years, I’ve been a real estate agent. A year ago, I got my broker’s license. Since New Year’s, I’ve been “training”

Want to train your agents to be even better? Do these six things: 1. Set Goals. Having concrete goals empowers employees and keeps them focused on work. They might not want to attain top producer status, but what do

David Wolf has had a whirlwind few years. He went from being a team leader of seven real estate professionals to president of sales at Related Midwest to the president of Related Midwest’s new boutique real estate brokerage, Related

Mark Zipperer, the broker/owner of RE/MAX Edge in Wrigleyville, felt pretty confident about the condo he was selling in Buena Park. Not only was the condo on the 17th floor in a building that he knows intimately; not only

“In my opinion, the appraisal process is having a huge dampening effect on a market that is trying desperately to recover to some semblance of normalcy. How will we ever see appreciation again if this continues? ”  Jim Hourican, INproperties

Earlier this year, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) released an extensive white paper that analyzed every aspect of the home appraisal process. Concluding with recommendations for reform, the NAHB described the current appraisal system as a “dysfunctional”

Think you can do better than the appraisers you work with now? What standards and certifications are required for meeting state approval? To get an idea, we took a look at the Real Estate Appraiser Licensing Act of 2002,

The luxury home market has been on a slow, sustainable path to recovery for the last two years. How has the luxury market changed? How hasn’t it? Do luxury buyers want the same things? Three experts in the luxury

What were the highest priced listings in Chicago’s various counties from 2008 to the present day? And what did they ultimately sell for? See our infographic below for some

What do luxury homebuyers expect from your marketing efforts? your brokerage? what words resonate with them when reading listing descriptions? See below for the top trends of the affluent, pulled from the Harrison Group Survey and “Rich Buyer, Rich Seller,”