Guaranteed Rate The winner of last year’s “Best Lender” Agents’ Choice award, Guaranteed Rate has become one of the largest and fastest growing independent mortgage lenders in the country, with licenses in 44 states, 1,100 employees and $6.9 billion

By Dan Provost The iPad. The Samsung Galaxy Tab. The HTC Flyer. And recently, the Kindle Fire. Tablets, with all the power that they pack into their slim, lightweight bodies, are perfect for real estate agents – and not

By Jeff Lasky, MRED Director of Communications and Training Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED), which provides the Chicagoland multiple listing service (MLS) to nearly 8,000 offices and 40,000 real estate professionals, has responded to the rapid adoption of the

Krisstina Wise, the owner of the Austin, Texas-based brokerage firm The Goodlife Team, has a distinct requirement for all her agents – they all must use an iPad. “That’s not because the iPad is a cool, trendy device,” Wise

By Stephanie Sims Barbara Kleban, Realtor and marketing and transition coordinator with Coldwell Banker North Shore and City Regions, gives presentations showing agents why it’s important to learn to use the iPad, and more importantly, teaches them how exactly

Beating the Competition – Quickly – Thanks to the iPad By Mike Mosser In today’s interconnected world, agents who take advantage of new technologies can reap the rewards of faster deals and better responsiveness to their clients. Real estate

By Dan Provost Craig Achtzehn, branch manager with the River North office of Prospect Mortgage, has one piece of advice for real estate agents hoping to steer their buyers through the mortgage-lending process today: set realistic expectations. The residential

FHA-approved buildings are now an advantage. By Peter Ricci Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans have undergone somewhat of a resurrection in the past four years, but like the phoenix, its rise may be temporary. The FHA loan, says Simon

By Mabél Guzmán Today’s market and lending industry requires not only unequivocal local knowledge, but also the know-how to navigate myriad regulatory guidelines. For instance, when the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) was initiated regarding appraisals, we saw

By Stephanie Sims It’s hard not to watch the news without hearing about the housing industry, and lately, the buzz is all about mortgage rates and 4 percent loans. Thirty-year fixed rate mortgage rates fell to 3.94 percent recently,

What lending options have gone the way of the dinosaur? By Peter Ricci Finance has always been defined by its versatility, the way that banks and financial firms are able to offer new products to consumers that better reflect

By Brian Salgado A Short Sale is Surprisingly a Good Deal It is easy for buyers, agents and loan officers alike to get discouraged when attempting to make deals in today’s unpredictable and suppressed real estate market – especially

No one wants to fail. But unfortunately, it can happen. And in a business where reputation is everything and referrals help grow business, failing your clients is the ultimate no-no. Chicago Agent analyzed the most prevalent complaints about the

By Stephanie Sims Weichert, Realtors, the largest independent brokerage in the nation, is known for its training program, Weichert University, which provides a basic – but intense – 60- to 90-day session of training courses required of all new

By Dan Provost Curt Bailey, president of Chicago developer Related Midwest, relies on a simple formula when it’s time to find real estate agents to market his company’s developments: he wants agents who are good at their jobs. This

No matter whether the company is a brokerage or developer, marketing isn’t the same as it was a few years ago. Developers and agents alike have to be innovative in how they reach out to buyers, hence the different