The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) filed a discrimination complaint against Facebook Aug. 17. HUD claims that the company violated the Fair Housing Act by allowing landlords and home sellers to target or exclude users from

As much as we like to talk about “curb appeal,” the interior design of a home is just as important to buyers and sellers. For sellers, a home’s design needs to be inviting, warm, and reflect what buyers are

By Mainstreet Organization of Realtors It’s no secret that there are currently more prospective buyers than there are homes for sale in the Chicagoland area. As a Realtor — even if you’re just breaking into the business — you’ve

Home purchase contracts are increasingly being settled on time, and technology has increased the median days to close. But there are sill many ways for contract negotiations to hit a snag. A National Association of Realtors survey in May

Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) updated its rules and workflows around commission figures June 4 in response to feedback from industry stakeholders, effectively undoing a policy set in place last year. According to a May 1 blog post from

In a new video, Baird & Warner president and CEO Steve Baird offers insights on the housing recovery in the Chicago market since the Great Recession. See the full video for a snapshot of the current market and insights

Amazon and Lennar announced its new partnership to provide Alexa-enabled smart homes in certain markets across the country. Homebuyers can get homes that come with features that can be controlled with Alexa including Wi-Fi, smart locks, doorbells, thermostats and

Agents and brokers who are embedding Google Maps into their listings will now have to pay to do so. The Google Maps application programing interface (API) allows agents and brokers to embed maps into listings on their websites. This

When entering the market for the first time, many homebuyers are unsure of what they must do to qualify for a mortgage and have concerns about their application being denied. A new report by LendingTree looked at more than 10

Starter homes with farmhouse-inspired features and craftsman designs are demanding the highest sales premiums, according to RealEstate.com. In the study, RealEstate.com analyzed the listing descriptions of millions of entry-level homes (homes at the bottom third of the market) to

Hurdlr, a Washington, D.C.-based startup that helps freelancers monitor expenses, taxes and other back end personal business needs, recently announced a new focus on the real estate industry. It will provide agents with goal-setting features paired with its original income-tracking

Realtors are facing a major issue regarding compliance with the Realtor Code of Ethics and the Illinois Real Estate License Act. I recently spent some time looking at Realtor posts on my social media feeds. What I found in

It can be difficult to find time for face-to-face meetings or even phone calls, leaving many agents and clients rely on text messages to communicate. Smartphone users in the United States are initiating and receiving five times as many

Facing growing scrutiny for privacy violations and obfuscating personal posts in favor of advertisers’ paid posts, social networks are being forced to reexamine their ways before they’re abandoned. Some users opt to go social network-free while others go in

It can be difficult for many agents to take the leap from working alone to hiring an assistant to help. It is even more difficult to find someone who has previous experience in the real estate industry. Once an

Slowly but surely, bitcoin and blockchain — a decentralized ledger that powers the cryptocurrency — have been making inroads in real estate, but a technology company wants to make them the industry standard. ShelterZoom‘s Offer NOW is a blockchain-based