National News

Guaranteed Rate expands with its liftoff program

Guaranteed Rate continues to make strides expanding its brand. This week the company announced it will add 22,000 square feet of office space to make room for its new Liftoff program, which will create approximately 280 new positions in Chicago this year. Guaranteed

4 Real Estate Tech Startups Agents Need to Watch

Within the family of sites like Zillow and Redfin, there have been a plethora of tech startups emerging from the woodwork over the past couple of years in endless pursuit of streamlining the home buying and selling process. Here are a

Every president’s starting median home price

The median home price nationwide when President Donald Trump took office was $234,900, according to the National Association of Realtors. Apart from Trump, there have been eight presidents to hold office since NAR started compiling comprehensive home sales data

/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Are-Red-or-Blue-States-More-Affordable-for-Renters-map-United-States.jpg
NAR: Existing-home sales drop in Midwest in January

  The Midwest was the only region to see a drop in existing-home sales in January, according to the National Association of Realtors. Everywhere else saw growth. “Much of the country saw robust sales activity last month as strong

13 things NAR wants in a new CEO

By now about every Realtor knows that the National Association of Realtors is looking for a new chief executive. But in order to know what to look for, a team from Heidrick & Struggles, the search firm hired by

Survey: Agents and lenders need to better educate borrowers on closing costs

When the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule was passed in Oct. 2015, it was billed as a simplifying of the mortgage process – at least as far as borrowers were concerned – and an effort to increase transparency, particularly as

Report: “The World’s Most Admired” homebuilders

Toll Brothers is “The World’s Most Admired” homebuilder, according to Fortune. Of the five homebuilders named by Fortune, the Pennsylvania-based builder, which operates in markets across the country, came in on top. Fortune cited Toll Brothers’ renowned management, innovation,

7 reasons agents should consider virtual staging

We hear it all the time from our clients: “Vacant homes don’t sell.” As a professional photography studio specializing in real estate, we also know they don’t photograph well, which means fewer viewings online and in-person. Fortunately, Realtors have

Mabél Guzmán resigns as NAR’s head of association affairs

Chicago broker Mabél Guzmán has resigned from her post as the National Association of Realtors’ vice president of association affairs, a letter from NAR President William Brown confirmed today. Confirmed in November, Guzmán’s stint as head of association affairs

Keller Williams Realty Branches Abroad to Jamaica and Puerto Rico

  After having found continued success in other international locations, Keller Williams Realty is again stretching its limbs – this time acquiring Meldam Realty in Jamaica and Grand Homes Real Estate in Puerto Rico. Significant growth has been seen in other international Keller Williams’

Sandesh Bilgi to grow BHGre in Chicago

Better Home and Gardens announced the appointment of Sandesh Bilgi on Wednesday, Feb. 8, to be a part of the Better Homes and Gardens franchise development team. His new role of overseeing network development in the Greater Chicago area will expand

Four trends Gary Keller says may change real estate

Keller Williams Founder Gary Keller spoke via an invitation-only live stream this week on the nation’s real estate market, commenting on the state of today’s market, and speculating on the fate of tomorrow’s. One of the most pressing topics

GOP takes another swing at Dodd-Frank

Republican Congressman and Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Jeb Hensarling (Texas, 5th) earlier this month sent a memo to lawmakers outlining proposed changes to his Financial CHOICE Act (FCA), introduced last year, the would see the Consumer

Four ways builders are beating the labor shortage

In the five years following the peak of the housing bubble – so from 2006 to 2011 – the United States’ construction industry lost 2.3 million laborers. By 2013, 60 percent had already found new careers in other industries – which meant

Real Data 2016 Extra Download: Top agents and offices by county

  This year, in addition to devoting an entire issue to Real Data, we’re also offering a supplemental PDF download highlighting the top agents and offices in each county. Our comprehensive report spans six counties – Cook, Dupage, Kane, Lake,

The true value of a referral: new report reveals agent referral economy

Agent-to-agent referrals are an integral part of any successful agent’s business. But as a new joint report from national realtor referral network ReferralExchange and the Council of Residential Specialists (CRS) reveals, agents don’t see the value of a referral restricted

New Subscribe

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.