Everyone knows that lending standards today are relatively restrictive by historic standards, but are they loosening up at all as housing and the economy improve? To find out, we took an exclusive look at CoreLogic’s Housing Credit Index (HCI),

Mortgage applications increased 14.2 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Jan. 16, 2015. This comes a week after an incredible 49 percent surge. The

Realtor.com Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke states that 2015 is the year of recovery, and there are several factors at play that will make 2015 a better year for real estate: 1. Lending is becoming less restrictive, and programs are

Oil is pushing its way down to below $47.50 per barrel as of Jan. 12, and there’s no sign it’s going to change anytime soon. Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal said in an interview with USA Today that the

Mortgage fraud has tumbled over the last year as increased regulation pushes the bad seeds out of the industry, the U.S. Department of the Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s FinCEN report said. However, the situation that the appraisers are

Recently, the Obama Administration announced, with much fanfare, that it was directing the Federal Housing Administration to reduce annual mortgage insurance premiums by 50 basis points, from 1.35 percent to 0.85 percent, as part of “major new steps” to

The Top 20 Agents in Chicagoland Sold 7 Percent Of Chicagoland’s Total Sales Volume Chicago Agent’s Real Data came out on Monday, and interestingly, the top 20 agents in Chicagoland sold 7 percent of the six counties’ total sales

By Peyman Aleagha For decades print marketing has been one of the primary ways real estate professionals have marketed their brand, advertised their listings, and reached out to buyers and sellers in their market areas. My company, WebsiteBox, conducted

Here is an undeniably positive development in the housing recovery. Distressed home sales – such as the one in our photo above – were the most visible result of the housing downturn, a true sign of the unfortunate times.

Foreign home sales have been a big deal in the U.S., but could the strengthening economic climate change that? Foreign real estate has been a big deal in the U.S. during the housing recovery, and the numbers speak for themselves

How was 2014’s homebuilding market better than 2013’s? Allow us to count the ways… The numbers are in, and they’re quite clear in their conclusions – by every possible metric, 2014’s homebuilding market represented a strong improvement over 2013.

Danielle Hale of NAR tackles existing-homes sales to determine what the most popular closing dates of 2014 were. It’s a whimsical if not slightly tired cliché to say “it’s all in the timing,” but in rare form, it’s one

Sure, the economy is doing better than it was a year ago, but the narrative extends far deeper than that. New survey data from Pew Research is very much in line with the government’s latest jobs numbers, as more

Okay, we all know that mortgage rates are low right now…but just how low? With mortgage rates expected to rise in 2015, we decided to take a closer look at the historical averages for rates – and via numbers from Freddie

We’ve come a long ways since the market crash, but new research suggest we’ve still a ways to go. Asking prices may be up in Chicago by 9.6 percent, but the market remains undervalued to market fundamentals, according to

We know that many Millennials are sitting on the homeownership sidelines, but what about the peeps who DO buy homes? We report quite regularly on the myriad reasons that Millennial homeownership remains low, but what the Millennials who have