By Peter Ricci Referrals, it’s safe to say, are the lifeblood of a real estate agent’s career. Though networking and prospecting are invaluable for generating leads, it is through stellar service, and the referrals that such service generates, that

By Peter Ricci The 2013 Dodge Construction Green Outlook report, McGraw-Hill’s oft-cited study of the green building market, is predicting great things for green building in the U.S., estimating that the market will more than triple in the next

By Peter Ricci Chicago home prices continued their downward slope in the latter stages of 2012, falling 0.6 percent from August to September in the latest Case-Shiller Home Price Indices from Standard & Poor’s. Additionally, Chicago home prices fell

By Peter Ricci Last week in our continuing series on NAR’s 2012 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, we looked at the demographics of 2012’s homebuyers and how they searched for their future homes, and now, in our next

By Peter Ricci We all get a kick out of walking around our neighborhoods and surveying everyone’s holiday decorations, and indeed, few things looks nicer than a brightly-lit, tastefully-decorated home in the wintry months. But what about homes you

By Peter Ricci National home values rose 1.1 percent from September to October in the latest Zillow Home Value Index, which is the largest monthly increase since August 2005 and the 12th consecutive month of value increases for the

By Peter Ricci Well, it’s here – after gorging on delicious helpings of turkey and potatoes on Thanksgiving, it’s now time to splurge on televisions, clothing, DVDs and various home furnishings on Black Friday, the official start of the

By Peter Ricci So, today is Thanksgiving, the notorious Turkey Day when we satisfy our prodigious appetites with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, casseroles of the corn and green bean variety, and rolls – not to mention ice cream, pies,

By Peter Ricci Real estate has undergone a radical change in the last 15 years, but perhaps no area of the industry has changed more dramatically than that of how prospective homebuyers search for properties. What used to be

By Peter Ricci The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, the nation’s most reputable measure of homebuilder confidence, rose five points in November, increasing the overall index to 46, its highest point since May of 2006. The

By Peter Ricci As a sales-based industry, real estate depends on clients, and as sales personnel, real estate agents benefit when they have a solid grasp of who those clients are and why they are interested in what they are

By Peter Ricci Privately-owned housing starts in October rose 3.6 percent from September to an annual rate of 894,000, which is the highest rate since July 2008, according to new numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau. That total was

If you sit open houses, you know that it can be a great opportunity to showcase your property, network and meet potential buyers. But how do you gather REAL contact

By Peter Ricci Existing-home sales rose 2.1 percent in October, according to the National Association of Realtors latest market report. Housing inventory, though, declined again in October, adding further pressure to home

By Peter Ricci The U.S. mortgage markets and the housing market on the whole showed continued improvement in the latest Mortgage Delinquency Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), which studied delinquency and foreclosure rates across the country for

How many listings are co-listed? The answer is 17.39 percent of all for-sale, non-commercial, non-land listings that have closed since Jan. 1st, 2011. LeapRE looked at what price bracket has the highest percentage of co-listed listings, and found that