By Peter Ricci The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings, rose 2.4 percent from June to July and reached its highest level in more than two years, or, since the expiration

By Peter Ricci The Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which we wrote about earlier today, is undoubtedly the most influential monitor for the nation’s home prices in the current market. But such enthusiasm, as Inman News has demonstrated in the past,

By Peter Ricci The National Association of Realtors’ new real estate TV ad is garnering quite a bit of attention in the real estate community, and not all of it good. Titled “Moving Pictures,” the ad plays from the

Real estate appraisals are among the more consistent topics that we cover here at Chicago Agent, and for good reason – though real estate, after a prolonged slumber, has been posting some of its best numbers in years, the most

For the second month in a row, Chicago home prices rose strongly in the Case-Shiller Home Price Indices from Standard & Poor’s, rising 4.6 percent from May to June. Chicago was the talk of the real estate community last month, when

By Peter Ricci Instagram, the free photo-sharing social network that allows users to snap photographs with their mobile devices and share them with fellow Instagram users, is the latest darling on the technological scene, and naturally, users are beginning

By Peter Ricci Shadow housing inventory and government-held REO inventory have both been on a steady decline the last couple years, and if new short sale guidelines from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) fulfill their aims, they’re a

By Peter Ricci This week, Chicago Agent is proud to unveil a new editorial feature, one that just about every real estate professional should be familiar with – a collection of truly, horribly, awesomely bad MLS

By Peter Ricci The National Association of Realtors (NAR) did some serious political flexing this week with the GOP and its stance on the mortgage interest tax deduction. The Republican Party boldly excluded the deduction – long the third

By Ian McKendry Agents who want to work more efficiently are often turning to technology solutions to help them be more productive. Cartavi, a real estate technology company that teamed up with electronic signature provider DocuSign in January and

By Carlo Calma, Peter Ricci On account of rising mortgage interest rates, mortgage applications fell 7.4 percent for the week ending August 17, according to the latest Weekly Mortgage Application Survey from the Mortgage Banker’s Association (MBA). And indeed, rates

By Peter Ricci New residential home sales increased 25.3 percent year-over-year in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 372,000, according to the latest joint report from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban

By Peter Ricci Existing-home sales reversed recent declines in July, rising 2.3 percent from June and 10.4 percent from July  2011, according to the National Association of Realtors. Median existing-home price was equally optimistic for the month, increasing yearly

By Peter Ricci Foreclosure sales present significant benefits to potential homeowners, the biggest one being the price – according to the most recent existing-home sales report from the National Association of Realtors, foreclosures sold for an average discount of

By Peter Ricci One year after Zillow became the latest tech darling on the NASDAQ, the Trulia IPO has been officially announced for $75 million. Taking advantage of a new provision in the JOBS Act that allows midsize companies

By Peter Ricci More than seven months after its initial unveiling, Barack Obama’s refinancing plan will make a return to Capital Hill on September, as the president renews calls for Washington to assist the nation’s underwater homeowners. The announcement