By Stephanie Sims Historically, many of the world’s tallest buildings, like the Empire State Building and the Willis Tower, were built to house offices, but once the idea of living in a massively-tall building grew in popularity about a

By Peter Ricci We’ve been exploring the rapidly falling housing inventory for some time now, and though analysts have offered explanations for the decline, we had not yet seen a consumer-driven survey on the issue – until now with Redfin’s Real-Time Home

By Peter Ricci The National Association of Home Builders latest Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) rose for the fourth consecutive month in August, reaching its highest point in more than five years. A measure of builder confidence for

By Peter Ricci Housing affordability was one of the hidden jewels of the post-boom housing market, as falling home prices offered prospective buyers one of the best opportunities in decades to enjoy the benefits of homeownership. As the latest

By Peter Ricci Housing starts in July were up 21.5 percent from last year, according to the latest joint report from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Additionally, building permits, which are the

By Stephanie Sims They say real estate is a great investment, but we’re not sure they meant entire towns of real estate. According to the Huffington Post, quite a few people have named the right price and bought themselves

By Peter Ricci It was just last week that Mitt Romney announced Wisconsin representative Paul Ryan as his  running mate for the 2012 election, and already, analysts and journalists alike are combing through Ryan’s voting records and position statements

By Peter Ricci New household formation increased by 125,000 year-over-year in 2012’s second quarter to 74.8 households, and amidst those increases, one ethnic group stood apart: Hispanic homebuyers. While white and black households declined (by 649,000 and 81,000, respectively),

By Ian McKendry Want to know the latest housing numbers but don’t know where to look or have the time to check? The Census Bureau just released a free app called America’s Economy that makes it really easy. As

By Peter Ricci The National Association of Realtors’ Confidence Index Report (RCI) is one of the broadest measures around for Realtor business, and the latest index’s finding on average listing time seems to be one of the most optimistic

By Peter Ricci Foreclosure filings in July fell by 10 percent from a year ago, according to the latest U.S. Foreclosure Market Report from RealtyTrac. Encompassing default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, there were 191,925 filings in July,

By Peter Ricci Let’s be frank – there are some really stupid apps out there. After all, when Apple coined the now iconic phrase “There’s an app for that,” they probably didn’t have Airport Sounds in mind, an app

By Tara Steele, AGBeat After the “Nationwide Open House” held in April, one brokerage asserts through its new report that the effectiveness of an open house is not consistent from city to city. Looking at a quarter of a

Q: How can I make sure prospective buyers at my open house know their financing options? A: Now, more than ever, it’s absolutely imperative your potential buyers know their financing options while they are at an open

LeapRE found that 15.67 percent of properties in the Chicagoland area have hosted open houses so far in 2012. It also appears that most open houses, 58.6 percent, occur on Sunday, then Tuesday (18.7 percent), and then Saturday (7.6

By Ian McKendry According to the National Association of Realtors, nearly 50 percent of all homebuyers use open houses as part of their search, and a new wave of apps for the iPad are taking advantage of leads that