National News

Nextdoor Brings the Social Network to the Neighborhood

By Ian McKendry In a world where social networking lets people connect from nearly anywhere, one Internet company is trying to connect the people that live right next door to each other. Nextdoor is a young private social network

Mortgage Rates Drop Yet Again

By Justin T. Hilley Market concern over the strength of the economic recovery took Treasury yields to new depths, causing both 30- and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages to continue tumbling to historic lows. The Freddie Mac survey showed 30-year FRM

The Rise of The 1099 Economy: More Americans Are Becoming Their Own Bosses

By Joel Kotkin While the economy has been miserable for small businesses, and many larger ones as well, the ranks of the self-employed have been growing. According to research by Economic Modeling Specialists International, the number of people who

Does Office Size Matter With Transactions?

Of the total number of active agents in the Chicagoland area, 66 percent work in large offices, or offices with 20-plus people, compared to the 8 percent that work in offices of one or two people and the 13

Realtor Party: Are You In or Out? NAR, Realtors Respond

By AGBeat Recently, AG columnist Erica Ramus published an editorial entitled, “Realtor Party? Count Me Out,” which stirred passionate support from Realtors across the nation while simultaneously drumming up disagreement from local boards, state associations and the National Association

Second Quarter Home Orders for Largest U.S. Builders Extremely Promising

By Peter Ricci The National Association of Home Builders’ Builder Confidence Index hit its highest mark in five years in July, and based on second quarter home order stats from the nation’s largest builders, the source of such confidence

Zillow Announces New 5-point zPro for Brokers Program

Zillow took another step in its industry outreach efforts yesterday with the announcement of zPro for Brokers, a beta program that incentivizes brokerages to directly partner with the syndication site. Operating on a five-point program, zPro currently boasts 15

Refinance Activity Increases; Even Zuckerberg is In On It

  HousingWire reported today that refinance activity has hit a three-year high, and mortgage applications increased 2 percent from last week, the highest levels since April of 2009. When Facebook founder and one of the world’s wealthiest people, Mark

Pending Home Sales Rise Year-Over-Year For 14th Consecutive Month, MORe President-elect Michael Parent on ‘Communication Factor’

By Peter Ricci Pending home sales rose year-over-year for the 14th consecutive month in June, according to the latest Pending Home Sales Index from the National Association of Realtors. A forward-looking index based on contract signings, the Pending Home Sales

Realtor.com is Getting a Makeover, Starts Beta Testing

By Ian McKendry The official website of the National Association of Realtors, Realtors.com is undergoing a gradual makeover aimed at making the website easier to use and more aesthetically

New Residential Sales in June Rise 15.1 Percent, Show Healthy Inventory Levels

By Peter Ricci New residential single-family home sales were up 15.1 percent in June year-over-year, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The increase comes a week after existing-home sales rose 7.9 percent from the year

Baby Boomers and Students Represent New Real Estate Opportunities for Agents

By Peter Ricci Every week, it seems new analysts and business firms jump on the housing recovery bandwagon, calling the bottom for the embattled industry and looking forward to a brighter future. As housing moves forward, though, there are

Zillow Calls the Housing Bottom in latest Real Estate Market Report

Zillow joined the fray of optimism that has swept over real estate analysis the past few weeks with its latest Real Estate Market Report, stating that not only did housing values bottom in February of this year, but they

Fading U.S. Housing Inventory Constrains Existing-Home Sales

By Peter Ricci As everyone has probably heard by now, existing-home sales were a bit tepid in June, falling 5.4 percent from May according to the latest data from the National Association of Realtors. The reason for the decline

Movoto Real Estate Makes MLS Data Available In App Form For The iPhone

By Ian McKendry If you wanted access to MLS data on your iPhone, Movoto Real Estate has an app for that. Movoto is a licensed brokerage service with a high-tech website that lets users use different search criteria to

4 Ways to Market Your Properties to International Buyers

By Peter Ricci It’s no mystery to anyone that follows the U.S. real estate market that foreign buyers are a major force. In the last year alone, international residential sales were $82.5 billion, a 24 percent increase from the

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