At the turn of every new year, a question that always picks at any real estate professional’s mind – any good one, anyway, is – what does this year’s buyer look like? The question is particularly important in 2017 because

We had the good fortune to profile many fascinating real estate professionals in our Agent Snapshot feature this year. Everyone loves seeing these in print, but they are also very popular online. Here’s our list of the 10 Agent Snapshots

After 11 years as the National Association of Realtors’ chief executive, and more than 36 years of real estate service, Dale Stinton is retiring. And so the storied career of one of NAR’s most loyal employees is brought to

Our annual Who’s Who is among the most hotly anticipated publications in Chicagoland real estate, and we were happy to profile some of the area’s top professionals. Here are the profiles that have attracted the most attention from our

Home sales in the nine-county Chicagoland area rose strongly in November, according to new numbers from Illinois Realtors. With 6,979 sales for the month, the Chicagoland market was up 16 percent from a year ago. Meanwhile, the median sales

When the U.S. housing bubble peaked in 2004 and 2005, the market seemed to be in grand shape: the homeownership rate was 69 percent; the Case-Shiller National Home Price Index was 184.4, a 135.5 percent increase from 1994; and

President Obama’s legacy will take shape over the coming years, but one thing is clear – he will be remembered as a champion of homeowners, a fact his record bears out. Here are a few of his most notable achievements, as they

There are more than 44 million immigrants living in the U.S. They account for about 13.6 percent of the total population, and together represent billions in annual real estate transactions – and Chicago is one of the eight cities best

UpstreamRE, LLC – the real estate broker-owned and controlled data management company that governs Upstream, a collaborative broker initiative – has appointed Gurtej Sodhi to its board of managers. Upstream is a comprehensive data management project that aims to deliver

When it comes to the housing market’s ever-worsening inventory situation, one factor receives an outsized share of the blame – the historically low levels of home construction. Although the explanations for construction’s low volume differ – NAR has consistently argued that builders

Nearing the end of another year, speculation is now hitting its greatest height for how the next chapter in the housing recovery will take shape. Countless “experts” have offered cursory, drive-by analyses of where the market is heading, but there

Starter homes in the Chicagoland area remain relatively affordable, but they are slipping out of reach for many consumers. That was the finding of a very interesting new study from Trulia, which assessed the status of starter homes in

Affordability is a chief concern in the Chicago real estate market, as it is in many markets. But even though it’s a popular talking point for industry insiders, few understand the true volatility of “affordable.” To some families, the line

The U.S. Congress has adjourned for 2016 without extending the Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Act, which will now expire at the end of the year. Originally passed in 2007, the act has protected underwater homeowners from incurring tax bills on the debt

There are about 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., eight million of whom are a part of the country’s labor force. Although it’s hard to say where President-elect Donald Trump actually stands on undocumented workers – he has promised to deport all of

The news sounds bad: mortgage rates have risen aggressively since the presidential election, and are now at their highest level since July 2015; for the first week in December, rates posted the largest weekly jump since 2013; and the Federal