By Stephanie Sims If you know your target market, your message will be well-received. Even though real estate is about selling, knowing stats about your clients, and homebuyers in general, can only help you and your

By Peter Ricci RealtyTrac, the oft-quoted real estate research firm based in Irvine, California, generated considerable buzz a couple weeks back when it published a stinging study arguing that nearly every available housing metric had worsened under President Obama’s watch. With

By Peter Ricci The latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which looked at the U.S. economy in the third quarter, was good but unspectacular – a 2 percent annual rate of growth, up from 1.3 percent in

Here’s more data that shows that the market is coming back: total transactions and closings have increased 24.50 and 23.05 percent, respectively, from 2011 to 2012, and the average days on market and average sale price decreased 1.22 percent

By Tara Steele, AGBeat According to newly released data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), a measure of contract signings, rose 0.3 percent in September from August, barely cause for any noise.

By Peter Ricci Zillow has completed its fourth major acquisition in just 18 months, purchasing the real estate shopping website Buyfolio for an undisclosed sum. A fun, streamlined approach to online home shopping, Buyfolio is a New York City-based

By Anne Hartnett I am in real estate media. I eat, sleep and live the topic. It’s what people corner me about at dinner parties, the gym and the dog park. Because of my work, I track several high-tech

By Peter Ricci Here’s an eye-opening stat for you: according to the latest studies by Forrester, a prominent research firm based in Cambridge, Mass., text messages increased 14 percent from 2010 to 2011, and in 2011, more than two trillion texts

By Natalie Terchek Today, Related Midwest held a ceremony commemorating the re-start of the construction of 111 West Wacker Drive. The site will become a 60-story tower with 504 luxury apartments and ground-level retail. The Silver LEED designed development

By Peter Ricci Yesterday, we looked at how real estate agents can establish themselves as neighborhood experts by creating custom maps in the Google Maps function. Today, in the second part of our neighborhood expert series, we’ll take a

By Peter Ricci Residential construction spending increased modestly in September, rising 2.8 percent from August’s revised totals to an annual rate of $285.9 billion, according to the latest numbers from the Census Bureau. After four years of precipitous declines,

By Peter Ricci Real estate news feeds, including Crain’s and Inman News, reported yesterday that Naperville-based tech firm Cartavi has completed a successful Series A round of venture capital funding, with such investors as I2A Fund, Firestarter, OCA Ventures

By Peter Ricci The Internet has been a double-edged sword for real estate agents. On one hand, the Internet is great, because it allows you to market your business to a bevy of potential homebuyers; but on the other,

By Peter Ricci Housing construction has been posting some of its best numbers in years the last couple months, but some analysts are worrying that mounting building costs could threaten the industry’s momentum. As the Wall Street Journal recently reported,

By Peter Ricci This is Halloween, the day when pumpkins scream in the dead of night, children trick or treat until the neighbors die of fright and real estate agents sell property with all their might! Alright, that may

By Natalie Terchek The real estate market place Zillow introduced pre-market inventory to its home search experience. Shoppers are now able to search for and find information on 1.2 million pre-foreclosures and foreclosed properties, for free. These homes are not yet