By Peter Ricci The National Association of Realtors completed the long-anticipated merger of its virtual Realtors Federal Credit Union (FCU) with the Northwest Federal Credit Union on August 1, effectively opening to its members a new range of financial

By Peter Ricci National home prices increased 2.5 percent year-over-year in CoreLogic’s Home Price Index (HPI) for June, marking the fourth consecutive month of yearly gains for the index. In addition, the index, which is used by the Federal

By Stephanie Sims Calling all agents in the Chicagoland area: the Chicago Public School (CPS) system is looking for some good real estate brokers to help sell vacant and unused buildings. It seems the CPS school district has a

Twitter is one of the simplest forms of social media, an incredibly accessible tool that allows one to effortlessly contact thousands of real, local people for a variety of purposes. But don’t let it fool you! Twitter may be

When it comes to the  housing market and the real estate industry, few things could be more clear – the two are among the most important contributors to economic growth. Indeed, the amount of economic activity involved in a

Russ Bergeron, the CEO of Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED), the Chicagoland multiple listing service, was a panelist at Inman News’ Real Estate Connect Conference in San Francisco. This industry leading conference, which took place from August 1 to August

By Peter Ricci The housing vacancy rate is among the most important measures of the real estate recovery. After all, excess supply was one of the big side effects of the housing boom, as the preponderance of vacant homes

By Peter Ricci In case you haven’t noticed, it’s hot outside – quite hot, in fact! All throughout the Midwest, temperatures have been raging (they hit 107 in Evansville, Indiana in June), and they’ve made the home searching process

The $25 billion mortgage settlement received quite a bit of press when the documents were signed back in February, and for good reason. Encompassing several states attorneys general and the largest financial institutions in the country, the settlement was

By Carlo Calma Chicago-based Eidco Construction has announced that industry veteran Scott Deliberto has joined the firm as a site superintendent. Deliberto’s new role at Eidico include overseeing project construction and operations, according to CEO Chez Eider. Deliberto is

By Peter Ricci In a new strategy to generate buzz among consumers and Realtors, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has launched a wide-ranging email campaign on homeownership. According to a description of the campaign on NAR’s website, the

By Peter Ricci In an effort to better mobilize Realtors for the coming elections in November, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has formed the Realtor Party, a group that aims to forgo party politics in the name of

In its second major technology announcement of the week at Inman San Francisco, real estate website Trulia has announced “Trulia IQ,” a new web platform for brokerages. Operating on a data-driven model similar to its other platforms, such as

By Peter Ricci Mortgage complains reigned supreme in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) semi-annual report to Congress, comprising 43 percent of the 55,300 complaints the agency received from consumers in its first 11 months of existence. The make-up of

By Peter Ricci “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a real estate agent in possession of a good property must be in want of great photography.” – Jane Austen Alright, that may not be the exact opening line

By Peter Ricci According to new numbers just released by the Illinois Association of Realtors (IAR), Illinois’ new licensing requirements for real estate agents have resulted in a 22.3 percent decrease in overall licensees for the state. That number