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

By Carlo Calma Northbrook-based Integrated Development Group is planning on turning the former Lakeshore Athletic Club in Streeterville into a residential building, as reported by Crain’s Chicago Real Estate Daily. Located at 850 N. Lake Shore Drive, Integrated Development

Marci Sepulveda and Anne Hartnett, the founders and publishers of Agent Publishing, appeared on Tastytrade’s “Bootstrapping in America” program for an in-depth interview on their professional experiences, the founding of Agent Publishing, and, of course, the current state of

By Peter Ricci A new brokers program for Trulia is building on the company’s previous outreach efforts to real estate professionals. Real estate website Trulia has just announced a new “Trulia Brokers Program,” a program tailored specifically to real

By Peter Ricci A housing company specializing in converting foreclosed properties has just entered the Chicagoland market with its first purchase in Aurora, according to a new report from the Chicago Tribune. Waypoint Homes, a California firm, owns more

By Peter Ricci The shadow knows – that his inventory is severely down! According to researchers at Morgan Stanley, the shadow inventory has fallen 35 percent from its 2010 peak, yet more evidence of stabilizing inventories in housing. The

By Peter Ricci Chicago led the nation in the latest Case-Shiller Home Price Indices from Standard & Poor’s, with home prices for the city rising by 4.5 percent from April to May and showing the best monthly appreciation of all

Hot on the heels of a proposed eminent domain plan in San Bernardino County California, the city of Chicago is considering a similar plan for underwater mortgages in Cook County. Eminent domain is a little-mentioned government power that allows

By Peter Ricci In the real estate community, there is a fire burning – are green homes all that they’re cracked up to be? And more importantly, do they add anything to a home’s value? Such questions have been

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

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

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

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

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