By Peter Ricci It’s the ever-present question on everyone’s mind, right up there with the meaning of life and the purpose of the Higgs Boson – what DO homebuyers want, in today’s real estate market? All kidding aside, it’s

By Stephanie Sims With zombies trending lately, in pop culture and several times in the news, scarily enough, perhaps your clients have wondered aloud whether or not they should buy a property that would defend against any future apocalyptic

Wells Fargo is shutting down its wholesale lending business as part of a broad settlement with the Justice Department for a discriminatory lending lawsuit. The San Francisco-based bank will also pay borrowers $125 million to settle claims and commit $50 million

By Peter Ricci Chicago is the top buyer’s market in the nation, according to a new study of buyer and seller markets by real estate website Zillow. According to Zillow’s research, listings times in Chicago are longer than the

The RE/MAX Suburban team of Bob Baker, Jim Nelson, Sr. and Jim Nelson, Jr. were recently honored with the Distinguished Service Award for the brokerage’s performance in 2011 by the RE/MAX Northern Illinois real estate network. The team, which

By Carlo Calma Fran Broude, president and COO of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, has announced that several of the brokerage’s agents have been named to the 2012 The Wall Street Journal/REAL Trends The Thousand Report, according to an issued

By Ian McKendry Real estate agents around the country are finding more and more utility from computer tablets that are incredibly mobile and have large displays, making them easy on the eyes. To date, Apple’s line of iPads has dominated

Real estate professionals who were featured in Chicago Agent magazine’s Who’s Who issue celebrated and mingled with colleagues and friends at CA‘s Who’s Who party at BoConcept in Lincoln Park. Specialty Templeton Rye cocktails and appetizers were served while

The National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI) expanded yet again last month, with the NAHB adding 11 more metros to the index, which now totals 84. A measure of improving economic conditions, the IMI now

By Peter Ricci It was seven years ago that ICANN, the nonprofit that oversees top-level domain names, announced it would allow new domain names in addition to .com, .net and .org, and this summer, it was revealed that the

After a few months of relative quiet, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) made considerable waves on Monday with its released of a 1,099-page rule detailing its new standards for mortgage disclosure forms. Intended to simplify the process for

By Peter Ricci Zillow was in the news yesterday when Inman News reported that the syndication site had contacted 50 or so MLSs at the end of June about establishing direct IDX feeds. Though Zillow maintains secondary feeds through ListHub,

By Peter Ricci Short sales have become increasingly common in the post-bubble economy, and indeed, the list of agents who have successfully adapted their businesses to short sales is long and varied. Though some have found quite a bit

By Stephanie Sims It seems that agents who work with Appraisal Management Companies (AMCs) and complete Broker Price Opinions (BPOs) are also asked to submit to and pass mandatory criminal background checks, according to our friends at Agent Genius.

By Peter Ricci Maybe it’s the patriotic Fourth of July fervor, but two new government reports on housing are quite optimistic, with both President Obama’s Housing Scorecard and Fannie Mae’s latest National Housing Survey finding quite a bit to

By Stephanie Sims There’s a lot of hype surrounding online referral generation, but sometimes, getting back to basics is key. While no one should ignore the benefits of generating referrals online, putting all your efforts in that basket is