The REO Initiative, the government-led plan to convert thousands of GSE-owned REO units into investor-managed rentals, has been meet with both tacit and strong support from economic analysts, but Realtors appear to be lukewarm toward the measure, if a

Realtors’ confidence in the market appears to be increasing; according to the latest Realtor Confidence Index, conducted by the National Associatoin of Realtors, 67 percent of agents expect prices to rise in the months to come.  Showing generally positive

Chicagoland’s top-producing agents gathered at Chicago Agent magazine’s Top Producers event at the Whirlpool Showroom, sponsored by Pulte Group, to celebrate and share their secrets of success. Here top producers tell us how they get their clients to accept

The Illinois House has approved a Senate bill that would prohibit cities, counties and other local government bodies from raising property taxes on homeowners for years when the assessed value of their home declines, according to a Chicago Real

Predicting the behavior of the housing industry is notoriously difficult – even Warren Buffett just conceded failure in that area of economic foresight – but as Bloomberg reports, there have been quite a few signs in the last couple

Did the latest Case-Shiller reach a new post-boom low? Did the loan modification debate just garner another chapter in its storied history? And OMG, did Bank of America, like, just dump Fannie Mae? We cover the week’s top real

Electronic signatures, or e-signatures, are among the more convenient benefits of technological innovation in real estate. After all, as we covered in our latest tech issue, given the numerous documents associated with homeownership, simply clicking on electronic documents to

REO inventories for Fannie Mae fell by 43,961 units in 2011, as it disposed of more distressed units than it acquired, according to data it released yesterday. The GSE sold 243,657 units in 2011, while overtaking just 199,696; those

Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED), the Chicagoland Multiple Listing Service (MLS), announced it has introduced additional green design, disclosure and data verification to its connectMLS system. The “green” expansion is to further enhance the ability of MRED’s real estate

Construction spending posted a strong 7.1 percent year-over-year increase for the month of January, and though spending was mainly flat from December, it did show an uptick in residential

Homes in some state of foreclosure accounted for 24 percent of all U.S. residential sales during the fourth quarter of 2011, up from 20 percent in quarter three but down from 26 percent in 2010’s fourth quarter, according to the latest

In early February, news leaked that Bank of America was so overwhelmed by homeowners applying for the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) that it was literally asking borrowers to wait 60 to 90 days before starting their applications; if

Two government mortgage bodies, Fannie Mae and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), are revisiting their policies regarding condominiums, though their approaches could have contradictory effects on the condo

Christine Chase has been recognized as the 2012 Realtor of the year by the organization, Realtors (MORe). The recipient of the award is selected using a list of criteria that includes local, sate and national Realtor association service, community

The Conference Board, the non-profit research group that is responsible for some of the world’s most closely-watched economic indexes, announced yesterday that consumer confidence rose 9.3 points in February in what is perhaps the strongest indication yet that the economy

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) slapped Bank of America (BofA) on Monday with a housing discrimination suit claiming that the bank unfairly treated homebuyers with disabilities. According to a press release released by HUD, BofA violated