National News

Realtors No Longer Top Professionals to Escape High Priced Cars

Take your best guess – who’s doing the worst among professionals in today’s economy: financial executives, lawyers, Realtors, doctors or insurance brokers? LeaseTrader.com analyzed data on drivers of various industries getting out of their expensive car lease and compared

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Chicago Agent magazine would like to wish all of our readers a fabulous Thanksgiving. Enjoy the

Prices Stable While Sales Follow Seasonal Trend According to October National Housing Report

Impacted by normal seasonal drops in sales, an unpredictable foreclosure moratorium and an expired Tax Credit, residential home sales were lower again in October. A monthly survey of 54 metropolitan areas indicates that sales were 9.8 percent below those

Obama Administration Releases November Housing Scorecard

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury released the November edition of the Obama Administration’s Housing Scorecard (www.hud.gov/scorecard). The latest housing figures show continued signs of stabilization in house prices

HUD Launches New One-stop Website for Economic and Housing Data

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today unveiled a new website that consolidates a wide variety of economic and housing market data at the regional, state, metropolitan area and county levels. Using data from the Census Bureau,

NAR Praises FHA’s Increased Stability

The latest independent audit of the Federal Housing Administration shows the agency’s financial condition has improved from last year, when it announced its capital reserve fund had fallen below the 2 percent level mandated by Congress. The annual audit

Builder Confidence Improves Slightly in November

Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes improved slightly in November, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), released today. The HMI rose one notch to 16 from a downwardly

Consumer Mortgage Bureau Announces New Designation Programs

The Consumer Mortgage Bureau has developed two new designation programs to define the Mortgage Industry in the wake of the S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008: the Registered Mortgage Professional (RMP) and the Licensed Mortgage Professional (LMP). On July

Third Quarter Metro Area Home Prices Hold During Post-Credit Sales Decline

Fully half of metropolitan areas tracked in the third quarter continued to show modest home price increases from a year ago, despite a sharp decline in home sales after the deadline for the home buyer tax credit, according to

Council of Residential Specialists Installs Its 2011 Leadership Team

The Council of Residential Specialists inducted its 2011 leadership team during its inaugural dinner and awards ceremony on Nov. 6, 2010, in New Orleans during the National Association of Realtors Conference & Expo. Frank Serio, CRS, CRS, CRB, Mark

Don’t Forget About Our Veterans – And VA Loans!

Veterans Day is an annual U.S. holiday for honoring our military veterans. The federal holiday is observed on Nov. 11 every year, and is also known as Armistice Day or Remembrance day throughout the world. The date is significant,

NAR Home Buyer and Seller Survey Shows Value of Long-Term Home Ownership

Homebuyers have affirmed a long-term view of home ownership, the typical seller is experiencing positive returns and the vast majority of homeowners see their property as a good investment, according to the latest consumer survey of home buyers and

Who are Realtors Voting For?

With the gubernatorial elections around the corner on Nov. 2, we wanted to hear from Realtors about why they are supporting one candidate over another. Independent candidate Scott Lee Cohen and Green candidate Rich Whitney did not return calls

New-Home Sales Rise 6.6 Percent in September

Sales of newly built, single-family homes rose 6.6 percent in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 307,000 units, their best pace since June, according to data released by the U.S. Commerce Department today. “The fact that new-home

Franczak’s Open, Loft-like Kitchens are the Social Hub of the Home

Are you the chef of the house who loves to cook for your family? Do you yearn to serve your guests expertly prepared drinks across the kitchen peninsula? Or, do you just enjoy swapping stories while entertaining friends around

Case/Schiller Shows Marginal Improvement in Chicago Home Prices

Data through August 2010, released today by Standard & Poor’s for its S&P/Case-Shiller1 Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, show a deceleration in the annual growth rates in 17 of the 20 MSAs and the

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