National News

Texas Prices Stay Strong, Dallas Home Prices Rise 2.8 Percent in April 2012 Case-Shiller Index

Home prices in Texas continued their strong 2012 performance in the latest Case-Shiller Home Price Index, according to Standard & Poor’s (S&P). Nationally, home prices increased 1.3 percent from March to April, which suggests, after seven long months of price declines, that

New Home Sales For May 2012 Leap 19.8 Percent, J. Patrick Homes on ‘Strong’ Houston Market

Sales of new singe-family homes for the month of May, according to new data from the Census Bureau, rose 19.8 percent year-over-year to a two-year high. The 369,000 seasonally-adjusted annual rate was also 7.6 percent above April’s rate of

3 Ways to Avoid ‘Pinball’ Status on Your Listings

A pinball property, or pinball listing, as it’s also called, can be a real estate agent’s best friend – just as long as they’re not the ones listing the property! Pinball listings, as the new term has been coined,

5 SEO Basics for Real Estate Agents

Today, more than ever, sites such as Google and Yahoo! are the true drivers of the Internet, transporting users to web pages based on one thing – the results of their algorithms. It’s imperative that agents learn to harness

Should Agents Care About ‘Operation Twist’?

The Federal Reserve announced earlier today that it would be extending its Operation Twist program through the end of the year to stimulate financial markets. Though it sounds like it came from the mind of Lewis Carroll, the Twist

New Tech in Real Estate Brings the Noise

Technology is constantly changing the way we interpret real estate, and a couple of new auditory innovations are looking to overhaul our perceptions all over

Existing-Home Sales Increase 9.6 Percent

Existing-home sales in May declined 1.5 percent from April to May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.55 million, but were up 9.6 percent from May 2011, according to the National Association of Realtors. Median existing-home price, though,

FHA Rescinds Controversial Credit Dispute Rule

The FHA has rescinded a highly-controversial credit dispute rule that put an untold number of mortgage applications at risk with the government lender. Drafted in March to shore up its emergency fund, the rule forced potential homebuyers with FHA

American Dream Alive and Kickin’ in New Trulia Survey

Trulia today released the results of its latest American Dream survey, and it found that homeowner optimism has returned to the housing market in a major way. The survey sampled a large swath of the U.S. population, with nearly

Are We Missing the Boat on Housing Affordability?

The last six months, housing affordability has been one of the few give-ins regarding housing. With record-low interest rates and competitively-priced homes, affordability is at its highest level in more than 40 years…or is it? A new study by

Housing Starts Data Up 28.5 Percent from May 2011, Houston Market ‘Accelerating,’ Says Linda Marshall of Linda Marshal Realtors

Privately-owned housing starts in May were up 28.5 percent from last year, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In addition, building permits increased by both monthly and

NAHB Builder Confidence at Highest Level Since 2007

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) increased one point in June to its highest level since May of 2007. That might not sound like a big deal, but every little point counts – and

5 Ways Not to Be an Idiot on Facebook

Let’s face it, few things are more painful than a Facebook user who has little grasp of the medium. We’ve all seen it – posts written entirely in ALL CAPS, cheesy videos, meaningless status updates – an all with

Foreclosure Filings Down 4 Percent From 2011

National foreclosure filings, which include default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, were up 9 percent from April to May but down 4 percent from May 2011, according to new data from RealtyTrac. For May, one in every 639

3 Ways to Avoid Contract Failures in Real Estate

Contract failures have been one of the more recurring problems in real estate in recent months, and with roughly a third of agents experiencing them, they have easily garnered a reputation among Realtors as one of the main inhibitors to

CoreLogic – Shadow Inventory Down 14.8 Percent in April

The shadow inventory decreased by 14.8 percent year-over-year in April, according to new data from analytics firm CoreLogic. Since April 2011, the shadow inventory has fallen by more than 300,000 units to its present level of 1.5 million, which

Oops! We could not locate your form.