National News

NAR Takes its Message to Cyberspace with Email Campaign, Christi Borden on ‘Unsung Heroes’ of Real Estate

In a new strategy to generate buzz among consumers and Realtors, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has launched a wide-ranging email campaign on homeownership. According to a description of the campaign on NAR’s website, the campaign began last

What’s Happening with NAR’s Realtor Party

By Peter Ricci In an effort to better mobilize Realtors for the coming elections in November, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has formed the Realtor Party, a group that aims to forgo party politics in the name of

Mortgage Complaints Dominate CFPB Semi-Annual Report

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

Shadow Inventory Down 35 Percent From 2010 Peak, Lisa Dempsey on Healthy Houston Inventory

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 researchers estimate there

Texas Home Prices Remain Strong, Up 3.8 Percent in Dallas in May Case-Shiller

National home prices in rose by 2.2 percent from April to May in the latest Case-Shiller Home Price Indices from Standard & Poor’s, with 17 of the 20 metropolitan areas surveyed seeing their annual returns increase. Though S&P does not

What Will Tomorrow’s Case-Shiller Say About Housing Prices? w/ Tom Huckabee on ‘Gangbusters’ Houston Market

Standard & Poor’s will release its latest Case-Shiller Home Price Indices tomorrow, and analysts and journalists alike are eagerly awaiting its findings – and what they will suggest for housing prices across the country. So far, the narrative has

Is ‘Prius Effect’ the Defining Green Home Solution?

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

Second Quarter Home Orders for Largest U.S. Builders Extremely Promising

By Peter Ricci The National Association of Home Builders’ Builder Confidence Index hit its highest mark in five years in July, and based on second quarter home order stats from the nation’s largest builders, the source of such confidence

Refinance Activity Increases; Even Zuckerberg is In On It

By Stephanie Sims HousingWire reported today that refinance activity has hit a three-year high, and mortgage applications increased 2 percent from last week, the highest levels since April of 2009. When Facebook founder and one of the world’s wealthiest

Pending Home Sales Rise Year-Over-Year For 14th Consecutive Month

By Peter Ricci Pending home sales rose year-over-year for the 14th consecutive month in June, according to the latest Pending Home Sales Index from the National Association of Realtors. A forward-looking index based on contract signings, the Pending Home Sales

New Residential Sales in June Rise 15.1 Percent, Show Healthy Inventory Levels

By Peter Ricci New residential single-family home sales were up 15.1 percent in June year-over-year, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The increase comes a week after existing-home sales rose 7.9 percent from the year

Zillow Calls the Housing Bottom in latest Real Estate Market Report

By Peter Ricci Zillow joined the fray of optimism that has swept over real estate analysis the past few weeks with its latest Real Estate Market Report, stating that not only did housing values bottom in February of this year,

Baby Boomers and Students Represent New Real Estate Opportunities for Agents

By Peter Ricci Every week, it seems new analysts and business firms jump on the housing recovery bandwagon, calling the bottom for the embattled industry and looking forward to a brighter future. As housing moves forward, though, there are

Fading U.S. Housing Inventory Constrains Existing-Home Sales

By Peter Ricci As everyone has probably heard by now, existing-home sales were a bit tepid in June, falling 5.4 percent from May according to the latest data from the National Association of Realtors. The reason for the decline

4 Ways to Market Your Properties to International Buyers

By Peter Ricci It’s no mystery to anyone that follows the U.S. real estate market that foreign buyers are a major force. In the last year alone, international residential sales were $82.5 billion, a 24 percent increase from the

What Would Batman’s Batcave Sell For?

By Stephanie Sims Since The Dark Knight Rises opened Friday at theaters, we thought this infographic from Movoto about how much Batman’s home would be worth in today’s market was

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