By James James Customer Relationship Management is an integral part of of the business of being a Realtor, and the holiday season – which, amazingly, Target has already kicked off – is THE time to remind your clients who you are

By Peter Ricci For the most part, the September existing-home sales report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) was positive. Sales were up by 11 percent from last year, median time on the market is down and distressed

By Peter Ricci As Barack Obama campaigns on his accomplishments of the past four years, a new report from RealtyTrac takes its own look at the president’s first term. Titled “Election 2012 Housing Health Check,” the report analyzes five key

By Peter Ricci Housing construction, as any observer of the real estate market knows, suffered mightily in the post-boom housing economy, as scores of vacant, newly-built properties languished in new construction ghost towns. Now, however, the situation is quite

By Peter Ricci The final presidential debate is tonight, and though the specific questions of the event remain a mystery, one thing is certain – housing policy will not be among the topics discussed. The final debate, as it

By Peter Ricci September existing-home sales increased 11 percent year-over-year, as housing inventory continued to stabilize and median home price increased, according to the latest economic report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Though sales were down slightly

By Peter Ricci When news broke in the summertime that banks had been engaging in widespread acts of Libor manipulation – effectively rigging interest rates on $300 to $600 trillion of credit cards, mortgages, and loans – the financial regulatory

By Peter Ricci For the second time in as many weeks, the housing market has been bolstered by some analytical support, receiving high marks from the latest Fannie Mae economic report. In the GSE’s latest Economic & Strategic Research

By Peter Ricci The U.S. housing market earned some well-deserved recognition from the Federal Reserve in its October Beige Book, with the Fed singling out the industry for its strong 2012 performance. A widespread measure of economic activity in the Fed’s 12 economic

By Carlo Calma Houston-area property sales continue to see a progression towards improvement according to the latest monthly data released by the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) Oct. 16. September sales in Houston totaled 5,943, an 8.7 percent increase

By Natalie Terchek With both the presidential election and real estate in the headlines, an interesting Estately study compares the homes of President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney – though the residences of neither candidate, the study found, can compete with

By Peter Ricci Privately-owned housing starts posted their best numbers in more than four years, rising 15.0 percent from August to September to an annual rate of 872,000, according to the latest joint report from the Census Bureau and

By Peter Ricci The National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) Housing Market Index rose for the sixth consecutive month in October, bringing the index to its highest level in more than six years. Indeed, the index, which covers builder confidence

By Peter Ricci For months now, real estate professionals and industry analysts alike have pondered the fate of the mortgage interest tax deduction (MID), but according to panelists at the Zillow Housing Forum late last week, we should brace

By Peter Ricci Vacant housing remains a problem for the U.S. real estate market, and until it is fully addressed, the housing market will never achieve a full recovery – at least that was the perspective of Elizabeth Duke,

By Peter Ricci Online listing syndication is one of the more controversial elements of the new real estate market, with real estate professionals of numerous backgrounds speaking out against the business methods of Zillow, Trulia and Realtor.com. Now, however,