By Peter Ricci Consumer sentiment towards the housing market has been gradually improving in Fannie Mae’s National Housing Surveys, and a new FindLaw survey has found that the situation is improving other notable ways. According to the FindLaw survey, which

By Peter Ricci Embattled GSE Freddie Mac reported a monster third quarter in its latest financial report, with a net income of $2.9 billion that will allow the firm to avoid drawing additional funds from the U.S. Treasury. It

By Peter Ricci The National Association of Realtors spends quite a bit of money advocating Realtor issues, and nowhere are its expenses more prominent than in the realm of politics. In 2012 alone, NAR contributed $2.92 million to political

By Peter Ricci Asking prices increased 0.7 percent from September to October in the latest Trulia Price Monitor, a survey of all the listings featured on the real estate syndication site. In addition, prices rose 2.9 percent from October

By Peter Ricci Today’s real estate agents should always be thinking of ways to utilize technology to better communicate with their clients and potential homebuyers, and instant messaging programs, which can be incorporated into agent’s real estate websites, are

By Peter Ricci Today is the day: Election Day! Now that the election is finally upon us, we can breathe a sigh of relief that we won’t be seeing anymore campaign ads anymore and, more importantly, revisit what is

By Stephanie Sims If you know your target market, your message will be well-received. Even though real estate is about selling, knowing stats about your clients, and homebuyers in general, can only help you and your

By Peter Ricci RealtyTrac, the oft-quoted real estate research firm based in Irvine, California, generated considerable buzz a couple weeks back when it published a stinging study arguing that nearly every available housing metric had worsened under President Obama’s watch. With

By Peter Ricci The latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which looked at the U.S. economy in the third quarter, was good but unspectacular – a 2 percent annual rate of growth, up from 1.3 percent in

By Tara Steele, AGBeat According to newly released data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), a measure of contract signings, rose 0.3 percent in September from August, barely cause for any noise.

By Peter Ricci Zillow has completed its fourth major acquisition in just 18 months, purchasing the real estate shopping website Buyfolio for an undisclosed sum. A fun, streamlined approach to online home shopping, Buyfolio is a New York City-based

By Peter Ricci Residential construction spending increased modestly in September, rising 2.8 percent from August’s revised totals to an annual rate of $285.9 billion, according to the latest numbers from the Census Bureau. After four years of precipitous declines,

By Peter Ricci Housing construction has been posting some of its best numbers in years the last couple months, but some analysts are worrying that mounting building costs could threaten the industry’s momentum. As the Wall Street Journal recently reported,

By Peter Ricci This is Halloween, the day when pumpkins scream in the dead of night, children trick or treat until the neighbors die of fright and real estate agents sell property with all their might! Alright, that may

By Natalie Terchek The real estate market place Zillow introduced pre-market inventory to its home search experience. Shoppers are now able to search for and find information on 1.2 million pre-foreclosures and foreclosed properties, for free. These homes are not yet

By Peter Ricci One of the more interesting real estate surveys out there is the HousingPulse Tracking Survey from Campbell Surveys and Inside Mortgage Finance, a broad look at the real estate markets and the preeminent issues and trends on agents