The Bipartisan Policy Center has announced a new, bipartisan Housing Commission tasked with conducting a top-down analysis of the U.S. housing market and its long term trends. Co-chaired by two former U.S. Senators and two former heads of the

After four straight months of declines, new single-family home sales in September were up 5.7 percent from August, an increase from 296,000 units to 316,000 units, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing

Two senators are proposing a remarkably simple idea to foreigners to spur housing investment – buy a house, get a visa. It may seem coy, but the proposal by Sens. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) and Mike Lee (R., Utah) really does

In a late hour vote, the Senate approved by a 60-38 margin a measure to expand federal loan limits and return government-backed loans to the $729,750 that had been in effect the last three

After literally months of deliberation, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has announced that it is eliminating several restrictions to the government’s Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) to allow more delinquent homeowners to refinance their mortgages. Beginning with passive references

For years, renting was seen as the more cost-effective alternative to owning, and generally, the viewpoint made sense. Renting lacks the property taxes, upkeep and other fees that often come with owning a home, and the skyrocketing prices of

A new Senate bill introduced Wednesday hopes to add another factor in the underwriting process in the form of energy costs, according to a new report from Housing Wire’s Jon Prior. Introduced by Senators Michael Bennet (D-Col.) and Johnny

According to the National Association of Home Builders, builder confidence for single family new home construction rose four points in October, the largest single-month gain since the home buyer tax credit stimulated buyers in April of 2010. Builders’ confidence

Efficiency in running a business How to effectively run a business has been a major topic of debate for decades. As businesses have evolved, so has that debate. Some believe that in-person, face-to-face interaction is the best way to

According to the JiWire.com Mobile Audience Insights Report for the second quarter of 2011, interesting trends were revealed regarding consumption of promotions through mobile-specific channels, with one in five consumers preferring to receive promotional offers through their smartphone. E-mail

According to the JiWire.com Mobile Audience Insights Report for the second quarter of 2011, a substantial shift has occurred in what gadgets Americans own. In the second quarter, most Americans owned a laptop, more than half owned a smartphone

A quick rundown of stats from our real estate news for the week of Oct. 17 – Oct. 21, by the numbers: 13.3 – the percentage that home sales in the nine-county Chicagoland area increased in September from last year.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the government body that oversees federal lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has ordered the two financial bodies to phase out their network of foreclosure attorneys in the wake of the robo-signing foreclosure

Who knew something so popular could receive such scorn? Since mid-September, when the mortgage interest tax deduction (MID) was floated as a possible casualty of the Congressional “Super Committee” charged with lowering the federal deficit, the famous deduction has

After increasing almost 8 percent in August, existing-home sales fell back to earth in September, decreasing 3 percent from August but retaining strong year-over-year gains, according to new data released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) today. Total sales

Freddie Mac Chief Economist Frank Nothaft released the October 2011 Economic Outlook yesterday, reporting a decrease in homeownership but increase in rental demand. On one hand, Nothaft reported an increase of 1.4 million households that have moved to rental