By Peter Ricci A bold, informative and fun Internet presence is practically a give-in for agents in today’s IT-driven economy, and WordPress offers a fun, relatively simple way for agents to set up their own personal websites or blogs. However,

By Peter Ricci Libor, or the London interbank offered rate, has been a constant fixture in the news cycles the last couple of weeks, with each story weighing more importance on the oddly-named term. Very little has been said,

By Peter Ricci You know the message is good when even the Wall Street Journal reports it – real estate in the U.S. has been doing pretty good in 2012. Recent government reports were notable for their optimistic tone, home values

By Lani Rosales for AGBeat Visual social media has been the big hit of 2012, with visual bookmarking site Pinterest leading the way alongside photo sharing tool Instagram. New data from Shareaholic reveals that referral traffic from Pinterest still

By Tara Steele for AGBeat In the recent American Dream Survey by real estate search giant Trulia, Chief Economist Dr. Jed Kolko notes that renewed optimism about housing is not without reason, but the pendulum may have swung too

By AGBeat It is well known that Google constantly grooms its algorithm to provide what it deems the most relevant search results possible in its endless quest to think like a human brain. In February 2011, a batch of

By Kathleen Cosner for AGBeat We have a new “industry standard” making an appearance for both appraisers and Realtors. Those of us who do work with appraisal management companies and complete Broker Price Opinions are being asked to submit

By Peter Ricci It’s the ever-present question on everyone’s mind, right up there with the meaning of life and the purpose of the Higgs Boson – what DO homebuyers want, in today’s real estate market? All kidding aside, it’s

Wells Fargo is shutting down its wholesale lending business as part of a broad settlement with the Justice Department for a discriminatory lending lawsuit. The San Francisco-based bank will also pay borrowers $125 million to settle claims and commit $50 million

The National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI) expanded yet again last month, with the NAHB adding 11 more metros to the index, which now totals 84. A measure of improving economic conditions, the IMI now

By Peter Ricci It was seven years ago that ICANN, the nonprofit that oversees top-level domain names, announced it would allow new domain names in addition to .com, .net and .org, and this summer, it was revealed that the

After a few months of relative quiet, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) made considerable waves on Monday with its released of a 1,099-page rule detailing its new standards for mortgage disclosure forms. Intended to simplify the process for

By Peter Ricci Zillow was in the news yesterday when Inman News reported that the syndication site had contacted 50 or so MLSs at the end of June about establishing direct IDX feeds. Though Zillow maintains secondary feeds through ListHub,

By Peter Ricci Short sales have become increasingly common in the post-bubble economy, and indeed, the list of agents who have successfully adapted their businesses to short sales is long and varied. Though some have found quite a bit

By Peter Ricci Maybe it’s the patriotic Fourth of July fervor, but two new government reports on housing are quite optimistic, with both President Obama’s Housing Scorecard and Fannie Mae’s latest National Housing Survey finding quite a bit to

Chief Economist for Fannie Mae Doug Duncan released a statement today that said housing market activity is on a steady incline toward improvement, “well ahead of last year’s pace.” Duncan’s statement coincides with Fannie Mae’s recent findings in their