Real estate appraisals are among the more consistent topics that we cover here at Chicago Agent, and for good reason – though real estate, after a prolonged slumber, has been posting some of its best numbers in years, the most

By Peter Ricci Shadow housing inventory and government-held REO inventory have both been on a steady decline the last couple years, and if new short sale guidelines from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) fulfill their aims, they’re a

By Peter Ricci The National Association of Realtors (NAR) did some serious political flexing this week with the GOP and its stance on the mortgage interest tax deduction. The Republican Party boldly excluded the deduction – long the third

By Carlo Calma, Peter Ricci On account of rising mortgage interest rates, mortgage applications fell 7.4 percent for the week ending August 17, according to the latest Weekly Mortgage Application Survey from the Mortgage Banker’s Association (MBA). And indeed, rates

By Peter Ricci New residential home sales increased 25.3 percent year-over-year in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 372,000, according to the latest joint report from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban

By Peter Ricci Existing-home sales reversed recent declines in July, rising 2.3 percent from June and 10.4 percent from July  2011, according to the National Association of Realtors. Median existing-home price was equally optimistic for the month, increasing yearly

By Peter Ricci Foreclosure sales present significant benefits to potential homeowners, the biggest one being the price – according to the most recent existing-home sales report from the National Association of Realtors, foreclosures sold for an average discount of

By Peter Ricci More than seven months after its initial unveiling, Barack Obama’s refinancing plan will make a return to Capital Hill on September, as the president renews calls for Washington to assist the nation’s underwater homeowners. The announcement

By Stephanie Sims Historically, many of the world’s tallest buildings, like the Empire State Building and the Willis Tower, were built to house offices, but once the idea of living in a massively-tall building grew in popularity about a

By Peter Ricci We’ve been exploring the rapidly falling housing inventory for some time now, and though analysts have offered explanations for the decline, we had not yet seen a consumer-driven survey on the issue – until now with Redfin’s Real-Time Home

By Peter Ricci The National Association of Home Builders latest Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) rose for the fourth consecutive month in August, reaching its highest point in more than five years. A measure of builder confidence for

By Peter Ricci Housing affordability was one of the hidden jewels of the post-boom housing market, as falling home prices offered prospective buyers one of the best opportunities in decades to enjoy the benefits of homeownership. As the latest

By Peter Ricci Housing starts in July were up 21.5 percent from last year, according to the latest joint report from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Additionally, building permits, which are the

By Stephanie Sims They say real estate is a great investment, but we’re not sure they meant entire towns of real estate. According to the Huffington Post, quite a few people have named the right price and bought themselves

By Peter Ricci It was just last week that Mitt Romney announced Wisconsin representative Paul Ryan as his  running mate for the 2012 election, and already, analysts and journalists alike are combing through Ryan’s voting records and position statements

By Peter Ricci New household formation increased by 125,000 year-over-year in 2012’s second quarter to 74.8 households, and amidst those increases, one ethnic group stood apart: Hispanic homebuyers. While white and black households declined (by 649,000 and 81,000, respectively),