Real estate organizations, FIABCI and ICREA signed an agreement of alliance at last week’s ICREA board meetings in Berlin, seeking to “optimize the combined strength of the two groups and maximize the benefits for the professional real estate community

According to Agent Genius, data from NAR shows the average real estate agent — residential and commercial — had eight transactions in 2010. Despite the number of transactions being less than one per month, the good news is this

The 2011 NAR Member Guide reports that nearly two thirds of all Realtors have had a website for at least five years. Of that number, half use social media and only 10 percent blog on a daily

A secret shopping effort from One Cavo and PCMS Consulting revealed that approximately 75 percent of web-based leads are either ignored or receiving late responses, resulting in lost leads, said RIS

Today, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Fannie Mae announced Green Refinance Plus, a new program which will assist owners of existing affordable apartment buildings in paying for energy efficient

HousingWire.com reported the Department of Housing and Urban Development began a review of its regulations and will continue a periodic review for other rule changes as directed from an executive order from President

Yesterday, at a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing, National Association of Realtors President, Ron Phipps announced support of comprehensive reform, in order to alter the current model of the secondary mortgage market, said Gamut

State attorneys general announced Tuesday that if a settlement is not reached, some of the nation’s largest banks will face potential liability costs amounting to $17 billion; these potential civil lawsuits have been rendered in regard to improper foreclosure

National home prices are expected to stabilize within two years, according to chief economist of Fiserv, David Stiff, said the Chicago

Bank of America has provided $2.8 million to the Hardest Hit Fund toward mortgage payments, to 700 borrowers, according to Housing Wire. The fund, introduced in February 2010, supplies $7.6 billion in federal aid to struggling unemployed homeowners in

A glimpse of hope has finally surfaced after months of primarily negative data; in April, the U.S. Commerce Department data recorded a 7.3 percent rise in sales of new single family homes, according to Agent

Through a nationwide mortgage fraud sweep, titled “Operation Stolen Dreams,” that caught 485 people, Miami authorities arrested two individuals targeting the Haitian-American community, falsely leading victims to believe that they could assist them with immigration and housing issues, according

The “FHA-Rural Regulatory Improvement Act of 2011,” a draft bill proposing a minimum down payment of 5 percent, an increase over the current 3.5 percent down payment required to be able to take out a FHA-backed loan, will be

The number of foreclosed homes is escalating — economists are projecting that selling the current amount of more than 872,000 bank-owned properties will take approximately three years; meanwhile, home values nationwide may fall another 5 percent by the end

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) found that property crimes including burglaries, larceny/theft, and motor vehicle theft all decreased in 2010, with a decline of 2.8 percent in all city categories, according to

The brutal murder of Realtor Ashley Okland in West Des Moines in early April remains unsolved, and now the disappearance of the 53 year old woman who reported the crime is keeping police on their