News / Features
One Sotheby’s International Realty has expanded its franchise and joined forces with Lorusso Realty Inc., to open a new office in Miami’s financial
Palm Beach County brokers are lowering prices of their high-end real estate properties by $2 million or more in order to get them sold before the
In private comments overheard by reporters, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney floated the idea of eliminating the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). According to the Washington Post, Romney made his comments at a private fundraiser amidst a
With over 20 years of real estate experience, including the past two years at the International Sales Group (ISG), Sandra Dominguez was named manager of ISGWest, ISG’s newest office. Dominiguez was responsible for selling over $50 million in luxury
Two surprising market trends emerged this month: market optimism is down for the first time since September, and multigenerational living is on the rise. Many families have begun to turn two homes into one by bringing elderly family members
A recent surge in short sales, caused by more agreeable selling terms by banks, has increased short sales above foreclosure sales for the first time. According to research by Lending Processing Services (LPS), short sales accounted for 23.9 percent
Prices for homes in the nation’s 53 largest metropolitan areas were up 5.8 percent year-over-year in March, according to research by RE/MAX. The increase marks the second straight month of yearly increases for home values; before February, prices had
Building permits continued their strong performance in March in the latest construction data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Released in conjunction with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the report found that building permits in March were at
A new rule making its way through Washington could restrict access to home loans when the market needs them the most, agents and lenders fear. The rule, which would stipulate what characteristics a mortgage must have to be labeled
Founder of Sigurdsson Schechter Luxury Real Estate, Bragi Sigurdsson, recently joined One Sotheby’s International Realty, one of South Florida’s most luxurious real estate firms. Sigurdsson will be working out of One Sotheby’s new South of Fifth office in Miami Beach
Nearly half of lenders expect strategic defaults to increase from 2011 to 2012, according to a quarterly survey by FICO. The survey, which sought opinions from 262 risk managers across the U.S., found that 46 percent of respondents expected
The pilot bidding program for the FHFA’s REO conversion program has been extended by a month, possibly because of high demand. According to a HousingWire article on the program, investors will now have until May to bid on the
FHFA Acting Director Ed DeMarco added spice to the principal reduction pot on Tuesday, coming out in hesitant favor of the measure for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans. Long an opponent of the policy measure, DeMarco said in comments before the
The emerging market for converting REO properties into rentals could net as much as $100 billion in 2012 for investors, according to new data from CoreLogic. With assistance from the government’s REO conversion plan, the research firm is reporting
Numerous factors dictate a real estate agent’s success, but a new study in the “Applied Financial Economics” journal explores what impact an agent’s physical attractiveness may have on their prosperity. Entitled “Broker beauty and boon: a study of physical attractiveness
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA were hugely influential in the recent increase of multifamily originations, according to the latest data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). As the MBA explained in a summary of the data, originations
