By Peter Ricci Real estate news feeds, including Crain’s and Inman News, reported yesterday that Naperville-based tech firm Cartavi has completed a successful Series A round of venture capital funding, with such investors as I2A Fund, Firestarter, OCA Ventures

By Peter Ricci The Internet has been a double-edged sword for real estate agents. On one hand, the Internet is great, because it allows you to market your business to bevy of potential homebuyers; but on the other, it

By Peter Ricci Real estate syndication site Zillow is making headlines with its decision to list 1.2 million “pre-market inventory” foreclosure properties on its site, a decision that is simultaneously satisfying the data needs of potential homebuyers and riling

By Peter Ricci Let’s face it – smartphones are more than mere mobile devices; rather, they’re precious, indispensable companions, ones that we use for our photography, scheduling, email, messaging and, of course, phone call needs, and in many cases exclusively. Therefore,

By Peter Ricci By now, a number of outlets – ours included! – have written about the benefits of Instagram for real estate agents, and it’s certainly true that as a photography app, Instagram offers agents a quick, easy

By Ian McKendry Estately, which uses the straightforward tag line, “home shopping made simple,” is another real estate search site. However, the tag line is appropriate – the website is intuitive and not overly cluttered like some of the

By Peter Ricci Let’s start with two highly obvious points – real estate is becoming increasingly technological, and the iPhone 5 is the latest, hottest piece of technology on the market today. Nine out of 10 homebuyers begin their

By Peter Ricci LifeLine Response is an app for iPhone and Android smartphones that takes a highly intriguing approach to the mobile safety app marketplace, a niche in the app landscape that, as we have covered, grows more crowded

By Ian McKendry The housing market is starting to stabilize and has actually been one of the few bright spots for the US economy over the past few months, but structural challenges and tight lending standards have been holding

By Peter Ricci Well, so much for our Trulia IPO skepticism – the real estate website became the latest tech darling yesterday when it’s stock hit the New York Stock Exchange, rising 41 percent and closing at $24 a

By Stephanie Sims Zillow sued Trulia yesterday, alleging that Trulia infringed on its patented technology that valuates properties. This patent, called “Zestimates,” is particularly known on Zillow launching “Trulia Estimates” for public

By Ian McKendry September is Realtor Safety Month because sometimes agents need to be reminded that there are dangers associated with a job that often requires meeting and being alone with complete strangers. It is important that agents take

By Ian McKendry One company is trying to fight fraud and offer peace of mind with software and data that helps monitor risk and vets closing agents. Secure Settlements, Inc. announced its launch in August and says their risk

By Peter Ricci Instagram, the free photo-sharing social network that allows users to snap photographs with their mobile devices and share them with fellow Instagram users, is the latest darling on the technological scene, and naturally, users are beginning

By Ian McKendry Agents who want to work more efficiently are often turning to technology solutions to help them be more productive. Cartavi, a real estate technology company that teamed up with electronic signature provider DocuSign in January and

By Peter Ricci One year after Zillow became the latest tech darling on the NASDAQ, the Trulia IPO has been officially announced for $75 million. Taking advantage of a new provision in the JOBS Act that allows midsize companies