Amid REO-to-rental craze, investors now building homes to rent, not sell

For years now, investors have purchased existing homes to rent them out. Now they’re building new ones for the same purpose, The New York Times reports. The play allows investors and homebuilders to capitalize on recovering home prices and cater ...

Amid REO-to-rental craze, investors now building homes to rent, not sell

Sotheby’s expands footprint on Monterey Peninsula with acquisition

Luxury real estate franchisor Sotheby’s International Realty has acquired brokerage Pacific Grove, Calif.-based Bratty & Bluhm Real Estate, Sotheby’s recently announced. Sotheby’s sees the acquisition as a way to expand its presence on the Monterey Peninsula, with Bratty & Bluhm’s ...

Sotheby’s expands footprint on Monterey Peninsula with acquisition

Video is the key to boosting SEO: 4 steps to real estate marketing success

If there is one thing I have consistently heard from agents over the last few years it’s that they want to use video in their online marketing but they don’t know how to get started. They understand that buyers expect ...

Video is the key to boosting SEO: 4 steps to real estate marketing success

Realtors wise to be schooled in reverse mortgage pitfalls before recommending to clients

When many seniors lose their spouse, they can no longer afford to keep their home on a single retirement income. One of the greatest services that you can provide as a Realtor is to help that senior continue to stay ...

Realtors wise to be schooled in reverse mortgage pitfalls before recommending to clients

United Real Estate growing in Kentucky

United Real Estate, a Kansas City, Mo.-based real estate franchisor is expanding in Kentucky by offering cloud-based services, open workspaces for agents, and a $495-per-side transaction fee. Broker Bonnie Mays, who in September opened United Real Estate franchise in Lexington ...

United Real Estate growing in Kentucky

Economist: Arizona’s stance on illegals may be scaring of legal immigrants

Arizona’s anti-illegal immigration policies and all the cotroversy they’ve stirred up could also be discouraging legal immigration, holding back population growth and a housing rebound, economist Elliott Pollack tels the Phoenix Business Journal’s Mike Sunnucks. Sunnucks notes that Arizona ranked ...

Economist: Arizona’s stance on illegals may be scaring of legal immigrants

Home remodeling site Porch.com beefs up team with 3 former execs

The home remodeling site Porch.com, which launched in 2012, has beefed up its leadership team with former execs from Microsoft, the mom-focused online store zulily and online gift store RedEnvelope, the firm announced today. Craig Cincotta, a former Microsoft marketing ...

Home remodeling site Porch.com beefs up team with 3 former execs

Eshowings founder headed to prison after pocketing company funds

The founder and former CEO of a multi-state real estate showing appointment service is scheduled to report to prison today to serve a 2 1/2-year sentence for pocketing his employees’ payroll taxes instead of handing them over to the government. ...

Eshowings founder headed to prison after pocketing company funds

HomeAway pays $198M in cash for Australian vacation rental group

Vacation rental marketplace operator Home Away Inc. has acquired Stayz Group, the publisher of Stayz.com.au, Rentahome.com.au, TakeABreak.com.au, and YesBookIt, from Fairfax Digital in an all-cash deal valued at about $198 million. Stayz generated $25.4 million in revenue (Australian dollars) in ...

HomeAway pays $198M in cash for Australian vacation rental group

Will investors bet on builders again this year?

The annual tradition of investors bidding up homebuilder stocks in the winter months in anticipation of a busy spring building season, known as the “Hope Trade,” is in jeopardy due to uncertainty over whether the U.S. Congress will seamlessly pass ...

Will investors bet on builders again this year?

Mortgage rules to hurt small banks, reduce mortgage options

The mortgage rules that take effect early next year may reduce mortgage options to consumers, largely because they might make lending cost-prohibitive to small lenders, according to industry professionals, CNN Money reports. The “qualified mortgage” rules, which require banks to ...

Mortgage rules to hurt small banks, reduce mortgage options

U.S. Bank: Those properties the NFHA faults us for not maintaining — we’re actually not allowed to maintain most of them

In a discrimination complaint that it filed with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) often represented U.S. Bank as the entity responsible for maintaining foreclosed properties that it’s actually not even authorized ...

U.S. Bank: Those properties the NFHA faults us for not maintaining — we’re actually not allowed to maintain most of them

Loosening credit conditions helping to push up mortgage applications

Applications for purchase loans decreased a holiday (Thanksgiving) and seasonally adjusted 4 percent from one week earlier, and were down 37 percent on an annual basis, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported. But despite the week-over-week decrease, purchase loan applications ...

Loosening credit conditions helping to push up mortgage applications

Pinterest, Flickr, e-books among top ways to repurpose your existing content, boost SEO

One of my very favorite ways to create new content is to take something I’ve already produced and repurpose it. Producing and creating great content can be a full-time job, and one that none of us have time for. But ...

Pinterest, Flickr, e-books among top ways to repurpose your existing content, boost SEO

New ‘lean MLS’ platform pitched as a ‘broker-centric alternative to Zillow and Trulia’

Real estate tech vendor Solid Earth believes it has a solution to conflicts between multiple listing services and brokers that have recently preoccupied the industry: a new “lean” platform the company sees as an alternative to the traditional MLS. Solid ...

New ‘lean MLS’ platform pitched as a ‘broker-centric alternative to Zillow and Trulia’