I’ve noticed an interesting trend over the last few years: beginning with the NAR® (National Association of Realtors) Convention in November and continuing into the first quarter of a new year, agent list-serves and forums are inundated with posts regarding the newest and greatest software, tools, and must-have cool gadgets to buy for your business.
More: [...]

read full story of "When Times are Tough We Look for the Newest Quick Fix"

The origin of the word “mortgage” is intriguing. It is a French word generally believed to be derived from two Latin words: “mort” (meaning death) and “gage” (meaning pledge or something of value that’s forfeited if the debt is not repaid). In other words, we may be able to blame the current mortgage meltdown on [...]

read full story of "What Do Mortgages Have To Do with Death?"

The rate of homeownership is the latest casualty in the nation’s economic crunch.
More: continued here

read full story of "Homeownership Plunges At Record Rate"

TORONTO, ONTARIO — (Marketwire - Feb. 4, 2008) - With the City of Toronto’s new land transfer tax coming into effect last week, even as City Council considers a property tax increase, Toronto’s REALTORS® are calling for City Council to give homebuyers a break.
More: continued here

read full story of "As Toronto Land Transfer Tax Takes Effect, REALTORS Call on City to Give Homebuyers a Break"

As the residential real estate market slows down on a national basis, real estate investors are asking themselves, how will this affect me?
More: continued here

read full story of "Goal Setting Redux"

If you’re wondering why raising conforming loan limits from $417,000 to $625,000 will help borrowers, here’s one good reason — California. Over one in eight U.S. residents lives in California, so what happens there, doesn’t stay there.
More: continued here

read full story of "Realty Viewpoint: Why California Housing Impacts The Nation"

There is much discussion these days about green building, environmentalism and minimizing your “carbon footprint.” For many of us, this esoteric conversation seems distant and inapplicable to our daily lives.
More: continued here

read full story of "Green Living: Government Incentives"

Did you know that manufactured homes represent one of the fastest growing segments of the construction industry? Manufactured (or modular) housing production increased 48 percent from 1992 to 2002, according to the National Association of Homebuilders’ Building Systems Council.
More: continued here

read full story of "New Homes: “Works-in-a-drawer” Homebuilding Comes into its Own"

Canada has enjoyed a surging real estate market for almost a decade, with record home sales and appreciating prices. But the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) warns that “finding adequate housing (is) becoming an issue even for the so-called middle class and chronic, systemic homelessness continues in Canada’s urban areas.”
More: continued here

read full story of "Plan to Boost Canada’s Housing Affordability Would Take 10 Years"