“What did you do during the 2013 Realtor Nationwide Open House Weekend?” Will you be proud of your answer? Yes, that’s right — once again, Realtors across the country will be holding open houses to kick off the spring selling … [Read more...]

Imagine you make money when other people screw up. Then, suddenly, they get their acts together. Could be a problem. That’s what some owners of commercial mortgage-backed securities are finding out. It goes like this. Someone buys a commercial … [Read more...]

According to the Census Bureau, the homeownership rate in the U.S. dropped from 66.0 percent of households in the fourth quarter of 2011 to a mere 65.4 percent in Q4 2012. (It’s also down 0.1 percent from the third quarter.) Meanwhile, the … [Read more...]

In a piece titled, “When Venus shops for a house,” MSN Real Estate purportedly explains just what women want in a home — at least according to a bunch of experts and surveys. The MSN list is in the format of an annoying slide show, … [Read more...]

VAR CEO Scott Brunner and 2012 president Mary Dykstra of Roanoke (center of photo, in brown blouse) met with Virginia senator Mark Warner in his Capitol Hill office. The agenda: housing, housing, housing. Brunner and Dykstra were part of a group … [Read more...]

The National Association of Home Builders and Fannie Mae both forecast a strong market for multifamily housing in 2013. That’s not surprising, considering that 2012 was a “banner year” (in the words of NAHB chief economist David … [Read more...]