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RISMedia, June 6, 2011—Americans living with disabilities struggle every day to find affordable and accessible housing on low incomes. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia will join Inglis Foundation and the Disability Opportunity Fund from 9 a.m. until 3:15 p.m. on June 14 to inform organizations interested in developing such housing of existing challenges, new HUD initiatives and financing opportunities. Individuals living with disabilities—who are often among the nation’s poorest citizens—can find it challenging to locate affordable and accessible housing, and the organizations who serve these individuals find it equally challenging to help them due to constrained funding and a shortage of resources.

RISMedia, June 6, 2011— With 60 million baby boomers online, marketers need to pay attention to this generation. An estimated 78.2 percent of boomers are online, accounting for one-third of the internet population. As boomers control more than $2 trillion in annual spending, this demographic represents a sizeable

RISMedia, June 6, 2011—Everyone loves the idea of streamlining their marketing with low- and no-cost ideas that can leverage what they are doing in their business. Here are six tips that can help you maximize what you have available to you and at the same time, spread your marketing message to the world.

RISMedia, June 4, 2011—Successful salespeople understand that making the sale has much more to do with developing trust and rapport than it does with issues of lowest price, highest quality or the largest company. Unfortunately, far too many salespeople unintentionally sabotage their chances of making a sale by skipping the "small talk" and getting right down to business. On the surface, this approach might appear to be an effective use of time, but it's a huge mistake that will cost tons of money over the long haul! Any architect will be quick to tell you that a strong foundation must be laid first before you can build the walls. Likewise, before you can expect your prospect to buy your products or services, he or she must first like and trust you as a person.

RISMedia, June 4, 2011— U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced Green Refinance Plus, a program between HUD’s Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Fannie Mae to allow owners of existing affordable rental housing properties to refinance into new mortgages that include funding for energy- and water-saving upgrades, along with other needed property renovations.

RISMedia, June 4, 2011—Only one market among the 20 tracked by the S&P/Case-Shiller index released recently reported positive price growth in the first quarter. This honor went to Washington, D.C., a market that’s different from others in some ways and similar in others. In the first quarter, the Case-Shiller Home Price

RISMEDIA, June 2, 2011—One of the most common topics I am asked to speak on is the team structure vs. individual agent vs. models of the future. Although I feel that a team structure is not the only way to go, I am partial to it and most certainly feel it will dominate our industry in the future. There is a plethora of different approaches one can take to reach success, but I don’t think I will receive any argument from REALTORS® that our job is only getting more demanding and consumers are becoming more educated with more tools at their disposal.

RISMEDIA, June 2, 2011—We’re now at the beginning of the summer selling season and it is easy to get caught up working with buyers, showing homes and even negotiating offers. The challenge is to make sure the work we are doing has the greatest return on our time investment and there is nothing more frustrating

RISMEDIA, June 2, 2011—The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently awarded nearly $15 million to more than 200 public housing authorities across the U.S. to help public housing residents find jobs that lead them toward economic independence.

RISMEDIA, June 2, 2011—The spring and summer seasons launch a busy time for home remodeling and improvement projects as homeowners spruce up for entertaining, listing their home for sale, or increasing the property's value. A slowly warming housing market has made staying a popular trend among homeowners who choose to remodel versus losing money on a sale. For those who must move, cost-effective projects that make a home more visually appealing or structurally sound is a great way to entice potential buyers.

RISMEDIA, June 2, 2011—For renters, the national recovery could be very bad news. That warning came from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies’ latest report on America’s rental housing. Rental markets are now tightening, with vacancy rates falling and rents climbing. With little new supply of multifamily units

RISMedia, June 1 2011—The word "auction" is derived from the Latin augeo which means "I increase" or "I augment." Auctions have a long history, having been recorded as early as 500 B.C. There were many types of auctions held during the Roman Empire. One of the most significant historical auctions occurred in the year 193 A.D. when the entire Roman Empire was put on the auction block by the Praetorian Guard who offered the empire to the highest bidder. In some parts of England during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries auction by candle was used for the sale of goods and leaseholds. This auction began by lighting a candle after which bids were offered in ascending order until the candle spluttered out. The high bid at the time the candle extinguished itself won the auction. The oldest auction house in the world is Stockholm Auction House, established in Sweden in 1674.

RISMedia, June 1 2011—Summer is renowned as the ‘vacation season’ where even thriving companies tend to slow down. Real estate is notoriously sluggish during the summer months, but with the consistently high number of foreclosures flooding the market, could this be a potentially lucrative season for real estate auctions? According to last year’s data, PropertyAuction.com had a plethora of listings in summer 2010. The month of June saw 5,044 listings of both commercial and residential auctions combined, July came in at 5,649 total auctions, and August proved to be a very busy month with a total of 9,912 auctions listed. None of the summer months were at the bottom of the inventory list—the lowest amount of auction listings were in January, February and April, respectively.

RISMedia, June 1 2011—The National Association of REALTORS® supports a secondary mortgage market model with some level of government participation that would protect taxpayers and ensure that creditworthy consumers have access to affordable mortgage capital in all markets at all times.

RISMedia, May 26, 2011—This business is about connections and relationships. Before you can ratify a contract and go to closing, you have to connect. You have to engage. You have to collaborate. You have to deliver an experience, not just a transaction. Finding the right technology to help you accomplish this objective is critical. For the better part of a decade, technological advances allowed consumers and REALTORS® to increase efficiencies, but did very little to enhance an experience. People did pretty much the same things, only faster.