RISMEDIA, June 24, 2011—U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan recently announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance to the State of Montana and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes following severe storms and flooding in April.

RISMEDIA, June 23, 2011—Mergers and acquisitions was a hot topic for broker members of RISMedia's Real Estate Information Network® (RREIN) during an exclusive members-only panel at RISMedia's 2011 Achieve! Conference last month. Held in Rye, N.Y. on May 24 and 25, the conference was bolstered by the expertise of its esteemed speakers who gave members deeper insight and tips on how to successfully approach and complete an acquisition in the current market. Held as part of a special educational track for RREIN members and brokers, the panel discussion “Reshaping & Restructuring Your Business for the Future” was moderated by RREIN Member Ed Krafchow, chairman of the board for Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate. The session focused on key areas of external and organic growth for brokers seeking to expand their reach in the current business climate.

RISMEDIA, June 23, 2011—Existing-home sales were down in May as temporary factors and financing problems weighed on the market, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. Existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, fell

RISMEDIA, June 23, 2011—Recently, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan announced that HUD will be investing an additional $67 million towards creating stronger, more sustainable communities that connect housing to jobs while fostering local innovation and building a clean energy economy

RISMEDIA, June 23, 2011— You would think the world was going to end. I know things are tough but the headlines are making me crazy: USA in decline... Foreclosures... Bankruptcies... Short Sales... Government Deficit... Unemployment... Wars... Debt Ceiling... Partisan Bickering... Gas Prices... No wonder we can’t get anything done. Everyone is worrying about everything and the media is having a feeding frenzy. Meanwhile, we have an industry in the midst of “seismic” change and too many brokerages are letting the noise keep them from doing what they need to do. We must reinvent ourselves and get out of the cycle of fear driven by the makeup of our industry and the crazy things going on all around us.

RISMEDIA, June 23, 2011— April home prices have improved over March in the new national composite index launched recently by FNC at the National Association of Real Estate Editors Annual Meeting in San Antonio. FNC’s Residential Price Index, which is based on public record data along with data collected

RISMedia, June 22, 2011—The 1960 Presidential Debates between Vice President Nixon and Senator Kennedy were the first nationally televised debates in presidential campaign history. With the advent of television the debates took on a visual dimension and for the first time, 70 million voters were given the opportunity to not only hear the candidates, but to visually compare them as well. Surprisingly, opinion polls revealed a sharp contrast between the voters who had actually watched the debates on TV versus those who had merely listened to them on the radio.

RISMedia, June 22, 2011— The largest generations in the nation’s history, Baby Boomers and their children, will be hugely influential in redefining living and working environments for decades to come. Downtown cores and outlying suburbs will bear the brunt of the new pressure for growth, says Patrick Phillips, CEO of the Urban Land Institute at the annual conference of the National l Association of Real Estate Editors in San Antonio.

RISMEDIA, June 21, 2011—As a national columnist, I am often about other income opportunities in the real estate field. Foreclosure clean-out is another revenue stream for real estate professionals. Renee in Arizona asked me about this opportunity.

RISMedia, June 21, 2011—The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) has published a report “The State of Hispanic Homeownership” that offers an overview of compelling data on the Hispanic home buyer market and why it is poised—due to its population size, high desire

As real estate professionals continue to grapple with the “new normal,” it is more important than ever that brokers and agents understand where our industry is today as well as where it’s headed. This was the theme at RISMedia’s Achieve! Conference, a day-and-a-half-long event that took place last month and brought together leading industry experts and covered several important topics that are critical to achieving success as we head toward the future. John Featherston, president & CEO of RISMedia and Todd Hetherington, CEO, Century 21 New Millennium co-moderated Part 2 of the conference’s two-part Opening Session, and were joined by numerous industry leaders who took an in-depth look at where the industry stands today in addition to providing insight into the opportunities that are available in today’s market.

A large, homemade sign stood outside Andy Warzynak's Harborcreek Township house for more than a year. The sign called out a local contractor whom Warzynak claimed owes him about $15,000 for an unfinished project. "I paid him about $28,000 to add a bedroom, a bathroom and a living room to my house," Warzynak says. "I figure he did about $13,000 worth of work before he disappeared." It's a homeowner's worst nightmare. You pay someone thousands of dollars—maybe tens of thousands—to fix your home, and the work isn't done right.

According to its latest national homeless assessment, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reports the number of homeless persons in the U.S. held steady between 2009 and 2010, despite the economic downturn. For the first time, HUD’s annual report reveals how the Recovery Act’s Homelessness

As Congress looks into mandating E-Verify, a voluntary Internet-based system that allows businesses to determine the eligibility of their employees to work in the U.S., the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) recently urged lawmakers to ensure it is a fair, efficient and workable system and noted that this should

RISMedia, June 18, 2011—Nearly three out of four American voters believe that it is reasonable and appropriate for the federal government to provide tax incentives to promote homeownership—a sentiment that cuts across partisan and regional lines across the country, according to a recent poll conducted on behalf of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Further, an overwhelming majority of respondents oppose eliminating the mortgage interest deduction and would be less likely to support a candidate for Congress who wants to do away with this vital tax incentive.