Michael Crist

While local conditions vary, the REALTORS® Buyer Traffic Index and the REALTORS® Confidence Index—Current Conditions for single-family homes, townhomes, and condominiums remained above 50 in April 2017, indicating that more respondents reported “strong” than “weak” conditions. Both indices were higher than their levels one year ago and in the previous month, except the condominium index… Continue Reading Highlights of the April 2017 REALTORS® Confidence Index Survey Report

Field Guides are one-stop resource packages on dozens of subjects of interest to REALTORS®. On each page you’ll find links to articles, books, web sites, statistics, and other material on each subject. The list of the most-used field guides from Information Central for the month of May 2017 was released today: Field Guide to Quick Real… Continue Reading Top Field Guides for May 2017

WASHINGTON (May 31, 2017) — Pending home sales in April slumped for the second consecutive month and were down year-over-year nationally and in all four major regions, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Only the West saw an increase in contract signings last month.   The Pending Home Sales Index,* www.nar.realtor/topics/pending-home-sales, a forward-looking indicator… Continue Reading Pending Home Sales Scale Back 1.3 Percent in April

A long piece, but worth your time: seven out of ten smartphone apps share information with third-party services. If that freaks you out, the article links to an Android app (oh, irony) to help you understand what’s being shared about you. If you’re interested in the fight to protect net neutrality and think the CEO… Continue Reading How Many Smartphone Apps Share Your Information; Who’s Not Your Net Neutrality Friend; More in Five for Wednesday

Written by Anne-Marie Siudzinski Think shipping containers are strictly for moving cargo? Think again. Shipping containers are being used in a variety of unexpected ways—emergency shelters, pools, medical clinics, office and retail buildings, hotels, and pop-up restaurants.  It doesn’t stop there, either.  Now all kinds of housing are being constructed from shipping containers because they… Continue Reading Shipping Container or Home?

NAR released a summary of existing-home sales data showing that housing market activity this April slid 2.3 percent from last month but modestly improved 1.6 percent from last year. April’s existing-home sales reached the 5.57 million seasonally adjusted annual rate. The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $244,800 in April, up 6.0… Continue Reading April 2017 Existing-Home Sales

The “double-whammy” of severely inadequate inventory conditions and home prices far outpacing incomes caused contract signings to slide last month. I sat down with NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun to discuss the reasoning behind the pending sales slowdown, what to expect going forward and if GDP will accelerate as the temperature heats up. Watch the… Continue Reading Contract Activity Declines for Second Straight Month in April

Newly-formed or relaunched state and local YPN groups are about to get a little help from their NAR friends. The National Association of REALTORS® Board of Directors gave final approval on a proposal put forth by the YPN Advisory Board to establish a $6,000 annual fund that would support events and programs to help networks… Continue Reading YPN Awarded Funds to Extend Reach

The following Field Guides have recently been updated in the Library: Green Property Management Green leases (also known as aligned leases, high performance leases, or energy efficient leases) align the financial and energy incentives of building owners and tenants so they can work together to save money, conserve resources, and ensure the efficient operation of… Continue Reading New and Updated in the Library – May 2017

Brandon Doyle By Brandon Doyle Census data shows that seniors, or adults age 65 and older, amount to a whopping 46.2 million U.S. citizens—and that was back in 2014. In the next two decades, research predicts that number will more than double. In other words, if you aren’t expanding your real estate expertise to include… Continue Reading 4 Tips to Specialize Your Work With Seniors