This Spring Is True Test to Real Estate RecoveryHow the real estate market will fare in the spring home-selling season will prove a test for housing demand and show which markets will lead a housing recovery, economists say in a recent article at USA Today. The spring selling season usually runs March through June.
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The Federal Housing Administration is giving borrowers a chance to provide an explanation on any disputed collection accounts in their history in order to qualify for an FHA-backed mortgage. The new FHA rule took effect April 1 and had some in the real estate community concerned that it would shut more buyers out of qualifying for mortgages.
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Large investor firms are taking advantage of the deep discounts found in some housing markets, and they’re finding that buying one or two homes is just not enough — they want thousands. The investors are then renting the homes out to tenants, banking on returns from the rental income, which they say is better than other investments at the moment.
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Koenig & Strey Real Living in Chicago started this week to charge potential home buyers a house-hunting fee for working with a real estate agent. The fees are common in some areas of the country and similar fee policies have been adopted by other HomeServices of America Inc. companies recently. But the fees are far less common in other areas, like in Chicago, and competitors are watching closely to see how the extra fees are embraced by home buyers.
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The iPad is the marketing tool that more than three out of four of 110 real estate professionals recently surveyed say they would most like to have, according to the survey by Imprev, a marketing technology company.  The real estate professionals surveyed selected up to five marketing products they most wanted, with the iPad coming out No. 1, followed by 35 percent who want an automated “drip” e-marketing campaign, 29 percent who prefer single property Web sites, 28 percent who said personal blogs, and 25 percent who eyed video.
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Residents and urban planners alike believe that new urbanism has held strong and could be poised for even more popularity.  Jon and Stephanie Sundock of Rosemary Beach, a planned new urbanism development in Florida’s panhandle, appreciate the option to leave their car at home and bike to local amenities.  And urban planners told the Chicago Tribune that they see a continuing demand for the smaller streets, front porches, and compact communities that typify new urbanism developments.
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