A growing number of real estate agents and people selling their own homes are turning to feng shui – the ancient Chinese art of designing structures and arranging objects to create harmonious energy flow – to help attract buyers. While sellers can’t do much about the size of rooms or other construction features of the […]
The Appraiser Qualifications Board (AQB) adopted new Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria on February 20, due to take effect in 2008. There have been questions from the states, the AQB said recently, about how to implement the changes. In an AQB Guide Note, the AQB gave the states two acceptable scenarios and one which would […]
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK — As a broker, either you own your listing and the data advertising it, or you don’t. That is the question presented last week when Homestore, owner and operator of REALTOR.com®, forced a la mode, a developer of technology and websites for brokers and agents, to disable its Agent XSites‘ REALTOR.com® listing […]
Last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced action against 205 individuals in the takedown of the largest nationwide enforcement operation in FBI history directed at organized groups and individuals engaged in financial institution fraud, including mortgage fraud. The initiative, christened Operation Continued Action, “reflects the FBI’s mission and effort to identify, target, disrupt […]
Beginning January 1, your state may hold up a stop sign if you try to apply for certification with an affidavit, and may audit you to ensure your CE affidavit is true. The Appraisal Subcommittee (ASC) announced last month and notified all states that states cannot accept experience-related affidavits from applicants for certification (that is, […]
Houses that begin as “For Sale By Owner” (FSBO) may not stay that way for long if the owner has a hard time selling it. And even if that homeowner is determined to sell it himself doesn’t mean he won’t come across your site when he does his research, making it crucial that you position […]
Appraisers are going to become more important and vital to the national economy in the next few years, not less, as Americans become both less creditworthy and more encumbered by debt — two factors that influence whether an underwriter or investor is interested in an accurate valuation of its collateral. The AVM lobby’s reaction to […]
In effort to banish identity theft, many consumers are now “freezing” their credit reports, which blocks any access to their report until they personally unlock the files by contacting the credit bureaus and providing PIN codes. The “security freeze” stalls the process for things that normally take a just few minutes, including mortgage approvals, causing […]
Cynics over the last few years – more likely, decades – have found little to separate the two major parties when it comes to federal elections. You certainly have to dig deep to find out what the two major candidates for President, George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry, would do differently from one another […]
There used to be a stigma attached to older adults – once they hit 55 they automatically bought mammoth trailers and spent their retirement years traveling the U.S. with no more mortgage worries or lawns to mow. But with the healthy real estate market over the past few years, more older adults are opting to […]
