Topic:  Newsletter Articles

Lamenting the effect of "the allure of easy money" on former tile salesmen and investment analysts, USA Today this week reported on the contraction of real estate jobs as the housing market normalizes. "As the housing market slows, there will likely be a lot of stories of people who are bailing out of their real estate jobs and other professions related to housing -- appraisers, mortgage brokers and home construction workers -- and many not by choice," the paper said.   Read more...

The Appraisal Foundation reminds that the 2006 edition of USPAP was adopted with an effective date of July 1, 2006.   Read more...

While existing and new home sales normalize, a strong counter trend can be seen in housing starts. January's seasonally adjusted annual rate of groundbreaking on new home construction was the highest level since 1973.   Read more...

With your next Aurora update, available next week, you're going to see a significant change to the way you keep track of your files and order status in WinTOTAL form filling software. The change is for the better - and much more than cosmetic - because the new Files PowerView takes the best of what used to be the Tracking PowerView and merges it directly into your file management system.   Read more...

According to the 2005 National Association of Realtors® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, both home sellers and buyers choose their REALTORS® based on two main factors: reputation and knowledge of the neighborhood.   Read more...

It's never a slow month in the product development department here at a la mode. This week we're releasing an enhanced Page Content Editor, which is what you use when you modify or create any text on your Real Estate Professional, Mortgage Broker, and Appraiser Xsites.   Read more...

Mortgage originations are expected to decline by more than 20 percent from last year's level of 2.79 trillion, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) three-year economic forecast. As a result, many mortgage brokers are putting in extra marketing effort to assure they'll have a steady flow of referrals from their business partners.   Read more...

Everyone knows the value of word-of-mouth advertising: It's free and brings in high quality leads that are already sold on your services. But no mortgage broker can rely on this tactic alone. Here are three ways to get referrals that you may not have thought of yet:   Read more...

Appraiser XSite websites are getting (more) organized when it comes to site Theme selection. Themes are the look and feel of your XSite - the color scheme, layout, graphics, headers, and so on. You probably know you can change yours, throughout your whole site, with just a few clicks. (If you didn't, now is a great time to give it a spin!)   Read more...

Aurora users: Still cloning? We hope not, that would be like taking digital photos but then printing them out on photo paper and taping them to addenda instead of manipulating and inserting them directly into your reports.   Read more...