Real estate agents

Congressmen, lobbyists, and car salesmen have some of the worst reputations for honesty and ethics, as do business execs, stock brokers and real estate agents. And there's a reason why: The rules of their games are stacked against good behavior.

In some parts of the U.S., the real estate market remains deep in recession. But even with housing prices sitting at multi-year lows, millions of houses remain empty, unable to attract buyers haunted by unemployment and a weak economy. As part of a new series, DailyFinance takes a look at one town near New York City that is still struggling with the effects of the great real estate bust.

Many an American home seller is wondering, to paraphrase the '60s song, "where have all the buyers gone?" With no more tax credit, mortgage guidelines still strict and unemployment holding its steady grip on the economy, buyers who are ready, willing and able to make an offer to buy a home are more...

Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) is handing over its listings of homes for sale and local real estate advertising to Zillow.com, a real estate website. Zillow will oversee a network that will place homes-for-sale listings and real estate advertising on both Yahoo and Zillow.com, The Associated Press reported....

Realtor Magazine, the official publication of the National Association of Realtors, offers up a list of six "ethical short cuts" for its members to avoid when dealing with short sales -- the process where a bank agrees to accept less than the full payoff amount in the sale of a property that is...

It used to be that unconditional love came from two certain sources: the dog at your feet and the real estate agent who wanted your listing. Both lavished you with affection, hung on your every command and growled menacingly whenever a rival came close to you, precious you. Today, be grateful you...

In the past, I've said that when buying a home, you should never, ever, ever use the same agent as the seller because it won't save you any money and can lead to a whole slew of complications and problems. I also looked at an example of dual agency gone wrong from HGTV's The Property Shop, for...

Inman News reports on a pretty disturbing trend: As home prices fall and sales volume remains weak in many markets, some real estate brokerages are resorting to charging "fees" to buyers and sellers -- on top of the usual commissions.The fees are usually in the range of a few hundred dollars, but...

If you're mad at the real estate agent who sold you an overpriced, over-hyped investment property a couple years ago -- and promised you'd get rich from it -- you can take some comfort in this: 2008 was a bad year to be a real estate agent too.Nationally, the median income for real estate agents...

The Arizona real estate market is in tough shape, and apparently one Maricopa County agent just couldn't generate enough business to make ends meet.The Arizona Republic reports that Kailash Bhatt has been indicted by a grand jury on charges that he stole fixtures out of foreclosed homes he was...