realtors

Don't be surprised if the greeter at Wal-Mart is the guy who sold you your house. The housing market's decline has sent once-successful realty agents scrambling for second jobs or dumping the profession altogether. According to a piece in the Wall Street Journal, Realtors, brokers and builders...

There are four-legged victims of the real estate foreclosure crisis too. Animal shelters report that owner turn-ins have reached an all-time high as families lose their homes and are forced to move -- often to rentals that don't accept Fido and Fluffy. But the pets who wind up at shelters are...

If you're looking to sell your house, picking the right real estate agent is one of the most important things you can do.How do you evaluate Realtors? Of course you should look to friends and family for referrals, and try to find someone in your area who has a lot of experience and a track record...

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...

We're used to Realtors spinning statistics to try and cast the most positive light on the bleakest situations, but this is a pretty new one: Realtors releasing data that is just plain wrong.The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that "The California Association of Realtors expects...

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...

During the heady days of the real estate bubble, brokers were shy about advertising properties as "reduced". But now that the market has tanked and everyone is looking for a bargain, it's different. Agents proudly hang "reduced" signs on properties and MLS listings regularly contain phrases like...

A three-minute online infomercial from the National Association for Realtors advises viewers that selling your home yourself is pennywise and pound-foolish. "Realtors," the ad advises, "have the experience to price your home, so it can sell for up to 16% more than selling it yourself.""Up to 16%...

Inman News reports on start-up AgentInvitation.com, a site that allows prospective home sellers to anonymously query three agents, describe the service they're looking for, and find out what kind of commission the agent would be willing to work for.According to Inman, "Sellers provide an estimate...

I recently saw a commercial paid for by the National Association of Realtors informing us that no matter what anyone says, it's a great time to buy. Maybe that's true: With interest rates this low and a wide selection of homes available in many markets, I think it probably is. But the problem is...