Trulia makes move for more listings

Real estate property search site Trulia says it is making it easier for brokers and agents who have limited technical resources to add their property listings to Trulia.com.

The San Francisco-based company on Monday launched Trulia Connect, which offers these brokers and agents a network of Web providers and multiple listing services to help them market listings on Trulia.

About two-thirds of real estate practitioners have their own Web site, according to a survey released this year by the National Association of Realtors, and  more...

Major East Coast MLSs to share listings data

The two largest multiple listing services on the East Coast have joined forces to expand access to property listing content throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, continuing a trend in data-sharing among large MLSs in some markets.

TREND, which serves the greater Philadelphia area, and Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, which serves the greater Washington, D.C., area, announced the partnership Monday.

Under the agreement, MRIS Cornerstone Universal RETS Exchange, known as  more...

Home remodeling spend expected to hold steady

A key benchmark that gauges future growth in the home remodeling industry indicates that growth in home improvement expenditures will hold stable throughout 2007, even with recent weakness in house prices and consumer confidence.

According to the indicator, developed by Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, homeowner spending for home improvements will essentially remain constant through the first quarter of 2008, and overall growth in spending for 2007 is expected to be 3 percent.

"Homeowners continue to draw on built-up equity in their homes to finance home improvement  more...

Foreigners seek U.S. homes in sunny states

Nearly one in five Realtors has sold a U.S. home to an international client in the past year, with the majority of those sales occurring in the Sun Belt states, according to new research by the National Association of Realtors.

The 2007 NAR Profile of International Home Buying Activity is the most comprehensive research that NAR has conducted to explore the characteristics of second-home purchases in the United States made by international clients. An international client is a foreign citizen living abroad who has legally entered the United States to purchase a home.  more...

Mixed night for real estate rates

Movement in long-term mortgage interest rates varied Friday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield sank to 4.76 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average held at 6.26 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate inched up to 5.93 percent. The 1-year adjustable was down at 5.52 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield fell to 4.93 percent.

Rates and bonds are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Mortgage rate figures are according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of 4,000 banks in 50 states.  more...

Seattle Series: John L. Scott

Seattle-based John L. Scott Real Estate is constantly innovating with new Web services for both consumers and agents. John Chang, vice president of marketing and e-business at John L. Scott, discusses recent developments and new technologies that have caught the broker's eye.  more...