MLS Real Estate & Listings Blog

Sales of vacation properties fell 30.6 percent in 2007 compared to the prior year, with investment-property purchases down 18.1 percent, according to an Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey report released by the National Association of Realtors.

Total sales of new and resale homes used as primary residences, by comparison, dropped 10 percent from 2006 to 2007, survey results revealed.  more…

read more

[Read more →]

A longtime real estate investor is launching a set of subscription-based research tools that offer market statistics and forecasts at the national and micro level — down to the size of a Census block — as well as some free real estate tools at the company’s Web site.  more…

read more

[Read more →]

EPerks, a company that launched last year that seeks to build a consumer audience and a pool of subscribing real estate professionals during a challenging time in the U.S. real estate market, combines real estate lead generation, referrals, rebates, agent profiles and reviews, and map-based searches into one portal.

The Pleasanton, Calif.-based company has already stirred up controversy and riled some industry professionals for a pay-per-review marketing campaign and legal threats against a blogger.  more…

read more

[Read more →]

Some brokers and MLSs are rushing to distribute property information for display on popular third-party real estate Web sites, and a paper released this week by a Minneapolis law firm encourages a thorough review and negotiation of terms to help ensure that the deals properly protect industry interests.

Brian Larson, a Minneapolis lawyer who works with dozens of Realtor associations and multiple listing services, said the paper was prompted by an industry trend to broaden online distribution channels for property information by working with a range of Web sites.  more…

read more

[Read more →]

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has finalized the settlement of an antitrust complaint against Multiple Listing Service Inc., a Realtor-operated multiple listing service based in Wauwatosa, Wis., despite objections by the National Association of Realtors trade group.  more…

read more

[Read more →]

A national real estate article published in a community newspaper in Elizabethtown, Ky., caught the eye and ire of several local real estate professionals, and brought home an age-old conflict between news coverage and industry interests.

The headline of the article, authored by Claes Bell, questioned, "Is this a good time to buy a home?"  more…

read more

[Read more →]

Real estate brokerage and franchise company Realogy Corp. reported a $797 million net loss in 2007 for the period since its April 10 acquisition by an affiliate of private equity firm Apollo Management LP.

The company also reported a $44 million net loss for the period from Jan. 1, 2007, through April 9, 2007. That compares with net income of $365 million in 2006 and net income of $627 million in 2005.  more…

read more

[Read more →]

A statewide multiple listing service in Connecticut this week launched a public property-search site that features about 31,000 property listings.

CTreal.com features interactive mapping for home searches including a drawing tool called "Sherpa" that allows users to define a specific home-search area on its Google-based mapping platform.  more…

read more

[Read more →]

Online classified and community site craigslist is just a "messenger" and is not liable for discriminatory ads posted on the site by its users, a three-judge panel for the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals concluded in a ruling released Friday.

The judges upheld a November 2006 ruling by a U.S. District Court, which found that craigslist is considered an "interactive computer service" under federal law, and is not a publisher.  more…

read more

[Read more →]