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Housing and employment: a chart that makes it clear
Monday, May 6, 2013

We’ve been saying for a long time how important the housing industry is to the economy — how every home sold has a major and positive effect on industries far and wide.

Well here’s a great chart that makes that point crystal clear. It shows housing starts vs. the unemployment rate.

Unemployment began to skyrocket around January 2007, peaking about two and a half years later. Since mid-January 2009, though, it’s been going down.

Meanwhile, one-unit housing starts peaked around January 2006, plummeted for about three years, and only started rising again in early 2009 with the rest of the economy.

Support YPN (it’s free) and score a free Wellcome Mat account (it usually isn’t)
Thursday, May 2, 2013

If you sign up to support a Virginia branch of the Young Professionals Network by Wednesday, May 8, you’ll get a free account with the real estate-focused Wellcome Mat video-sharing site.

That’s it: Say you support YPN just by filling out a quick form (kinda like a petition), and get a free account with a very cool service.

First, what’s YPN?

Don’t be fooled by the name. The “Young Professionals Network” might be more aptly called the “New Realtors Network.” It was launched by NAR in 2006 as a way to give new Realtors “the opportunity to connect with each other and build a stronger link to the industry.”

Essentially, its goal is to get new Realtors and pros to work together, and help get those new folks involved with the profession a few baby steps at a time.

Study finds discrimination across Virginia
Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Despite the law, Latinos are still receiving “adverse treatment” across Virginia — that’s the result of an investigation across Virginia by the Equal Rights Center and the law firm of Drinker Biddle & Reath.

Essentially, they conducted “matched-pair” test inquiring about rental properties. That means they sent ‘equivalent’ whites and Latinos to ask about the same properties — ages, martial status, income, etc., were the same.

“In 55 percent of tests,” the report found, “the Latino tester received adverse, differential treatment as compared to the white tester, in at least one respect.”

Picturing first-time home buyers
Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Two cool graphics about first-time home buyers. The first comes from Southern California’s Nick "The Realtor" Nguyen (click to see the full-sized version on his site):

http://www.nick-realtor.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/First-Time-Home-Buyer.jpg

And the second comes from real estate "online workspace" Doorsteps (also click to see the full-sized version:

Home ownership at lowest rate in 18 years
Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Nothing more to say — this is all over the news. A new report from the Census Bureau found that home ownership in the U.S. dropped to its lowest level since mid-1995, as more people rent rather than buy.

Quoth Bloomberg:

Bill would remove roadblock for mobile-home loans
Monday, April 29, 2013

A bill being introduced in Congress by Reps. Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Stephen Fincher (R-TN), and Gary Miller (R-CA) is trying to fix what the legislators feel is an unintended consequence of new rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that cover "predatory" or "high-cost" loans.

Here’s the deal: Mobile or manufactured homes typically cost a lot less than a typical suburban property. Basic math means that the cost of originating and servicing loans for those properties might be the same in terms of dollars, but are much higher, percentage-wise, in a small loan.

New Realtor.com app adds local school info, boundaries
Monday, April 29, 2013

2013_04_29_09.34.44Move, the company that runs Realtor.com, has added some interesting features to its Realtor.com Android app. It now gives information about school districts.

"Y" YPN?
Friday, April 26, 2013

Guest post by VAR member Tina Merritt of the New River Valley Association of REALTORS®.

Support a statewide YPN network! It only takes a minute: LOGO_YPN

What is YPN? Let’s start with a short history lesson:

Accessible Tech: What and where to disclose online
Thursday, April 25, 2013

This appeared in the April/May issue of Commonwealth magazine.

With more and more electronic communication being done in public — the “social” part of social media — you’ll find that you can never really remove your Realtor hat. That means you need to be extra careful when you’re writing an e-mail, crafting a blog post, or replying to a tweet.

And I don’t just mean “always be professional.” I mean that there are disclosure rules from both the Virginia Real Estate Board and the Realtor Code of Ethics that apply online whenever you engage in “advertising.”

And believe me, the definition of “advertising” is pretty broad.

VAR's first quarter home sales report is now available
Wednesday, April 24, 2013

The first quarter 2013 Virginia Home Sales Report has been released and year-over-year state wide indicators show that the housing market in Virginia continues to experience steady improvement.