Realty Check

Wednesday, August 12, 2009 LONDON, England Britain’s housing market is slowly stabilising, though activity is still low compared to previous years due to the recession, industry bodies said yesterday. The Council of Mortgage Lenders said gross mortgage lending in the United Kingdom rose by 23 per cent in June compared to the previous month but [...]

Michelle Hirst Wednesday, June 17, 2009 Kingston today and Kingston just one year ago surprisingly look very different. Just last year, you couldn’t turn a corner without bumping into a new set of townhouses or an apartment complex under construction. Back then, if you happened to see an empty plot of land, it was almost [...]

An Iowa appellate court has considered whether a broker could collect a commission when he failed to enter into a written listing agreement with the seller. Jeffrey Sisson (“Seller”) owned a bar/restaurant that he was interested in selling. He contacted Larry Stewart (“Broker”), a licensed real estate broker, about selling his business. The Seller did [...]

WASHINGTON, May 14, 2009 Citizens of other countries represent an important segment of the U.S. home buying market, and now new special visa categories that allow foreign nationals to gain U.S. residency can help facilitate that process. By using these visa categories correctly, Realtors® will be able to help many more buyers from overseas purchase [...]

Wednesday, May 20, 2009 WASHINGTON, USA A modest rebound in single-family home construction in April raised hopes yesterday that the three-year slide in US housing could be bottoming. But with the supply of unsold homes bulging, foreclosures rising and prices falling, no broad recovery is expected until next spring at the earliest. The Commerce Department [...]

As countries worldwide face declining real estate sales, a growing number are easing restrictions that prevent foreign ownership of property. For instance, Beijing suspended a one-year residency requirement for foreign nationals who want to buy a home. In March, the Cayman Islands lowered transfer taxes from 7.5 percent to 5 percent on waterfront properties, and [...]

Written by Sun Sentinel Sunday, 22 March 2009 South Florida remains the toughest market in the nation for selling a house, even as big price declines here are attracting buyers. The typical house in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties lingers for 193 days, according to a February report released this week by California real [...]