The February 2010 issue of Your Home is now available. Customize it and send it to clients or post to your Web site.

The 2010 Media Kit and Editorial Calendar for The Residential Specialist magazine is now available.

E-Learning Course Update
POSTED ON: Tue, Feb 9, 2010
The online version of the popular classroom course, Short Sales and Foreclosures: Protecting Your Clients’ Interests (CRS 111) is now available. The course covers many of the topics covered in the classroom version, including how to avoid foreclosure, listing procedures, representing buyers, listing an REO and strategies for working with buyers of REO properties.

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Fewer Homeowners Expect Further Home Prices Declines
POSTED ON: Mon, Feb 8, 2010
Fewer homeowners expect to see the value of their homes decline in the year ahead, but they also believe that gains are unlikely, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan.

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Mortgage Delinquencies Rise
POSTED ON: Fri, Feb 5, 2010
About 10 percent of U.S. home loans were delinquent in January, and more than 7.2 million households are behind on their mortgage payments, according to the January 2010 Mortgage Monitor report from Lender Processing Services, Inc., a provider of mortgage performance data and analytics.

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U.S. Homeownership Rate Holds Steady
POSTED ON: Wed, Feb 3, 2010
The U.S. homeownership rate held steady at 67.2 percent at the end of the fourth quarter of 2009, slightly lower than the 67.6 percent rate posted in the third quarter, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The national vacancy rate during the quarter was 2.7 percent for homeowner housing and 10.7 percent for rental housing.



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Pending Home Sales Level Off
POSTED ON: Tue, Feb 2, 2010
Pending home sales rose slightly in December, increasing 1.0 percent from the previous month, according to NAR. The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) was 10.9 percent above December 2008. In November, the index had fallen 16.4 percent after several months of surging activity.



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2010 Census: Do Your Part
POSTED ON: Mon, Feb 1, 2010
This month, 2010 Census forms will be mailed to every resident in the United States and Puerto Rico. Under the U.S. Constitution, a national census must be completed every 10 years in order to get a clear picture of changes in the nation’s population and demographics. The goal is to count everyone residing in the United States, including both citizens and non-citizens, and every household is required to account for everyone living there as of April 1, 2010.



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Homeowner Remodeling Upturn Expected in 2010
POSTED ON: Fri, Jan 29, 2010
Home improvement spending is projected to reach a cyclical bottom in the first quarter of this year and steadily increase throughout the year, according to the latest Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Home improvement spending is projected to ease from the current rate of 12.0 percent to 3.1 percent in the third quarter.



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Foreclosure Rates Highest in Sunbelt States
POSTED ON: Thu, Jan 28, 2010
Cities in the Sunbelt states — California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona — accounted for all of the top 20 metro foreclosure rates in 2009, while the rising unemployment rate drove increased foreclosure activity into previously insulated areas, according to RealtyTrac’s Year-end 2009 Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report.



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New-Home Sales Fell Sharply in 2009
POSTED ON: Wed, Jan 27, 2010
The U.S. Commerce Department announced today that an estimated 374,000 new homes were sold in 2009, which represents a decline of 22.9 percent from the 2008 figure of 485,000. Sales of new single-family homes also fell 7.6 percent from November to December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 342,000. The December rate was 8.6 percent below the December 2008 estimate of 374,000, and it is the lowest sales rate reported since March 2008.

The median sale price of new houses sold in December was $221,300, down 3.6 percent from the $229,600 reported a year earlier. There were 231,000 new houses for sale at the end of December, which represents an 8.1-month supply at the current sales rate.

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Home Price Declines Continue To Slow
POSTED ON: Tue, Jan 26, 2010
The annual rate of home price declines improved in November for the tenth month in a row, according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index. The 10-City and 20-City Composite Home Price Indices declined 4.5 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively, in November compared to the same month the previous year. This marks the third straight month of single-digit declines, which were preceded by 20 consecutive months of double-digit declines.



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